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IPOs overpriced, see commercial realty glut: Deepak ParekhSixteen realty companies intend to raise Rs 16,735 crore via initial public offerings. Commenting on the same, Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC, India\'s leading housing finance company, says valuation of the current realty IPO pipeline is overpriced.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:17 am MTNL not eyeing acquisition, keen on cost savingMTNL was not considering any acquisitions currently, the company exclusively told CNBCTV18. We are not considering Greenfield licenses overseas either. We are keen on cost saving and rationalisation. However the company didnt deny the fact that Africa offered good opportunity for growth. Valuations remain high in Africa.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 7:05 am Asia stock slide deepens; tech shares weak!Asian stocks fell on Monday after Wall Street suffered its worst three-day slide in 10 months, but losses were muted, and high-yielding currencies edged up as some investor appetite for riskier assets surfaced.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:43 am Obama`s bank plan could level high-frequency field!Obama`s plan to crack down on proprietary trading at investment banks could put them on equal footing with the established independent trading firms that don`t enjoy the backing of large financial institutions.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:43 am BSE Sensex falls 0.4 pct; banks, techs down!The BSE Sensex fell 0.4 percent in early trade on Monday, as investor sentiment was impacted by weak Asian markets, with banks and software companies leading the decline.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:43 am HCL Technologies net dips 36 pc to Rs 255 cr in Oct-Dec!The country`s third largest software company, HCL Technologies, today reported a 35.92 percent decline in net profit at Rs 255 crore in the October-December quarter.Source: Zee News : Business | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:43 am J Kumar Infra: Gets orders worth Rs 360 millionJ.Kumar Infraprojects Ltd said on Monday it has received total orders worth Rs 360 million and its orderbook position as on Jan 25 stood at Rs 13.1 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 6:22 am No delay in 3G auction, Min to issue notice for bids todayThe Telecom Ministry has said that the much talked about government\'s auction of thirdgeneration wireless spectrum will be held on schedule, reports CNBCTV18 quoting NewsWire18. The ministry will issue a draft of the notice inviting bids or applications (NIA) for 3G later today.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:55 am Partnership deals: Cognizant\'s road to successAt first look, there seemed to be no need to change the winning formula perfected by Cognizant Technology Solutions. But Francisco DSouza decided to take a second lookSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 5:01 am Shree Renuka board okays 1for1 bonus issueThe board of Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd has approved issuing one bonus share for every held, the sugar firm told the stock exchange on Monday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:34 am ED supports Mah Satyam\'s stance that claims are untenableThe Enforcement Directorate (ED) has given its nod to Mahindra Satyam outlining that the Rs 1,230 crore claimed by 37 promoter group companies in November 2009 is untenable. However, Mahindra Satyam was unavailable for comments and an official statement on the issue is awaited.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:29 am DLF to exit mutual fund JV with PrudentialDLF Ltd is exiting an asset management venture with Prudential Financial Inc, as a change in Indian rules required the realty firm to have five year experiences in financial services business.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 4:18 am PVRDT Cinema deal not called off: SourcesThe market has been abuzz with news of PVR Cinemas calling off its plan to acquire DT Cinemas. However, CNBCTV18 learns that the Rs 60crore deal, which was signed on November 13, 2008, is still on. Both PVR and DT are committed to the deal and PVR will issue preferential shares after DT complies with some conditions.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:40 am Sensex ends lower; realty, auto down - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:25 am NMDC board approves divesting 8.38% stake`Stateowned iron ore miner NMDC Ltd said on Monday its board has approved the initial papers to divest 8.38 percent of the government\'s stake to the public.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:22 am Mahindra & Mahindra Q3 net profit at Rs 413.70 cr - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:18 am Philips fourth quarter profit beats estimates, visibility lowThe world's biggest lighting maker, also a top-three hospital equipment maker and Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer, gave no hint of a new timeline for its mid-term targets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:17 am India Cements Q3 net profit dips 43.78 pc to Rs 34.80 cr - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:17 am REC FPO to open between Feb 18 and 23 - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:15 am Sensex ends 86 points downA benchmark index of Indian equities on Monday closed 86 points lower, failing to keep up with a brief recovery late afternoon.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:14 am Ferrero formally rules out Cadbury bidItalian confectioner Ferrero International SA on Monday formally declared that it would not make a takeover bid for Cadbury PLC.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:03 am MONEY MARKETS-Policy doubts push up Indian swap rates, forwards - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:02 am Mahindra & Mahindra shares down after resultsThe country's top utility vehicles and tractor maker said its October-December net profit stood at Rs4.14 billion.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:57 am Bosch launches multi-purpose home tool kitThis handy kit can help perform a variety of jobs at home - from putting up a picture frame on the wall to fixing a curtain rod, the company said in a statement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:49 am Delhi unveils first Commonwealth Games venueNew Delhi: India unveiled a refurbished hockey stadium, the first venue to be completed for this year’s Commonwealth Games and promised all other facilities would be ready in time for the 3-14 October event in New Delhi. India came under severe criticism after construction of several venues, including the athletes’ village, fell behind schedule, forcing the postponement or shifting of many international meets planned as test events. “A beginning has been made and you will now see the 10 remaining competition venues being completed one after another,” sports minister Manohar Singh Gill said at the inauguration of the Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium at the weekend. “I am confident everything will be in place in time. Yes, we could have finished the work a year in advance to get the facilities tested, but at least we can ensure that the venues will come up well before the games start,” Gill told reporters. Named after hockey player Dhyan Chand, the venue staged hockey during the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games and the 20,000-seater stadium will host the men’s hockey World Cup starting in the Indian capital next month. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:49 am Asian Paints to exit ops in Thailand, China by Feb-endMUMBAI (Reuters) - Asian Paints Ltd, India's top paints maker, expects to exit operations in China and Thailand by the end of February, after it sold stakes in two loss making units in Hong Kong and Malaysia, a senior official said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:48 am Mahindra & Mahindra OKs 2-for-1 stock splitMUMBAI (Reuters) - Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd on Monday approved a 2-for-1 stock split, a company official said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:44 am HCL Tech lags profit forecast; sees jump in deal pipeline - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:40 am Mahindra Dec qtr net jumps; misses forecastReuters - Three months ended Dec. 31. (versus the same period a year earlier, in million rupees unless stated)Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:38 am Asian Paints to exit operations in Thailand, China by Feb-endMumbai: Asian Paints Ltd, India’s top paints maker, expects to exit operations in China and Thailand by the end of February, after it sold stakes in two loss making units in Hong Kong and Malaysia, a senior official said. “The company has divested its units in Hong Kong and Malaysia, the divestment of units in Thailand and China are currently in progress,” P M Murty, managing director and chief executive, told a conference call. He said the company hopes to complete the divestment by next month. The firm, which gets more than half of its international revenues from the Middle East, has seen good volume growth in that region, though it is cautious in its outlook for sales from Dubai, officials said during the call. Asian Paints did not specify the percentage of sales it gets from its Dubai operations. Dubai had raised fears of a second bout of global financial turmoil in late 2009 by asking for a six-month repayment freeze on debt issued by Dubai World and its unit Nakheel. The firm is expecting a “minor gain” in its financial results as a result of the stake sale in its China and Thai operations, officials said in the call. Asian Paints’s consolidated Oct-Dec net profit soared to Rs1,980 crore from about Rs59 crore rupees a year ago. Murthy said the company does not expect to sustain profit margins at current levels. “These are margins which are at an all time high and is not sustainable at these levels...but I am not going to make any predictions as to where that margin is going to be,” Murty said. “As the market matures and as new competition gets established in this country, competitive pressures will probably intensify. That’s why we think these margins, which are at a very high level today, will probably not be sustained”. India’s top four players account for 60% of the paint market-valued at Rs1,500 crore. The firm also said it was on track to set up a plant at Rohtak in Haryana by April this year and has spent about 2.5 billion rupees in the first three quarters of FY10 on the plant, which will have an initial capacity of 150,000 kilo litres. It has acquired land near Pune in Maharashtra for a decorative paints plant and construction is expected to commence during the course of this year, Murty said. Asian Paints has not yet finalised a capex plan for 2010/11. At 3:08 p.m., its shares were up 0.75% at Rs1,780.20 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:38 am Mahindra & Mahindra shares down after resultsMUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares's in Mahindra & Mahindra extended losses to as much as 3.4 percent on Monday afternoon, after it reported lower-than-expected December quarter net profit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:36 am LIC Housing Finance net profit up 15% at Rs153.57 croreLICHF's net profit in the corresponding quarter last year was Rs134.33 crore, the company said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:30 am HP unveils cloud-based Internet techBangalore: More than two years after Prith Banerjee took charge of HP Labs in Palo Alto, California, to overhaul the 44-year-old research organization of the world’s largest IT company—a move initially seen by many as yet another cost-cutting measure by chief executive Mark Hurd—the 20 research labs in seven locations seem to be buzzing with activity and imminent commercial roll-outs of technology.  Innovative wave: HP Labs director Prith Banerjee. Hemant Mishra / Mint “The idea is to extend the information and service available to 45 million Internet users to 450 million mobile phone users,” says Banerjee. The service, which is currently being tested with three customers, will soon be launched with a revenue-sharing model where HP (Hewlett-Packard Co.) will seek its share just as Apple Inc. does through its AppStore. This aligns well with HP’s gradual, strategic march up the stack—from a hardware to a software to a services company. Recently, it signed up a multi-billion dollar deal with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for “managed print services” to handle its entire document work flow. A key technology there is from HP Labs India—trusted hard copy solution—that secures documents with two-dimensional bar codes. But Banerjee and Sudhir Dixit, HP Labs India’s director, are placing higher bets on the “intuitive interactive multimodal” technologies that the Bangalore lab is developing that, if successful, will allow access to computing devices intuitively—via gesture, speech and touch. For the India unit, which has contributed significantly to HP’s latest range of smart touch products, Banerjee says this is the grandest project ever. Dixit says bits of these technologies such as gesture-based command and control, gesture recognition, gesture and speech patterns are already developed and will gradually find their way into products that the parent company brings out. Ironically, one of the products from this stable, a gesture-based keyboard, which was launched in Karnataka in 2006, didn’t quite take off. Admitting its lack of public acceptance, Banerjee says: “It was not developed as a commercial product and that’s exactly the kind of research we want to avoid.” Under the new regime, all research ideas are also vetted by business units so that commercialization issues are sorted out early on. Most corporate research labs work in silos, disconnected from business realities. This disconnect was probably greater for HP Labs in the last few years when it wasn’t seen in the mainstream market as launching any breakthrough technology. Banerjee agrees. “In the last five years there’s been no breakthrough, but you will see some game changing technologies by 2016.” Digital commercial printing (DCP), which HP Labs intends to transfer by 2012 to the business group for a planned launch in 2017, is one such technology. It’s neither inkjet nor laserjet, but a completely new technology that allows custom digital printing at the cost and speed of today’s analog/offset printing. “Today, all copies of Mint in Bangalore are the same. With DCP, I can have news of some Kolkata-based companies, somebody else would want something on Nokia…we could custom print our newspaper. It could change publishing,” says Banerjee.  Cautious move: Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd. HP is seeking to move from a hardware to a software to a services company. Chris Kleponis / Bloomberg But before that it’s the new device that it is working on in India, to go with its packaged solution—device, platform, service—in the multimodal segment that could whip curiosity in the technology market. Refusing to divulge the details, Banerjee says, “We are cooking something here which will be completely amazing. It’s not iPhone, not Nexus One…we cannot give you more details at this point.” Banerjee doesn’t want Google Inc. to get a whiff of it. After all, lagging behind nimble technology movers such as Google is what HP is internally battling with. “That’s our charter from Mark Hurd—not to do incremental things for business units, but to move into new areas. We have identified eight of them, some will succeed, and some won’t.” seema.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:29 am HP unveils cloud-based Internet techBangalore: More than two years after Prith Banerjee took charge of HP Labs in Palo Alto, California, to overhaul the 44-year-old research organization of the world’s largest IT company—a move initially seen by many as yet another cost-cutting measure by chief executive Mark Hurd—the 20 research labs in seven locations seem to be buzzing with activity and imminent commercial roll-outs of technology. Innovative wave: HP Labs director Prith Banerjee. Hemant Mishra / Mint “The idea is to extend the information and service available to 45 million Internet users to 450 million mobile phone users,” says Banerjee. The service, which is currently being tested with three customers, will soon be launched with a revenue-sharing model where HP (Hewlett-Packard Co.) will seek its share just as Apple Inc. does through its AppStore. This aligns well with HP’s gradual, strategic march up the stack—from a hardware to a software to a services company. Recently, it signed up a multi-billion dollar deal with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for “managed print services” to handle its entire document work flow. A key technology there is from HP Labs India—trusted hard copy solution—that secures documents with two-dimensional bar codes. But Banerjee and Sudhir Dixit, HP Labs India’s director, are placing higher bets on the “intuitive interactive multimodal” technologies that the Bangalore lab is developing that, if successful, will allow access to computing devices intuitively—via gesture, speech and touch. For the India unit, which has contributed significantly to HP’s latest range of smart touch products, Banerjee says this is the grandest project ever. Dixit says bits of these technologies such as gesture-based command and control, gesture recognition, gesture and speech patterns are already developed and will gradually find their way into products that the parent company brings out. Ironically, one of the products from this stable, a gesture-based keyboard, which was launched in Karnataka in 2006, didn’t quite take off. Admitting its lack of public acceptance, Banerjee says: “It was not developed as a commercial product and that’s exactly the kind of research we want to avoid.” Under the new regime, all research ideas are also vetted by business units so that commercialization issues are sorted out early on. Most corporate research labs work in silos, disconnected from business realities. This disconnect was probably greater for HP Labs in the last few years when it wasn’t seen in the mainstream market as launching any breakthrough technology. Banerjee agrees. “In the last five years there’s been no breakthrough, but you will see some game changing technologies by 2016.” Digital commercial printing (DCP), which HP Labs intends to transfer by 2012 to the business group for a planned launch in 2017, is one such technology. It’s neither inkjet nor laserjet, but a completely new technology that allows custom digital printing at the cost and speed of today’s analog/offset printing. “Today, all copies of Mint in Bangalore are the same. With DCP, I can have news of some Kolkata-based companies, somebody else would want something on Nokia…we could custom print our newspaper. It could change publishing,” says Banerjee. Cautious move: Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd. HP is seeking to move from a hardware to a software to a services company. Chris Kleponis / Bloomberg But before that it’s the new device that it is working on in India, to go with its packaged solution—device, platform, service—in the multimodal segment that could whip curiosity in the technology market. Refusing to divulge the details, Banerjee says, “We are cooking something here which will be completely amazing. It’s not iPhone, not Nexus One…we cannot give you more details at this point.” Banerjee doesn’t want Google Inc. to get a whiff of it. After all, lagging behind nimble technology movers such as Google is what HP is internally battling with. “That’s our charter from Mark Hurd—not to do incremental things for business units, but to move into new areas. We have identified eight of them, some will succeed, and some won’t.” seema.s@livemint.com Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:29 am India gold buying extends after last week's pickupA slightly weaker rupee, which makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive, weighed on sentiment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:27 am Reliance MF appoints Ian Lancaster as CEO for Malaysian armNew Delhi: Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital Asset Management on Monday announced appointment of Ian Lancaster as the CEO of its Malaysian subsidiary, which has been set up to tap the fast-growing market for products complying with Islamic law. Lancaster, with over 20 years of experience, would lead Reliance Capital AMC’s venture in Islamic asset management business through the recently set up subsidiary in Malaysia, a company statement said. According to official estimates, global Shariah-compliant assets under management are projected to reach a size of $1 trillion by the end of this year. “Reliance Asset Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd will be our flagship venture in Islamic Asset Management business and a global hub for Shariah-compliant products for Reliance Capital. We are happy to announce the appointment of Lancaster as the CEO of this company,” Reliance Asset Management (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd director Vikrant Gugnani said. Lancaster has worked for global companies like Axa Equity and Law, General Accident, SE Banken and Norwich Union in his earlier assignments. He joins Reliance from Gulf Finance House, a Bahrain-based fund house where he was Head of International Equities and launched the UK’s first Shariah compliant fund, the statement added. Shariah-compliant companies cannot sell alcohol products or pork-related products, engage in gambling and accumulate or pay interest, among other things. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:25 am India think tank expects GDP growth at 9.2 pct in FY11MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's economic growth is likely to return to pre-crisis levels in the next fiscal year, driven by strong industrial and agriculture growth, a recent review by a think tank showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:24 am CMIE expects GDP growth at 9.2% in FY11Mumbai: India’s economic growth is likely to return to pre-crisis levels in the next fiscal year, driven by strong industrial and agriculture growth, a recent review by a think tank showed. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) expects the Asia’s third largest economy’s GDP growth to accelerate to 9.2% in 2010/11 from 6.9% in 2009/10. “In fiscal 2010/11, real GDP growth will be propelled by a strong performance by the industrial sector and a robust recovery in agricultural and elite sector. Services sector too is expected to do well,” CMIE said in the report. “A revival in consumer confidence and investment activities will supplement growth in the commodities segment,” it added. India’s GDP growth slowed to 6.7% in 2008/09 from 9% or more in the previous three years as the effect of global financial turmoil hurt demand, prompting the authorities to unveil a spate of measures designed to boost the economy. The measures helped as the country’s industrial output grew at its fastest pace in two years in November at 11.7%, the economy expanded 7.9% in the September-quarter and inflation jumped to a one-year high of 7.3% in December CMIE expects the wholesale price index, the main price barometer, to steadily fall to 7.7% in the June quarter and further to 3.8% March quarter of 2011. The drop in inflation which is seen across primary articles, fuel and manufactured products, is likely to be because of the high base value in 2009/10 and a good kharif (summer) crop production in 2010, it said. Headline inflation is estimated at 8.6 percent in March quarter, CMIE said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:22 am Cisco announces new Linux-powered routerThis new product complements the existing Linksys by Cisco consumer router lineup, and is essentially the next generation of the WRT54GL, the company said in a statement.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:17 am Philips Electronics reports profit in Q4Amsterdam: Royal Philips Electronics NV, the world’s largest maker of lights, reported a net profit of €251 million ($355 million) for the fourth quarter on Monday, helped by lower one-time charges and by job cuts. The net profit reverses a loss of €1.18 billion in the same period a year ago, which included €629 million in impairment charges on assets. Fourth quarter sales fell 3.4 percent to €7.26 billion. Philips has shed 5,474 jobs in the past year and now employs around 116,000. Chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee said operating profit margins, excluding restructuring charges, were above 12%, their highest level in a decade. Shares rose 4.7% in early Amsterdam trading to €21.285. The results “were better than expected on most counts,” analyst Eric de Graaf of Petercam Bank wrote in a note on the earnings. Though sales declined at Philips’ consumer products and lighting divisions, De Graaf said they were still better than expected, and “margins were better...all across the board.” De Graaf confirmed an “Add” rating on the shares but said he was considering raising estimates since sales have stopped falling from quarter to quarter and the company’s margins may expand further. Asia and Latin America were the main sources of the company’s earnings growth, offsetting a flat performance in Europe and a decline in the United States. Philips’ operating profit from high-end medical products such as imaging machines was €392 million in the fourth quarter, versus €279 million a year ago. On a phone call with reporters, CEO Kleisterlee forecast growth in the health care arm, already the company’s most profitable. “We are bound to see gradual improvement in health care” in 2010, he said. “The US market in our view has come to the low point, actually, from which with or without a conclusion of the Obama health care reform it can only go up.” At lighting, operating earnings were €41 million, versus a loss of €376 million a year earlier amid restructuring costs. Philips noted that 10% of its lighting sales now come from LED lights. “Energy efficiency is a big driver of end markets in the lighting sector,” Kleisterlee said. He noted the company was also benefiting from the phase-out of incandescent bulbs — energy-saving bulbs have higher profit margins. At Philips’ consumer products division, operating earnings were €260 million versus a loss of €40 million. That’s mostly due to a turnaround at its television unit, which accounts for more than a third of division sales. “I think our portfolio is pretty robust,” Kleisterlee said, with health care spending steady even in a downturn and energy-efficient lighting likely to grow. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:13 am A sedan now on Honda small car platform? - Wheels Unplugged
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:06 am Rupee trims fall tracking shares; dollar eyedMumbai: The Indian rupee trimmed most of its losses in afternoon trade on Monday and was largely flat tracking the domestic sharemarket and the dollar’s moves versus major currencies. At 2:40pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.16/17 per dollar, little changed from its previous close of Rs46.15/16. The rupee fell to Rs46.2750 during Friday trade, its lowest since 5 January. Indian shares were trading down 0.2% recovering from a fall of 0.9% earlier. The dollar slipped against the euro and higher-yielding currencies on Monday as some investors took profits on the US currency’s broad gains last week which had been fuelled by risk aversion. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward rupee contracts were quoted at Rs46.245/285, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at Rs46.1775, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.95 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:01 am Road to Sangam ties up with India PostDirected by Amit Rai, the film stars Om Puri and Paresh Rawal among others.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:59 am HCL Tech Dec quarter net falls more than forecastNew Delhi: Software services firm HCL Technologies Ltd on Monday missed forecasts with quarterly profit dragged down a fifth by declining other income, forex losses and higher costs. The results were out of sync with street-topping performances at larger peers like sector leader Tata Consultancy Services, No. 2 Infosys Technologies and Wipro and sent shares down as much as 6.5% on the day. India’s $60 billion outsourcing industry has seen a pick up as the global economic recovery boosts demand for IT services, giving investors confidence to expect a solid recovery. HCL, amongst India’s top five IT firms, echoed the sentiments, with its chief executive expecting more business coming his way as the trend of increased outsourcing becomes more pronounced towards the middle of next year. “There is a glimmer of hope, wherever you read, of the economic recovery coming back,” Vineet Nayar told a news conference. “With that background, CEOs are ready to make some investments ... largely in discretionary spend.” As firms looked to cut costs, “there is more emphasis towards outsourcing, offshoring,” Nayar said. “We have suddenly seen a jump in January-Februay-March quarter on the deals being negotiated.” Research firm Gartner has forecast global IT spending to rise by 4.6% to $3.4 trillion in 2010, reversing a similar decline in the past year. HCL won 12 deals during the quarter, but Nayar did not say how many deals could be signed in the March quarter. Rupee, costs pinch For its fiscal second quarter, HCL reported a net income of Rs297 crore under US accounting norms, down from Rs373 crore a year ago. A poll of 16 analysts by Reuters, on average, had expected net income of Rs305 crore. Revenue rose 22.8% to Rs3,033 crore, in line with analysts’ mean forecast of Rs3,036 crore. Chief financial officer Anil Chanana said 70 basis points were shaved off core margins by the rupee’s rise, while a wage hike during the quarter chopped off a further 130 basis points. IT firms are fretting over the firming rupee, which rose over 3% in the December quarter and which analysts say is set for a 4% climb in 2010. Over half of IT sales is billed in dollars and a strong rupee means a dip in rupee-revenue. Chanana also said the firm would repay its $130 million net debt over the next two quarters. Shares in HCL, which the market values at over $5.5 billion, had climbed 9.3% during the December quarter, underperforming the sector’s 13.5% increase. The broader market rose 2% during the period. By 2:02 pm, they were trading 5.9% down at Rs360.50 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:59 am Ericsson says to cut 1 500 more jobs profit plungesSwedish telecom giant Ericsson announced on Monday it would cut an additional 1,500 jobs under a restructuring plan that contributed to a 92 per cent fall in net profit in the fourth quarter.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:54 am Media Roundup: 25 January, 2010What the media is saying about next month’s budget: Economic Times The paper reported on Monday that government is planning to hike excise duty as it faces pressure to withdraw fiscal stimulus measures in the wake of a 16-year high fiscal deficit of 6.8% in the current financial year. Deccan Herald Deccan Herald published a story detailing the major roadblocks Pranab Mukherjee will face while preparing the Budget 2010-11, including rising inflation and fiscal consolidation Economic Times The new year is turning out to be quite testing and unnerving for equity investors. While the 2010 calendar year started on a high note, with the benchmark indices including the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty touching 18-month highs on the second trading day of the new year, the ride has been downhill since then. Economic Times The Budget of 2010-11 would be the 20th reform Budget, and, in a telling commentary on the progress made in some key areas, is likely to echo many of the concerns raised by Manmohan Singh in the first reform Budget of 1991-92. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:47 am Agri ministry should work with states to lower prices CongressAfter Sharad Pawar's remark that policy decisions are collectively made by the cabinet including the Prime Minister, Congress today said the Agriculture Ministry headed by him should work proactively with states to lower prices of essential commodities.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:45 am HCL Tech lags profit f'cast; sees jump in deal pipelineNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Software services firm HCL Technologies Ltd on Monday missed forecasts with quarterly profit dragged down a fifth by declining other income, forex losses and higher costs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:41 am Gold buying extends after last week’s pick-upMumbai: India gold buying continued on Monday afternoon, with limited quantities changing hands below the $1,100 an ounce level, after offtake picked up for most part of last week, dealers said. “The demand is moderate today, there was interest below the $1,100 (an ounce) level, but not comparable to last week,” said a dealer with a state-run bullion dealing bank. “Buying is still there, I executed deals at $1,098 an ounce... I must have done a little more than half-a-tonne last week,” said a dealer with another state-run bank. International gold, which guides the domestic markets, was trading higher at $1,098.75/1,099.50 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,091.65/1,093.65 an ounce, mainly helped by a weaker dollar overseas. “Most of my clients have left orders at $1,080/1,090 (an ounce),” said the state-run bank dealer. A slightly weaker rupee, which makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive, weighed on sentiment. The Indian rupee edged lower weighed by losses in the domestic sharemarket, but some dollar selling by exporters and some investment inflows for share offers helped limit further falls. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:19 am Q+A - How much independence does RBI enjoy?NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will review monetary policy on Jan. 29 against the backdrop of high food prices and calls from key government officials to keep policy rates steady to nurture growth.Source: Reuters: Money News | 25 Jan 2010 | 1:17 am NMDC board approves divesting 8.38% stake - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:55 am McNally Bharat wins Rs438 cr project from NTPCMumbai: McNally Bharat Engineering Company on Monday said it has bagged an order worth Rs438 crore for commissioning of three plants at power major NTPC’s Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project. The scope of work includes supply, installation, testing and commissioning of Coal Handling, Lime Handling and Gypsum Handling Plant for Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project (3x250MW), McNally Bharat said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The contractual period of completion of project is within 30 months, it added. Shares of McNally Bharat Engineering rose 1.91% and were quoting at Rs262.45 in the afternoon trade on BSE. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:54 am VIPs caught in cess mess - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:27 am Oil Ministry seeks fund for overseas buysThe Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, has written to the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to consider setting up a fund that will aid domestic public sector companies in acquiring oil and gas assetsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideThe stock is testing key support around Rs 347. Initiate fresh short position if DLF drops below this support level with tightSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am FIIs shore up stakes in IT cos on revival signalsForeign institutional investors are making the most of the revival in India's software servicesSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Promoters' stake dips in one-third of companiesIn the three quarters between March and December 2009 when the benchmark stock index Sensex has doubled in value, a third of the BSE 500 and Sensex companies have seen their promoters reduce holdings, in many cases cashing out.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Robust rural market fuels car salesCar makers are making greater inroads into rural markets with industry majors reporting 50-100 per cent rise in sales in such regions in the currentSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Gold may test resistance levelsComex gold futures ended lower touching a one-month low, as President Barack Obama's proposal to limit risk-taking by banks pressured commodities across theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Strong sales growth in Dec quarter buoys India Inc profitsA first take of Corporate India's December quarter results suggests that companies, besides benefiting from ‘cost-relief' have also demonstrated growth inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am The hollow men of monetary policyThere is a cacophony of confused ideasand a deficit of genuine insight into how to fix India's runaway inflation. The mavens of the Reserve Bank of India or the Ministry of Finance, who sit in their air-conditioned offices poring over numerousSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am The rot in our collegesIt has been a turbulent fortnight for Indian education. Forty four deemed universities will be derecognised. The decision has been widely welcomed (though I know of a couple of instances where the move does not seemSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Punj Lloyd – SellInvestors with medium-term perspective can consider selling the stock of PunjSource: Business Line - Home Page | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Ethiopian airliner crashes after takeoff from BeirutBEIRUT (Reuters) - An Ethiopian Airlines plane with 90 people on board crashed into the Mediterranean sea shortly after taking off from Beirut international airport in the early hours of Monday, the Lebanese transport minister said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:58 pm Ethiopian plane crashes off Lebanon, 90 on boardBeirut: An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in flames early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut, authorities said. Four bodies were recovered in the hours after the crash as authorities combed through the choppy waters under gray skies, a Lebanese military official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but a police official said it was likely weather-related. Beirut has seen heavy rain and lightning since Sunday. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said terrorism was not suspected. “Sabotage is ruled out as of now,” he said. The Boeing 737-800 took off around 2:30am, (7:30pm EST) for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, said Ghazi Aridi, the public works and transportation minister. “The weather undoubtedly was very bad,” Aridi told reporters at the airport. He added that the plane went down about 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) off the Lebanese coast. The Lebanese army said in a statement saying the plane was “on fire shortly after takeoff.” The wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon was on the plane, according to an embassy official who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the matter. Helicopters and naval ships were scrambled for a rescue effort amid intermittent rain, thunder and lightning. Ethiopian Airlines released a statement on its Web site confirming the plane was missing. “A team is already working on gathering all pertinent information,” the statement said. “An investigative team has already been dispatched to the scene and we will release further information as further updates are received.” Calls to the airline were not immediately returned. Relatives of the passengers began arriving at the airport early Monday, many of them crying and hugging. Officials led them into a VIP area. The plane was carrying 90 people, including 83 passengers and 7 crew. Aridi identified the passengers as 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopians, one Iraqi, one Syrian, one Canadian of Lebanese origin, one Russian of Lebanese origin, a French woman and two Britons of Lebanese origin. Ethiopian Airlines reported that there were 82 passengers and eight crew; the discrepancy could not immediately be explained. Ethiopian Airlines has long had a reputation for high-quality service compared to other African airlines, with two notable crashes in more than 20 years. A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines jet crash-landed off the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean when it ran out of fuel in November 1996, killing 126 of the 175 people aboard. The plane had just left Addis Ababa when three hijackers stormed the cockpit and demanded to be taken to Australia. In September 1988, an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed shortly after taking off when it ran into a flock of birds, killing 31 of the 104 people on board. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:58 pm Ericsson Q4 in line, says holding market shareStockholm: Telecoms gear maker Ericsson reported fourth-quarter core operating profit in line with market expectations on Monday and said it had maintained market share in a tough climate. Last year was difficult for network gear makers as telecoms operators cut back on spending during the global downturn. Ericsson’s quarterly operating profit, excluding loss-making joint ventures and restructuring costs, was 7.5 billion Swedish crowns ($1 billion), nearly matching forecasts. “We maintained market shares well in all segments, cash flow was good and our financial position is strong,” Chief executive Hans Vestberg, who recently took the top job at Ericsson, said. While the improving global economy means the outlook for the network market has brightened, few expect a strong rebound and some analysts believe growth could be delayed until 2011. Ericsson rival Alcatel-Lucent reckons the market will be flat or grow, at best, 5% in 2010 wile Nokia Siemens Networks predicts no growth. Ericsson gave no outlook for the current year, but said that during 2009, operators in a number of developing countries had been increasingly cautious with investments. Markets including China, India and the United States, however, remained strong and the market for professional services -- such as maintaining and running operators networks -- was robust. Sales were 58.3 billion crowns versus a forecast of 59.8 billion with the company saying its key networks unit had seen sales hit by reduced operator spend in the second half. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:48 pm Indian entrepreneurs increasingly buying used products: StudyWith consumers chary over spending on high-cost consumer goods, Indian entrepreneurs are increasingly buying pre-owned products online, according to a study by e-commerce portalSource: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:46 pm Dhanalakshmi Bank Oct-Dec net plunges 92% on operating costsMumbai: Private-sector lender Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd said its Oct-Dec quarter net profit fell 92% despite a rise in total income, as profits were hurt by higher operating costs during the quarter. The bank reported a net profit of Rs1.32 crore in Oct-Dec compared with Rs16.9 crore in the year-ago period, but total income rose to Rs156 crore from Rs124 crore earlier. “It was mainly the operating expenses,” which impacted the quarter said Abhishek Nalwaya, head of investor relations, adding the bank had incurred about Rs53 crore in operating expenses. This compared with an operating expense of Rs29.2 crore in the year-ago period. In Oct-Dec the bank incurred about Rs30.1 crore in employee costs as it added 650 employees in the quarter taking its total headcount to 2,800 employees, Nalwaya said. “We also incurred some expenses on ATMs and new branches that we set up,” Nalwaya said. The bank added 45 branches and 101 ATMs during the quarter, he said. It plans to add another 21 branches in Jan-March to reach 273 branches across the country, he said. Shares of Dhanalakshmi Bank were up 0.1% at Rs143.5 in a weak Mumbai market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:22 pm HCL Tech dips over 5 pc on weak Oct Dec earningsShares of HCL Technologies declined by 5.45 per cent to Rs 362 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in early trade after the IT major reported a 36 per cent fall in its quarterly net profit.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:08 pm Credit Suisse raises Bharti to neutralCredit Suisse said the stock has declined 25% since early October, underperforming the benchmark by 28%.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:08 pm China economist sees 2010 GDP up 9.55%China's gross domestic product growth is likely to grow about 9.5 percent in 2010, largely driven by strong domestic consumption and corporate investment.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:54 pm DLF to exit mutual fund joint venture with PrudentialThe decision to exit the asset management company would not affect DLF's life insurance joint venture with a unit of Prudential, the firm said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:44 pm Rupee falls by 4 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee on Monday depreciated by 4 paise against the US currency in early trade on continued outflows by foreign funds from equities amid increased dollar demand from importers.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:44 pm Markets 0.9%; techs, banks weighMumbai: Indian shares fell nearly 1% on Monday morning after a weak lead-in from Asian markets, with technology and bank stocks leading the losses. Infosys Technologies was down 1.9% at Rs2,524.90 and Tata Consultancy Services shed 1.3% to Rs745.65. “IT stocks are just adjusting after the sharp run-up we saw post Infosys and TCS results,” said Vaibhav Sanghavi, director of Ambit Capital, who recommended buying tech stocks. Both Infosys and Tata Consultancy had hit record highs this month after reporting better-than-expected December quarter results, and were still up 1.5% and 4.4% respectively since before Infosys reported on 12 January. Top carmaker Maruti Suzuki was up 1% at Rs1,454 after it reported on Saturday December quarter profit more than tripled. Domestic brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher revised its EPS estimate for Maruti Suzuki fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 upwards by 6% and 8% respectively after results. At 10:22am, the 30-share BSE Index was down 0.87% at 16,712.18, with only six of its components gaining, and on track for a fifth straight daily fall. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.9% at 4,990.90. “I don’t think anything really has changed for India in terms of fundamentals. It is just reacting to the weakness in global markets and some bad results last week from the capital goods sector,” said Sanghavi. “The India story still holds good, and the fund flow in the country should continue,” he added. The Reserve Bank of India reviews key interest rates in its quarterly policy meeting on 29 January, and banks edged down ahead of an expected tightening in their reserve requirements. According to a Reuters poll, 24 out of 25 economists expected the central bank to raise the cash reserve ratio, the proportion of deposits banks need to keep with the central bank, by up to 50 basis points in the meeting. Private lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were down 2.5% and 1.6% respectively. Sector leader State Bank of India bucked the trend and was up 0.4% at 2,097.90 rupees ahead of its quarterly results. It is forecast to post a 1.1% decline in its quarterly net profit on sluggish credit demand and a fall in treasury incomes as bond yields rose. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.6:1 in a volume of 119 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:37 pm BSE Sensex down 0.9 pct; techs, banks weighMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex fell nearly 1percent on Monday morning after a weak lead-in from Asian markets, with technology and bank stocks leading the losses.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:35 pm Sensex down 115 pts in opening trade on global cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 115 points in opening trade on Monday on increased selling in banking, IT and metal stocks amid weak global cues.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:32 pm US retailer Wal Mart to eliminate 11 500 jobs at Sam s ClubGiant US retailer Wal-Mart announced this weekend that it will eliminate about 11,500 jobs at its Sam's Club megastores in the United States.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:28 pm Videocon plans pan India presence by Feb to look at 3 G phoneLeading conglomerate Videocon, which has forayed into mobile handset space, has said that it plans to achieve a pan-India presence by end of February and roll out 15 more models of handsets in two months in addition to exploring the option of coming out with 3-G handsets.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:23 pm China economist sees 2010 GDP up 9.5 pctBEIJING (Reuters) - China's gross domestic product growth is likely to grow about 9.5 percent in 2010, largely driven by strong domestic consumption and corporate investment, a government researcher said in remarks published on Monday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:21 pm DLF to exit MF JV with PrudentialNew Delhi: DLF Ltd is exiting an asset management venture with Prudential Financial Inc, as a change in the rules required the realty firm to have five year experience in financial services business. DLF, India’s largest listed realty firm, said in a statement at the weekend the asset management company would be owned by Prudential Financial’s sponsor group, which received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in 2008 to set up a mutual fund in India. The decision to exit the asset management company would not affect DLF’s life insurance joint venture with a unit of Prudential, the realty firm said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 10:02 pm Rupee down 4 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee depreciated by 4 paise against the dollar in early trade on continued outflows by foreign funds from equities amid increased dollar demand from importers.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 9:20 pm Asia stock slide deepens; tech shares weakSingapore: Asian stocks fell on Monday after Wall Street suffered its worst three-day slide in 10 months, but losses were muted, and high-yielding currencies edged up as some investor appetite for riskier assets surfaced. Disappointing results announced by Google Inc on Friday dragged down tech-related shares in Tokyo, pushing the Nikkei index down 1.2%, but analysts shrugged off the fall. They said that while Tokyo had been hit by an inevitable negative reaction given the sharp US losses, there were some signs that its declines might be relatively small. “Stocks that you might have expected to have really lost a lot, such as the megabanks, aren’t down so much, and that’s true of a lot of the big-cap shares as well,” said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. “There’s the chance that foreigners may be buying, that there could be a bit of a pull-back from the United States and Europe that’s coming into Japan.” Wall Street stocks fell as much as 2.7% on Friday on worries over President Barack Obama’s plan to curb bank risk-taking, which could hit their profits, and on Google’s result. With the sudden loss of leadership from the financial and tech sectors, which have led a global rally in recent months, analysts are unsure if equities will continue to sink. Some investors fear the global economic recovery may be slowing, and a number of technical indicators point to further weakness. The main US stock indices have lost all the gains made this year and fell below key support levels and their 50-day moving averages, a move seen as a bearish signal. The MSCI index for Asia ex-Japan shares was down 0.72% on Monday. On foreign exchange markets, high-yielding currencies like the Aussie and the kiwi rose on Monday, inching up to $0.9070 and $0.7160 respectively, from $0.9003 and $0.7110 late on Friday. Analysts said risk appetite had been lifted by reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was moving closer towards confirmation for a second term. Investors were spooked last week after several key senators announced their opposition to Bernanke’s reappointment but the top Senate Republican predicted confirmation. The US dollar edged up against the yen to ¥90.20 from ¥89.87 late on Friday in New York but fell about 0.1% against a basket of six currencies The greenback had struck a five-week high against the dollar and a nine-month high on the euro on Friday as investors rushed towards safe-haven assets. Still, demand for riskier assets and higher-yielding currencies is likely to remain subdued amid rising concerns over Greece’s fiscal problems; worries that China’s efforts to curb its surging economy may impair global growth and fears that the populist turn at the White House might impact US bank earnings. Traders are awaiting the response to Greece’s proposed issue of a 5-year benchmark bond issue later on Monday as a test of investor appetite, analysts said. On other markets, crude oil steadied near its four-week low of below $75 a barrel, while spot gold trekked upward to $1,098.65 per ounce from the New York close of $1,091.65 as the dollar edged down. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 9:12 pm Oil steadies near 4-week low below $75Perth: Oil prices rose marginally but stayed near a four-week low below $75 a barrel on Monday, on continued market unease over possible tighter monetary policy in China and a US proposal to tighten bank trading rules. Asian stocks fell, hammered by worries about the US economy following the worst three-day slump on Wall Street in 10 months, and the US dollar index also dipped against a basket of currencies on receding risk appetite. Analysts said sentiment during the week would be shaped by the latest US Federal reserve comments on interest rates due on Wednesday as well as US existing home sales data and gross domestic product for the fourth quarter. “President Obama’s proposal to tighten bank trading rules as well as expectations that China may take further steps to tighten monetary policy will also be the two key themes that will continue to cast a pall on oil and commodity markets,” said Toby Hassall, chief commodities analyst at CWA Pty Ltd. US crude for March delivery edged up 5 cents to $74.59 a barrel by 8:00am. The contract fell $1.54 to settle at $74.54 a barrel on Friday, the lowest settlement since 22 December and broke below the 100-day moving average of $75.20. London Brent crude climbed 11 cents to $72.94. Having fallen in seven out of eight trading sessions since 11 January, oil prices could see some trend-line support near current levels, analysts said. More bearish news could push the price toward a low of $68.59 - last seen in late December. Separately, Mexico closed its Dos Bocas oil terminal on Sunday due to bad weather, the government said. Almost all of Mexico’s crude oil exports are shipped to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States. US stocks could also see choppy trading this week with the latest batch of earnings and uncertainty over Ben Bernanke’s Senate confirmation for another term as Federal Reserve chairman. Money managers boosted their net long crude oil futures position on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week through 19 January, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 9:05 pm Sensex down 115 pts in opening trade on global cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 115 points in opening trade today on increased selling in banking, IT and metal stocks amid weak global cues.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 8:52 pm Oil steadies near 4-week low below $75, eyes on equitiesOil prices rose marginally but stayed near a four-week low below $75 a barrel on Monday, on continued market unease over possible tighter monetary policy in China and a U.S. proposal to tighten bank trading rules.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 8:35 pm IL&FS planning to convert Maytas Infra debt into equityIn a move aimed at shoring up Maytas Infra's networth and perhaps staving off a possible attempt by erstwhile promoter Teja Raju to get a foot into the company again, the company's new owner IL&FS is negotiating with lenders to convert around Rs 600 crore of the company's debt into equity.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 4:38 pm Kerosene LPG subsidies to stayRealising the adverse political fallout of any tinkering with consumer prices of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG) and kerosene, the government is planning to extend its subsidy scheme on the two fuels by another five years to March 31, 2015, reports Anupama Airy.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 1:12 pm Gates faces flak for US’ Pakistan policyIslamabad: Nobody else in the Obama administration has been mired in Pakistan for as long as defence secretary Robert Gates. So on a trip here this past week to try to soothe the country’s growing rancor toward the US, he served as a punching bag tested over a quarter century. “Are you with us or against us?” a senior military officer demanded of Gates at Pakistan’s National Defence University on Friday. Gates, who could hardly miss that the officer was mimicking former president George W. Bush’s warning to nations harbouring militants, simply replied, “Of course we're with you.” That was the essence of Gates’ message over two days to the Pakistanis, who are angry about the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) surge in missile strikes from drone aircraft on militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The trip, Gates’ first to Pakistan in three years, proved that the history of US foreign policy is full of unintended consequences. As the No. 2 official at the CIA in the 1980s, Gates helped channel covert aid and weapons through Pakistan’s spy agency to US allies at the time: Islamic fundamentalists fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. Many of those fundamentalists regrouped as the Taliban, who gave sanctuary to Al Qaeda before the 11 September 2001 attacks and now threaten Pakistan. In meetings on Thursday, Pakistani leaders repeatedly asked Gates to give them their own armed drones to go after the militants, not just a dozen smaller, unarmed ones that Gates announced as gifts meant to placate Pakistan and induce its cooperation. Pakistani journalists asked Gates if the US had plans to take over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons (Gates said no) and whether the US would expand the drone strikes farther south into Baluchistan, as is under discussion. Gates did not answer. At the same time, the Pakistani army’s chief spokesman, addressing the media at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Thursday, rejected Gates’ assertion that Al Qaeda had links with militant groups on Pakistan’s border. Asked why the US would have such a view, the spokesman, curtly replied, “Ask the US.” US officials say the real reason Pakistanis distinguish between the groups is that they are reluctant to go after those that they see as a future proxy against Indian interests in Afghanistan when the Americans leave. India is Pakistan’s archrival in the region. “Dividing these individual extremist groups into individual pockets if you will is, in my view, a mistaken way to look at the challenge we all face,” Gates said. His final message delivered, he relaxed on the 14-hour trip home by watching Seven Days in May, the Cold War-era film about an attempted military coup in the US. ©2010/The New York Times feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm Uncertainty prevails over recovery by domestic carriersMumbai: Despite expectations of financial improvements for some domestic carriers in the three months ended December, civil aviation executives and experts are wondering if the industry has flown past cloudy weather. With all its festivals and holidays, the December quarter forms the peak travelling season—and that is expected to reflect in the account books of a number of airlines affected by the aviation downturn of the past year and a half. But worries over volatile jet fuel costs and price competition have dampened some of the exuberance. On Thursday, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd kicked off the earnings season with an operating profit of Rs11 crore for its domestic operations, although it posted a net loss of Rs419.96 crore. SpiceJet Ltd posted a record profit of Rs108.9 crore for the same quarter. Jet Airways (India) Ltd, which will announce its results on Monday, is expected to post a profit of around Rs10 crore. While analysts who track the industry are upbeat, airline executives remain cautiously optimistic. Some are downright sceptical about whether the numbers are an indication of better times to come. They warn that even minor changes in the business environment could scuttle any hopes of recovery.  Cautious optimism: A file photo of aircraft of various domestic airlines at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. SpiceJet posted a record profit of Rs108.9 crore for the quarter ended December. Harikrishna Katragadda/Mint A December report from Nikhil Vora and Shweta Dewan, senior analysts at domestic brokerage IDFC-SSKI Securities Ltd, said that “the worst for aviation is clearly over”. On 18 January, they wrote, “Indian aviation, too, is set to take off with domestic segment reporting peak passenger traffic.” India is the ninth largest aviation market in the world, and fourth in terms of domestic passengers volume. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s airline regulator, said on 13 January the domestic market expanded 7.5% in 2009 from 2008. Nearly 3.07 million additional passengers took to the skies in 2009, taking the total number of fliers to 43.84 million, up from 40.77 million in 2008 and 42.85 million in 2007. December 2009 alone recorded 4.48 million fliers, a 35.02% increase over the 3.32 million in December 2008. But doubters remain. It is not real growth, said Charles Dhanaraj, associate professor of management at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Indianapolis, an expert on the Indian aviation industry. “It will take a lot more time,” he said, adding that a more accurate statement would be that losses are coming down and airlines are more likely to be able to break even. “The state of turbulence and uncertainty for Indian airline industry has not changed much to have a different result,” said Hemant Bhattbhatt, senior director at financial advisory services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd. “There is certain amount of revival while airlines are learning from past mistakes by cutting costs.” But he added that there was still no fundamental change except “slight tweaking…in the business model”. Airlines bosses, too, remain divided on how the nascent recovery would play out. “We were cautiously optimistic in 2009. Now, we are optimistic and probably (the) worst is over for Indian aviation,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer at Delhi-based low-fare carrier SpiceJet. Nikos Kardassis, chief executive of Jet Airways, is also circumspect about the long-term health of the industry. “While there have been positive signs of a revival in aviation both globally and in India on the back of a revival in the global economic environment, it would be a bit premature to suggest a return to profitability just yet,” he conceded. According to reports by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) he said, Asia-Pacific carriers are expected to post the most dramatic financial improvements globally in 2010, as compared with the preceding year. The sustainability of this recovery, said Kardassis, would depend in large part on the global economic scenario and “we are cautiously optimistic in this regard”. Any increase in fuel prices, for instance, will directly affect profitability, said Saikat Chaudhuri, assistant professor of management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, making the case for continued cost cutting. Crude price was $76.32 (Rs3,526 today) a barrel on 22 January 2010, up 74.77% from $43.67 a barrel on 22 January 2009. Kardassis added that volatile jet fuel prices and high taxes on it could make profitability difficult. Jet fuel accounts for as much as 40% of an airline’s operating costs. “Jet fuel prices in India are unfeasibly high as compared to global aviation hubs like Dubai and Singapore, and this needs to be corrected at the earliest to make Indian carriers more competitive,” he said. Aggarwal also considers jet fuel price as the main threat in the flight back to profitability. “An increase (of) up to 15% in jet fuel prices can be sustained as this can be translated into ticket prices without hurting passengers,” he said, but “anything beyond that will kill the industry.” Adding any more capacity, just as airlines did before the global downturn, could have the same effect, warned Kardassis. Wharton’s Chaudhuri agreed, saying that while the return of passengers is a good sign, “…it is important to keep in mind that the yields have not recovered and will take time to regain their earlier levels after having dropped around 20% during the crisis.” Industry watchers, though, are worried about another round of price wars, which could bleed airlines dry. In early 2008, airlines panicked and cut ticket prices, recalled Aloke Bajpai, chief executive of Ixigo.com, a travel search engine firm. “I am expecting a similar episode this season also,” he said, predicting that airlines will resort to dropping prices once the lean season kicks in in February. pr.sanjai@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm Trucks go for smart lookThe long standing image of a truck as a dull and drab looking motorised contraption is all set for an overhaul.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 12:20 pm Sebi, FMC merger on the backburnerThe finance ministrys proposal to merge commodity futures regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has been put on the backburner. It met with opposition from the consumer affairs department.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 12:19 pm Little success in govt price warThe governments war on food prices has seen marginal success so far. Retail prices of sugar dipped 6 per cent after the government announced a slew of measures on January 13. Prices of grain and pulses have remained unchanged.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 12:16 pm Cargo handling at ports up for 5th month in rowCargo handled by major ports in the country, a key indicator for economic activity, is staging a smart recovery.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:52 am Oil Ministry seeks fund for overseas buys - Hindu Business Line
Source: Business - Google News | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:41 am Start tax planning at the beginning of year"Invest in a tax-saving mutual fund scheme that has given 100%-plus returns in the last year and save taxes up to Rs 1 lakh or put your money in a bank deposit or government-backed scheme like public provident fund (PPF) or National Savings Certificate (NSC) and preserve your capital"- these are samples of sales pitch offered to investors looking for tax-saving avenues at the fag end of the financial year.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:37 am Promoters' holdings increase in GrasimThere has been an increase in the promoters' shareholding of the Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Grasim Industries in the December quarter to 25.50%.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:31 am Local research aids Microsoft in breaking new groundBangalore: Half a decade is perhaps too short a time in the life of a research laboratory to assess the impact made by it, but the progress and level of local engagement achieved by the India lab of Micosoft Research (MSR) has surprised even Richard F. Rashid.  Looking ahead: MSR’s Richard F. Rashid says that increasingly the way we think about science is in terms of modelling data and all sciences, such as biology and astronomy, are becoming data sciences. Hemant Mishra/Mint Since then, it has made more than a dozen breakthroughs that not only resolve India-specific technological puzzles, but are also driving Microsoft’s march at the cutting edge of software development. Its latest project, the “address geocoder”, is just one example. The location search software was developed in response to the absence of a standard address format in India. It has gone into the making of Bing Maps, a searchable database of addresses worldwide with which Microsoft is taking on more established digital map providers such as Google Inc. The address geocoder is already available in parts of Europe, and will arrive in India later this year. “I am surprised by how much progress the (India) lab has made. That shows what happens when you put researchers in India. We didn’t see this kind of local engagement in China or England,” said Rashid, senior vice-president, research, Microsoft Corp. Another local research initiative is the India Digital Heritage, which is meant to capture and present diverse aspects of the country’s heritage in a digital form, including tourists’ personal experiences. It has been undertaken with local academics and the department of science and technology in New Delhi. “It is just about to launch,” said MSR India managing director P. Anandan. Digital Green is a project that applies commodity video hardware—or real time three-dimensional video—to step up awareness and spread the use of sustainable agriculture practices among small farmers. It is active in some northern states of India, and has now been spun off as a separate non-government entity. It recently received $1 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organization run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. MSR has 850 researchers worldwide, which Rashid claims is the largest congregation of basic research computer science (CS) professionals. MSR India—which has 56 researchers—considers engaging the local CS community, which lacks a culture of pursuing PhD and basic research, as a long-term goal. At its fifth anniversary and annual research symposium on Friday, called TechVista, it launched ResearchAndYou—a portal to bridge the gap between the minuscule CS research community in India and the potentially large talent pool available at the undergraduate level. It has managed to get some leading computer scientists, including professors from the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, to mentor the participants. Anandan doesn’t expect any “direct benefits” from this anytime soon, but the lab hopes to build the ecosystem in this branch of science—which Rashid and other computer scientists believe is going to be the “mathematics of sciences”. Increasingly, the way we think about science is in terms of modelling data; all sciences, such as biology, astronomy and environment are becoming data sciences, said Rashid. During a discussion on “The Future of Computing and Computer Science”, visiting scientists spoke about a variety of possibilities. MSR technical fellow Butler Lampson, a Turing Award recipient who has the unit of measuring talking speed—milliLampson—named after him, said he had been unsuccessfully predicting the large-scale presence of robots in homes for some time. But he added he was still hopeful about their future. “We are 15 years away from when robotics would come to human aid in a big way, particularly in prostheses,” he said. But Barbara Liskov of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is also a Turing Award recipient, felt differently about the imminent issue before computer scientists. According to Liskov, the way programming is done needs to change to be able to run on multi-core machines. But the biggest challenge to the world of computing, said Turing Award winner Tony Hoare, was to make computing relevant to everyone. Frightened by the “digital divide” and its implications, the 76-year-old programming doyen said mobile computing could provide a solution—may be a “magic” device from Apple Inc., he said, cheekily hinting at the firm’s Tablet personal computer launch scheduled for this week. But Rashid wasn’t convinced. First of all, the tablet concept is old, with the first reference design being made at MSR Cambridge long ago, he said. Secondly, he isn’t aware what Apple, which has also unsuccessfully flirted with the tablet concept long ago, is going to unveil now. “I really don’t know (about the Apple tablet device), I don’t think anybody does other they (Apple) themselves,” said Rashid. What he does know is that the way people are adapting computing to different purposes, reading is going to be an important area. “We’ve done some work with Amazon (Amazon.com) and Kindle (software for displaying e-books), and I’m sure Apple will do some work in this area as well,” he added. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:25 am Can IT change rural urban equationsPeople often speak of the Digital Divide, but often, that is from the point of view of economic growth or opportunities. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 24 Jan 2010 | 9:04 am
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