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Essar does not hold more than 10% in Loop Tele: Shashi RuiaEssar Chairman, Shashi Ruia has told the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) that Essar does not hold more than 10% in Loop Telecom. He added that he was pleased with the stake in the VodafoneEssar and had no plans to dilute its 33% stake in Vodafone.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 4:51 pm HC wants govt to fasttrack SAT appointmentsA PIL filed against the government at the Bombay High Court has once again brought attention to the backlogs at the Securities Appellate Tribunal. The HC observed today that these appointments should be made without any further delay.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 4:31 pm J Kumar Infraprojects targets Rs 600700cr in FY10 revenueNalin Gupta, Executive Director, J Kumar Infraprojects, said the company is targeting Rs 600700 crore in FY10 revenues. He expects the secondhalf to contribute a bulk of that or Rs 400 crore.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 4:01 pm Wipro to hire workforce outside India for onsite projectsParanjpe, ED and Joint CEO, Wipro said that sentiment was beginning to go through a stabilisation phase since the JanuaryFebruary quarter. He added that the company plans to hire workforce outside India for onsite projects overseas in the longterm.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 3:24 pm Obama\'s protectionist stance concerning: Kiran KarnikBarack Obama targeted outsourcing once again in his attempt to bring back the ailing US economy on track and the clouds seem to be getting darker for Indian IT companies. Reacting to this move, Kiran Karnik, Former Head of NASSCOM said that indications given by Obama are definitely concerning.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 3:13 pm Producermultiplex tiff hurting industry: Mukta ArtsRavi Gupta, Advisor, Mukta Arts, said, that the tussle between the multiplexes and producers is having an impact on the company as well as the industry. A lot of production companies that have either completed or nearing competition products, are suffering due to this. The costs for both, production houses and multiplexes, has gone up, he said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 3:08 pm Experts see cement prices falling, but differ on timelineSanjay Ladiwala, President, Cement Stockists Dealers Association, said prices would be under pressure from August onwards. Amit Srivastava, Research Analyst, Karvy Stock Broking, too shares Ladiwala\'s view. He feels the price correction will start in Q3 FY10.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 2:21 pm Fertilizer stocks up on MET\'s forecasts of normal monsoonWith the India Meteorology Department (MET) forecasting a near normal monsoon this time, fertilizer stocks have been buzzing on the back of the Kharif season. CNBC TV18\'s Ekta Batra shares details on what\'s driving these stocks.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 2:01 pm Rupee falls as stocks end lowerMumbai: The rupee backed away from two-and-half month peaks on Wednesday after the stock market fell, indicating foreign investors were consolidating their positions after a sharp rally in recent weeks. The partially convertible rupee ended at Rs49.58/60 per dollar, 0.6% weaker than its previous close of Rs49.29/30, which was its strongest since 17 February. “There was not much action today, but there was some selling by exporters as well as custodian banks when the rupee rose to Rs49.35 levels, but then when stocks dropped, the rupee also fell,” said Madhusudan Somani, head of foreign-exchange trading at Mumbai-based Yes Bank. The rupee is still up 5.3% from a lifetime low of Rs52.20 hit in early March. The yen gained broadly on Wednesday, while the dollar edged up versus the euro, as nervousness ahead of US stress test results on banks encouraged investors to pare back exposure to risk. The stock market fell 1.5% as investors cashed in their profits for a second day after the market rose 10% in over two sessions. Foreigners have bought $1.5 billion of local shares in April and another $436 million in the first two days this week, after heavy outflows in January and February, data from the market regulator showed. Data for Wednesday would be released on Thursday. Foreign inflows have been a key factor in the rupee’s rally in the past few weeks. Last year, record outflows of over $13 billion, had pushed the rupee down by nearly a fifth. The results of India’s month-long national elections due on 16 May would set the trend for the rupee, dealers said. Goldman Sachs said recent PMI data from China and India suggested the period for economic contraction is over and its long emerging market/short G-3 basket trade showed a return of 5.7% in the first month since its inception. Some traders said the central bank’s move to scrap its second daily money market auction has pressured shorter-dated yields lower leading to falling demand for such money market instruments from foreign investors. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 1:12 pm Manufacturing to rebound in Q3 FY10: DeloitteNew Delhi: India will have to wait till the third quarter of this fiscal to witness the rebound in manufacturing, triggered by low-end consumer durables growth in semi-urban areas, says research firm Deloitte. “The upswing in manufacturing activity still has to be some months after the new government is formed, that is by the third quarter of this fiscal, because a lot of policies and stimulus packages will have to find serious implementation,” Deloitte India senior director Kumar Kandaswami told PTI. It is demand from the semi-urban and rural economies, mostly for brown goods and low-end consumer durables, that will boost manufacturing activity in some sectors, he said. Manufacturing production, which constitutes around 80% in the Index of Industrial Production, declined 1.4% in February compared to 9.6% growth a year ago. In major categories, only capital goods posted positive growth, while all other segments like consumer goods, intermediate goods and basic goods production contracted. Within consumer goods, durables registered a 5.7% growth, while non-durables contracted by 5.5%. In terms of industries, as many as nine out of 17 have shown negative growth in their output in February year-on-year. Some industries showed a substantial decline, like metal goods production plunging by 31.3%, food products by 28.1%, wood and wood products by 16.5%. However, six key infrastructure industries, which include finished steel, petroleum refinery products, crude oil, cement and electricity and, posted a growth of 2.9% in March, raising expectations that the economy may be reviving. When asked whether this could be seen as early signs of revival, Kandaswami said data for a few more months have to be watched to confirm that revival is on the way. “It could be very early signs of revival, but we need to see for two-three months more for any trend lines. If we are able to see the momentum in May-June then we would know for fact that there is some sort of revival,” Kandaswami said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 12:58 pm Rupee down 31 paise against dollarThe Indian rupee on Wednesday turned weaker by 31 paise to close at 49.61/62 against the dollar in line with negative trends in local equity markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 May 2009 | 12:56 pm Bank of England set to hold rates at record low!The Bank of England is widely forecast to keep interest rates at a record-low 0.5 percent at a key meeting on Thursday as Britain battles its fastest economic slowdown in 30 years, analysts said.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm US economy to turn around in late 2009: Fed chief!Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the recession-hit US economy could rebound this year but warned of more "sizable" job losses and a still-fragile financial system.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Oil prices lower in Asian trade !Oil prices were lower in Asian trade Wednesday ahead of a report expected to show rising oil inventories in the United States, the world`s biggest energy consumer.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Eurozone set for one last rate cut: Analysts!The eurozone is set for a seventh and final interest rate cut to a record-low 1.0 percent on Thursday, analysts say, and the unveiling of unconventional measures to ease the financial crisis.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Citi may need $5-$10 billion in new capital: Report!Citigroup Inc (C.N) may have to raise $5-$10 billion in new capital to meet a US government requirement that it holds up to $55 billion in capital, the New York Times said, citing people familiar with the matter.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Bank of America to need $34 bn in capital: Report!Bank of America has been deemed to need an additional $34 billion in capital, according to the results of a government stress test, a source familiar with the results has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Nissan seeking more government loans: Report!Nissan Motor Co. is seeking a further 100 billion yen (1.01 billion dollars) in emergency government loans designed to help Japanese firms cope with the global economic crisis, a report said Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Wall Street slips amid banking jitters!Wall Street stocks dipped in hesitant trade amid worries about capital shortfalls for US banks that underwent stress tests and cautious comments on the economy by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Obama`s tax plans won`t hit BPOs: India Inc!India won`t be hit badly by US move to reduce tax breaks for firms that outsource jobs, feels India Inc.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Almost 3 in 10 US homeowners underwater in Q1: Zillow!Home values in the United States extended their fall in the first quarter, with almost three in ten homeowners now owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday.Source: Zee News : Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:53 pm Mutual funds back in action as stocks surgeMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's fund industry, forced to hibernate for a better part of the past year, is now back in action as a sharp surge in domestic shares revives hopes for a pick-up in flows into profitable equity assets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:47 pm Adcock reaffirms friendly buy-out bid for CMSAJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa No.2 drug maker Adcock Ingram reaffirmed its friendly buyout bid for Cipla Medpro South Africa (CMSA) despite threats to scrap a supply agreement with CMSA by its drugs supplier.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:47 pm Rupee down by 31 paise to 49.61/62 vs dollarThe rupee turned weaker by 31 paise to close at 49.61/62 against the dollar in line with negative trends in local equity markets, snapping a three-session winning streak.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 May 2009 | 12:46 pm U.S. private sector job losses at 5-mth low in AprilNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private sector job losses slowed in April, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday, hitting their lowest since November last year and surprising economists who had expected a much worse result.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:45 pm Obama's statement has nothing to do with outsourcing: ITThe IT industry said that US president Obama's Bangalore-Buffalo reference had been misintepreted and that it had nothing to do with 'outsourcing.'Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:40 pm Sensex falls for the second day in succession - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:39 pm After Nano, Tatas offer one-room flat for less than Rs 4 lakhTata Housing, the real estate development arm of the Tatas, will build one-room-kitchen flats for just Rs 3.91 lakh in a township being developed at Boisar.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:36 pm More job cuts may follow 5,000 layoffs at MicrosoftMicrosoft has warned of more job cuts depending on the impact of the economic slowdownSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:33 pm BofA may need to raise USD 35 bn in capital: ReportUS regulators have asked Bank of America to initiate steps to plug nearly USD 35 billion shortfall in capitalSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:26 pm Polling to 85 Lok Sabha seats on ThursdayNew Delhi: As many as 9.46 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Thursday in which the fate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad would be decided. Click here to watch video A total of 1,315 candidates, including 119 women, are in the fray in this penultimate phase of elections that will witness polling to 85 Lok Sabha seats in eight states and Union territories. Votes will be cast across 1.29 lakh polling booths, which would be manned by over six lakh election officials. Polling would be held between 0700 hrs and 1700 hrs. At the end of the fourth phase, elections would be completed to 457 of the 545-member Lok Sabha. Polls are held only to 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. Some of the prominent candidates in this phase of polls include National Congress’s Farooq Abdullah, Congress’ Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Shekhar Suman (Patna Saheb), Ajay Maken (New Delhi), BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Saheb), HJC’s Bhajan Lal (Hisar) and RLD’s Ajit Singh (Baghpat). Polling to all the 25 seats in Rajasthan, 10 in Haryana and seven in Delhi will be completed at one go. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 12:19 pm BofA, Citi shares sink on stress test worriesLONDON (Reuters) - Bank of America needs $34 billion in extra cash, a source familiar with U.S. government stress tests on leading banks told Reuters, unsettling markets and stoking talk of a possible asset sale in China.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:16 pm SBT ties up with Hyundai - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:15 pm India's economy -- on the road to recovery?NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy, which has been hit harder than expected by the global recession, may be on the path to recovery, some recent data suggests.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:12 pm Walsh to conduct basketball clinic in NIS PatialaAmerican basketball coach J D Walsh will conduct a three-day clinic at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of SportsSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:08 pm Rupee slips off 2-½ mth peak as stocks fallMUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee backed away from 2-½ month peaks on Wednesday after the stock market fell, indicating foreign investors were consolidating their positions after a sharp rally in recent weeks.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 12:07 pm After Nano, Tatas offer flats for less than Rs 4 lakhAfter Rs 1-lakh people's car Nano, Tata Housing will build one-room-kitchen flats for just Rs 3.91 lakh in a township being developed at Boisar, 100 km from Mumbai.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 May 2009 | 12:05 pm After Nano, Tatas offer flats for less than Rs 4 lakh - Times of India
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:03 pm bofa and Citi need capital as stress tests results loom - Reuters
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 12:01 pm Tata bouquet offers another small: a Rs391,000 flatMumbai: Soon after the first lot bookings of the small car Tata Nano are over, the Tata group has another small to offer. This time the salt-to-software conglomerate has unveiled a low-cost realty project which offers a house for less than Rs400,000. Tata Housing, the real estate development arm of the Tatas, will build one-room-kitchen flats for just Rs391,000 in a township being developed at Boisar, 100 km from Mumbai. The Tata conglomerate plans to develop the township within 24 months and allotment of flats would made through lottery, Tata Housing’s managing director Brotin Banerjee said. The comapny has plans to replicate the project, Subha Griha, in the National Capital Region and Bangalore in the current fiscal itself, he said. The group would also start such projects in Chennai and Kolkata and subsequently to other Tier-I and tier-II cities. “We observed that since most of the people in the low- income bracket live away from their families to earn a livelihood in big cities, there is a large percentage of migrant population with people living in either rented or company provided accommodation,” he said. “Our study shows that 48% of the people in the lower segment are currently staying in rented accommodation. As a real estate company, we are sensitive to the need of providing this segment with their own home along with community life,” he said, however, adding local people would also be eligible to own homes in these projects. Banerjee said in the Boisar project, a one BHK flat with a total saleable area of 465 sq ft would be available at Rs670,000. Out of the total 63.58 acres, there would be also space for “affordable housing” along with hospital, school and a community hall among others within the entire township project. Affordable housings within the Shubh Griha project could cost anything between Rs10-15 lakhs, he said. The project would offer a balanced mix of buildings and open spaces, best quality lighting and ventilations for all apartments. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 pm Close: Sensex loses 12k level, political worries prevailNew Delhi: The Bombay Stock Exchange closed Wednesday’s session on downbeat note as investors booked profits after Monday’s over 6% rally. Cautious sentiment prevailed among investors today based on political uncertainties ahead of 15th Lok Sabha elections results due on 16 May. Markets opened weak with volatile trend, tracking Asian markets that were concerned over heath of the US banks after news came in that Bank of America may require additional capital of $34 billion for healthy functioning. US stock markets also closed lower on Tuesday, as investors were worried ahead of the bank stress tests results due on 7 May. However, stocks rebounded during afternoon session extending gains to more than 1% as some buying renewed. But profit-taking trend revived and index slipped again, entering choppy territory. Sensex slipped form its 12,000 level, the highest it had gained since October 2008. All sectoral indices ended in negative with most selling witnessed among Realty, bank, metal, FMCG and IT sectors. The 30-share BSE index plunged lower near closing to end at 11,952.75, down by 178.33 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty ended down by 36.85 points at 3,625.05. Ahead of today’s losers in the BSE pack was Jaiprakash Associates, falling by 6.41% to Rs137.90, followed by Housing Development and Finance Corp by 5.94% to Rs1,748.55, DLF Ltd by 5.51% to Rs245.95, Tata Steel by 5.42% to Rs270.65, ICICI Bank by 5.03% to Rs540.80, Sterlite Industries by 5.02% to Rs454.80, Tata Motors by 3.10% to Rs264.05, ITC Ltd by 2.66% to Rs192.30 and Wipro Ltd by 2.50% to Rs359.20. There were also some gainers in the BSE index, NTPC Ltd rising by 1.91% to Rs194.50, Hindalco by 1.53% to Rs63.10, Tata Power by 1.24% to Rs912.65, Reliance Infra by 1.07% to Rs801.45, Grasim Industries by 0.59% to Rs1,801.25, Bharti Airtel by 0.52% to Rs756.15 and Ranbaxy Laboratories by 0.51% to Rs178.20. ICICI Bank dipped by 5.03% on account of the negative rating given by the Standard & Poor’s (S&P). Wipro ended lower by 2.5% despite the company winning nine years IT outsourcing contract from Unitech Wireless. Concerns over outsourcing firms also arose after US President Barack Obama on Monday commented on benefiting companies that created jobs in US than in Bangalore. Overall the Asian markets ended mixed ahead of US bank stress test results and worries over Bank of America’s need for new capital. Meanwhile, markets in Japan remained closed for holiday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 pm Tata Housing to build low-cost housing near MumbaiMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Tata Group on Wednesday launched a low-cost housing project near Mumbai, joining a spate of Indian developers that have moved to the affordable housing segment, as demand dries up for more expensive homes.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:58 am Global financial crisis affects Picasso, Giacometti New York: Two masterworks of art anchoring a major auction at Sotheby’s — Picasso painting and a Giacometti sculpture — went unsold, as the spring auction season got off to a muted start. Pablo Picasso’s 1938 portrait of his daughter Maya, “The Daughter of the Artist at Two-and-a-half Years with a Boat,” had been expected to fetch between $16 and $24 million but failed to reach the minimum bid of $12.5 million said Tobias Meyer, vice president of the auction house yesterday. Alberto Giacometti sculpture “The Cat,” finished in 1951 and considered one of the Swiss-born sculptor’s finest works, failed to clear the threshold of slightly more than $14 million sought by the seller. Like the Picasso painting, “The Cat” had been expected to fetch between $16 and $24 million. The global financial crisis has put a damper on the high-flying art auction world, with fewer works being put up for sale compared to a year ago, and with prices expected to be lower across the board. Another Picasso work, the 1971 painting “A Woman with a Hat” goes on sale today at rival auction house Christie’s. The painting, which comes from artist Julian Schnabel’s collection, is estimated to be worth between $6-8 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 11:57 am RIL starts selling diesel from Jamnagar refinery to local cosAfter a gap of over two years,Reliance Industries has begun selling diesel from its Jamnagar refinery to local companiesSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:56 am CPSEs may announce 15-20 pc dip in earnings for FY'09Central Public Sector Enterprises are expected to see an average dip of 15-20 percent in their earningsSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:48 am ONGC added 284 million tonnes of oil & gas reserves in 2008-09Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it added a record 284 million tonnes of oil and gas reservesSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:34 am BSE Sensex falls 1.5 pct; U.S. stress test eyedMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex fell 1.5 percent on Wednesday as investors took profits for a second day after the market had jumped more than 10 percent in two sessions, with uncertainties ahead of general election results next week.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:32 am Sensex falls for the second day in successionHeavy profit-booking in realty, bank, and metal stocks at the Bombay Stock Exchange brought the benchmark Sensex down for the second day in a row, by nearly 178 points.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 6 May 2009 | 11:27 am Pakistan attacks Taliban in Swat; US ups pressure Mingora, Pakistan: Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban fighters on Wednesday killing at least 27 of them, the military said, after the United States called on the government to show its commitment to fighting militancy. Expanding Taliban influence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has spread alarm at home and abroad and will be a core issue when US President Barack Obama meets his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in Washington later on Wednesday. A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in Swat is in tatters and thousands of people fled from Mingora, the region’s main town, on Tuesday after a government official said fighting was expected. The military launched attacks on the outskirts of Mingora, 130 km northwest of Islamabad, and in the nearby district of Buner, where a paramilitary force said 27 militants were killed. There was no independent confirmation of the toll. While a curfew kept people off Mingora’s streets, government forces struck with artillery and helicopters in and around the town, including at an emerald mine the Taliban had taken over. A security official in the region said troops had captured the mine and a militant headquarters near Mingora. “There have been two quick offensives by security forces. We knocked the militants out and are moving forward,” said the security official who declined to be identified, adding that the militants had suffered casualties. A military official, who declined to be identified, brushed off speculation the clashes signaled an imminent major offensive in Swat but residents said they saw troops being trucked in and a government official also said reinforcements were arriving. Up to 38,000 people have been displaced from Swat and nearby districts since fighting flared late last month, provincial authorities said, adding that up to 800,000 people could flee from the valley, which has a population of some 1.6 to 1.7 million. Several hundred thousand have already fled fighting in different parts of the northwest since August, putting an extra burden on an economy propped up by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan. Pakistani stocks have been hurt by security worries in recent months but the main index ended 1.65 percent higher on Wednesday. A Taliban spokesman said the Swat peace pact was over. “The situation is very bad. They’re using all sort of force against us. Full-fledged war has begun and our fighters are putting up resistance,” the spokesman, Muslim Khan, said by telephone. Unwavering commitment President Asif Ali Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s widower, is due to meet Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for talks on the militant threat. Obama will urge the leaders to put aside a history of mistrust and join Washington in an alliance against extremists, US administration officials said. Pakistani action against militant enclaves on the Afghan border is vital to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan. But increasing violence and the spread of the Taliban in Pakistan have raised doubts about the ability of the civilian government elected last year to deal with the threat. “Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders,” Richard Holbrooke, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in congressional testimony on Tuesday. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan’s commitment was unwavering: “We are suffering the most because of terrorism. Who else would be more interested in extirpating this?” Afghanistan President Karzai said on Tuesday that Pakistan — whose intelligence services have long been accused of maintaining old ties to the Afghan Taliban for strategic reasons — should sever such links. Basit said the neighbours needed to transcend such old suspicions. A Pakistani security analyst said the talks in Washington should at least improve understanding. What Pakistan gets out of it will depened on how forcefully it puts its case. “We’re being blamed for the cross-border movement (of militants to Afghanistan) but when we say ‘increase the number of military posts on your side or fence the border or do selective mining´, they don’t agree,” said the analyst, Nasim Zehra. Critics say Pakistan has been in denial about the Taliban threat in a country where old rival India has long been the enemy and where militants have been used as “strategic assets” since the battle against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 11:27 am Maoists thrash NC, UML workers in rural NepalKathmandu: Amid the Maoist threat to take to the streets after resignation of Prime Minister Prachanda, the former rebels have attacked members of other political parties in some districts of Nepal. Prachanda resigned on 4 May after his Maoist government’s decision to sack the army chief General Rukmangad Katawal was scuttled by President Ram Baran Yadav, deepening the political crisis and raising the specter of renewed rebel unrest in the country. CPN-Maoist workers thrashed workers of NC and the CPN-UML in Ramechhap and Rolpa districts. The Maoists Ramechhap district committee has ordered activists belonging to NC and UML to leave their village by Saturday. The Maoists have also attacked the local party workers and threatened to take further action against them if they did not leave the village of eastern Nepal, according to party sources. They also attacked NC cadres, who were holding peaceful protest programmes in Rolpa district in western Nepal. Over a dozen NC workers including district committee member of the NC Sher Bahadur Rokka were injured in the incident. Former Maoist ally UML, which had withdrawn support due to differences over the move to sack the army chief, is trying to form a new government with the support of NC, the second largest party in Parliament. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 11:25 am McNally Bharat signs pact with German firm - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 11:21 am Sonia puts off election rallies in Chennai, PuducherryChennai: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has put off her election rallies in the Tamil Nadu capital and in Puducherry scheduled for Wednesday in view of hospitalisation of state chief minister M. Karunanidhi, a top Congress leader said. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters he visited the DMK president, who is undergoing treatment for fever at Apollo hospital since Sunday, and doctors had advised him not to participate in the meetings. “Doctors advised him not to participate in the meetings, citing his health condition...Madam (Sonia Gandhi) wants to share the dais with Karunanidhi...therefore the rally has been postponed. The new date will be announced soon,” he said. However, police sources cited security reasons also for change in schedule, as pro-Sri Lankan Tamil outfits had threatened to stage demonstrations and show black flags to Gandhi over United Progressive Alliance’s alleged failure to ensure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Ever since the Sri Lankan Army intensified its offensive against LTTE and confined it to a small strip of land in the embattled northern part, pro-LTTE outfits have been staging demonstrations, demanding an immediate ceasefire. Gandhi was originally scheduled to arrive in Chennai, fly to Puducherry and return here to address a joint rally later in the afternoon in support of Congress and DMK candidates for the 13 May Lok Sabha polls. Under an electoral pact, DMK, a constituent of UPA, has allotted 16 seats to the Congress, including the lone seat in neighbouring Puducherry. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 11:15 am Hint of hope in Europe, U.S. banks may need billionsLONDON (Reuters) - Europe's service sector shrank at its slowest pace in six months in April, adding to signs the global recession may be easing, with markets unmoved by reports U.S. banks may need to raise tens of billions of dollars.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 11:13 am Low interest rates aiding auto sector: Jagdish KhattarJagdish Khattar, Former Managing Director, Maruti Suzuki said customers deferred their auto purchases due to negative sentiment in the economy. \"Many steps taken by the government have helped in resurgence of auto sector.\" He feels rate of interest, availibility of finance have improved which has given bump up to the auto sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 11:13 am SC approves power purchase agreements signed by Tata Power - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 11:03 am Mutual funds back in action as stocks surgeMumbai: India’s fund industry, forced to hibernate for a better part of the past year, are now back in action as a sharp surge in domestic shares revives hopes for a pick-up in flows into profitable equity assets. Money managers are enthused by an improving investment climate globally that has helped Indian shares rise nearly 50% from their 2009 lows and hope moderating gains from debt and guaranteed returns products will lure investors to equities. “There is a general belief that maybe the worst is over and sentiments are improving,” Sandeep Dasgupta, chief executive of Bharti AXA Investment Managers, said. “I think people are revisiting their business model,” he said, adding money had started to trickle back into funds and some fund houses are now realising “that time has come for us to once again get into a more active role of launching funds.” The revival comes on the backdrop of a tough 2008-09 fiscal for the Indian mutual fund industry which saw assets shrink by nearly a fifth to Rs4.2 trillion in the year to March. More ominously, profitable equity assets shrunk by more than a third. But the clouds of gloom are slowly lifting, helped by revival of foreign flows and an emerging consensus that the Indian economy and corporate earnings might be close to the bottom. The domestic mutual fund units of Japan’s Shinsei and India’s Reliance Capital on Tuesday sought the market regulator’s nod to launch equity funds. BlackRock’s Indian fund arm and Canara Robeco Asset Management, a venture between Canara Bank and Robeco, part of Rabobank Group, also filed equity fund offer documents in April. There were no such applications in March. Edelweiss Asset Management and ICICI Prudential Asset Management, India’s third-biggest money manager, have launched equity funds in the last one month, among only four new actively managed diversified stock funds on offer so far this year. German’s Allianz with Bajaj Finserv, and IDBI Bank in April said they would enter the industry, while Singapore’s iFAST with Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm launched a funds distribution platform. “There is a sudden change in outlook and hence the mutual fund activity has picked up,” Chintamani Dagade, a senior research analyst with Morningstar India, said. “The significant rally in March-April has definitely changed the investor appetite to equities,” he added. Indian shares rose more than 17 percent in April, its best monthly gain in 10 years, as a wave of investor confidence swept across the world and foreign funds pumped in more than $1.4 billion in 1 April- 27 April, their biggest inflow since October 2007. The rally was also powered by expectations India’s economy would pick up later this year. Cement sales have grown at near double-digit rates since November, consumer goods sales are up, while auto demand has firmed after a disastrous December-quarter. Dasgupta of Bharti AXA said the March quarter results were not as bad as many expected and the economy, which grew at less than 7% in the 2008-09 fiscal year from 9% or more in the previous three years, was showing some signs of stability. “There is certainly a case of restart in mutual fund activity,” Dagade of Morningstar said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 10:52 am Tata Group raises $125 mln in block trade of TCSHONG KONG (Reuters) - Tata Group on Wednesday sold a block of shares it owns in Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, raising around $125 million, according to a source close to the matter.Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 10:40 am Link CEO pay to company performance, say executivesA majority of Indian firms believe that there is a need to evaluate the performance of the top management and board members and to link the salaries of chief executives to corporate performance, said a report released by auditing major KPMG Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 May 2009 | 10:30 am RGPPL board to meet on Friday on RIL gas dealThe owner of Dabhol power plant will meet after NTPC objected to signing the gas contract with RIL.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 10:27 am Hyundai expects 5 pc increase in sales this yearHyundai is expecting its sales in the Indian market to grow by up to 5%, with the planned launch of diesel and LPG variants of the small car i20 and sedan Accent.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 May 2009 | 10:24 am Weaker export demand, rising supply to cap jeera, pepper - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 10:20 am Hyundai admits to strike impact, expects to end deadlock soon New Delhi: The country’s second-largest car maker, Hyundai Motor India, is expecting to end the deadlock at its Chennai facility within a few days, while admitting that the strike by its employees at the unit has impacted production. “Only a few people have joined the strike at the plant in Chennai. Daily production at the facility has been affected by 3-4%, which is marginal,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) senior vice-president (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena told PTI. He, however, declined to elaborate on the demands of the workers at the plant. “The management is talking to them. We should handle and solve it in a few days,” Saxena said. Earlier this week, around 500 employees of HMIL went on a sudden indefinite fast protesting the alleged absence of management representatives for a conciliatory meeting to end the strike at Sriperumbudur unit. Members of the Hyundai Motor India Employees Union commenced the fast at the office of the Commissioner of Labour in Chennai. The union has been spearheading an indefinite strike since 20 April demanding solutions to some labour-related issues. According to a HMIL spokesperson earlier, the company’s production at the plant was 90 per cent on the first day of the fast. Earlier, the strike notice was issued on 18 March 2009. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 10:12 am ICICI Bank to open 580 new branches; no fresh hiring: KochharMumbai: Top private lender ICICI Bank plans to open nearly 600 branches this year, but will not hire as part of the current workforce would be redeployed to manage the expanded network of 2,000 branches. “We will set up 580 new branches this year ... one and half years ago we had 750 branches and one year from now, once we open these 580 branches, we will have 2,000 branches,” ICICI Bank managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said. Kochhar, however, noted that the bank might not increase the headcount, currently at about 36,000, as it would be “re-skilling and re-training” some people in accordance with the needs of the expanded branch network. Asked whether the employees could expect some kind of reward in the form of salary hike or other monetary benefits, Kochhar said, “Well, what we have done is (we have) already announced a moderate hike for the year. But, it’s a moderate hike ... it’s kind of moderate increase in salaries and that’s about it.” Kochhar took over as ICICI Bank MD & CEO this month from her predecessor K.V. Kamath, who has become non-executive chairman. Asked whether ICICI Bank was reducing its ATM network, Kochhar said the matter needed to be seen in a context. “In the past there were very few branch licences that we had. In fact, our reliance on ATMs was much more. Now, we have sufficient branch licences. ... [W]e are sitting on a base of quite a large number of ATMs and ... are also able to implement the large set of branches.” To a question whether the bank would look at fresh recruitments, especially in the backdrop of massive hirings by public sector banks, Kochhar said, “We may not increase headcount... as of now, our approach is we will be re-skilling some people, re-training some (others) because our character is changing as a bank. “In the past, we had (fewer) branches and we were relying more on outside agencies to sell our products. We had taken (a) lot more people for sale, but as we are moving now, we are expanding branches substantially. “That also means that we can do selling of our products through our branches, rather than relying on outside agencies. That also means that we have to re-skill people,” Kochhar said, adding that more people would be required at branches, but not many would be needed for supervising selling agencies. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 10:03 am Tata Indicom adopts white tiger, pantherPrivate telecom player Tata Indicom has adopted a white tiger and a panther at the Van Vihar National Park here under the park's 'Adopt an Animal Scheme', park officials said Wednesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 May 2009 | 10:00 am EU, Canada to sign deal to open aviation marketsPrague: The European Union and Canada were expected to sign a deal Wednesday that would open their aviation markets to each other and begin free trade negotiations, despite strains over a new EU ban on seal products. The aviation deal is the EU’s most far-reaching and open aviation pact with a trade partner and is meant to spur trans-Atlantic trade and competition. Under the deal, airlines based in the 27-nation bloc will be able to fly directly to Canada, and Canadian carriers would have similar access rights to points in Europe. On the eve of Wednesday’s summit between the two key economic partners, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban imports of seal products in an effort to force Canada to end its annual seal hunt. The Canadian government reacted sharply to the action. Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Ottawa will challenge the ban at the World Trade Organization if the new law does not exempt Canada. Day was due in Prague with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Despite the opposition to Tuesday’s vote, Day said Canada would not let it get in the way of a broader free trade agreement with the EU that could be completed by 2011. Canada is a key economic partner for Europe. Annual mutual trade reaches about €70 billion ($94 billion). But the European Parliament voted to endorse a bill that said commercial seal hunting, notably in Canada, is “inherently inhumane.” The EU ban, expected to take effect in October, will apply to all products and processed goods derived from seals, including their skins — which are used to make fur coats, bags and adorn clothing — as well as meat, oil blubber, organs and seal oil, which is used in some omega-3 pills. Canada’s East Coast seal hunt is the largest in the world, killing an average of 300,000 harp seals annually. One-third of the world’s trade in seal products passes through EU countries. Last year, Canada exported seal products — pelts, meat and oils — worth around €3.5 million ($4.7 million) to the EU. In the aviation deal, restrictions on routes, prices and the number of flights between the two sides will be removed and limits on investment and foreign ownership in airlines would also be phased out, which eventually could lead to European investors setting up airline operations in Canada. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:53 am EU, Canada to sign deal to open aviation marketsPrague: The European Union and Canada were expected to sign a deal Wednesday that would open their aviation markets to each other and begin free trade negotiations, despite strains over a new EU ban on seal products. The aviation deal is the EU’s most far-reaching and open aviation pact with a trade partner and is meant to spur trans-Atlantic trade and competition. Under the deal, airlines based in the 27-nation bloc will be able to fly directly to Canada, and Canadian carriers would have similar access rights to points in Europe. On the eve of Wednesday’s summit between the two key economic partners, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban imports of seal products in an effort to force Canada to end its annual seal hunt. The Canadian government reacted sharply to the action. Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Ottawa will challenge the ban at the World Trade Organization if the new law does not exempt Canada. Day was due in Prague with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Despite the opposition to Tuesday’s vote, Day said Canada would not let it get in the way of a broader free trade agreement with the EU that could be completed by 2011. Canada is a key economic partner for Europe. Annual mutual trade reaches about €70 billion ($94 billion). But the European Parliament voted to endorse a bill that said commercial seal hunting, notably in Canada, is “inherently inhumane.” The EU ban, expected to take effect in October, will apply to all products and processed goods derived from seals, including their skins — which are used to make fur coats, bags and adorn clothing — as well as meat, oil blubber, organs and seal oil, which is used in some omega-3 pills. Canada’s East Coast seal hunt is the largest in the world, killing an average of 300,000 harp seals annually. One-third of the world’s trade in seal products passes through EU countries. Last year, Canada exported seal products — pelts, meat and oils — worth around €3.5 million ($4.7 million) to the EU. In the aviation deal, restrictions on routes, prices and the number of flights between the two sides will be removed and limits on investment and foreign ownership in airlines would also be phased out, which eventually could lead to European investors setting up airline operations in Canada. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:53 am Boston Globe proposes steep wage cut for union Boston: Negotiators for The Boston Globe and its largest union continued lengthy negotiations early Wednesday amid a report that the company was proposing to slash wages by 23% to gain concessions of $10 million and keep the financially-strapped newspaper from closing. Officials of The New York Times Co., the Globe’s owner, and the Boston Newspaper Guild began their latest round of talks shortly after 5 pm yesterday. There was no indication how long the two sides would meet. The Globe, on its Web site, reported earlier on what management called its “last best offer” to the union. A person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the report to The Associated Press. The Guild has offered a 3.5% pay cut for the 700 editorial, advertising and business employees it represents, plus three unpaid furlough days, for a total salary reduction of just under 5%. It said its offer represents more than the $10 million in concessions sought. The Globe reported that the 23% wage reduction was first presented during a marathon negotiating session on Sunday. The Globe reported that a spokesman for the newspaper, Robert Powers, declined comment. Powers could not be reached by the AP late Tuesday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:48 am Scam-hit CRPF to change recruitment processNew Delhi: With the arrest of an inspector general of Central Reserve Police Force, or CRPF, along with a commandant of the force in a recruitment scam, CRPF Director General A.S. Gill on Wednesday said the force was planning to “change” the entire process. “I condemn the incident. We are planning to change the recruitment process,” the CRPF chief said, adding the force had itself written to the CBI asking them to keep a check on the ongoing recruitment process in various parts of the country. His reaction came following the arrest of Inspector General (Bihar) Pushkar Singh along with seven others by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday for alleged corruption and bungling in the recruitment of the ranks for its anti-naxal force COBRA. The CBI made the arrests in connection with the scam after it conducted searches at 20 locations spread in Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:48 am ONGC sees record high reserve accretion in FY09 - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 9:43 am India’s economy on the road to recovery?New Delhi: India’s economy, which has been hit harder than expected by the global recession, may be on the path to recovery, some recent data suggests. Asia’s third-largest economy is expected to have grown less than 7% in 2008-09, sharply lower than the expansion of 9% or in each of the previous three fiscal years, and is poised to expand at the same pace in the fiscal year ending March 2010. Some analysts say the robust growth in steel and cement sales as well as in manufacturing in recent months showed the worst maybe over for the economy. The following looks at the growth outlook for the South Asian economy and the pace of its economic recovery. What evidence is there that worst may be over for the Indian economy? A slew of data in recent weeks has shown that a tentative recovery is taking shape. The ABN AMRO Bank purchasing managers’ index (PMI) based on a survey of 500 companies, rose to 53.3 in April from March’s 49.5, climbing above the threshold of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. This was the first expansion in factory output in five months and showed demand in the economy is returning. Also Read |Manufacturing sector begins to expand Data also signalled that demand in India’s hinterland is firm and is supporting a vast expanse of the economy. Cement sales have grown at near double-digit rates since November, consumer goods sales have seen strong support from rural markets, while auto demand has firmed after a disastrous December quarter. Wholesale price inflation shows demand has not fallen as anticipated and prices were holding firm. Industrial output, which accounts for nearly a quarter of India’s gross domestic product, has shown signs of revival after a dismal March quarter. January’s initially reported fall was revised to a rise of 0.4%. Economists said stimulus packages announced by the government since late last year, along with aggressive policy easing by the central bank, look to be making an impact given improved car sales and uptrend in cement and steel demand. They also say robust performance of consumer goods and capital goods, a key barometer of activity, in the February industrial output report showed that there is demand. Analyst say savings and investment rates, which have reached close to 40% due to the structural changes in the economy, would enable it to sustain an investment rate of 35% despite lower capital inflows. The main stock index has rebounded more than half from its 2009 trough in early March. Foreigners bought $1.5 billion worth of shares in April and another $296 million on Monday, after heavy outflows in January and February. What is the outlook for GDP growth in 2009-10? Domestic ratings agency ICRA says the economy is likely to grow 6.5 to 7.5% in 2009-10 if the global economy comes out of the slump later this year and as government stimulus starts feeding into the broader economy. The Reserve Bank of India has forecast 6% expansion in Asia’s third-largest economy but private analysts have pegged growth lower than that. Any growth below 6% would increase unemployment. What are analysts saying about economic recovery? Rajeev Malik, economist with Macquarie Securities says the largely domestically driven economy will begin to recover palpably from mid-year onwards. “The double-cyclinder fiscal and monetary response has been aggressive and already paying dividends.” Investment bank UBS said in a research note that its lead economic indicator had climbed for three months in a row which signalled a strong likelihood of an upturn in industrial activity by June. Robert Prior-Wandesforde, economist at HSBC, wrote in a research report that there were a number of reasons to be positive about India’s growth prospects. “Individually, none of them are hugely powerful, but collectively they should drive a recovery later this year which is likely to gain momentum in 2010.” Is there data still suggesting further deterioration? There is still some data which shows that the global slowdown has taken a heavy toll. Exports declined by a third in March to $11.5 billion, its sixth straight monthly fall and economists say the global economic slump would further dent Indian firms’ foreign sales in the months ahead. Consumer prices still remain elevated and the central bank said inflation based on various consumer price indices continues to be near double digits, reflecting a firm trend in food prices. What are the risks ahead that may hurt growth? Political uncertainty remains a short-term risk. Emergence of a weak coalition could lead to policy limbo, which in turn may hurt the economy. The high fiscal deficit of central and state governments, which according to some observers has reached nearly 10% of gross domestic product, could prove to be an obstacle to growth and undermine the central bank’s aggressive rate cuts. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:38 am ICICI Bank to open 580 new branches; no fresh hiring: Kochhar - Economic Times
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 9:36 am Trinamool-Congress tie-up in troubled watersThe Trinamool Congress will never be part of an alliance that ties up with the Left, the party said categorically as the Congress Wednesday tried to ease tensions with its partner in West Bengal by declaring that there was no 'alliance anywhere with the Left'.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 May 2009 | 9:31 am US executive pay takes hit amid global meltdown: Watson WyattWashington: Amid changing realities pursuant to the global financial crisis, executive pay programmes of US companies are getting affected and their pay opportunity is expected to decline over the next two years, a survey says. According to leading global consulting firm Watson Wyatt, more than a third (34%) of directors said their companies had already reduced salary, target bonus and/or long-term incentive award levels, while, 6% plan to make those changes in the next six months and another 48% are considering making them. “Nearly two-thirds (63%) of outside directors said they believe American companies should modify their executive compensation programs to adapt to new economic realities,” the survey further pointed out. Commenting on the findings of the study, Watson Wyatt global Director of executive compensation consulting Ira Kay said, “Shareholders and the general public will support that directors are looking to change their executive pay programs to reflect the economic crisis. We are confident that boards will continue to hold management directly accountable for their company’s performance.” Watson Wyatt’s survey was conducted in March and April 2009 and includes responses from 85 directors. “Directors face an increasingly difficult challenge against the backdrop of a very tough economy and intense outside scrutiny,” Watson Wyatt North American co-leader of executive compensation consulting Andrew Goldstein said. For incentive pay programmes to be effective, they must be motivational and reward executives well for delivering strong performances. At the same time, compensation programmes must satisfy shareholders by safeguarding against pay for failure and excessive risk-taking. “The onus is on directors and management to achieve that balance,” Goldstein added. Most of the directors surveyed are slightly concerned about retention of high-performing executives and 70% of them expect executive pay opportunity to decline over the next two years. The survey also found that directors do not expect legislation to have a significant impact on executive pay for performance. Almost half of the directors noted that their companies have already made or are planning to make changes to their long-term incentive plan vehicles. Among these firms, 53% plan to put more emphasis on performance-based shares, and 26% plan to focus on performance-based cash plans, the report said. 30% of directors expect firms to change their performance metrics around annual bonuses this fiscal and 27% expect to change their performance metrics around long-term performance plans, Watson Wyatt added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:20 am US executive pay takes hit amid global meltdown: Watson WyattWashington: Amid changing realities pursuant to the global financial crisis, executive pay programmes of US companies are getting affected and their pay opportunity is expected to decline over the next two years, a survey says. According to leading global consulting firm Watson Wyatt, more than a third (34%) of directors said their companies had already reduced salary, target bonus and/or long-term incentive award levels, while, 6% plan to make those changes in the next six months and another 48% are considering making them. “Nearly two-thirds (63%) of outside directors said they believe American companies should modify their executive compensation programs to adapt to new economic realities,” the survey further pointed out. Commenting on the findings of the study, Watson Wyatt global Director of executive compensation consulting Ira Kay said, “Shareholders and the general public will support that directors are looking to change their executive pay programs to reflect the economic crisis. We are confident that boards will continue to hold management directly accountable for their company’s performance.” Watson Wyatt’s survey was conducted in March and April 2009 and includes responses from 85 directors. “Directors face an increasingly difficult challenge against the backdrop of a very tough economy and intense outside scrutiny,” Watson Wyatt North American co-leader of executive compensation consulting Andrew Goldstein said. For incentive pay programmes to be effective, they must be motivational and reward executives well for delivering strong performances. At the same time, compensation programmes must satisfy shareholders by safeguarding against pay for failure and excessive risk-taking. “The onus is on directors and management to achieve that balance,” Goldstein added. Most of the directors surveyed are slightly concerned about retention of high-performing executives and 70% of them expect executive pay opportunity to decline over the next two years. The survey also found that directors do not expect legislation to have a significant impact on executive pay for performance. Almost half of the directors noted that their companies have already made or are planning to make changes to their long-term incentive plan vehicles. Among these firms, 53% plan to put more emphasis on performance-based shares, and 26% plan to focus on performance-based cash plans, the report said. 30% of directors expect firms to change their performance metrics around annual bonuses this fiscal and 27% expect to change their performance metrics around long-term performance plans, Watson Wyatt added. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 9:20 am Carlsberg Q1 profit in line, expects same ‘09Copenhagen: Carlsberg, the world’s fourth-largest brewer, posted a rise in first-quarter profits that met expectations on Wednesday and said it gained market share in Eastern Europe and Asia, boosting its shares. Operating profits at the firm, which brews Tuborg, Holsten, Baltika and Kronenbourg beers as well as its own brand, rose to 788 million crowns ($142 million) as it pressed ahead with cost-cutting programmes. The headline figure compared with a year-ago 388 million and a mean forecast in a Reuters poll for 785 million. Group sales in the quarter - the slowest of the year for brewers - rose to 11.8 billion crowns from a year-ago 9.44 billion, versus an expected 12.1 billion. Carlsberg, which last year bought half of British rival Scottish and Newcastle, said markets had been challenging but repeated its outlook for full-year 2009 operating profits above 9 billion crowns and sales at around 63 billion. Beer drinking has traditionally been seen as relatively resilient to economic downturns, but conditions have become dire also for brewers in the current global crisis, and many - including Carlsberg - are cutting costs. The firm said it gained market share in its growth markets of Eastern Europe and Asia in the quarter. Its market share on its biggest, but saturated, Western European market had been unchanged. Net debt rose to 45.8 billion crowns in the quarter from 44.2 at the turn of the year. Carlsberg said it expected the Russian market to shrink by 2% this year but its market-leading Baltika brand to maintain volumes in 2009. It said Baltika grew its market share in Russia to 39.9% in the quarter, from 38.4% in 2008. Its overall market share in Russia, which accounts for about half of group operating profits, was 38.3% in 2008. The world’s second-fastest growing beer market behind China in 2002-2007 fell 1% in 2008. Carlsberg said its total beer volumes increased by 34%. World no.3 brewer Heineken, which bought the other half of S&N last year, last month posted a bigger-than-expected drop in volume of beer shipped in the quarter and said the impact and duration of the downturn remained unclear. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 8:48 am US approves Roche’s Avastin for brain cancerZurich: The US Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval for Roche Holding’s Avastin drug for the most aggressive form of brain cancer, Roche said on Wednesday. The approval comes after a US advisory panel said in March that early data for Avastin showed enough promise to be considered for quick approval for patients with an especially aggressive tumour, glioblastoma multiforme. Avastin, Roche’s most important drug that is made by its recently acquired Genentech unit, is already used to treat lung, colon and breast cancers, and annual global sales have soared to 5.2 billion Swiss francs ($4.61 billion). Roche shares were near flat percent at 143.10 Swiss francs at 0741 GMT, while the DJ Stoxx European health sector was trading 0.4% higher. The US panel said in March data from two early studies showed enough of a response in patients whose disease did not advance and some whose tumours decreased in size to warrant faster approval before the company finishes a larger trial. Glioblastoma has seen renewed public attention since US Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with the malignant tumour last year. It is one of the deadliest types of cancer, with patients surviving six to 12 months after diagnosis on average, or six months without treatment. About 10,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease each year in the United States, Roche said. Given a treatment price of about $50,000 per patient per year, ZKB analysts said in a note the approval could yield additional revenue of $500 million for Roche. Last month, Roche shares fell sharply when Avastin failed in a major study to prevent the recurrence of colon cancer in patients who have undergone surgery. Analysts had estimated that Avastin sales could more than double if the drug was found to delay progression in early-stage colon cancer. Despite the setback, Roche said Avastin could still sell 8 billion to 9 billion francs by 2011 treating advanced cancers. ZKB analysts noted that studies on Avastin in ovarian and prostate cancer were still expected this year and predicted sales growth of 30-40% despite the failed colon cancer study. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 8:30 am India Inc confident of weathering slowdownIndia Inc is confident that it can weather the slowdown, going by the findings of a recent survey by Ernst Young (EY), titled Opportunities in Adversity: India Incs response to the financial downturn.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 May 2009 | 8:23 am BoA mulls China bank stake sale to raise $34 bn capitalHong Kong: Bank of America could soon sell shares in China’s second-largest bank that could raise about a quarter of the $34 billion in additional capital it is reported to need after a government stress test. Bank of America is allowed to sell 13.5 billion shares in China Construction Bank - a 6% stake worth around $8.3 billion - when a lock-up period ends on Thursday. That would draw down BoA’s stake in the Chinese lender to 10.6%, a level CCB has already said is reasonable. Western banks are aware that selling out of Chinese banks is not always well received by Beijing politicians. CCB shares dipped 1.5% in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Three Hong Kong-based investment bankers who spoke to Reuters said it is not yet clear how much, if any, of its CCB shares BoA will sell when the lock-up ends. The bankers were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Bank of America intends to remain a long-term shareholder and strategic partner in China Construction Bank,” said BoA spokesman Scott Silvestri. Raising money by selling the CCB stake would help BoA boost its capital at a critical time for the bank, which has been deemed to need an additional $34 billion in capital after stress tests in the United States, a source familiar with the results told Reuters. “There has been healthy short selling in CCB shares in recent days so the market is factoring in a very high chance that BOA will sell part of its shares this week,” said Philip Chan, head of research at CAF Securities, the research arm of Agricultural Bank of China. “With the stress test results also due on 7 May and the market expecting BoA to raise capital there will be pressure on the management to divest some non-core assets,” he said. BoA is eligible to receive a $165 million CCB dividend if it waits until after 23 June, according to CCB’s last earnings release. In June 2005, BoA agreed to pay $3 billion for a 9% stake in CCB - a shareholding that later grew to 16.6%. The deal, like other Western banks buying into Chinese lenders, was meant to be a long-term, cross-border partnership. But the financial crisis has led several Western banks to sell their stakes in Chinese banks to raise much-needed cash. Shares in CCB have risen more than 12% so far this year, in line with rival ICBC, but underperforming a 39% jump at Bank of China. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest bank in the world by market value, while CCB is second. “BAC (Bank of America) could increase capital through sales of businesses such as FirstRepublic and Columbia and investments such as CCB,” analysts at JP Morgan wrote earlier this week. Shares in ICBC dropped 5.9% on 27 April, a day before a portion of the strategic foreign holding in the bank was freed for sale. The stock bounced right back after Allianz and American Express sold a part of their stake. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 7:09 am BoA mulls China bank stake sale to raise $34 bn capitalHong Kong: Bank of America could soon sell shares in China’s second-largest bank that could raise about a quarter of the $34 billion in additional capital it is reported to need after a government stress test. Bank of America is allowed to sell 13.5 billion shares in China Construction Bank - a 6% stake worth around $8.3 billion - when a lock-up period ends on Thursday. That would draw down BoA’s stake in the Chinese lender to 10.6%, a level CCB has already said is reasonable. Western banks are aware that selling out of Chinese banks is not always well received by Beijing politicians. CCB shares dipped 1.5% in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Three Hong Kong-based investment bankers who spoke to Reuters said it is not yet clear how much, if any, of its CCB shares BoA will sell when the lock-up ends. The bankers were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Bank of America intends to remain a long-term shareholder and strategic partner in China Construction Bank,” said BoA spokesman Scott Silvestri. Raising money by selling the CCB stake would help BoA boost its capital at a critical time for the bank, which has been deemed to need an additional $34 billion in capital after stress tests in the United States, a source familiar with the results told Reuters. “There has been healthy short selling in CCB shares in recent days so the market is factoring in a very high chance that BOA will sell part of its shares this week,” said Philip Chan, head of research at CAF Securities, the research arm of Agricultural Bank of China. “With the stress test results also due on 7 May and the market expecting BoA to raise capital there will be pressure on the management to divest some non-core assets,” he said. BoA is eligible to receive a $165 million CCB dividend if it waits until after 23 June, according to CCB’s last earnings release. In June 2005, BoA agreed to pay $3 billion for a 9% stake in CCB - a shareholding that later grew to 16.6%. The deal, like other Western banks buying into Chinese lenders, was meant to be a long-term, cross-border partnership. But the financial crisis has led several Western banks to sell their stakes in Chinese banks to raise much-needed cash. Shares in CCB have risen more than 12% so far this year, in line with rival ICBC, but underperforming a 39% jump at Bank of China. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest bank in the world by market value, while CCB is second. “BAC (Bank of America) could increase capital through sales of businesses such as FirstRepublic and Columbia and investments such as CCB,” analysts at JP Morgan wrote earlier this week. Shares in ICBC dropped 5.9% on 27 April, a day before a portion of the strategic foreign holding in the bank was freed for sale. The stock bounced right back after Allianz and American Express sold a part of their stake. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 7:09 am Markets go quiet, Sensex still downIndian equities markets were trading quiet around noon Wednesday, with a key index hovering marginally below its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 May 2009 | 7:00 am Citi may need $5-$10 bn in new capital: NY TimesNew York: Citigroup Inc may have to raise $5-$10 billion in new capital to meet a US government requirement that it holds up to $55 billion in capital, the New York Times said, citing people familiar with the matter. The US government told Citigroup Inc that it would need $50-$55 billion in capital, according to the results of government stress tests of banks, the newspaper said. Citigroup is expected to need to raise capital as insurance against any further downturn in the economy, according to the paper. The New York bank can easily cover any shortfall and is considering several options to close that gap, the paper cited Citigroup executives as saying. A Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong was not immediately available for comment. Bank of America Corp has been deemed to need as much as $34 billion in additional capital, a source familiar with the results told Reuters late on Tuesday. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 6:44 am Citi may need $5-$10 bn in new capital: NY TimesNew York: Citigroup Inc may have to raise $5-$10 billion in new capital to meet a US government requirement that it holds up to $55 billion in capital, the New York Times said, citing people familiar with the matter. The US government told Citigroup Inc that it would need $50-$55 billion in capital, according to the results of government stress tests of banks, the newspaper said. Citigroup is expected to need to raise capital as insurance against any further downturn in the economy, according to the paper. The New York bank can easily cover any shortfall and is considering several options to close that gap, the paper cited Citigroup executives as saying. A Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong was not immediately available for comment. Bank of America Corp has been deemed to need as much as $34 billion in additional capital, a source familiar with the results told Reuters late on Tuesday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 6:44 am Briton wins ‘best job in the world’ on Australian islandCanberra: British charity fundraiser Ben Southall won the “best job in the world” on Wednesday -- caretaker of an Australian tropical island -- after an innovative marketing campaign that highlighted the power of social media. Southall, 34, was picked from 16 finalists in a highly publicised contest by Tourism Queensland which attracted nearly 34,700 video entries from almost 200 countries and surpassed all expectations in promoting tourism in the Australian state.  Ben Southall from the UK smiling in Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia, on Wednesday, 6 May 2009. Bloomberg Also, if you feel like it, feed the fish, collect the mail and clean the pool -- and collect a wage of A$150,000 ($110,000). While the job itself attracted global attention, so did the campaign by the governmental Tourism Queensland as it highlighted the marketing potential of websites such as YouTube and Facebook. “This is probably the first time that a campaign has achieved this sort of reach with so little advertising spend other than a few strategically placed job ads around the world,” said Australian marketing analyst Tim Burrowes, editor of media and marketing website Mumbrella. “This has all been about the power of people passing things on, largely through YouTube. The main lesson to be learned here is that if you have an original, exciting idea that gets people talking you don’t need to spend huge on advertising.” The “Best Job in the World” campaign began in January with Tourism Queensland launching an advertising campaign centered around the lure of a job that is more like a paid holiday. Within days, the campaign went viral as applicants from all over the world sent in 60-second video applications and news of the contest spread on social networking sites. RACE FOR PROMOTION The number of applicants was reduced to a top 50 who competed to develop online followers, holding stunts to promote themselves that included scuba diving in a tank in an Amsterdam square and riding the London Tube in scuba gear. The final 16 contestants, from 15 countries, included students, journalists, TV presenters, photographers, a receptionist, radio DJ, teacher, and an actress. They also came from countries where Australia is pushing itself as a tourist destination including China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, France, Britain, the United States, Singapore and Germany. The candidates were flown to Hamilton Island last weekend and tested on a range of personal, communication and other skills with a panel of four appointed to decide the winner. Tourism Queensland has hailed the advertising campaign as an enormous success, calculating the $1.7 million spent had reaped an estimated $110 million in global publicity. “The worldwide response to Tourism Queensland’s “Best Job in the World” campaign has been nothing short of phenomenal,” said Tourism Queensland’s CEO Anthony Hayes. “The key now however is to convert the global interest raised by “The Best Job in the World” into visitors to Queensland - to bring more tourist dollars into Queensland’s economy, protect existing tourism jobs and hopefully create new ones.” Burrowes said the announcement of the winner, who starts work on 1 July, would not end the publicity. “They will have months of coverage where this person who already has a connection with the outside world will start to write blogs and be an ambassador of the islands,” he said. “The chances are this could become an annual event.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 6:38 am Equity markets slip on openingIndian equity markets opened lower Wednesday with a key index shedding about 50 points from Tuesday's close about 45 minutes into trading.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 6 May 2009 | 5:31 am Windows 7 Release Candidate goes liveSan Francisco: A nearly-final version of Windows 7 made its world debut on Tuesday, giving people a chance to tell Microsoft what they love or hate about the new-generation operating system. Microsoft is making a Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) available as the global software giant puts finishing touches on an operating system that it hopes will escape criticism heaped on its predecessor Vista. “It appears that they are on target,” said analyst Michael Cherry of private firm Directions on Microsoft, which specializes in tracking the US software giant. “I think we need to be cautious though. Windows 7 is still in development. While Microsoft is certainly moving on to the next logical milestone, this is still a test version of the operating system.” People are invited to download the software from Microsoft’s official website and install it on computers in a public test of the operating system’s capabilities. “You put it on your PC, and then do what you’d normally do,” Microsoft said in a message on the download page. “Your PC will automatically and anonymously send our engineers the information they need to verify the fixes and changes they made based on the Windows 7 Beta tests.” Microsoft’s website gives Windows 7 installation instructions and tells visitors that the RC “expires” on 1 June 2010. The RC will begin warning users in March of next year by shutting down their machines every two hours. Copies of the RC were made available to developers last week and early reviews have praised the operating system for its stability and for avoiding problems that marred Vista’s image. Complaints about Vista included that it was not compatible with some software designed for the previous-generation Windows XP operating system and that it was too much for netbooks or older computers to handle. “Windows 7 is everything that Vista should have been,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “It’s less annoying and it’s a fraction of the size. The only thing working against them is the economy; people without money aren’t going to buy no matter how good the product.” Enthusiastic early reviews of Windows 7 are stoking speculation that Microsoft will release a final version of the new operating system in time for the year-end holiday shopping season. “It makes sense that Microsoft should have it pre-Christmas,” Cherry said of Windows 7. “I think you need to keep in mind that if something comes up in testing they are going to take the delay and get it right. Microsoft doesn’t need a problem on their hands.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 6 May 2009 | 5:15 am Mobile Marketing Association launches India Chapter - TelecomTiger
Source: Google News India - Business | 6 May 2009 | 3:12 am IT cos recall employees from ‘virtual bench’Mumbai, May 5 Mastek and Hexaware Technologies have collectively recalled nearly 90 employees from the ‘virtual bench’ that each company had created for its non-billable staff.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Outbound travel to US, Europe may be hit, say travel agentsBangalore, May 5 Though it is too early to gauge the impact of the swine flu on the travel industry, it’s the timing of this ‘pandemic scare’ that has irked travel agents.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Sugar prices may stay high despite weak demandMumbai, May 5 Sugar prices may continue to rule high in the ensuing monsoon season despite the projected fall in demand from cola and ice-cream makers. Sugar production is expected to drop to 15 million tonnes (mt) in the season ending September,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Realty rally surprises analystsMumbai, May 5 Realty stocks continued their upward journey on Tuesday as the sectoral index on the BSE surged 8.45 per cent even when the Sensex ended on a flat note.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Maytas Infra draft debt recast scheme readyNew Delhi, May 5 Maytas Infra Ltd said on Tuesday that it has worked out a draft Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) plan, which will now be fine-tuned by consultant SBI Caps after discussion with 17 existing lenders. The details of the CDRSource: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Obama’s tax plan weighs on Indian IT vendorsNew Delhi/Bangalore, May 5 The changes being proposed by the US to its tax code could eventually lead to a squeeze on the margins of Indian IT service providers, as also force some American tech firms to move jobs back to the US from captivesSource: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideInitiate fresh long-position if DLF exceeds Rs 272, with tight stop-loss. In the last session, ICICI Bank rallied in line with our prior anticipation. We re-affirm our buy. On the other hand SBISource: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Medium term uptrend in rupeeRupee reversed from the trough of 50.5 against the dollar and rallied to 49.3. Deluge of foreign institutional inflows of over $1.3 billion in the month of April helped the currency move higher. Weakness in dollar was the other factor that aidedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am Mutual funds’ asset base swells 11.5% in AprilMumbai, May 5 The mutual fund industry has recorded an 11.5 per cent growth in asset base in April, most of it due to large inflows from banks into short-term liquid schemes.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am GMDC (Rs 58.40): BuyWe recommend a buy in the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) stock from a short-term perspective. It is apparent from the charts of GMDC that it has been on a medium-term uptrend since the March low of Rs 31. The stock has beenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 6 May 2009 | 12:00 am There is no way you can bet against US and win: BuffettOmaha, Nebraska: CNBC’s Becky Quick sat down with Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., on Monday morning. She threw him the day’s business headlines and got him to give his opinion on the news that had come in over the weekend. Edited excerpts:  Timing it right: Berkshire Hathaway’s Buffett says the best time to buy is when business is lousy and adds that he made a killing in 1954. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg I brought five-six newspapers to give you a quick quiz off some of these. The funny thing I saw was depending on which paper you pick up, which headline you read, some people say you are very optimistic about the future, the others say you are very concerned. What’s the right take? Maybe they both have got it right. I am 100% enormously optimistic about the future of this country all the time. I mean there is no way you can bet against America and win. But in the short term, things are going to be tough for a while and we see no real pick-up in whole variety of businesses we have. I don’t know if they will be doing fine in three months, six months, two years, but I know they will be doing fine in the next five years. Today (Monday) was supposed to be the day that we would be getting the stress test results. You own stakes in three out of the 19 banks that are going through the stress test—Wells Fargo, SunTrust and US Bank Corp. Do you know the outcome of the stress test results for any of them? No. In the past, you have said that you have done your own stress tests. Yeah sure, we have got our own money in them. We know the business model of two of those three quiet well, the third I don’t know that well. Which do you know well? I know US Bancorp, Wells Fargo. I don’t know the business model of SunTrust that well, so I can’t talk about Sun Trust intelligently. I can tell you that US Bancorp and Wells Fargo are extremely strong banks and they have terrific earning power. You couldn’t have better banks virtually positioned than those two for future earnings. Things could get a lot worse and those companies would come through fine. Does that mean you don’t think the government would make them raise additional funds? Or once things wind up in Washington, you don’t know what’s going to happen? I don’t know what’s going to happen. Chrysler is obviously at this point in bankruptcy. What are some of the aftershocks and effects and some of the unintended consequences that could come up in putting Chrysler in bankruptcy and then what happens to GM? Well, it is tough to be in bankruptcy. If you are not in there very long, then there’s hope for everybody. If they are out in 60 days or something like that, the disruption is less. But it obviously worries dealers, worries consumers. It’s very important for Chrysler to get out of bankruptcy very quickly and that depends on the bankruptcy judge. We have the jobs data that is coming up on Friday. It is hard to say what exactly happens there if that number falls below 500,000. I believe the estimate would be somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 jobs that have been stripped from the economy again over that last month. If it is below 500,0000, is it too soon to start celebrating that we are reaching the end? Yes, it will be too soon. We are not reaching the end yet, but at some point we are going to reach the end. I don’t know when that will be, but I know that the American economy is very slow and at the moment it’s getting slower. That will turn, but I can’t predict when. I hope it’s very soon. In another story over the weekend, Ron Baron was interviewed. He said that this is the most attractive time of his lifetime to be an investor. Would you agree with that? I would say it’s among the most attractive. In 1974, the stocks were far cheaper though. Incidentally, the best year the Dow (Jones) and the S&P (Standard and Poor’s) has ever had in my investing lifetime was in the year of a recession—in 1954. So you don’t want to not buy stocks because the business is lousy at that time. That might be the very best time to buy the stocks. In 1954, the Dow was up 50% and the country was in a recession, it was the best year I ever had in my life. I have had other good years in a recession. It’s a big mistake to say that business is bad, therefore, I shouldn’t buy stocks. That usually is the time to buy stocks, and when everything is wonderful, it is not usually a good time to buy stocks. The story today in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ about how AIG (American International Group Inc.) is close to the sale of its Japanese headquarters building for about a billion dollars. This is significant because it shows the kind of decline of AIG. You know AIG well, you know Hank Greenberg. What you think about what has happened to AIG in the course of last few years? It’s a tragedy. It started with the financial products business. They had a black box and the black box delivered little numbers to them that they loved quarter by quarter. And then somebody looked into the black box and they found out that there was a little black hole. I was there in September when they thought their problems were... $18 billion (Rs89,460 crore today) I think was the exact number...and they had really no concept on how big the troubles were, and it was a huge, huge black hole and they were making bets they didn’t understand. cnbctv18@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 May 2009 | 7:51 pm Obama's tax plan could push up outsourcing cost 50%American firms could see a 50% rise in the cost of outsourcing business processes to India if US President Barack Obama's new tax proposals are accepted.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:22 pm US economy to turn around in 2009: Fed chiefWashington: Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the recession-hit US economy could rebound this year but warned of more ‘sizable’ job losses and a still-fragile financial system. “We continue to expect economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year,” he said. He said that the key elements of his forecast were assessments that the housing market, at the epicenter of global financial turmoil, and consumer spending was beginning to stabilize. He said: “The recent data suggested that the pace of economic contraction might be slowing, including some tentative signs that final demand, especially demand by households, may be stabilizing.” Despite significant progress seen in financial markets in recent weeks, Bernanke cautioned that financial institutions remained ‘under considerable stress’. He cited declines in asset prices, tight credit conditions and high levels of risk aversion, saying they continued to weigh on the economy. “A relapse in financial conditions would be a significant drag on economic activity and could cause the incipient recovery to stall,” he warned ahead of results to be released Thursday from ‘stress tests’ conducted by authorities on 19 top banks. News reports said that 10 of the 19 banks subject to the tests might need to raise more capital and those affected could include banking giants Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup. When pressed by a lawmaker, Bernanke refused to disclose the test results but said that many US banks needing fresh capital would be able to meet their needs through the market without further government support. The stress tests will cap a period of suspense that began when President Barack Obama’s administration unveiled in February its overhaul of a program to restore stability to the financial system of the world’s largest economy. US entered into recession in December 2007 following a home mortgage meltdown that triggered a credit crunch and financial turmoil across the globe. US economic growth contracted a massive 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009 after a 6.3% slide in the previous quarter but emerging government and private data clearly showed that the recession is easing. Bernanke said that the decline in foreign economic activity might also be moderating, with investor sentiment and the functioning of financial markets abroad having improved somewhat. Analysts noted that Bernanke devoted a considerable portion of his testimony to conditions in financial markets. “Despite the notable progress in recent weeks in the financial markets, the Fed remains extremely concerned about tight credit conditions, and the persistence of concerns about the stability of the banking industry,” said Brian Bethune of IHS Global Insight. Bethune said that by implementing the stress test program to establish significant capital buffers for US banks. “The Fed is hoping to substantially mitigate one of the major downside risks to the outlook,” he said. Bernanke cautioned that even after a recovery got underway, the rate of growth of real economic activity was likely to remain below its longer-run potential for a while. “We expect that the recovery will only gradually gain momentum and that economic slack will diminish slowly,” he said. “In particular, businesses are likely to be cautious about hiring, implying that the unemployment rate could remain high for a time, even after economic growth resumes,” he explained. “The most recent information on the labor market — the number of new and continuing claims for unemployment insurance through late April — suggested that we are likely to see further sizable job losses and increased unemployment in coming months,” Bernanke said. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 May 2009 | 7:16 pm Indian IT industry may be price-competitiveIndia's home grown IT companies actually have something to cheer from Obama's tax plan. The plan, if it goes through, will make the likes of TCS, Infosys and Wipro more price competitive against their US counterparts like IBM, HP and Accenture.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:10 pm Offshoring wont be impacted: IndustryIf one is to go by the general reaction of the Indian IT industry to US president Barack Obama's tax proposals, all's still well; the phenomenon of outsourcing has an independent momentum and there's little anybody can do to change that trend.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:08 pm Kingfisher seeks Rs 2000cr loan from SBIVijay Mallya-run Kingfisher Airlines is understood to be finalising a working capital loan of over Rs 2,000 crore from SBI, mainly aimed at clearing its fuel bills.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:05 pm Maytas Infra open to stake saleMaytas Infra, promoted by the sons of Satyam's disgraced founder Ramalinga Raju, is open to stake or asset sale to raise funds, required to implement on-going projects.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:03 pm 'Cos see 10% biz growth in '09-10'According to the survey, 'Opportunities in Adversity: India Inc's response to the financial downturn', 46% of the respondents were confident of achieving at least 10% business growth in 2009-10.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 May 2009 | 7:00 pm Cognizant, Genpact raise hope amid the IT gloomThough domestic IT majors like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies painted a gloomy picture of the IT sector in the coming quarters, technology bellwether Cognizant Technology Solutions and Genpact, Indias largest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm, not only posted better results but have also given decent guidance to the markets.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 May 2009 | 6:49 pm Maytas Infra to raise Rs 800-1,000 croreTargets asset sales, bank guarantees.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 May 2009 | 6:45 pm Pfizer sues Sun, Wockhardt, Lupin in USFiles patent infringement suits against generic versions of best-selling nerve drug.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 May 2009 | 6:43 pm Obama stand on outsourcing is politics, says US expertUS President Barack Obama's announcement to end tax sops to those US firms outsourcing jobs to countries like India has come under flak from Phil Harkins, a leading US management expert and chief executive of Linkage Inc, a global firm specialising in leadership developmentSource: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 May 2009 | 4:03 pm Producer-multiplex revenue sharing talks end in stalemateA Bollywood film producers and multiplex owners meeting Tuesday ended in a deadlock over revenue sharing row.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 May 2009 | 4:03 pm Airlines get notices for flouting Election Commission normsThe Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued notices to private aviation companies for flouting norms on the use of choppers and private aircraft during the election campaign, a top official said here Tuesday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 May 2009 | 2:33 pm Air Works defends itself in Ambani chopper sabotage caseAircraft maintenance firm Air Works Tuesday said it was because of its security procedure that the attempt by two of its employees to sabotage industrialist Anil Ambani's chopper was detected in advance.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 May 2009 | 2:32 pm Rupee shoots up to 49.30 against dollarIndia's rupee Tuesday shot up 62 paise to close at a two-and-a-half month high of 49.30/31 against the US dollar, thanks to sustained capital inflows and the recent rise in the equities markets.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 5 May 2009 | 2:31 pm About 10 US stress test banks to need more capitalWashington: About 10 of the 19 largest US banks being stress tested will be instructed by regulators to raise more capital, according to a source familiar with official talks. The banks have been negotiating with their regulators about the depth of their capital needs, should the recession prove to be deeper and longer than anticipated. Markets have been anxiously anticipating the results, which will differentiate the strongest banks from those still expected to sustain considerable credit losses. The exact roster of banks needing to build their capital positions is still unclear. Banks are expected to be briefed on the official results on Tuesday. The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department will also tell them how policymakers plan to publicly unveil the market-sensitive results, the source said, speaking anonymously because the discussions are private. The Treasury and Fed declined to comment on how many banks will be directed to raise more capital. The largest US banks have spent recent days making the case to regulators that they have the financial firepower to withstand a deeper recession, as Bank of America on Monday denied a report it was trying to raise capital of $10 billion. Some industry insiders worry the stress test results come at a time when the sector is starting to see positive effects from some surprisingly strong first-quarter earnings figures. “I think the great risk there is that you create some new uncertainty and concerns at the very time the financial condition of the banking industry is turning for the better,” Wayne Abernathy, an executive at the American Bankers Association and a former Treasury official said earlier on Monday. Banks found to be in need of more capital will have to embark on a recovery plan that could involve converting preferred stock, raising fresh private capital, or accepting government help - assistance which comes with close scrutiny from Congress that will certainly be unwelcome on Wall Street. Banks found to need capital will likely want to lay out capital-raising plans quickly to avoid being punished by panicky investors, although regulators won’t require them to put a plan on the table immediately. The emphasis will be placed on raising capital from within or private outlets. Pouring more public money into banks would put political pressure on President Barack Obama, whose administration is keen to avoid asking lawmakers to approve more bailout money for shortfalls that some analysts think may reach $150 billion. The Treasury could soon have more funds on hand to infuse into weaker institutions, as officials estimate that stronger banks will return at least $25 billion doled out from the government’s financial rescue fund. However, they want to ensure enough capital remains in the system as a whole. Policymakers are expected to soon lay out conditions banks would need to meet to return funds. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday said that the administration does not see a need to ask the US Congress for additional funds to support banks, and that the banks will be encouraged to seek extra funds through private sources. “I think everyone involved will be looking for banks to raise this through either private means or the selling of some assets that they have or that they control,” Gibbs said. He also said that the banks themselves will determine which steps they will take to raise capital. ”They’ll have a certain amount of time to put together a plan that meets ... the test of regulators to ensure that stability,” Gibbs told reporters. Some banks have complained that regulators were too harsh in their assessment over how much of a buffer they need to absorb future losses, and were underestimating profitability. Bot so bad? Bank of America Corp shares rose more than 19% after it denied a Financial Times report that it was working on plans to raise fresh funds to fill a $10 billion capital hole. The KBW Banks index, which includes about two dozen large banks including Bank of America, rose almost 15%. But investors remained on edge as Thursday’s deadline neared. The Associated Press reported that Wells Fargo was asked to raise more capital after its stress test. Citigroup has also been identified as a bank needing to raise its capital buffer. The firm will need to boost its common equity by up to $10 billion, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan did not immediately respond late on Monday to a request for comment. An official from Citigroup declined comment. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it may lower the counterparty credit ratings of 22 financial firms - including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup - based on results of its own stress testing. “These rating actions identify companies that we believe have at least a one-in-two likelihood of a ... downgrade within 90 days,” S&P said in a statement. ”That said, we believe that most rated institutions will be able to earn their way out of these credit losses during the cycle.” As analysts crunched their own numbers, at least one found that balance sheets may not be in as bad shape as feared. David Trone, a Fox-Pitt Kelton bank analyst, said he expected Thursday’s results to show a few banks were in need of more capital, although the shortfalls would probably be modest and “bank stocks won’t collapse.” The US Federal Reserve and other regulators have spent the past few weeks poring over holdings of the 19 largest banks, examining real estate and other assets that have lost significant value as the housing market crashed. The process aimed to gauge how banks would hold up if the economy were to continue its steep descent and home prices fell another 22% this year and 7% in 2010. The institutions undergoing stress tests include Citigroup Inc, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, MetLife Inc, Wells Fargo & Co, PNC Financial Services Group Inc, US Bancorp, Bank of NY Mellon Corp, SunTrust Banks Inc, State Street Corp, Capital One Financial Corp, BB&T Corp, Regions Financial Corp, American Express Co, Fifth Third Bancorp, KeyCorp and GMAC LLC. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 May 2009 | 12:01 pm
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