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Adhunik Metaliks raises Rs 137cr via QIPIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Arun Kedia, CFO of Adhunik Metaliks, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 8:23 am Vodafone seeks extension for India tax claim replyVodafone seeks extension for India tax claim replySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am Gammon Infra gets Rs 8.5 bln order from NHAIGammon Infrastructure Projects said on Friday it received an order worth Rs 8.5 billion from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for upgradation work in Bihar.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am Sony to launch new online service in 2010Sony Corporation said on Friday that its planned entertainment content distribution service for networkcompatible TVs and other devices will be launched next year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am Consolidation in PSU banking space: A reviewThe Finance Ministry plans to meet the management and unions of smaller public sector banks regarding consolidation in the banking space, sources told NewsWire18. Ashwin Parekh, PartnerNational Leader, Global Financial Services, Ernst Young, says the government has serious intentions of consolidating banks.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 7:54 am Peninsula Land gets 2.75 bln rupees from Alok RealtorsPeninsula Land has got Rs 2.75 billion from Alok Realtors for sale of property.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 am Bharti Airtel cuts mobile roaming chargesBharti Airtel, India\'s top mobile operator, said on Friday it had launched a new bill plan that would reduce mobile roaming rates by nearly 60%.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 6:47 am See volatile shipping mkts in next 2 yrs: Essar ShippingIn an interview with CNBCTV18, V Ashok, Director and Chief Financial Officer of Essar Shipping, spoke about the shipping business.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am DuPont sees revenue growth from solar rising 2030%Chemicals maker DuPont said revenue growth from its solar power business could accelerate above 20 to 30%, fuelled by demand for the clean energy, a top executive told Reuters on the sidelines of an economic forum in Guangzhou on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am Sugar row accentuates India\'s political fragilityThe routine reopening of the parliament has suddenly emerged as an awkward test for the Congressled government\'s ability to push reforms such as price deregulation in the face of opposition from its rural base.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:52 am GE, Vivendi $1 bn apart over NBC Universal stake: Report!General Electric (GE.N) and Vivendi (VIV.PA) are at least $1 billion apart in their valuation of the French group`s stake in NBC Universal, the Financial Times has reported.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am US lawmakers threaten China sanctions over currency!US lawmakers criticized US President Barack Obama`s administration Thursday for not pressuring China enough over its rigid currency as they set the stage for slapping import duties on Chinese goods.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Pantaloon Retail to raise Rs 500 cr via QIP!India`s largest retailer, Pantaloon Retail (India), Friday said it will raise Rs 500 crore by way of private placement of shares with qualified institutional buyers.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Oil prices up in Asian trade but still below $78!Oil rose in Asian trade Friday as investors bought the commodity at more attractive prices, but concerns over the strength of the global economic recovery has injected caution into the market.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am OECD urges action as Britain`s debt mounts!The OECD urged action on Thursday as new data showed Britain plunging ever deeper into debt, one day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged a new law to fix public finances.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am GM analyst predicts solid November US sales!US auto sales could top an annual rate of 10.8 million in November, General Motors Co.`s top sales analyst has said.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Russia, Ukraine reach gas compromise deal: Putin!Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced late Thursday a compromise deal with Ukraine on the thorny issue of gas supply, lessening the threat of multibillion-dollar fines that might cripple Ukraine`s economy.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Dell Q3 profit plunges 54%, shares drop!Dell Inc`s quarterly profit plunged 54 percent on lower-than-expected sales as it lost market share to competitors engaged in a budding price war in the PC market.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am Raja asks telcos to cut SMS charges!Telecom Minister A Raja today asked mobile operators to cut SMS charges on the lines of one paisa per second tariff for voice calls.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am RBI asks money changers to report suspicious deals in 7 days!To prevent money laundering, the Reserve Bank on Thursday asked money changers to furnish report of all suspicious transactions within seven days to the financial intelligence unit-India (FIU-IND).Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am How India cane farmers' protests affect the sugar sector - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:30 am Sensex ends above 17000; ACC, Hindalco, M&M gain - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:20 am Fund flows rush to emerging mkts, commodities - EPFRHONG KONG (Reuters) - Investors pumped money into emerging market assets and commodities to diversify away from a weak dollar in the week ending Nov. 18, but U.S. equity funds also saw solid inflows on hopes for economic recovery, fund tracker EPFR Global said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am EBay completes sale of SkypeEBay Inc said on Thursday it had completed its sale of its Skype unit, as it had vowed to do before the end of the year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:15 am Adhunik Metaliks raises Rs 137cr via QIP - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:10 am BSE Sensex provisionally closes up 1.5 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex erased early losses and provisionally rose 1.5 percent on Friday, with banks and Reliance Industries leading the gains, as investor confidence was helped by higher European markets.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:09 am Govt won't tax capital inflows: Ahluwalia - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:05 am Disinvest, use money for green assets: Finance Commission chiefThe government should sell off half its public sector undertakings and use the $200 billion it will thus make to build environmental assets, 13th Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar said here Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:03 am India should aim at $300-bn export target by 2014: AssochamIndia must set an export target of $300 billion by 2014 as global economies would recover by then, says the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:02 am Bihar's per capita energy consumption lowest: ReportBihar's per capita energy consumption is the lowest in the country and the government's rural electrification campaign is a 'failure', according to a report by the Greenpeace India Society.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:02 am India's ICICI Bank lowers yld in bond sale -source - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:02 am Damaged property, business loss bear testimony to farmers' protestSugarcane stems and broken dustbins at Janpath market in the heart of the capital Friday bore testimony to the vandalism by farmers, a day after nearly 30,000 of them descended here from Uttar Pradesh to protest the new sugarcane pricing policy.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am TV18 to save 650 mln rupees annually through mergerMUMBAI (Reuters) - Network18 Media & Investments Ltd said on Friday group firm, Television Eighteen India Ltd will merge broadcast operations of two of its channels that will save 650 million rupees annually.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:55 am India gold buying cools off after new recordsDealers said traders were stationed on the sidelines seeking lower prices to stock for the ongoing wedding season.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:54 am Bharti Airtel slashes mobile roaming charges, shares fallNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel launched yet another new billing plan on Friday, slashing mobile roaming rates by nearly 60 percent and signalling a tariff war in the world's fastest-growing wireless market was far from over.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:50 am Bharti Airtel slashes mobile roaming charges;shares fallThe price war, aimed at grabbing new users ahead of fresh entrants waiting in the wings, has raised concerns about the telecom firms' profitability.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:47 am Govt to change new sugarcane pricing rule - minNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has agreed to change a new sugarcane pricing rule, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters after a meeting of senior government ministers on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:31 am Gold buying cools off after new records - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:28 am U.S. Senate nears first healthcare voteWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Senate geared up for a fierce battle over a new healthcare reform plan on Thursday as Republicans condemned the bill's price tag and tax hikes before the first crucial test vote on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:21 am Indian rupee largely steady; stock gains help - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:13 am US November auto sales could top 11 mln annual rate - GMUS auto industry sales could exceed an 11 million vehicle annualized rate in November with signs the economy has continued to strengthen.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:11 am Consumer firms hike ad spend, margin threat loomsMumbai: Consumer firms in India are raising advertising and promotional spends this fiscal to lure shoppers and garner volumes but margin pressure due to rising costs may spoil the party. “There is certainly a pick-up in sentiment... and with the release of money, advertising volumes are following,” Naveen Talreja, senior vice-president, Ogilvy & Mather India, said. While Hindustan Unilever Ltd, India’s top consumer goods maker, raised its ad spend by 38% in the September quarter from the same period a year earlier, smaller rival Marico Ltd increased it by 60% and Godrej Consumer Products Ltd more than doubled its spend. “Our ad-spend this year will be almost 40-50% higher than last year. We are focusing on our three main brands-Godrej No 1, Cinthol and our hair colour portfolio,” said V. Suresh, vice-president, marketing, Godrej Consumer. Paints maker Kansai Nerolac is also raising ad-spend in FY10 by upto Rs100 million. Last year it spend Rs500 million on advertising. With a sharp correction in raw material prices after they surged through the roof and having raised prices to boost sales last year, companies are reinvesting a portion of their high margins on brand building this fiscal. “FMCG companies would not like to retain all of their gains, so they are increasing the promotion, ad spends to get more customers,” said Anand Shah, an analyst with Angel Broking. “This year due to high gross margin expansion they are reinvesting certain portion of their gains on ad spends.” This trend also holds true for consumer durable makers. “We are beginning to see growth come back and we are beginning to spend more,” Shantanu Dasgupta, vice-president, corporate affairs and strategy, Whirlpool of India Ltd, said. “This year we are going to spend 10-15% more than last year,” he said. Mirc Electronics which sells the ‘Onida’ brand of products has doubled ad spend to 1 billion rupees this fiscal, Sriram Krishnamurthy, vice-president, sales and marketing, said. The firm is relaunching its brands by promoting a new brand mascot in place of its iconic ‘devil´, which helped popularise the campaign “Neighbour’s Envy Owner’s Pride”. Margins may play spoiler Although firms are bullish on their consumer strategy, analysts say the growth story does not seem as promising going ahead for consumer staples makers as input costs have started rising again, which is likely to put pressure on margins. “Raw material costs are beginning to rise again with major commodities like oil already recovering... and other agribased commodities expected to see inflation,” an analyst with the Noble Group said. “This will result in the gross margin gains of the past few months unwinding with a number of FMCG companies reporting year-on-year increase in ad spend,” he added. This fiscal may also be a one-off in terms of high advertising budgets, which companies may be forced to trim in the coming year to safeguard margins. “For the last 2-3 quarters they have had significant gross margin expansion due to the fall in input costs. Because of that leeway they had increased ad spends,” said Angel Broking’s Shah. “That strategy has worked so far. Going ahead if they see any pressure in terms of margins because of input costs again rising then they will cut ad spends next year,” he added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:07 am Consumer firms hike ad spend, margin threat loomsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Consumer firms in India are raising advertising and promotional spends this fiscal to lure shoppers and garner volumes but margin pressure due to rising costs may spoil the party.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am Cox and Kings IPO closes today, subscribed 3.5 times - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 2:01 am Govt won’t tax capital inflows: MontekNew Delhi: The government is not considering imposing a tax to curb an influx in overseas funds, and indeed wants an increase in inflows, the deputy chairman of the planning commission said on Friday. Foreign investors have so far bought more than $15 billion of local equities in 2009, after selling $13 billion in 2008, helping send Indian stocks up about 75% and lifting the rupee to its highest in more than a year. Brazil and Taiwan have taken steps to curb hot money inflows, and other governments are keeping a watchful eye on inflows, wary that they could fuel asset price bubbles. “It (capital flows) is rising but we want it to rise a little bit more,” Montek Singh Ahluwalia told Reuters when asked whether government was considering restrictions on capital flows. Asked if there was a possibility of India imposing a tax to curb capital flows, he said, “I will certainly not.” Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a government body that advises on key economic issues, said foreign funds were needed for developing infrastructure such as road projects and were unlikely to create asset price bubbles. “Bubbles only happen if you can’t use the money productively. We should be able to use it productively,” he said outside his office. India has said it needs to invest $500 billion on infrastructure over the five years to 2012. “So I do not anticipate any asset bubbles,” he said. Economists, however, have said the government may need to impose restrictions on capital flows at some point to head off volatility in the stock and commodity markets. “The government is not likely to do it (impose tax) in a hurry, but, considering the steps taken by other emerging markets and the impact on the economy, it cannot be ruled out,” said Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank, India’s second largest private sector lender. He said flow of funds could become a “real problem” by next year, and India would perhaps have no other option but to impose restrictions. “The imposition of tax will not affect the long-term flow of funds, as a tax could be considered on flow of short-term non-FDI funds and restrictions on overseas borrowings,” he said. On Thursday, finance secretary Ashok Chawla said the government was not considering a cap on overseas borrowings and would see how the situation evolved before considering what needs to be done. The Reserve bank of India (RBI) has said there was a risk that if it raised interest rates ahead of other central banks, it could attract more inflows and complicate policymaking. India and South Korea are expected to be among the first Group of 20 nations, after Australia, to begin raising interest rates as they recover from the global financial crisis. Higher capital inflows have resulted in currency appreciation mainly in Asia and Latin America, prompting central banks contemplate a range of measures to hold back the tide. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:39 am INTERVIEW - Govt won't tax capital inflows - officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is not considering imposing a tax to curb an influx in overseas funds, and indeed wants an increase in inflows, the deputy chairman of the government's planning commission said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:36 am China, India add big buzz to wireless broadbandHONG KONG (Reuters) - The launch of 3G in China and India by the likes of China Mobile and Bharti Airtel could boost wireless broadband worldwide, sparking a boom in new offerings as millions of users sign up for services.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am Wall Street drops on recovery concerns, tech routUS stocks slid on Thursday as another batch of economic data pointed to the fragility of the recovery.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:30 am Dell results miss expectations, shares dropDell Inc's quarterly profit plunged 54 percent on lower-than-expected revenue as its sales to large businesses suffered, driving its shares down 6 percent.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:25 am Sugar row underscores political fragilityNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The routine reopening of the parliament has suddenly emerged as an awkward test for the Congress-led government's ability to push reforms such as price deregulation in the face of opposition from its rural base.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:22 am Suzlon sees better financial situation for company in FY11 - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:15 am Google PCs to start as televisions; in 7 seconds or lessCalifornia: New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web. Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after declaring its intention of developing the PC’s main software, a move that pits it directly against Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc. True to Google’s Internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google’s ambition to drive people to the Web -- where they can see Google ads. Google said the software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on low-cost netbooks that meet Google’s hardware specifications, such as using only memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives, the current standard. Netbooks running Chrome OS will only be able to run Web applications and the user’s data will automatically be stored on the Web in the so-called cloud of Internet servers, Google executives said at an event at the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters on Thursday. “It’s basically a Web browsing machine,” said Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li, referring to the netbooks powered by Chrome OS. Such a machine is made for a world of near-constant, extremely fast Web connection, without the type of software that made Microsoft famous, since most of the work would be done by big machines on the Web which take directions and send information to relatively uncomplicated devices like a Chrome PC. Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management for Google’s Chrome OS, said that computers running Chrome OS will be able to start in less than seven seconds. “From the time you press boot you want it to be like a TV: You turn it on and you should be on the Web using your applications,” Pichai said. Google said it is giving away the software for free, similar to its Android smartphone software, with the idea that improving the Web experience will ultimately benefit its Internet search advertising business, which generated roughly $22 billion in revenue in 2008. “They’re doing it to get further and further entrenched in whatever people are doing to go online, whether that’s a browser, an operating system or in applications,” said Todd Greenwald, an analyst with Signal Hill Group. “If Chrome is the OS then the attach (access) rate on Google searches will be a lot higher,” he said. But analysts noted that the differences between conventional PCs and Chrome OS netbooks might give some consumers pause. “If they view it from the conventional perspective, then it falls short,” Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said of Chrome OS, citing its lack of compatibility with traditional software and its limited offline capabilities. Google officials said Chrome OS netbooks will be able to provide some functions when offline, but that the product was primarily designed to be connected to the Internet. But Valdes said if Google can deliver on the products’ promises, such as fast performance, then consumers may view Chrome OS netbooks as distinct class of products with attractive benefits. “I think that it’s initially going to appeal to small subset of the general consumer population,” said Valdes. “The question is can they build on that and expand that over time.” Google made the computer code for the Chrome OS available to outside developers on Thursday, allowing developers to tinker with the software and potentially design new applications to run alongside it. With Chrome, Google is seeking to challenge the dominance of Microsoft Corp’s Windows, which runs on nine out of 10 personal computers. The Chrome OS also challenges makers of traditional, desktop software, including Microsoft and its lucrative Office suite of productivity software, since Chrome OS only runs Web applications. Google’s Pichai, noted during a demonstration on Thursday, that Chrome OS-based PCs would be interoperable with Web-based versions of software, such as Microsoft’s online version of its Excel spreadsheet. Google said all data in Chrome will automatically be housed in the so-called cloud, or on external servers, but also cached on the computer’s internal hardware to boost performance. If a person loses their netbook, Google Engineering director Matt Papakipos explained, they can buy a new one, log in and within seconds have a machine with access to all the same data as their previous device. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am Google PCs to start as televisions; in 7 seconds or lessCalifornia: New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web. Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after declaring its intention of developing the PC’s main software, a move that pits it directly against Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc. True to Google’s Internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google’s ambition to drive people to the Web -- where they can see Google ads. Google said the software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on low-cost netbooks that meet Google’s hardware specifications, such as using only memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives, the current standard. Netbooks running Chrome OS will only be able to run Web applications and the user’s data will automatically be stored on the Web in the so-called cloud of Internet servers, Google executives said at an event at the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters on Thursday. “It’s basically a Web browsing machine,” said Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li, referring to the netbooks powered by Chrome OS. Such a machine is made for a world of near-constant, extremely fast Web connection, without the type of software that made Microsoft famous, since most of the work would be done by big machines on the Web which take directions and send information to relatively uncomplicated devices like a Chrome PC. Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management for Google’s Chrome OS, said that computers running Chrome OS will be able to start in less than seven seconds. “From the time you press boot you want it to be like a TV: You turn it on and you should be on the Web using your applications,” Pichai said. Google said it is giving away the software for free, similar to its Android smartphone software, with the idea that improving the Web experience will ultimately benefit its Internet search advertising business, which generated roughly $22 billion in revenue in 2008. “They’re doing it to get further and further entrenched in whatever people are doing to go online, whether that’s a browser, an operating system or in applications,” said Todd Greenwald, an analyst with Signal Hill Group. “If Chrome is the OS then the attach (access) rate on Google searches will be a lot higher,” he said. But analysts noted that the differences between conventional PCs and Chrome OS netbooks might give some consumers pause. “If they view it from the conventional perspective, then it falls short,” Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said of Chrome OS, citing its lack of compatibility with traditional software and its limited offline capabilities. Google officials said Chrome OS netbooks will be able to provide some functions when offline, but that the product was primarily designed to be connected to the Internet. But Valdes said if Google can deliver on the products’ promises, such as fast performance, then consumers may view Chrome OS netbooks as distinct class of products with attractive benefits. “I think that it’s initially going to appeal to small subset of the general consumer population,” said Valdes. “The question is can they build on that and expand that over time.” Google made the computer code for the Chrome OS available to outside developers on Thursday, allowing developers to tinker with the software and potentially design new applications to run alongside it. With Chrome, Google is seeking to challenge the dominance of Microsoft Corp’s Windows, which runs on nine out of 10 personal computers. The Chrome OS also challenges makers of traditional, desktop software, including Microsoft and its lucrative Office suite of productivity software, since Chrome OS only runs Web applications. Google’s Pichai, noted during a demonstration on Thursday, that Chrome OS-based PCs would be interoperable with Web-based versions of software, such as Microsoft’s online version of its Excel spreadsheet. Google said all data in Chrome will automatically be housed in the so-called cloud, or on external servers, but also cached on the computer’s internal hardware to boost performance. If a person loses their netbook, Google Engineering director Matt Papakipos explained, they can buy a new one, log in and within seconds have a machine with access to all the same data as their previous device. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am Bihar villagers now get green electricityA technology that converts rice husk into electricity is gaining ground in Bihar. Some 100,000 households in the state already use electricity produced from biomass and their number is steadily growing.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:03 am Lok Sabha adjourned over sugarcane pricesThe Lok Sabha was adjourned until noon Friday after opposition members disrupted the proceedings demanding a better deal for sugarcane farmers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:03 am Government help for rubber sector inadequate: Rubber Board chiefThe government's allocation for the natural rubber sector is not enough for expanding the area under cultivation or enhancing production, according to Rubber Board of India chairman Sajen Peter.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am Sensex volatile, ruling 0.61 percent in redA benchmark index of the Indian equities markets was trading on a volatile note a little after Friday noon and was down 0.61 percent from its previous closing figure.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am Parliament adjourned till Monday as sugarcane row continuesWork in both houses of parliament stalled for the second consecutive day Friday with opposition members stirring up a massive row over sugarcane prices and demanding a better deal for farmers.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 20 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am Google PC will start in seven seconds or lessNew Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:26 am Suzlon sells 35.22% in Hansen for Rs1,700 crMumbai: Wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy on Friday said it has sold 35.22% stake in Belgian firm Hansen Transmissions for $370 million (about Rs1,700 crore). Suzlon through its Netherlands-based subsidiary AE-Rotor Holding BV, has sold 236 million depository interests, representing equity shares in Hansen, Suzlon said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Post the sell-off Suzlon’s holding in Hansen has come down to 174.63 million shares or 26.06% stake, from the earlier 61%. The company sold Hansen shares at 95 pence, which is significantly lower than the current share price of 113 pence. “There are no board changes in Hansen envisaged following the placing,” Suzlon said. Suzlon currently has the the right to appoint up to two non-executive directors on the board of Hansen till it holds 26% of the company’s voting rights. Shares of Suzlon were trading 2.13% down at Rs73.60 in the morning trade on the BSE. Meanwhile, in a regulatory filing to the London Stock Exchange Hansen said “the announcement from Suzlon has brought to an end Suzlon’s evaluation of alternatives regarding its shareholding in Hansen.” BofA Merill Lynch and Morgan Stanley acted the managers and joint book runners for the issue. The Tulsi Tanti promoted firm currently has gross debt of Rs12,500 crore and has restructured its bonds issue earlier this year. The company expects that with the said stake sell the gross debt would reduce by about 10%. “Along with other funding that we are raising from Indian banking sector. Our expectation is that the acquisition loan that we have taken to fund the acquisition of Hansen and RePower will now get fully paid off as a result of both this transactions,” Suzlon COO Sumant Sinha told CNBC TV-18. The said stake sale would not have any impact on the long-term supply arrangements that Suzlon and its subsidiaries have with Hansen, the Belgian company had said on Thursday. In January, Suzlon had sold 10% of its Hansen stake to investment firm Ecofin for Rs600 crore. Hansen, whose current market capitalisation stands at £757 million, is engaged in designing, developing, manufacturing and supplying industrial and wind turbine generator gearboxes. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:18 am Playboy’s bunny turns more alluring than its playmatesBangalore: Playboy spent 56 years making sure that the world would know it by the sign of its bunny ears. Now that the company is up for sale, Playboy’s iconic logo, not the magazine, might be what saves it. Playboy Enterprises Inc is in talks with at least one possible bidder for the Chicago-based company. Fashion house Iconix Brand Group may be more interested in the company’s saucy symbol than the photo spreads of naked women that made the magazine famous in the first place. Iconix wants the bunny ears brand, but wants a partner from the publishing world to buy the magazine and other content, a source familiar with the talks previously told Reuters. The idea makes sense. Playboy magazine, with its double-header lineup of nude models and celebrity interviews, has long been in decline. Advertising revenue and circulation are falling, and readers get both attractions elsewhere, particularly for free on the Internet. At the same time, the bunny ears brand hearkens back to an era when Playboy was widely read and epitomized the idea of the urbane sophisticate who appreciates the the finer things that the swinging bachelor lifestyle promises. In pop culture, that means photo spreads of celebrities such as Drew Barrymore, as well as memorable interviews including the one in which former US President Jimmy Carter famously said “I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” That brand image, properly deployed, promises lots of cash to the right buyer, several analysts and experts said. “They have definitely not ruined (the brand). It’s just that it has to be brought back towards the image it once had,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a branding specialist at Virginia Commonwealth University. “There is more to this brand than just sex,” he said. “There is sophistication, there is lifestyle, and there is freedom. And they haven’t really done what they might to take advantage of that.” Iconix, which owns and licenses clothing brands such as Candies, Joe Boxer and Rocawear, is known for successfully exploiting valuable brands that it picks up from often troubled companies. “Knowing Neil (Cole, CEO of Iconix Brands), they are going to put a game plan together, find some retail partners, give the Playboy brand a direction, and bring it back to life,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group. “This is a brand that has had licensees from every single possible realm of product without any control or any real long-term plan,” Cohen said. Gradient Analytics analyst Nick Gibbons said $33 million might be the right price for the brand. It “doesn’t sound astronomical, and would be within Iconix’s reach,” Gibbons said. Bunnies and Brands But what will happen to Playboy magazine? For its January-February ‘10 issue, Playboy lowered its rate base — the circulation guaranteed to advertisers — to 1.5 million from 2.6 million, according to its latest quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s a big drop for the publication that claimed circulation of over 7 million in 1972, and helped shape society’s opinions on nudity, sex and free speech even as it enraged many who accused it of objectivizing women by encouraging boorish men to slaver over their bodies. The problem? What was controversial then is often considered tame now. Its representatives bristle when reporters and others include the name Playboy along with harder-edged titles like “Hustler” and “Penthouse,” or term it pornography, but such competition and easily accessible Internet content have made the magazine much less desired by younger readers. The search for friendlier terms with a wider audience than furtive adult entertainment viewers leaves it struggling to find a niche. “Lad mags” like Maxim that feature similar photo shoots, with a little bit more fabric covering the models´ bodies have also taken many customers away. That and the passage of more than half a century might boomerang on the bunny ears, despite the promise they hold. The logo is “past the mid-point of its life cycle,” said Gibbons of Gradient. “What clients are Iconix going to push the license through to? I wouldn’t see the big-box retailers like Wal-Mart or Target being too keen to stock Playboy merchandise.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:10 am Bollywood’s latest offerings in living rooms via DTHMumbai: Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire didn’t just garner rave reviews and worldwide acclaim, it also triggered a change in the way Indian movies are being distributed. The film was one of the first to be shown on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform in January barely a few days after its release in India, and sold more than 150,000 pay-per-views within the first three days. “Slumdog made the industry sit up and take notice that DTH was a platform that could be taken seriously,” says Vikram Mehra of Tata Sky, one of India’s leading DTH operators. “After that, a lot of Bollywood films have hopped on to the bandwagon.” So far Bollywood, the world’s largest film industry, has followed a very traditional distribution model, with hardly any focus on alternative platforms such as web streaming or mobile embedding. Even though DTH reaches only 15% of India’s 220 million television-owning households, Bollywood is increasingly viewing it as the next big thing to launch movies. “Home video sales are dropping, piracy is a threat to the industry and even a big movie doesn’t last for more than three weeks in theatres,” says Amrita Pandey, vice president of international distribution and syndication for UTV Motion Pictures, one of India’s biggest production houses. “In such a situation, DTH seems like a platform that will have to be nurtured.” Pandey, whose company released Main Aurr Mrs Khanna on DTH within three days of its release in October, says figures from DTH sales have been “very encouraging”. Theatre owners had protested against the trend of releasing films on DTH so soon, complaining that it would affect their business. But Mehra defended the platform, saying that it would serve a different audience. “What a lot of people don’t understand is that the theatre audience is totally different from the ones who will order for a movie at home. Perhaps I will watch three films at the theatre in a month, but I will want to watch the fourth at home,” he said. “Going to the theatre with your family is an expensive proposition and DTH makes it much easier.” DTH subscribers in India are expected to reach 40 to 45 million by 2012, he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:02 am Cabinet clears national solar missionTo reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, the Cabinet on Thursday approved the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The mission aims to feed 20,000 MW to the national grid by 2022, with an initial investment of Rs 4,337Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am India’s billionaires number doubles this yearThe number of India’s billionaires almost doubled to 52 this year. This is just one short of the billionaire count during the stock market boom of 2007, according to the Forbes India Rich List. Last year, the country had 27Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideUtilise rallies to sell the stock of DLF with tight stop-loss at Rs 377. We recommend a sell in ICICI Bank. Fresh short-position can be initiated only if Infosys tumbles below Rs 2,388,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Sugarcane farmers stir against Ordinance on fair price echoes in ParliamentNew Delhi, Nov. 19 The recently-promulgated Ordinance providing for a “fair and remunerative price” (FRP) for sugarcane became a rallying point for the Opposition to close ranks and launch a full-scale attack on theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Suzlon raises Rs 1,735 cr through Hansen stake saleMumbai, Nov. 19 Wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy, which is reeling under nearly Rs 14,000- crore of debt, on Thursday raised about Rs 1,735 crore (pound 224 million) by selling a 35 per cent stake in Belgium-based gearbox maker HansenSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Potatoes, onion drive up food inflation to 14.55%New Delhi, Nov.19 The annual rate of inflation for primary articles, calculated on point-to-point basis, increased by 9.94 per cent for the week ended November 7 compared with the previous week’s annual rise of 9.16 per cent. TheSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am India cuts holdings of US treasuries in SeptIndia’s holdings of US Treasuries dropped $2.6 billion in September to $35.9Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am The RBI’s tiny pot of goldIndia has all along been the largest market in the world for gold. Yet, for many years, policymakers have denigrated the proclivity of the masses to buy and hoard gold. Paradoxically, all decision-takers, in their individual capacity are addicted toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Visa Steel applies for mining leases in Orissa, ChattisgarhSteel prices may be falling but that of primary raw materials such as pig iron, coke and coking coal continue to remain stable, said Mr Vishambhar Saran, Chairman, Visa Steel.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 223.4): SellWe recommend a sell in the stock of Indiabulls Real Estate from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts that the stock had been on an intermediate-term uptrend from March low Rs 83 until the October high of Rs 298. However, afterSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am BusinessWeek lays off up to 130 workersBloomberg and McGraw executives told many BusinessWeek workers on Thursday and earlier this week that they would lose their jobs once Bloomberg buys the magazine.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:59 pm PM’s visit to US comes with rapid trade growthNew Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Washington on Monday for a state visit set to boost the burgeoning economic relationship between two countries, which had relatively marginal commercial dealings a decade ago. Following are key aspects of economic ties that took off with the end of the cold war and the embrace of economic reforms by India — an adoption of market-friendly policies in which Singh played a prominent role earlier in his career: Bilateral Trade: Two-way trade, just $5 billion in 1990, reached $14 billion in 2000 and rose to nearly $50 billion last year, according to US figures, making US India’s largest trading partner. The US sells India aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, and computer hardware. It imports Indian textiles and leather goods, Internet services, agricultural products, gems, leather products, and chemicals. India reckons trade has at least doubled in the past five years, while US exports to India have tripled in that period. Also Read Edit | The world is not enough Investment: US cumulative direct investments through mid-2008 of nearly $16 billion in power and oil refineries, telecommunications, electronics, food processing and services make the US one of India’s largest investors, according to US statistics.  Information Technology: India says two in five of America’s Fortune 500 companies outsource their software in India. With India’s growing wealth, the telecom sector has grown about 20% a year in recent years. India has courted investment in the sector, projecting that it needs some $84 billion worth of telecom equipments to hit its target of 650 million subscribers by 2012. The US hi-tech regions of the Silicon Valley in California and Route 128 Corridor in Massachusetts have deep ties with their Indian counterparts, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Nuclear Power: The 2005 US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which eases strictures on US nuclear exports to India, opens India’s potential $150 billion market in power plants. This offers potential for big deals for US nuclear reactor builders such as General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp. Arms Sales: India’s embassy says US arms sales to India have risen from almost nothing a few years to about $3.5 billion last year. The US is competing with Europe and Russia to supply India 126 multi-role fighter aircraft worth up to $10.4 billion, the biggest such market in decades. In March, the Obama administration approved a $2.1 billion sale to India of eight Boeing Co P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, the largest US arms transfer to India to date. In January 2008, Washington and New Delhi clinched India’s previous largest US arms purchase — six Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J Super Hercules military transport planes valued at about $1 billion, including related gear, training and spares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:42 pm The gendered face of climate changeNew Delhi: A new report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says that women, particularly those in developing countries, are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Women make up a large share of the agricultural work force, which is directly impacted by the effects of climate change. They also manage households and care for family members — which restricts their mobility — and often lack the social capital necessary to deal effectively with climate change. “Given women’s significant engagement in food production in developing countries, the close connection between gender, faming and climate change deserves far more analysis than it currently receives,” says the UNFPA report, which comes a few weeks before the Copenhagen talks. The report also emphasizes that women are potentially key players in combating climate change, as voluntary declines in fertility, would reduce population growth, which would in turn contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas-emissions in the future. Population dynamics—changes in geographic distribution, household size and age structure—must also be taken into account in formulating strategies to combat climate change. The human and gender dimensions of the climate change problems must be considered in order to “launch a genuinely effective long-term strategy to deal with climate change,” said UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. The UNFPA report follows close on the heels of the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index, which ranks India at 114 out of 134 countries, on the basis of economic participation, political participation, education and health. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pm Sensex down 118 points in opening trade on global cuesThe Sensex lost nearly 118 points in opening trade today on increased capital inflows by funds and retail investors.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:12 pm Fear of litigation halts SEZ de-notification: Goa chief ministerGoa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said fear of litigation had forced the central government to go slow on the de-notification of three special economic zones (SEZ) allotted to the state.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm Oprah Winfrey to end talk show in Sept 2011Los Angeles: Oprah Winfrey, one of the most influential and highly paid women on television, will announce on Friday she is ending her popular daytime talk show in 2011. Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Inc, said on Thursday she would make the official announcement on Friday’s live program from Chicago and talk about the reasons behind the decision to end it after 25 years on the air. She is expected to move to cable network OWN, or Oprah Winfrey Network, a Los Angeles-based joint venture she formed with Discovery Communications Inc, when her current syndication deal for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” runs out in 2011. OWN will be available in more than 70 million homes. Harpo declined to comment on whether or when a revised form of the program might appear on OWN, whose launch has been delayed several times since its original 2009 start date. “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” broadcast from Chicago on ABC stations across the United States and in more than 140 countries overseas, is one of the TV industry’s biggest money-makers. It is the top-rated US daytime talk show, averaging 7.1 million viewers this year. Winfrey, 55, is considered a major opinion-maker in the United States and this year was No. 45 on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s most powerful people. She publicly promoted Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign and her program became a platform this week for Republican 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to launch her book, “Going Rogue.” Actor Tom Cruise, the late Michael Jackson, and singer Whitney Houston are among the celebrities to have sat on, jumped on and poured out their hearts on her couch since the program began in 1986. Winfrey used the show to launch her magazine, a book club that turned authors into best-sellers, and a cable TV channel, Oxygen, geared to female and lifestyle topics. Her decision will affect CBS Corp’s CBS Television Distribution arm, which syndicates the show, and Walt Disney Co’s ABC-owned and operated TV stations that broadcast the show. CBS TV Distribution said in a statement it wished Winfrey well. “We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors. We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterward as well,” the statement said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pm Gold futures steady near record highsMumbai: India gold futures steadied near record highs on Friday as pressure from profit-taking was offset by the yellow metal’s safe-haven appeal on cautious global economic outlook, analysts said. The most-traded December contract was Rs17,212 per 10 grams, down 0.11% at 10:46am, after hitting a low of Rs17,204 in early deals. The contract had struck an all-time high of Rs17,243 in the previous session. “The pressure of profit-taking remains after the recent rise,” said Harish Galipelli, head of researcj with JRG Wealth Management. The contract has gained about 7% since the start of the month. Falling U.S. equities on growing caution about the US economic outlook helped highlight gold’s safe-haven appeal. “In all, gold may consolidate between Rs17,100-17,280, but the sentiment still remains positive,” added Galipelli. Gold may trade in the range of Rs17,192-17,300, said Aurobinda Prasad, deputy manager-research, Karvy Comtrade. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:37 pm EBay completes Skype saleWashington: Online auction giant eBay announced Thursday it had completed its sale of Skype to an investment group that includes the two founders of the Web communications company. The previously announced sale of a 70% stake in Skype for some $2 billion had been held up by lawsuits filed by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Zennstrom, a Swede, and Friis, a Dane, settled the suits this month and will hold a 14% stake in Skype through their new company, Joltid Ltd. 56% will be held by an investor group led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and others. eBay will retain a 30% equity investment in Skype. eBay received $1.9 billion in cash and a note for $125 million for the 70% stake in Skype. The deal values Skype at $2.75 billion. eBay purchased Skype from Zennstrom and Friis in 2005 for a price tag that eventually exceeded $3.1 billion. Skype, which has its headquarters in Luxembourg, bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Internet. Its allows users to call others free of charge and provides the ability to connect with land lines or mobile devices at low rates. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:33 pm Dell bets on corporate spending for recoverySingapore: Dell, the world’s No.3 PC brand, said on Friday that its core business of selling computers to companies was returning, after a sharp drop-off during the global downturn led to disappointing quarterly results. Dell’s commercial business has traditionally made up the bulk of its revenue, and is an area where it continues to hold some advantage over recent upstarts such as Acer of Taiwan. “A lot of the recovery this time has been in the consumer sector, so it’s not surprising to see Dell’s recovery is a bit slower,” Steve Felice, president of Dell’s small and medium business, said. Earlier, Dell announced that its third-quarter net profit plunged 54% from a year earlier on lower-than-expected sales as it lost market share to competitors amid a wider price war in the sector. Felice said he was comfortable with market forecasts for PC shipments in 2010, and said the company would be working to outpace the market. “We know how these figures were derived, and we’re comfortable with the way IDC sees the world going,” Felice said. Research firm IDC says PC shipments are likely to climb above 9% to nearly 310 million units in 2010 from this year, and an additional 13% in 2011 from 2010. Asia would continue to drive much of the company’s growth, Felice said, with revenue likely to return to positive growth in the near future. He declined to give details. Much of this growth came from emerging markets such as China, where Dell said it saw its revenue grow by about 20% in the third quarter from the preceding three months. Demand for computers also picked up following Microsoft’s launch of its new Windows 7 operating system on 22 October, but the bulk of demand is likely to come from companies looking to upgrade their aging PC systems. “Windows 7 will have some positive effects on overall PC demand, but the larger effect will come from the older base,” Felice said. Other rivals, such as Lenovo and Acer, have also been similarly upbeat on the effect of Windows 7 on PC sales, betting that the new operating system will spur commercial demand for computers. Dell shares tumbled 6 percent following the weak results, which stood in contrast to larger rival HP’s market-beating preliminary earnings this same week. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:24 pm Rupee down 5 paise at 46.73 a dollar in opening tradeThe Indian rupee on Friday depreciated marginally by 5 paise to 46.73 against the US dollar in opening trade.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:21 pm Sensex falls 22 points on weak global cuesThe 30-share index fell by 22 points at 1015 hours on Friday in sustained volatility caused by approaching expiry of futures & options contract.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:17 pm Sony slips to 4-month low on strategy failureTokyo/Seoul: Shares of Sony Corp fell to their lowest in nearly four months on Friday after the electronics maker’s new business strategy failed to convince investors it could deliver strong profit growth. Sony, which is heading for its second straight annual loss, said on Thursday it would launch 3D TVs and networked products and services as part of a plan to boost its operating profit margin to 5% in the year to March 2013. The 5% target had originally been set by CEO Howard Stringer in 2005 for the business year to March 2008. It narrowly missed the target that year before falling into the red on the economic slowdown and tough competition. Market players remain sceptical whether Sony can achieve its goal of turning its video game and TV operations profitable next year as it struggles to compete with overseas rivals such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “The strong yen makes it difficult for the Japanese to compete on prices, while the Korean’s strength in volume and mass production technologies keeps them ahead,” said John Park, an analyst at Daishin Securities in Seoul. “Japanese TV makers like Sony will try hard to expand in LED-backlit TVs next year, but are likely to have an uphill battle with Korean leaders,” he said. Sony’s TV business is in its sixth-consecutive year of losses as it grapples with a firmer yen and intensified competition from Samsung and LG Electronics Inc. Shares in Sony were down 2.8% at 2,400 yen after earlier hitting 2,375 yen, their lowest since July 29. The benchmark Nikkei average was down 1.3%. The maker of Cyber-shot cameras and PlayStation games shed jobs, closed plants and sold non-core assets following the global downturn to cut costs, and investors were awaiting a convincing growth strategy from management ahead of Thursday’s announcement. “It’s good the direction of the company’s network strategy has become clearer and that it now has some products with growth potential, such as its electronic readers,” Daiwa Securities SMBC analyst Kazuharu Miura said. “But it’s still unclear if network-compatible products will boost its market share substantially or if content distribution and other network services will markedly raise its profitability.” Sony plans to launch a new online service to distribute movies, music, books and games to network-capable TVs, Blu-ray players, ebooks and other devices, in a move to capitalise on its strong presence both in hardware and entertainment industries. The company pioneered the mobile music market 30 years ago with its Walkman and once ruled the global television industry in the era of box TVs, but it is now struggling to keep pace with nimbler South Korean rivals and innovative US IT companies. “What we’re seeing is a weakening of Sony’s brand power. That’s especially clear in North America where its market share has fallen sharply. The situation is so bad it almost makes me want to cover my eyes,” said Chibagin Asset Management’s advisor Fujio Ando. “They no longer have products that are unique and can control the market,” he said. Its portable music players have been in the shadow of Apple Inc’s iPod in recent years, while, in the LCD TV market, its Bravia models have lagged a long way behind Samsung, and now LG is threatening Sony’s No.2 position. Samsung accounted for 22.5% of global LCD TV revenues in July-September, followed by Sony’s 12.1% and LG’s 11%, according to data from research firm DisplaySearch. In an effort to improve profits at its TV operations, Sony plans to have 40% of its LCD TVs assembled by outside manufacturers in the next business year starting April 2010, up from 20% this year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:13 pm Oil prices up in Asian trade but still below USD78The reason that oil is up is probably due to the fact that many investors view pricing below USD78 a barrel as a buying opportunity.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:10 pm Stake sale boosts NDTV - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Nov 2009 | 9:58 pm Oil steady at below $78, traders seek fresh cuesPerth: Oil prices steadied below $78 a barrel on Friday, looking for fresh direction after a strong US dollar and weak stock markets triggered a 2% overnight fall. Asian shares followed US stock markets lower, after a brokerage downgraded US technology stocks, while weak US jobs numbers raised concerns about the strength of the ecnomic recovery in the world’s top energy consumer. “The market is directionless at the moment. Prices have been moving sideways between the $75-$82 range for the past month and we’ll need a lot more positive news for prices to break out of the $82 level -- which I think is unlikely to happen,” said Tony Nunan, an analyst Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo. “The economic outlook in the US is still very uncertain. We’ve probably seen the bottom but there are still a lot of storm clouds on the horizon.” US crude for December delivery edged up 22 cents to $77.68 a barrel by 9:17AM, putting it on track for a 1.7% gain this week. London Brent crude gained 33 cents to $77.97. Crude prices have swung with the dollar this week, jumping over $3 on Monday and then shedding over $2 on Thursday. The dollar and yen kept their broad strength on Friday as investors continued to sell higher-yielding currencies and took profits from gains made in the past few months in risky assets. The dollar has been shifting on changing perceptions of the US economy. The latest data came from the Conference Board’s index of US leading economic indicators, which rose to its highest since September 2007, but fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Fresh data showing a record one in seven US mortgages were in foreclosure or at least one payment was past due in the third quarter also added to investors worry that the housing market’s recovery will be tepid at best. Asia is leading the global economy out of the deepest downturn in decades but the recovery will be marred by high unemployment and huge government debt across the industrialised countries, the OECD said on Thursday. Many analysts have cautioned that the high jobless rate in the United States and Europe will keep global petroleum demand at anaemic levels for some time to come. “While the past few months have seen a gradual turnaround in global oil demand data and oil demand expectations, there are still significant areas of weakness and dislocations,” Barclays Capital said in a report. On the supply side, Opec seaborne oil exports, excluding Angola and Ecuador, will rise by 50,000 barrels per day in the four weeks to 5 December , UK consultancy Oil Movements, which tracks future shipments, said on Thursday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 9:50 pm Rupee off 1-week lows as exporters sell dollarsMumbai: The Indian rupee dropped to fresh one-week lows on Friday, tracking a stronger dollar overseas and as traders braced for a lower start to local shares, but exporters sold dollars to cash in on the rupee’s fall. At 9:42am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.56/57 per dollar after hitting Rs46.75, which was its weakest since 13 November. It had closed at Rs46.6850/6950 on Wednesday. “The initial drop was tracking global equity markets and the dollar’s strength, but Rs46.75 level was a decent technical support for the rupee, which prompted exporters to come and sell dollars around there,” said a senior dealer with a private bank. The dollar and yen kept their broad strength on Friday as investors continued to sell higher-yielding currencies and took profits from gains made in the past few months in risky assets. Traders said they would be watching the domestic sharemarket open for cues on capital flows, which have been a key influence on the currency in recent years. At 0412 GMT, the MSCI index of Asian stocks ex-Japan was down 0.6% while the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore dropped 0.5%, both suggesting a lower open in the local market. Foreign portfolio investments of nearly $15.4 billion in 2009, have helped the rupee recover from a record low of 52.2 touched in early March. “India’s high growth economic model results in persistent current account deficits instead of surpluses. This does not mean that INR cannot appreciate,” DBS Group Research said in a note, referring to the rupee. “It just means that appreciation will depend more on capital inflows, especially foreign investments, both direct and portfolio.” Economists say India is unlikely to follow Brazil and impose a tax on inflows, as that could drive away foreign investors and hurt Indian companies. Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said on Thursday India was not planning to cap overseas borrowing by corporates. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at Rs46.60, marginally weaker than the onshore spot rate. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 9:41 pm Indian investors cheated out of land in England that never wasNew Delhi: The promise of a plot in the idyllic English countryside near London, with an assurance that its price would rocket once regulators rezoned it as residential land, proved too hard to resist for at least 400 investors from India.  The investors, some of whom squandered away their life’s savings on the scheme advertised last year, are from among at least 4,500 people who paid a collective £69 million (around Rs514 crore now) to UKLI Ltd, a UK-based land banking company that has since become insolvent and is unable to meet liabilities, according to Deloitte and Touche Llp., the audit company appointed as its administrator. Besides India and the UK, UKLI had attracted investors from Pakistan, Georgia, South Africa, the US and Canada, and a small number of investors “based in Japan and European countries such as Greece, Sweden and Holland”, Deloitte said in an email reply to queries from Mint. Deloitte said it wasn’t able to provide an estimate of the money invested by Indians alone. In April, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Britain’s financial regulator, ordered UKLI to wind up its business “for operating as an illegal collective investment scheme and denying its investors protection for their money”. By then, UKLI had sold 1,000 acres of agricultural land in 13 sites carved up into 5,000 plots. The land, on freehold ownership, was going cheap because it was not developed. The company promised that it would “lobby” to secure all necessary approvals required to build houses there. Once the approvals came through, the land price would zoom up, it told investors.  Just an illusion: The brochures advertising the plots. FSA is armed with an interim freezing and restraining order against UKLI to protect its assets for creditors, including investors. But FSA warns that UKLI operated an illegal scheme, meaning the investors aren’t entitled to complain to the financial services ombudsman or claim compensation from a statutory fund. Dream to nightmare For those who took UKLI’s promise at face value, the dream of owning a piece of English property is turning into a nightmare. Like the 54-year-old widowed mother of two who invested Rs26 lakh, her life’s savings, to buy two plots after she saw newspaper advertisements in March 2007 promising high returns on land purchases in the UK. The ads were released by UKLI Real Estate Pvt. Ltd, the Indian branch of the UK-based land banking company. “I approached their office on seeing the advertisement,” said the woman, a resident of New Delhi who declined to be named. She said she chose two plots—400 sq. m in Canary City which, according to UKLI’s website, is within the administrative area of Bromley in south London, and 200 sq. m in Borehamwood, a town in southern Hertfordshire outside London. “I had saved that money for my kids,” said the investor, who has two children aged 16 and 21. She said she would have to depend on her sisters for help if she doesn’t see the money again. She said she had approached UKLI’s India office in Gurgaon seeking a refund in August 2007. “They said I will get back my money in 14 days. But I am yet to receive it.” UKLI’s Indian arm, which ran its operations from an office in Gurgaon near Delhi, has since closed. The sole shareholder of UKLI is Baljinder Chohan, according to the transcript of the creditors’ meeting. “We believe that Baljinder Chohan is now residing in Dubai, but are not in a position to confirm his fixed whereabouts,” Deloitte said. Phone calls to Chohan or his private assistant, Carrie Lynch, on their Dubai numbers were not answered.  Duped: Raj Kumar Sharma paid Rs5 lakh to UKLI. Ramesh Pathania / Mint Samta Khinda’s lawyer in Delhi, who requested anonymity, however, said: “She used to be a shareholder in the company (UKLI Real Estate) but has (now) discontinued.” The lawyer did not specify when she had ceased to be a shareholder. Another company director rejected this claim. “Baljinder Chohan cannot directly open his company in India because he is a UK citizen and so he co-registered the company in Samta Khinda’s name,” said the director, asking not to be named. He, however, said UKLI management based in the UK was taking care of the dues it owed to employees and clients. “They are sending emails to creditors and employees to settle dues. There is pressure from Babaji to clear the dues,” he said, referring to Hardev Singh. Profit motive Greed motivated investors. But some were lucky—or wise—enough to limit their losses. Raj Kumar Sharma, a resident of Gurgaon, who himself deals in real estate in India, wanted to buy 50 plots in Borehamwood and New Addington. “I was interested in reselling them at a profit,” said Sharma. He paid Rs5 lakh to UKLI as a security deposit. “I wanted to personally verify the property before paying the full price.” In January this year, Sharma visited the UK. He went to the land registrar’s office in Croydon, the borough under which New Addington falls. The land registrar, who hails from Haryana himself, advised him to stay clear of UKLI. “The registrar told me that in the UK, it is not possible to lobby for land conversion,” said Sharma, who has since been writing to UKLI seeking a refund of his investment. Another investor, Harkawal Setia, said he figured out the “fraud” when UKLI stopped taking his calls. He had made an initial payment of Rs3 lakh by then. Property scams are not uncommon in India, where cases of unscrupulous developers running away with money collected from homebuyers are a frequent occurrence. But this is probably the first time such a case involving property purchases abroad by domestic buyers has surfaced. In the UK, large land banking companies such as Land Heritage (UK) Ltd and United Land Holdings went bust in 2006. These companies had also sold farm land to investors by telling them that the plots will gain permission for housing some time in the future. “More than the need to own a home, it is greed and the desire to see their money grow which makes people invest in such schemes,” Sandeep Singh, director, capital markets, Cushman and Wakefield, a real estate consultant said. “This kind of thing could have happened even within India. People should do a due diligence and use common sense before investing money in these schemes.” Employees’ plight Not only investors, UKLI packed up its business without clearing the dues of several employees and vendors also. Even before the India office closed in June, the company had gradually started easing out people, said a 37-year-old former employee of UKLI requesting anonymity. “I was a junior accounts executive and was working in the company since October 2007. I did not receive any notice prior to the termination of my services nor have I got my relieving letter yet.” He said there were 20-25 people in the Gurgaon office when it closed. Another former employee, who also did not wish to be identified, said UKLI was forced to shut operations because the sales did not take off as expected. “Huge targets were set by the company which were not met,” she said. “In the end, they had to cut down on the expenses and so they started to cut down the staff.” “Landlord, housekeeping staff, security, etc., had to beg the company for their own money...the company did not have the funds to pay them while some people in the management were very highly paid,” she said. Tej Singh, who was providing housekeeping services to UKLI at Gurgaon, said he has not been paid since April. “I got an email from the company asking for a scanned copy of the bills due, but I have not heard from them since.” Unsecured creditors Meanwhile, FSA in Britain is continuing its investigations and trying to work out a method to repay or improve the value of the investors’ land, according to information on UKLI’s website. “It is their (investors’) land...they can either return the land to the administrators or hold on to their plots in the hope that the land will receive planning permission,” said Keith Porter, one of the persons handling UKLI investor queries at Deloitte’s UK office. “If they return the land, they will become unsecured creditors and the administrators will then pay them dividend payment in return for the land.” The administrator plans to refund investors’ money by selling some sites that UKLI still owns. According to Porter, UKLI owns 25% each of the 13 sites that it had sold to investors. “Once we sell that there will be a large pot of money left to be distributed among creditors,” Porter said. Investors will, however, not get a refund of their entire investment. “Investors will get a lot less than what they invested...probably 2-3 pence to £1 invested,” Porter said. “We are still working out the refund scheme.” Few investors from India have got in touch with Deloitte, said Porter. “The records of UKLI are not accurate...some of the addresses of investors are not updated though we have got most of them.” “It will be necessary for the company’s secured debts to be settled in full, and for preferential claims such as those of employees to be paid, before any distribution of funds can be made to unsecured creditors and investors,” said Keily Hedger, who is dealing with investor queries at Deloitte’s UK office. “It is expected that there will be a small dividend paid to unsecured creditors of the company. However, it remains to be proved that the investors of the company are true creditors. This matter will be addressed when we have the funds to do so.” UKLI has, meanwhile, shifted base. It is now called UK Land Investments International (UKLII) and has offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. “UKLII is solely for international clients based in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Middle East, Canada and Asia,” says the company’s website (Uklii.com). “The products of UK Land Investments International are not to be marketed to persons in the UK or the USA and as such does not fall under the jurisdiction of FSA, OSC (Ontario Securities Commission) or SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission),” says a disclaimer at the bottom of the website. shabana.h@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 5:35 pm Govt to cut holding in SAIL by 20%The government is set to dilute its holding in Steel Authority of India Ltd by 20%. While the company will make a fresh issue of 10% equity, the government will divest 10% of its stake.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:52 pm FII holdings in India Inc risingOn the back of strong fund inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the recently concluded quarter, the shareholding of this segment in India Inc has risen to 17% from 16% in the previous quarter.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:48 pm JSW Steel ties up with Japanese steel majorJapanese steel major JFE Steel and Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steel have forged a collaboration agreement to produce automotive steel products and explore the possibilities of mutual stock holding.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:43 pm Reckitt-Colgate merger in offing?Shares of consumer goods biggie UK-based Reckitt Benckiser, which owns brands like Dettol and Lysol, and US giant Colgate Palmolive were up by over 3% on the global bourses on Thursday on speculation that the UK company is close to announcing a multi-billion pound cross-border deal.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm In consumption of gold, India again climbs to topWith gold prices touching new highs in 2009, its demand in the global market declining. However, in gold consumption, India again climbed to the top position in world, led by strong demand of jewellery.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:28 pm 'Lift insurance, defence cap'The Obama administration wants India to lift the cap in both defence and insurance sectors, a top US official said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:23 pm Insider trading: SAT gives relief to PendseThe Securities Appellate Tribunal has set aside charges of insider trading against Dilip Pendse, former managing director of Tata Finance, and his wife Anuradha Pendse and Nalini Properties.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:18 pm PepsiCo to set up 4 plants for Rs 700crFocusing on India as a rapidly growing market, US soft drinks giant PepsiCo would pump in an estimated Rs 700 crore to set up four new food and beverages plants by 2012.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm Govt may rework pricing Ordinance for sugarcaneThe Manmohan Singh government is trying to find a middle path in the impasse over the recent sugarcane pricing Ordinance that created an uproar inside and outside Parliament today. According to top sources in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the government may rework the Sugarcane (Control) Order to relieve the states' burden and appease a united Opposition that claims to have the power to defeat the Bill in the Upper House.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:10 pm Japanese major, JSW Steel plan mutual shareholdingSajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel is collaborating with JFE Steel Corporation, the world's sixth biggest and Japan's second largest steelmaker, for a manufacturing and mutual shareholding agreement.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm Mint CEO Briefing | Raise capital while liquidity aboundsMumbai: The Indian financial system is flooded with cheap money at this point of time, but the liquidity overhang may not last for long and interest rates are bound to go up soon. So, companies, big and small, should raise money now and use it when needed. This was the key takeaway from Mint CEO Briefing, the first of a series in partnership with Bain and Co., held in Mumbai on Thursday over breakfast, in front of a select audience of senior executives.  Money talk: (from left) Romesh Sobti of IndusInd Bank Ltd, Motilal Oswal of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, R. Sukumar of Mint, Sri Rajan of Bain & Co., Madhabi Puri-Buch of ICICI Securities Ltd and Hetal Gandhi of Tano India Advisors Pvt. Ltd at the discussion in Mumbai on Thursday. The event, with the theme, ‘Financing options in the upturn’, was the first of a series in partnership with Bain & Co. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint The discussion—“Financing options in the upturn”—was moderated by R. Sukumar, editor of Mint. Rajan set the context of the discussion by posing key questions to the panel and the audience: Is there an upturn? Is money available to all, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs)? Are companies using the right funding mechanisms for global acquisitions, and is there money available for these? According to Sobti, funding options in an economic upturn are slightly different from those in a downturn, but the basis on which the chief financial officer of a company takes a decision remains the same—should the company go long or short while raising loans; should it opt for fixed or floating rates of interest; and finally, should the money be raised offshore or onshore. Also Read What They Feel There are always two stances, a view-based stance and a hedge-based stance, he said. “Today there is excess liquidity in the domestic market and everybody is going short, but I would suggest you take a contrarian view and go long when there is excess liquidity. This is particularly true about the small and medium enterprises,” Sobti said. According to him, Indian firms are raising 90-day money at 4.5% from mutual funds, but this avenue won’t be open for long as interest rates will go up soon. Puri-Buch of I-Sec, too, said it was “hard to tell” how long the liquidity would last. Her advice to companies was to “move swiftly even if you don’t need growth capital right now”. “Take it. Keep it and use it through the period when you will actually need it.” She had yet another recommendation for India promoters who hate to sell their stakes for fear of losing control. “The way to go about would be perhaps through a holding company structure,” she said. Many successful companies have spawned subsidiaries or divisions that started new lines of business. According to Puri-Buch, the operational entities need to be demerged into operating companies in their specific line of business while the promoters can continue to retain a strong control over the holding company. “They are free to do as much financing as required at the subsidiary level, based on the opportunities that the market presents without diluting control at the holding company level,” she said. Oswal, who heads a listed brokerage, did not see any problem in terms of liquidity, today or tomorrow. His logic: the Indian economy is now worth $1 trillion-plus (nearly Rs46 trillion) and it will continue to grow at least 6-6.5%. Considering the fact that the savings rate in India is around 37% of its gross domestic product, there will always be plenty of money for corporations. Oswal said he did not believe in any “plug and play solutions” for funding. Gandhi of Tano India, however, had a different take. According to him, the issue of choice of financing options has never been more important than perhaps in the last two years because today it is not just about the availability of finance, but dealing with larger structural and macroeconomic variables, such as currency volatility of the kind not seen thus far. In Gandhi’s opinion, SMEs are the worst hit in the downturn and for them, the private equity (PE) route is the best form of funding as PE funds are well equipped to provide them not only with money, but also guidance on business strategies. Rajan of Bain said smaller companies have not been able to access bank funds. However, he added that at a larger level, the environment was changing and that the level of uncertainty that existed six to 12 months ago was no more there. Gandhi didn’t quite see things that way and said, “There is a false sense of security that things are coming back to normalcy.” According to him, bankers have money, but they are not lending. The same is the case with PE funds. “People are still not convinced that the risks associated with business is lower. … There is a complete misplaced sense of bravado with people coming out and saying the worst is over. Personally I feel there is no upturn. I sit on boards of several companies and I see that they are still struggling to do business.” Puri-Buch said the PE route has not been utilized fully by SMEs as there is always a belief that they are giving away too much to somebody who is a financial partner. Sobti of IndusInd Bank offered a solution to this problem. The PE model needs to be tweaked for SMEs, he said. “Who knows the SME best other than the banker who has been funding the SMEs. The PEs should go through and target the SMEs through the banker. Put in your money, but don’t come on the board. Instead, work closely with the banks who know everything about the SME as they have given them debt. What they don’t like is people sitting on their board and breathing down their neck and saying three years down the line you need to do an IPO (initial public offering),” he said. Rajan concluded the discussion by pointing out that it would be interesting to find out the reason for the “access” gap wherein bankers say they are willing to lend money, but companies, especially small ones, aren’t able to borrow money from them. He added that it would be interesting to look at the option of subsidiary or operation-company level financing as suggested by Puri-Buch. shraddha.n@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm 25 more billionaires in India's rich listA rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have seen the combined net worth of Indias 100 richest people touch $276 billion, almost a quarter of the countrys GDP, business magazine Forbes said today in its annual rich list for the country.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:06 pm 3G auctions to be on schedule, says EGoMUncertainty over auctions of 3G or third generation telecom services ended today, with the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) deciding to stick to the January 14 date with a slight modification.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:03 pm Smaller firms get a toehold on retail shelvesMumbai: The growing rift between big box retailers and large consumer goods companies has created an opening for smaller companies that are vying for shelf space in large stores and for a bigger share of household budgets.  Bigger share: A file photo of people shopping at a Big Bazaar in Noida. Mint The shopping basket of Pratibha Bhide is a good place to start. “What matters most is value,” said the housewife from Dadar in central Mumbai, as she took away consumer goods worth Rs1,200 from a Big Bazaar store. They include products such as Nestle Ltd’s Maggi noodles, Tasty Treat Tomato Ketchup (a private label from the Future Group) and a combination pack of Excel Plus, a floor and toilet-cleaning solution from a lesser-known consumer goods company named RSG Consumer Products Pvt. Ltd. Says Sadashiv Nayak, president (concept), Big Bazaar, the Future Group’s hypermarket chain: “Private labels and No. 3 and No. 4 brands in a category account for close to 35% of our sales. While regional brands are still a small category, accounting for 2% of our overall revenues, we have seen their contribution double to 4% in the last 120 to 150 days, as we have increased our collaborations with them.” Large consumer goods firms usually offer lower retailing margins compared with those offered by smaller competitors who lack bargaining muscle. “Non-leading consumer goods companies give us better margins of upto 10% more and we are also able to run better promotions, give consumers deeper discounts or offer cross-category promotions, giving smaller brands increased visibility and sales for the period of the promotion,” says Gordon Reid, chief operating officer of Star Bazaar, a hypermarket from Tata group’s retail company, Trent Ltd. Margin friction between large retailers and major consumer goods companies have sometimes led to showdowns: Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar had stopped stocking chocolates and confectionaries from Cadbury India Ltd for some time in 2008 though the stores now stock these goodies. “If modern trade retailers deliver the volumes, they can demand the margins,” says H.K. Press, vice-chairman, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., which has brands such as Cinthol and Godrej No 1, while admitting to be in constant dialogue with modern retailers about margins. Procter and Gamble Home Products Ltd and Hindustan Unilever Ltd declined to comment. Modern retailers such as Reliance Retail Ltd, Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, Future Group, Star Bazaar, Vishal Retail Ltd and others are experimenting with alternatives. “Retailers have increased their private labels over the years and this will continue. They are also increasingly pushing regional brands and smaller players as they get better margins and can use their pan India presence to promote them,” observes Pankaj Jaju, senior vice-president, Enam Securities Pvt. Ltd. Regional brands such as Homex, a phenyl floor cleaner from Indore-based Homex India Pvt Ltd, saw sales rise by 50% after it partnered Vishal Retail in 2008, which has 171 stores spread across the country. “We are strong in tier II and tier III cities and become an excellent platform for smaller brands as we give them ready infrastructure and assured footfalls when they get into organised retail,” says Ambeek Khemka, group president, Vishal Retail. He admits to also getting better margins in the bargain. Henkel India Ltd, which has brands such as Henko detergents and Pril liquid dishwash, registered improved sales as it partnered with modern trade retailers, says a company official. “We have not only grown the liquid dishwash category but have also attained share leadership in some key accounts with a strong performance on Pril liquid. Modern trade also played a significant role recently in the successful introduction of Pril Rose variant to celebrate the festive season in India. We continue to work in close co-operation with our modern trade partners to develop brand-wise plans to drive growth performance of this important channel,” says Jayant Singh, managing director, Henkel. He did not disclose the margins offered by the company to large retailers. “The cost of putting a consumer good on a retail shelf is 21% to 22%, but we get compensated upto 16% by large consumer goods companies and are actually putting the goods on display at a subsidy as these brands are category pullers. The world over, multinational consumer goods companies give modern retailers margins of 23% to 25% and we too should get the same,” said Thomas Verghese, chief executive officer, Aditya Birla Retail Ltd. sapna.a@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pm Airlines’ losses increase by 44% in fiscal 2009New Delhi: The combined net loss at India’s embattled airlines widened 44.4% to Rs8,557.37 crore in the last fiscal, making it the worst year on record for an industry beset by high costs, excess capacity and a slump in passenger traffic. State-run Air India alone posted a loss of Rs5,548 crore in the year ended 31 March, more than double the Rs2,226.16 loss it had run up in the previous year according to data released on Thursday by the civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA. Also See Mounting Losses (Graphics) InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd-run low-cost carrier IndiGo and Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd were the only ones to post profits, of Rs82.16 crore and Rs7.26 crore, respectively. As economic growth slowed and travel demand slumped in the wake of a global recession, the combined net loss for the industry widened from Rs5,922.74 crore in the previous fiscal. At Jet Airways (India) Ltd and its subsidiary JetLite, the loss widened to Rs1,032.70 crore from Rs986.38 crore in the previous year. The loss at Kingfisher Airlines Ltd narrowed to Rs1,602 crore from Rs2,084.48 crore. Put together, the private airlines lost Rs3,009.37 crore in the last fiscal, down from Rs3,696.58 crore the year before, thanks in part to the profit posted by IndiGo and Paramount. In the previous fiscal, Paramount had been the only airline firm to post a small profit, of Rs23.1 crore. “You have to look at operational losses as there are a lot of sales and leaseback transactions that happen. The depreciation method has also been altered by airlines which has changed P&L (profit and loss),” said Kapil Kaul, India CEO for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “The operational losses for airlines would be higher by about 10-15% than the final losses that have come out.” Sales and leaseback of aircraft refers to the practice of selling an aircraft on the company’s books and leasing it back immediately. Steep losses forced Indian carriers to curtail their services last year. Air India, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said in Parliament, removed 25 sectors from its schedule in the past 12 months. They included international routes such as Amritsar-Birmingham, Delhi-Los Angeles, Mumbai-Dar-e-Salaam, Delhi-Seoul, Mumbai-Seoul, Ahmedabad-Sharjah, Chennai-Bangkok, Hyderabad-Bangkok, Nagpur-Bangkok, Guwahati-Bangkok, Delhi-Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore-Sharjah, Delhi-Lahore, Goa-Sharjah, Chennai-Sharjah, Trichy-Doha-Calicut, Kozhi- kode-Kuwait, Calicut-Muscat and Kochi-Muscat. Given the excess capacity in the market that still exists, losses are likely to continue for the carriers in the current fiscal as well, Kaul said. “Collectively, in the period between 2006-07 to 2009-10, airlines could see their losses mount to Rs23,000-25,000 crore at an operational level, with half of them accruing from for Air India alone,” he said, adding, “I would think in 2009-10, the losses would be around Rs7,000-8,000 crore at an operational level.” Graphics by Yogesh Kumar / Mint Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:45 am JSW forges alliance with Japan’s JFEMumbai: JSW Steel Ltd and JFE Steel Corp., the second largest steel makers in India and Japan, signed a comprehensive deal that will begin with a collaboration to produce automotive steel and then expand to activities such as setting up new steel plants and the acquisition of iron ore and steel mines in and outside India. The deal will allow JSW to move into the high-margin business of producing steel for car makers while it offers JFE entry into the fast growing Indian economy. “We will supply automotive steel to India’s domestic companies like Suzuki, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai,” Hajime Bada, chief executive officer of JFE Steel said in Mumbai on Thursday. “Globally these are customers of JFE Steel.” The two steel companies will also collaborate to build JSW’s greenfield steel project in West Bengal that will produce 10 million tonnes (mt) of steel. It plans to set up another 10 mt steel plant in Jharkhand. JFE has annual steel-making capacity four times larger than JSW’s current 7.8 mt. Also on the agenda: “mutual stock holding” which means both the companies could buy stakes in each other. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday that the Japanese partner may pay as much as 50 billion yen (Rs2,600 crore) for a stake in the Indian steel maker. “Under the umbrella agreement we have created a task force with representatives from both the companies to work out areas for collaboration” Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and managing director of JSW, said after announcing the agreement.“Everything is still at the discussion stage. Mutual shareholding is a part of the discussions, but what percentage, when and how will depend on the time. India is a big market for high-quality steel as far as auto is concerned and we will take advantage of (JFE’s) experience in producing high quality auto steel.” This is the third multinational steel company to enter India, after Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd tied up with Bhushan Steel Ltd to make high grade steel, and in September world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal announced its decision to acquire 35% stake in 800,000 tonnes Uttam Galva Steels Ltd. Analysts said the deal looks beneficial to JSW at first glance, especially since the company is weighed down by Rs16,600 crore of debt. Bhavesh Umesh Chauhan, a research analyst with SMC Investment Solutions and Services, said JSW cannot afford to take more debt despite its ambitious expansion plans in the next two years. “They will need more than Rs5,000 crore to increase production to 11 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2011, from 7.8 mtpa currently. Currently, they cannot afford to take more debt so dilution of promoters’ equity seems to be the better option.” Another analyst from a European brokerage, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said JSW will gain from the technology inputs of the Japanese company, but added there is a lot of interest about the potential stake sale by the Indian company. “The Jindals own 45% of the company, which will come down to 42.5% when the company’s FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bond) will be converted in 2012. They have permission to raise $1 billion through QIPs (qualified institutional placement). My feeling is that they will probably prefer selling a stake to JFE rather than sell to different investors,” he said. FCCBs are convertible bonds issued in foreign currencies while QIPs are sales of new shares to institutional investors. JSW plans to set up a new 10 mtpa capacity in West Bengal at the cost of Rs35,000 crore. However, that project is currently on hold after the global economic downturn last year. Sheshagiri Rao, joint managing director and group chief financial officer of JSW, said the company has invested only Rs100 crore out of the total cost of the West Bengal project and will review it only in 2010-11. JSW officials said that they expect to make higher margins by selling this auto grade steel in India, a market where sales are growing at a 15% annualised rate, at a time when developed markets like Europe are in a decline. Jayant Acharya, director, sales and marketing at JSW said auto companies would prefer buying this special steel in India rather than shipping them from abroad. “So far we used to make equipment for the internal components of cars but JFE will help us get into the high margin outer body parts of vehicles which forms a critical mass for cars,” he said. “Currently, companies like Toyota, Maruti, Ford and GM used to source this steel from companies in Japan and Germany. They will prefer to source it from the domestic market if it is available here,” Acharya added. Domestic car market leader, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which procures 10% of its steel requirements from JFE, will be one of the key beneficiaries. S. Maitra, executive director and managing executive officer (supply chain), at Maruti said, “the entry of JFE into India will help the company cut transport costs, customs duties and the protection it has to buy against foreign exchange volatility. Currently, Maruti procures half of its steel requirement from domestic steel manufacturers such as Tata Steel Ltd and Essar Steel Ltd,” Maitra said. Jindal also told Dow Jones that JSW has no plans to sell its struggling US operations despite low demand for its products. Shally Sheth in Mumbai and Bloomberg contributed to this story. baiju.k@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am Gaming’s biggest launch remains unmoved by 26/11 controversyNew Delhi:Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a new video game that some gamers say channels imagery from the Mumbai terror attacks for one of its early levels, made $550 million (Rs2,552 crore) in sales in its first week of release—or more than the last Batman movie. The game, released on 10 November for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC formats, shifted 4.7 million units ($310 million) on its opening day in the US and UK alone, higher than The Dark Knight in its opening weekend ($158.4 million). It is the most successful video game launch yet, beating previous record holder Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold 3.7 million units (approx $300 million) on its first day in 2008.  A small 10-minute stage in the game’s first act, “No Russian” sees the player taking the role of an undercover operative embedded with an ultranationalist terrorist outfit as they open fire on unarmed civilians in Moscow’s airport before proceeding through the terminal and into the runways. The modus operandi of the in-game terrorists, clad in kevlar armour and carrying automatic weapons as they move through the airport, echoes the Mumbai attacks, as does the atmosphere of the stage itself—screams and wails and confusion reign with security forces attempting to move in and intervene. It is possible for the player to choose not to fire on civilians, but neither can he/she intervene to stop the massacre taking place. The game does, however, offer the option of skipping the level altogether. “It pops up a warning before the level starts that the content could be potentially disturbing or offensive,” said a spokesperson for World-Wide CD-ROMS Ltd, the Indian distributor for the game. The game released last week in Indian stores and is priced at Rs3,499 (for the console version) and Rs1,299 (for the PC). Response to the controversial level has been divided. Some, such as gaming blog Fidgit (http://www.fidgit.com), have called it “unnecessary, cheap and disgusting”, calling out developers Infinity Ward Inc. for a lack of sensitivity. “I thought of Fort Hood. Mumbai. Columbine. Things I don’t particularly care to think of in a glib action game.” The post is accompanied by a photograph showing the aftermath of the attacks on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. It’s a scene echoed early in the level, as the player passes the airport waiting areas up staircases draped with bodies. Tim Bissell, writing for blog Crispy Gamer (http://www.crispygamer.com), said “I hope the designers will have the maturity to recognize the difference between testing the conscience to make a serious point and shocking the conscience as a kind of pointless test.”  Hot seller: A screen shot from Modern Warfare 2. Other felt the level could not be considered in isolation from the rest of the game. “I think we’re taking [the level] out of context. It probably makes sense within a story setting,” says Gopal Sathe, editor of blog Split-screen.com. Activision Publishing Inc. echoes the same sentiment. “The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold-bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player’s mission to stop them,” they said in a statement on 28 October. In the same week, a viral video promoting the game was pulled off the Internet after criticism that it contained a coded homophobic slur. The Call of Duty franchise is a series of first-person video games for both the PC and consoles. A majority of them are set in World War II, except for Modern Warfare 2 and its prequel Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Those two games were influenced by the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, with stages, for example, referencing “shock and awe”, the military doctrine used extensively in that campaign. The series is popular both commercially (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold at least 13 million copies worldwide) and critically, and is recognized for its polished setpieces, cinematic sweep, and attention to detail. Activision also runs a non-profit foundation called the Call of Duty Endowment that donates to charities that work with US army veterans. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 11:29 am Karnataka doctors use iPhone to screen infants for eye diseasesBangalore: Toggling two iPhones, each downloading live data from patients in Kolar in Karnataka and Kolkata in West Bengal, paediatric retinal surgeon Anand Vinekar showed on Thursday how high-resolution retinal images can be received on the phone, diagnosed and a digitally signed medical report sent to the patient in any remote location. The move marks the debut of the iPhone in healthcare applications in India, and taking the first step is Narayana Nethralaya Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology in Bangalore, which has launched a telemedicine programme that will screen rural and semi-urban infants for a potentially blinding condition called retinopathy of prematurity, or RoP. All premature babies, with birth weight less than 2kg, are at risk of RoP. Of 27 million live births in India every year, around 8% are premature and 15-20% of them could go blind due to RoP if not screened and treated on time, say Narayana Nethralaya ophthalmologists. The hospital has been running some programmes in a few districts of northern Karnataka for screening RoP and other common conditions including ocular cancers. But speedy access to the retinal images, diagnosis and treatment posed some challenges, says its chairman Bhujang Shetty, leading to the development of a software suite in collaboration with i2i Telesolutions. The partners say the new pilot will now extend throughout Karnataka and run for three years, during which they expect it to spread to other parts of the country. “The Central government has shown keen interest in taking it to other parts of the country,” he said, as it is already supporting the programme under the National Rural Health Mission. “If an infant needs treatment, it needs to be given within 48 hours or else the retina detaches, causing permanent blindness,” said Dr Vinekar, the project coordinator at Narayana Nethralaya. Making its software compliant with the US Food and Drug Administration’s Dicom (digital imaging and communication in medicine) standards, i2i says its solution can be used anywhere in the world. What it has developed is an end-to-end online treatment regimen—from data acquisition, transmission to eventually issuing a medical report in a PDF format and finally sending it across over iPhone with the doctor’s digital signature. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 10:13 am Skype in mobile push ahead of spin-offHong Kong: Skype is talking with mobile handset and network companies to install its trademark Internet telephony service, an executive said on Thursday, as it seeks growth drivers before being spun off by parent eBay. Skype had formed a strategic alliance with Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 Group and was seeking similar tie-ups with other mobile operators and handset makers, Russ Shaw, Skype general manager for mobile, said in an interview. Skype already comes pre-installed on some cellphones, though carriers in general have been reluctant to actively support the service as it circumvents their lucrative domestic long distance and international calling business.  More coverage: A file photo of a woman speaking on a mobile phone in Beijing, China. Skype says the list of potential partners includes wireless network operators in China, an important market for the firm. Stefen Chow/Bloomberg He added that the list of potential partners included wireless network operators in China, which is an important market for the company. “We’ve had discussions with them (Chinese carriers),” Shaw said. “It’s not going to happen immediately, but I think over the coming months we hope to have some fruitful discussion and be able to demonstrate good work and relationship.” He declined to give names, but China’s mobile market—the world’s largest with more than 600 million subscribers—is dominated by three firms, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. Skype is also talking with carriers in North America, Europe and other Asian markets. EBay is selling Skype to a group of investors in order to focus on its core online auction and payments business. Shaw said the disposal is on track to be complete by year end. “It’s a positive change. The new investors, I think, can bring a lot of experience into the business,” he said. “It (the eBay sale) makes us an independent company again, we’ll be private but independent and it’s a good thing for us.” Facing growing competition from other high-profile services, including Google Inc.’s Google Voice, Skype is mostly used on desktop computers. But it wants to move into the fast-growing mobile field, which is getting a boost from the roll-out of high-speed mobile broadband services worldwide that are necessary to make its voice-over-Internet services function smoothly. Skype, whose technology has allowed legions of consumers to make practically free long-distance calls over the Internet on fixed lines, has made the move into mobile by seeking deals with operators such as Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 Group. It also announced a deal with Nokia earlier this year to preload its software in Nokia N900 model, and Skype software has been downloaded onto seven million Apple iPhones. Established in 2003, Skype has more than 520 million registered customers who use the free Web service for voice, video or text communication. But despite its size, its revenue is relatively modest—at about $551 million in 2008—as the company has had a difficult time getting users to pay for its largely free services. Skype aims to nearly double its annual revenue to $1 billion in two years. Shaw shrugged off concerns that the company will pose a threat to mobile operators, and said the service could even help some carriers attract new subscribers and retain existing ones. “Initially carriers are wondering what could Skype bring, is Skype a threat or is Skype actually doing something different?” he said. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am Mumbai no longer meri jaanNew Delhi: On the Facebook group “Mumbai Terror Attacks: I condemn it” (membership 35,166), a new condolence message was posted on 15 June—mourning not a victim of the attacks last year, but the defeat of the Indian cricket team in a Twenty20 match.  Until last November, Sathya N., 21, worked at Nirmal building, Nariman Point, near the Trident hotel in Mumbai. After the three-day carnage, when many of her friends were talking about participating in candlelight vigils or meeting groups of people hungry for change, Sathya was busy signing up with online groups forbidden by her parents to participate in the marches. Sathya joined as many as four Facebook groups. “There was so much raw emotion around those days,” she says over the phone from Mumbai. “I found it easier to deal with my feelings by taking part in online discussions and urging friends to join these groups.” But by February, things had changed. “When I look back, I feel if I had not been working in that area at the time, I don’t think I would have been so traumatized or willing to seek out strangers on the Internet to express my feelings,” she says. “Now that emotion has sort of died down.” Sathya hasn’t posted a message on these groups in the last nine months because she says “there has not been much activity on these anyway”. Evidently, Sathya is not the only non-active member across these groups. Many have seen no activity from members since December; those that have, are littered with off-topic posts. These Facebook groups have thus turned into platforms for random discussions unlinked to 26/11, its impact on Mumbai, or ideas that can bring about the change they once sought.  Protest march: A peace rally organized at the Gateway of India on 3 December 2008. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint On “One Million Strong for Bombay” (23,601 members), a 9 October post concerned the activist Hansel D’Souza, chairman of the Juhu Citizens’ Welfare Group, the Citizens’ Consensus candidate for the Andheri (West) assembly constituency; an earlier post involved the schedule of the Jazz Yatra. On “The Black Badge for Bombay” (853 members), the last post, from 31 August, wonders if Pakistan is a pawn being used by China against India. “The idea behind ‘Black Badge for Bombay’ initially was to keep the pressure on so that the reaction to the attacks in terms of government preparedness results in concrete action,” says Somasekhar Sundaresan, the group’s creator. “The government has now set up a combat force in Mumbai, which was the stated immediate objective of this movement and pressure group. After that, we needed to move on.” Sundaresan admits that the posts have not been updated more frequently because he hasn’t worked hard enough to get people interested in newer issues. “Most of my discussions about civil rights movements are restricted to five or six friends who are members of this Facebook group too,” he says. “It is easier to talk to them because I meet them professionally and personally often.” “The Black Badge for Mumbai” has also been unable to organize offline meetings. What these groups lacked, according to Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, was a dedicated team to keep the momentum going. “They don’t have intelligently incremental action points that keep their audiences increasingly engaged,” he says in an email interview. “The creators often underestimate the importance of offline activities that will keep their audiences motivated. Finally, many of them take their membership for granted and don’t bother sending regular updates or even an occasional thank you.” It was perhaps the need to sustain momentum that drove some of the offline citizens’ groups into the political sphere. Anil Bahl allied his Let’s Rebuild India with the Professionals Party of India. A group called Jago Mumbai turned into the Jago Party, which fielded a candidate in the Lok Sabha election from north-west Mumbai. (He lost.) “We decided that we couldn’t do anything alone,” says Bhuresh Barot, a working member of the Jago Party. “You need to be in power to do anything.” As his party’s south Mumbai coordinator, Barot witnessed a rapid dissolution of voter outrage back into voter apathy; in the Lok Sabha election, the turnout stood at 43.3%. “The main reason seemed to be that voters thought they already knew the ideology of every party,” Barot theorizes. “And they decided they simply didn’t have faith in the candidates.” Residues of faith do remain, however, in the power of social networking. Ruben Mascarenhas, a 22-year-old member of the Yuva Satta movement in Mumbai, believes that intelligent use of social networking sites to generate awareness is what will eventually usher in many revolutions in the country. “Post-26/11, I realized that online activism is not just about the euphoria that comes with creating a group or having 500 people sign up in a matter of days,” Mascarenhas says. “You also need the energy to sustain these groups.” He says he knows now that creating online groups with fewer but committed individuals, who give ideas and work on them, is a better model to follow than signing on strangers who will invest just a few minutes online. The 26/11 online groups lost their followers, Abraham argues, only because “there was no unified vision of where these groups wanted to go. Properly designed advocacy efforts on the Internet such as that of Michael Geist from Canada, who managed to block anti-consumer changes to the copyright law by using a Facebook group, will and can work”. That may be true. But it may also just be as Barot says: “People got busy. This is Mumbai. This is a fact of life.” seema.c@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 9:01 am Bookmarking for busy peopleNew Delhi: Instapaper is a remarkably simple bookmarking tool, but one that is full of clever features. Activating the service involves a simple sign up, and dragging and dropping a small bookmarklet. The next time you come across a web page you don’t have time to read, click the Instapaper button and the link is saved for good. Later, when time permits, browse through the list at leisure. But Instapaper let’s you do a lot more: you can read the articles in clean plain text, download them, print them and even ship them to your Kindle. Of course there is an iPhone app as well. For a video demo of the simple but robust Instapaper service see this week’s PlayStream video tutorial. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 8:02 am HP launches wireless, touch-screen printersNew Delhi: Hewlett Packard (HP) on Thursday launched its range of touch-screen and wireless printers ‘HP Touchsmart series’ priced at Rs6,000 onwards. “We think touch screen will become a common feature across printers going forward,” HP India Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) president Ravi Aggarwal said. The company, which has about 75% market share in the All-in-One (AIO) category in India is looking at consolidating its position further. The AIO category includes a combination of printer, copier and scanner. “We have a 75% market share in the AIO category and would look at building this further,” Aggarwal said. HP vice president (Consumer Go-To-Market and Inkjet and Web Solutions - IPG Asia Pacific and Japan) Christoph Schell said India accounted for about 15% revenues of the division in the region. “India is an important market for us. In the Apac region it accounts for about 15% of the revenues of the Imaging and Printing Group and we want to increase this further,” Schell said. Quoting a Technopak report, HP said the Indian touchscreen market is expected to hit $9 billion by 2015, growing at a CAGR of 14%. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Nov 2009 | 6:34 am
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