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Kuwait\'s Zain gets offer from Bharti for African assetsKuwait\'s Zain has received an offer of up to USD 10.7 billion for its African assets from Indian telecoms firm Bharti, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Saturday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am Ashok Leyland launches die casting JV with Finnish firmAshley Alteams, a 50:50 joint venture between Ashok Leyland and Finnish light cast metal components manufacturers Alteams OY has been inaugurated at Cheyyar, near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am MercedesBenz sets up new dealership in SuratMercedesBenz the German luxury car maker has opened a new dealership Benchmark cars in Gujarat.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am Hyundai opens new dealership in MumbaiHyundai Motor India has inaugurated Asset Hyundai, a new dealership at Kanjurmarg (Powai) in MumbaiSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am Bridgestone all set to expand its operation in IndiaBridgestone, the worlds number one tyre and rubber manufacturer has announced that it will start manufacturing truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres in India in order to meet the growing demand in the country. With the expansion of road infrastructure and expressways, the demand for TBR is also on the rise.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am Bosch Systems India sets up new technical centreBosch Chassis systems India has inaugurated a new technical centre at Chakan near Pune.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am First Ford Figo rolls out of new Chennai plantFirst Ford Figo rolls out of new Chennai plantSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am Satyam scam impacted PwC image, admits new chiefGautam Banerjee, the newlyappointed India chairman of the audit firm, said the Satyam case was a collusive fraud and it is difficult for auditors to uncover of such swindles based solely on the audit processSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am Sam Pitroda committee submits BSNL report to DoT: SourcesThe committee was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 6 and sources say the report may contain suggestions for changes in BSNLs functioning and calls for greater autonomy for the companys board.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 5:15 am Peepoo, the toilet bag, faces cultural resistanceThe Peepoo bag is fine for sanitation but faces cultural and cost barriersSource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 5:11 am Cannot focus on inflation only SubbaraoThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Saturday that the bank could not just focus on inflation given growth concerns.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:08 am Offsets would be mandatory even for single vendor contractsIndia today said it will not go ahead with a single vendor for its defence products if the offsets clause was not agreed to and that it will look for a new source to acquire them in such a scenario.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:50 am Cannot focus on inflation only: RBI chiefRBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao also said that the large government borrowing influences monetary policy.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:40 am RBI not shying away from convertibility: SubbaraoIndia has been cautious on financial sector liberalisation and a move towards fuller capital account convertibility after the global financial crisis hit Asia's third-largest economy harder than expected.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:38 am Bharti offers $10.7 bln for Zain Africa ops - reportsKUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's Zain has received an offer of up to $10.7 billion for its African assets from Indian telecoms firm Bharti Airtel, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:05 am Bharti offers $10.7 bn for Zain’s African assets: reportsKuwait: Kuwait’s Zain has received an offer of up to $10.7 billion for its African assets from telecom firm Bharti Airtel, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Saturday. Zain’s board is expected to meet soon to discuss the offer, local daily al-Rai said in an unsourced report. In another unsourced report on Saturday, Kuwaiti al-Watan newspaper said that the firm’s board is due to meet on Sunday to discuss the offer. Officials at both firms were not immediately available for comment. On Monday, Zain said in a statement on the Kuwaiti bourse website that it has not received any offers for the sale of its Zain Africa assets. In October, Zain halted talks to sell African assets to appease potential buyers of a 46% stake in Zain Group. On Thursday, Zain’s board elected Nabil bin Salama as the firm’s new chief executive. Saad al-Barrak, who was seen as the driving force behind the company becoming the third-largest telecom operator in the Arab world, resigned earlier this month. Bharti has been on the lookout for acquisitions since its planned $24 billion merger with South Africa’s MTN failed in October, the second time a proposed deal between the two had collapsed in just over a year. Last month, Bharti agreed to buy 70% of Bangladesh’s Warid Telecom for an initial investment of $300 million. It also set up a new unit to drive its foreign expansion, focused on opportunities in emerging markets where it can replicate its low-price, high-volume model. Bharti’s home mobile market is facing margin pressures from intense competition and price wars, which are leading to lower tariffs and shrinking profits. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:39 am India not shying away from convertibility: RBI - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:38 am RBI not shying away from convertibility - SubbaraoMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said on Saturday the bank was not backing away from moves towards full capital account convertibility and would rework its plans depending on global economic developments.Source: Reuters: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:38 am Bacteria Curry - Outlook
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:24 am India should stop iron ore export, says Tata Steel advisorIndia needs to curb the export of its iron ore reserves which are required in huge quantity to meet the projected steel production in the country, according to an industry expert.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:20 am Zain gets offer from Bharti for African assetsZain, the Gulf''s third-largest telecoms company by market value, halted talks in October to sell African assets to appease potential buyers of a 46% stake in Zain Group.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:19 am How will fuel price deregulation affect Indian consumers?Last week, a report from the Kirit Parikh panel recommended that the prices of petroleum and petroleum fuels be deregulated, which ignited a huge blaze of debate. But what if, to take a hypothetical scenario, the government allows that to happen? What would we need to pay for petrol and diesel and kerosene if their prices were allowed to float free and fluctuate according to world market trends? And more importantly, what immediate impact would that have? Our guest on the show today is Sakshi Marwah, a senior consultant with the Oil and Gas Industry Practices division at Price Waterhouse Coopers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:17 am Google does a search for mobile application revenuesIn India, the search behemoth Google is bullish about mobile application mainly because telecom service providers are pushing their data products in a big way.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:13 am Lounge podcast | On being Khan and celebrating a special birthdayWelcome to the fourteenth edition of the Lounge podcast. This is your host Anindita Ghose and we come to you today with disappointments and celebrations. Who would have known that this My Name is Khan controversy could blow so out of proportion? Our film critic Sanjukta Sharma tells us about the milieu in Mumbai as she reviews this film for us. Next we have our guest of the day, Shuddhabrata Sengupta who is the co-founder of the independent arts and media institution Sarai. Ten years ago, Sengupta and his colleagues from the Raqs Media Collective—Jeebesh Bagchi and Monica Narula—founded Sarai alongwith Ravi Vasudevan and Ravi Sundaram from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, in whose campus Sarai’s office is based. Over the years, Sarai has supported several new wave ventures such as Sarnath Banerjee’s graphic novel Corridor and Mahmood Farooqui’s revival of the forgotten Urdu storytelling tradition, Dastangoi. Sengupta will reflect on the organization’s decade-long existence and its plans for the future. Finally we have Lounger Krish Raghav joining in to discuss this week’s cover of Lounge. Our cover feature profiles of national champions of sports other than cricket and football—Darts, carom, ten-pin bowling, name the wildest sport you can imagine. That’s all from us today. Do tune in next week. We love to hear from you so do write to us at feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:13 am RBI not backing on convertibility roadmapMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said on Saturday the bank was not backing away from the capital account convertibility roadmap but would re-work it depending on global economic developments. “Are you backing down from the capital account convertibility roadmap? Answer I believe we are not. We are still traversing the roadmap but we will re-work the roadmap depending on global developments,” the RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao told a central bankers’ conference in Mumbai. “What capital control tools will we use until we achieve full convertibility? I believe we will use them flexibly as we have used them in the past,” he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:35 am GSM user base swells by 13.7mn in January - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:14 am Amazon to give away Kindle to prime subscribers reportAmazon wants to give free Kindle, the electronic reader, to its prime subscriber in order to thwart the threat posed by Apple's new iPad, according to a report by technology site TechCrunch.com.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:13 am 13 cities to bid adieu to Maruti 800 from April 1Come April, the iconic Maruti 800 model will not be available in several cities across the country.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Markets this weekA lower-than-expected decline in agricultural output and a robust recovery in industrial performance have led the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) to peg the GDP growth estimate for 2009-10 at 7.2 per cent, substantially higher than theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Germany remains cautious on spendingGermany has traditionally been a country of consumers cautious about splashing cash, with one of the highest saving rates inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Manufacturing powers industrial growth to 16.8% in DecemberIndian industry has registered a record growth of 16.8 per cent in December, beating all expectations and throwing up the possibility of the country's GDP growth for 2009-10 turning out higher than the 7.2 per cent projected earlier thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Seat-edger start for `My Name is Khan' in MumbaiThe opening day screening of My Name is Khan could be music to the ears of Fox Star Studios, which bought it for Rs 100 crore.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Export sectors faring well may lose stimulus benefitsExport segments that have recorded robust recovery from the global financial crisis would lose some stimulus benefits from the next financialSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am ‘Cement prices have bottomed out and a gradual recovery will be seen'Mr N. Srinivasan wears many hats. He is Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements Ltd, Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and owner of Chennai Super Kings, one of the Indian Premier League franchisees. He is an avidSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am US begins review of dumping duty on Indian shrimpsThe US Department of Commerce has announced launching the Fifth Administrative Review on shrimp imports from India, China, Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam. The review is to decide whether the anti-dumping duty imposed on shrimp imports by the USSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Record rabi crop seen; prices may ease by MarchThe Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's optimism on the price front may bear fruit, afterSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Banking for every IndianThe scale was striking. Here was the Finance Minister speaking to an audience of a thousand people last Sunday night at Mumbai's hallowed Brabourne Stadium. His diminutive 150-cm tall frame perched on a high podium was yet a mere speck against aSource: Business Line - Home Page | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am January domestic air passenger traffic grows 23% yoy - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:39 pm RBI chief: cannot focus on inflation onlyMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said on Saturday that the bank could not just focus on inflation given growth concerns.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:32 pm RBI raises banks' exposure for infra NBFCs - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:10 pm Toyota emphasizes US presence to CongressThe Japanese automaker has boosted lobbying in Washington ahead of two hearings in the House of Representatives during the last week in February.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:52 pm A year later, ICAI holds 4 auditors guilty in Satyam scamAn ICAI committee has suggested regulatory action against Krishna & Prasad, Rao & Shyam, P Viswanath & Associates and GMK Associates for their involvement in the Satyam scam.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:43 pm Toyota suspends production of Lexus Sai hybridsToyota suspended production of two hybrid models on Saturday as it develops a fix for those vehicles' faulty brakes amid massive recalls, a company spokeswoman said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:28 pm Toyota sets US recall of 8,000 Tacoma pickupsToyota Motor Corp will recall 8,000 pickups due to possible cracks in a common drive shaft component that Ford Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co Ltd said posed no safety risk to their vehicles.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:24 pm Toyota believes no problem with electronic throttleToyota Motor Corp has told Congress that it does not believe there are any problems with electronic throttle control systems in its Toyota and Lexus models.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:13 pm Dec IIP shows robust economy: Pranab Mukherjee - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 8:05 pm Toyota believes no problem with electronic throttleWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has told Congress that it does not believe there are any problems with electronic throttle control systems in its Toyota and Lexus models.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:59 pm Toyota to recall 8,000 Tacomas in U.S. - documentORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp will recall 8,000 pickups due to possible cracks in a common drive shaft component that Ford Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co Ltd said posed no safety risk to their vehicles.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 6:51 pm New defence production policy will encourage private players - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 5:57 pm Buffett unbound: Berkshire buys BNSF, joins S&P 500NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's train has left the station, and millions of investors are joining him for the ride.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 3:11 pm RBI says monetary, fisc tension won't go away easilyThe tensions between fiscal and monetary policies, which many believe are temporary, may not melt away with economic recovery as expected, D Subbarao said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:28 pm Spike Industrial output up 16 8 highest in two decadesThe country’s industrial production grew by 16.8 per cent in December, the fastest in 20 years, reviving speculation that the government is likely to begin unwinding stimulus measures.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 1:20 pm Infra finance companies get NBFC statusThe Reserve Bank of India or RBI on Friday classified infrastructure finance companies as non banking finance company, the central bank said in a notification. The move comes after a number of NBFCs engaged in infrastructure financing made a representation to the banking regulator seeking a separate category of infrastructure financing NBFCs in view of the critical role played by them in providing credit to the infrastructure sector. “Currently, the RBI classifies NBFCs under three categories-- asset finance companies, loan companies and investment companies. It has now been decided to introduce a fourth category of NBFCs as infrastructure finance companies (IFCs),’’ RBI said. To be categorised as an NBFC the IFC should have a networth of about Rs300crore, capital adequacy ratio of 15% and a minimum credit rating of ’A’ or equivalent from accredited rating agencies. The central bank has also permitted these NBFCs to exceed the concentration of credit norms in lending and investment. According to the RBI guidelines no financial institution can lend in excess of 10% of its net owned funds to any single borrower and in excess of 15% of its net owned funds to any single group of borrowers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm CAG to audit a/cs of 5 telcosThe Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the apex audit body, has decided to audit the accounts of five telcos Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone and the state-run BSNL for 2009-10.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:35 pm Greek slump threatens debt plan, EU aid elusiveATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's economy shrank more than feared last quarter and the government on Friday sharply revised down its figures for the previous three quarters as well, increasing doubts about its ability to resolve its debt crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:35 pm Trai writes to telecom firms on service qualityConcerned over increasing number of complaints about call drops and network congestion, among others, telecom regulator Trai has written a letter to heads of leading operators, including Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani, to know what's being done to remedy the same.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:33 pm Essar to sell tower unit for $425mEssar group is close to selling its mobile-phone tower business for $425 million, a person with knowledge of the plan said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:31 pm Tata Tele ties up with Future GroupTata Teleservices on Friday entered into a strategic partnership with retail chain Future Group to offer GSM mobile telephony services under a new brand T24 to tap the huge customer base of the retail chain.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:29 pm Go ahead with auction of BWA spectrum: PMOThe Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to examine the possibility of going ahead with the auction of spectrum for broadband wireless access (BWA) within this financial year pending a resolution of spectrum auctions for 3G or third generation mobile services.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:29 pm Tube Investments buys 77% in SedisThe Murugappa Group company Tube Investments of India (TI), a leading maker of bicycles and components, said it has acquired controlling stake in the unlisted Sedis Group of France, an industrial chain manufacturer, for 6.8 million euros.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:27 pm Record industrial growth strengthens case for stimulus exitIndias industrial output recorded the highest growth for a single month in December 2009 in the 19 years for which such data is available.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:27 pm Air traffic leaps 23% in JanThe aviation slowdown witnessed last year is promising to fade into a sunset. Last month saw 41.4 lakh domestic fliers, 23% higher than January 2009's figure of 33.7 lakh.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:21 pm HUL guilty of making false advt claimsGlobal consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever has been held guilty by a high-powered body under the health ministry of making false and misleading claims on its malted beverage Kissan Amaze'.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pm Foreigners finding Indian beaches hotA 'last mile' surge in inflow of foreign visitors witnessed in the ongoing peak tourist season helped India beat the blues of 2008 the worst year for India in terms of tourist cancellations due to the combined onslaught of global slowdown and Mumbai terrorist attacks.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pm M&M to push car service bizThe diversified Anand Mahindra group is all set for a big splash in multi-brand car service business, currently dominated by unorganised players and estimated at Rs 20,000 crore.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:14 pm India needs to strengthen its corp bond market IMF officialIndia needs to strengthen its corporate bond market in order to meet the funding requirements of various infrastructure projects, a senior IMF official said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:07 pm India staring at 18 mn tonnes grain dip - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm Maruti to bid adieu to M-800 from April - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:48 am Despite Bt brinjal, seed makers see fertile growth for hybridsThe governments recent moratorium on the commercialisation of Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) brinjal hurts, but the Rs 6,500-crore domestic seed industry is still sees fertile growth from hybrid seeds in crops like rice, corn, mustard and vegetables.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:31 am Industrial output at 16-yr high New Delhi: A surge in consumer durables and capital goods combined with the year-ago low base catapulted India’s factory output to the highest growth rate in 16 years in December, making it easier for the government to justify rollback of some of the fiscal stimulus measures provided to the industry during the economic downturn.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 16.8% in the last month of 2009 compared with a 0.2% contraction a year earlier, rising on the back of a series of three stimulus measures between December 2008 and February 2009. The government reduced Cenvat (Central value-added tax) by 6 percentage points to 8% and service tax rate to 10%, from 12%. However, the additional outgo in expenditure together with a revenue shortfall had led to a sharp spurt in the fiscal deficit to a record 6.8% of gross domestic product (GDP). Earlier this month, data released by the government showed the country’s GDP may grow at 7.2% in year ending March. Analysts say robust growth in factory output as well as merchandise exports will help finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to partially roll back tax incentives in the 2010 Union Budget, due on 26 February. Mukherjee was expectedly buoyant about industrial production and its overall impact on the economy. “I do hope that third quarter GDP figures will also be encouraging...it will get reflected in the overall GDP,” he said on Friday. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters that even though industrial production may not grow at this rate month after month, “my hope is that next year we will show double-digit growth in industry. When you transit from a period of flat or very low output to recovery, then for some months the growth rates are very high and then they stabilize again to a normal level.” He expects the economy to grow at more than 8% in the next fiscal. Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, an associate economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said in an advisory released on Friday that in the coming months, industrial production growth is expected to slow, mainly as the base effect wears off. “In the final quarter of 2009, year-on-year production growth benefited from a low base effect, owing to a sharp slump in production during the corresponding quarter of 2008,” he said. “Putting aside the fading base effect, industrial production growth is expected to remain strong and well above its long-term average.” Rohini Malkani, economist at Citigroup India, said in a statement that she expects GDP to grow at 8.4% in the next fiscal, “which factors in a partial rollback of the fiscal stimulus measures and a minimum 125 basis points of (Reserve Bank of India, or RBI) policy tightening”. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Bhattacharyya said the surge in industrial production increases the chance of an earlier-than-scheduled rate hike by RBI as the current situation no longer necessitates a repo rate—at which banks can borrow from RBI—of 4.75% and a cash reserve ratio (CRR) of 5.75%, which are low by historical standards and more appropriate for a slow recovery scenario. CRR is the amount of funds banks have to keep as deposits with RBI. “With industrial production growing at a record pace, capital goods production surging, business confidence high and foreign direct investment rapidly returning, there are now a number of signs that private investment is set for strong growth,” Bhattacharyya said. “This should facilitate RBI putting a greater focus on inflation, which has been at a decade high based on both consumer and wholesale price measures.” While the manufacturing sector—which constitutes around 80% of industrial production—grew at 18.5%, consumer durables, a component of manufacturing, grew at 46%. Mining and electricity sectors also registered strong growth of 9.5% and 5.4%, respectively during December. Going by use-based classification, capital goods made the strongest comeback, growing at a rate of 38.8%. Intermediate goods and basic goods grew at 21.1% and 7.5%, respectively during the same month. One concern is the continued laggard growth in the consumer non-durables segment, which grew at 3.7%, mostly because of a contraction in output in sectors such as food products and beverages, and tobacco and related products. Amit Mitra, secretary general of the industry lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said industrial growth needs to be more diversified since some important sectors are falling behind others in terms of growth. “The current growth seems to be driven by a few large sectors,” he said. “We need to be cautious because this strong growth has come over the negative growth of 0.6% in December 2008 in manufacturing.” PTI contributed to the story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:07 am Clients need to have right management Mumbai: Gautam Banerjee “has hit the ground running” after taking over less than two months ago as the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd (PwC), India’s largest audit firm. He was brought in after PwC auditors became enmeshed in the Satyam Computer Services Ltd scam that broke in January 2008. Banerjee, 55, spoke in an interview about Satyam and issues such as the departure of a number of senior tax specialists. Clients are loyal to the firm and not to individuals, said Banerjee, who also heads PwC’s Singapore operations. Edited excerpts:  Bullish: Banerjee says PwC will make the audit steps more robust. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint After the Satyam scam broke, PwC said it was carrying out its own checks? Have you established any wrongdoing within the firm? We did a number of procedures. Our forensic work has not indicated any of our team members were complicit in this (the Satyam scam), that either they knew or intentionally disregarded matters or whether they were working in concert with those guilty. Nothing has come to light. Have you completed the forensic auditing? We have done most of the work. Have you given a clean chit to the two (auditors) after the forensic audit? The issue in audit is a lot more information comes to light after the event. It is never the same as when the audit was done. In real time, things are different. Obviously, after the audit, the teams reviewing have more information on the table. What actually happened when the audit was done is difficult to recreate. What we are trying to do going forward is to make the audit steps more robust in the sense one of the issues in Satyam was the whole thing of fraudulent documents. Now that Srinivas Talluri (one of the two senior PwC auditors allegedly involved in Satyam) is out on bail, will the firm try to rehabilitate him? What do you mean rehabilitating him. We would have to wait for other investigations to be completed and so on. We also have to consider public perceptions as well, before bringing him back to do audit. And whether he himself is in the frame of mind. We have to look into all that. He’s come back after 13 months in jail. PwC has several class action suits pending in the US courts? Some foreign investors have filed cases. We want to bring the jurisdiction to India. But isn’t PwC headquartered in the US? And the new Mahindra Satyammanagement believes that they themselves were victims? Yes, but primarily Satyam is an Indian company with Indian shareholders and a few foreign shareholders. So it is very much an Indian case. And PwC India is an Indian firm. It is not only us. Everybody, including the directors of Satyam, have a responsibility. The Satyam board has a primary responsibility. There is a question of sovereignty as well. This is where the company operated. If you have a precedent of taking it to US courts, it becomes very expensive. It is a dangerous precedent to set. Your global chairman visited India at least twice after the Satyam scam and admitted it has affected the reputation of PwC. How do you tackle this? We had issues for a year now. The best way is to reach out to our clients. Our challenge is to convince our clients that PwC is an organization that they can work with and we think we have been successful. In fact, before I joined as chairman, a lot of measures had been taken on risk and quality control in PwC India and we have to assure people that we are doing the right thing. We have set up an advisory board with prominent members. PwC’s international auditors have been reviewing the work of its Indian affiliates. How many accounts are being reviewed by the international team? We wanted to make sure that we are not missing anything. We did this for our public entity clients (listed companies). We want to do that to get an extra assurance. That is the cost and one of the investments we are making to ensure that our quality and deliverables meet the standards our clients expect of us.  Right path: PwC’s Banerjee. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint What are the main takeaways from past experiences such as Global Trust Bank and now Satyam? I think we can do the best in audit for a right client. If it is not a right client, then we end up in a difficult situation. If the fraud is perpetuated by top-level managers, it is difficult to pick up such as in Satyam. First we have to make sure that the client has the right management, right kind of independent directors on board who can challenge decisions taken by the management, directors who can have contrarian views on management decisions. Have you shed some ‘wrong’ clients? We are actually looking into that. Any number? It won’t be right to put any number. The firm recently saw an exodus of tax specialists. There is a huge demand for professional services in an emerging economy such as India. The demand exceeds the supply. They thought they could do well outside PwC. The offers came from firms that wanted to scale up tax practice. In China, we are the biggest after the merger of our operations in Hong Kong and China, and the acquisition of the Andersen (Consulting) business. As new firms set up offices in China, they hired professionals from our firm. It happens everywhere. Your Indian assignment is quite a handful, but you continue to hold dual posts. I continue to be chairman of the Singapore firm. (India incumbent) Ramesh Ranjan’s term ends on 31 March 2011. My job is to stabilize the firm, get the firm on the right course and let the firm elect the next chairman. I am certainly not going to be here to stand for elections. I’ll be retiring in a few years’ time. My role is fill the vacancy, stabilize operations and let the partners choose their own chairman. There was some talk that in your appointment, there were no elections. A committee constituting partners can select an interim chairman. It is not very sinister, the partners were consulted and by the way the only time an election took place was when Ramesh was elected. Otherwise, the chairman’s post was given in the form of seniority. Both these methods are not ideal measures. In an organization, a secret ballot can become very divisive. A smooth election plan through broad-sounding colleagues is an ideal way to elect a chairman. That is the way I was selected for two terms in Singapore. You also have a deputy chairman assisting you. Isn’t this a new post? Someone (Peter Harvey from PwC, UK) in the network is helping me. It is an internal role, because I am not in India 100% of the time. I am going to review that post later. satish.j@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:06 am Quick Edit | Base mathematics The government must be chuffed about factory output data for December. Not because a growth of almost 17% compared with the corresponding month of 2008 is exceptional (it is), but because the statistic has come at just the right time—two weeks before the Union Budget. The factory output data for December is actually the last the government will release before the Budget on 26 February. The government has been making some noises about removing incentives announced a little over a year ago to help industry cope with the global economic slowdown, and a growth of 16.8% would seem to suggest that all is well and these stimulus measures can be scrapped without threatening growth. While there is an argument for removing so-called stimulus measures, it isn’t in the numbers released on Friday. December’s significant growth in factory output can be explained to some extent by the base effect—December 2008 was particularly bad in terms of factory output. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:05 am Delhi cops learn to mind their language ahead of 2010 Games New Delhi: On any other weekday morning, constable Bishan Singh would have been on patrol near Delhi University, keeping his eyes skinned for petty crimes—“and also helping senior citizens if they need assistance”, he says, a little virtuously.  Back to basics: Delhi policemen attend a training course in English conducted by IETS, in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in the Capital, at the Civil Lines police station in Delhi. This particular morning, however, he’s sitting in a police station classroom. Detailed posters on small arms and rifles hang behind him, but he’s poring over a grid of jumbled alphabet, trying to find the word “traffic”. It isn’t a difficult grid—it wouldn’t, in fact, be out of place in a 10-year-old’s activity book. All the 16 words that can be found in it are part of the daily vocabulary of a beat policeman, and Singh and his classmates have at least 20 minutes to find them. But most of them haven’t been required to read this much English since school, many years ago, and so they wrestle with the workbook, sometimes sneaking sidelong peaks into a neighbour’s page. The workbook is at the heart of an ambitious training programme, run by IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd (IETS), to teach 40,000 of Delhi’s policemen the sort of English they would need when the 2010 Commonwealth Games begin in October. Since March 2008, when the programme began after a pilot, IETS has taught 26,000 policemen. “We’ll have to train the remaining 14,000 by July,” Vikrant Abrol, head of the IETS Education Centre, says. “We’ll definitely have to up the tempo.” Abrol isn’t daunted by the volume of humanity that he has been tasked to process; over 18 months, IETS once trained 270,000 employees of the Gujarat government in “attitudinal change”. What he does wish, however, is that IETS had more time with each policeman. “Initially I was very critical,” he says. “We’ve been given only 9 hours per student, because they can’t be spared from their duties. Ideally, we’d have liked 50 hours, spread over a month or so.” The training works at near-industrial speeds. In five police stations across Delhi, batches of 50 policemen—constables through inspectors—go through their classes in a day-and-a-half; with 16 such batches per police station, which translates into 4,000 policemen per month. There are no follow-ups or refresher courses. Glumly, Abrol doubts that many of the graduates of the first few batches, nearly two years ago, will remember their lessons come October. But from the feedback forms, he is certain that the policemen are keen and motivated, and that they too wish for further lessons. The classroom sessions are a mix of workbook activities, spoken presentations and listening comprehension, all tightly related to police duties. Students get up and haltingly explain, for instance, the route from the Inter State Bus Terminus to Azadpur, or they describe people in the manner required by a first information report. “They’ve all learned the alphabet in school, so that’s fine,” says Jaibala Gautam, a diminutive IETS teacher, who, in an odd reversal, calls her students “Sir”. “The biggest challenge is to convince them that they can pick up something worthwhile in a day-and-a-half. And they really can.” Abrol’s assessment—that the policemen want more—is accurate. During a tea break, at 11am, Singh stands in a little coterie of smokers, with two other north Delhi constables, one named Jagdev Singh and another who only identifies himself as Raju. “The only ongoing training we get otherwise is in the Indian Penal Code or the Criminal Procedure Code,” Raju says. “So we need this. But in such a short time, we can’t learn as much as we’d like. Even the rickshaw drivers in Connaught Place will know more English, simply because they get to speak it more with tourists.” Jagdev Singh points out that it’s simply a question of practice—which is why, for example, the younger, more computer-savvy constables know more English than the sub-inspectors a generation above them. (“We wouldn’t even know what to do with a keyboard!” he says.) More classroom sessions would have provided more practice, so lacking otherwise in a Delhi policeman’s daily life. “We’ll just have to seek each other out and converse with each other,” Raju says. “After all, if you just stand a stone upright on the ground, it’ll fall over in a couple of days. You need to really plant it in the ground to make it stand permanently.” R.S. Krishnaiah, principal of Delhi Police Training College, admits that the duration is not ideal. “But if you want to make them fluent, you need time, and time is difficult to spare in the police,” he says. “Even if they’re learning small, simple sentences, at least they’re speaking. That makes a difference, because many of these policemen are from rural backgrounds, and they hesitate to try speaking English. Now at least some of that hesitation can be removed.” Abrol’s favourite piece of feedback is the one he narrates with the broadest smile. “After the first few sessions, some of the policemen came back to us and said: ‘Nobody has ever spoken this politely to us before.’ They’ve become so used to verbal abuse,” he says. “Nobody has genuinely asked a 50-year-old cop: ‘What’s your favourite colour?’ They were amused that they were being treated so well.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:04 am RIL told to club gas margin with sale priceNew Delhi: Oil regulator Director General of Hydrocarbon on Friday asked Reliance Industries Ltd (RI) to include the marketing margin the company charges on sale of natural gas from its field to the approved gas price for calculating the government’s share from the project. DGH wants the $0.135 per million British thermal unit (Btu) margin that RIL charges to cover marketing risks of gas from Krishna Godavari basin-D6 fields to be added to the sale price of $4.20 per mmBtu for calculating royalty and profit share to the government, persons familiar with the development said. This runs contrary to the the Production Sharing Contract under which a contractor — RIL in case of D-6 - can recover the capital and operating expenditure incurred on producing oil or gas from sale of the produce. However, costs involved in marketing of oil or gas are excluded and a contractor is not allowed to recover the same from the sale proceeds. DGH wants 5% royalty payable to the government to be calculated at $4.33 per mmBtu price (sale price plus marketing margin), making this by implicit action the sale price from which RIL will recover the cost, these persons said. The price at which royalty is calculated is considered the sale price under PSC and the operator will recover all cost from this before sharing profits with the government. While RIL spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comments, S K Srivastava, Director General, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) was not available for comments. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:15 am Those who can, do; those who can’t, dork He hadn’t used events at Mint, or its parent HT Media Ltd as source material for his book, instead relying on happenings at a consulting firm that shall not be named here. Since he has told me there will likely be a sequel, and then another—yup, trilogies are back in fashion—I am sure he will have enough opportunity to do this, though. After all (and with due apologies to Peter Drucker), an organization sometimes forces rational people to do the most irrational things. And this holds true for all organizations. Some of these, of course, could well be illegal as well, which could explain why corporate frauds and scams happen. Most, however, have to do with the daily workings of an organization.  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint It’s usually the HR or administrative department of a firm that gets the rap for these seemingly intelligent, but actually hare-brained schemes. In one company I know—it is a large apparel manufacturer of multinational parentage that is based in south India—an executive was promoted to a level where he would be eligible for a company car (non-airconditioned). The problem was that all cars available with the company were airconditioned. So, the HR manager simply had the air conditioner of a car stripped before it was assigned to this person. (A year and a half later, when he was promoted again, they simply refitted the airconditioner.) In another story narrated by a fellow editor, an executive at a large consumer products company—it too is of multinational origin and is based in Mumbai—was promoted to a level where he was eligible for a cabin (but no wall-to-wall carpeting). Unfortunately, the only cabins available were all with wall-to-wall carpeting. So, the HR manager sent across a team to cut and fold up the edges of the carpet. It wasn’t just Vadukut’s book that reminded me of these, but an article in a recent issue of Fortune—I just caught up with a bit of my reading backlog—on the best companies to work for in the US. The article was about SAS, a small software company which, it turns out, was the model for many of Google’s people policies and whose campus was, again, a model for Google’s. And what makes SAS special? Suffice it to say that the company believes in treating employees as people who want to come in and work and not felons in an Alabama chain gang who need to be “encouraged” to work. India has its share of best company surveys, including one—the first of the lot—that I helped start in a magazine where I used to work. I noticed in a recent issue of the magazine that this survey has now grown into more of a “best employer brand” survey, which is welcome because no one rates companies as employer brands in India. Still, I believe there is room for old-fashioned employee surveys—the basis for the better best-companies-to-work-for listings, in India and elsewhere. What else can capture the angst of disappearing toilet paper (water is free; paper isn’t); flowers; and free soup. Then, maybe, everyone could go out and write a book like Vadukut’s. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:03 am Euro under pressure on lack of detail on financial aidThe International Monetary Fund on Friday joined the European Union in pledging support for Greece in its struggle to bring its ballooning budget deficit under control and contain its debt crisis.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:59 am Stiglitz moans about deficit fetishJoseph Stiglitz feels depressed. Having been a voice in the wilderness urging caution when financial capitalism was in a speculative frenzy, he wants the crisis to be the catalyst for radical thinking. But he fears it won’t be: Greece is being forced to cut its deficit, the bankers are behaving as if nothing has changed since August 2007, and the political running in the US is being made by the right-wing anti-state Tea Party.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:54 am Essar may be close toselling its tower unitHong Kong:Essar Group, the Indian business group controlled by Indian billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, is close to selling its mobile phone tower business for $425 million (Rs1,976 crore), a person with knowledge of the plan said. The group plans to announce the sale of Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd , India’s second biggest independent operator of mobile phone towers, by as early as 15 February, the person said, asking not to be identified before a public disclosure. Manisha Awasthi, a spokeswoman at Essar Group, didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment on Friday. The sale may give Essar funds to bid for third-generation wireless licenses that the government plans to auction. Barclays Plc is advising Essar Telecom on the sale. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:54 am Talks with Pakistan to resume on 25 FebIslamabad: Talks between Pakistan and India halted by the Mumbai terrorist attacks will resume on 25 February as the two countries’ foreign secretaries meet in New Delhi, Pakistan’s government said in a statement. Pakistan should raise all the core issues and impress upon India the need for expeditious resolution of issues through the resumption of composite dialogue, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said at a meeting on Friday, according to the statement. Gilani expects the meeting will help return the rivals to wide-ranging talks, including the future of Kashmir. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:49 am Indian private equity ventures into the neighbourhood Bangalore: Pakistan’s largest private school chain, Beaconhouse School System, and Indian private equity (PE) firm New Silk Route Partners (NSR) have a unique relationship. The Lahore school, run by the Kasuri family, one of the oldest political families in Pakistan, raised money from NSR a couple of years ago and in turn gave the PE firm its first taste of investing in India’s troubled neighbourhood. NSR now wants to invest one-third of its $1.4 billion (Rs6,510 crore) corpus in firms in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh—the fear of risks bowing to the draw of higher returns. And with Sri Lanka more stable after ending decades of internal strife with the Tamil Tiger rebels, NSR is already evaluating potential deals with mobile phone companies and banks in the island nation. The Beaconhouse deal, in a way, set a trend for India-centric funds to look at the country’s neighbours and other developing nations in Asia for high-return deals. “Pakistan has the same dynamics as India, though it lags behind by 10-15 years. People are as aspirational there as here,” said Jacob Kurian, partner, NSR. “While political risk is high, opportunities are also high.” A post-war Sri Lanka offers a similar advantage, especially as “investment competition is much lesser there than (in) India”, Kurian said. Mumbai-based Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd too is looking at investment opportunities outside India, but further away—in Israel, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan. It will likely begin with Thailand, where it has identified agri-related businesses and sectors such as education, tourism, health care, and gems and jewellery as ripe for investment, said chief executive Harshal Shah, who met the nation’s top political leaders last week. “Our philosophy is that tech and good business models are geography agnostic,” he said. “We are getting interesting deals in these regions and are discussing them.” Bangalore-based Zephyr Peacock India, the India-centric arm of the New York fund, Zephyr Management Lp, is now interested in Vietnam. “It reminds us of India of 10 years ago. It’s transitioning from a socialist to a capitalist economy,” said Mukul Gulati, managing director, Zephyr Peacock. “A lot of production is shifting from China to Vietnam. We are closely studying the market.” Country risk While Vietnam and Taiwan have had troubled histories and are relatively more stable now, India’s nearest neighbours as well as countries such as Israel are still conflict-borne. PE firms assess political and financial histories of countries before investing in those nations or outlining the expected returns. Internal rates of return from Indian companies for PE firms is typically 20-30%, but in nations such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka the expected returns are 2-5% higher, say PE firms. Sri Lanka ended a near three-decade war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last May, but is on shaky ground again after the arrest of defeated presidential candidate general Sarath Fonseka. Pakistan had sought financial help from the International Monetary Fund in 2008 to avoid payment defaults and rescue it from an economic crisis. It also has a history of wars both internally and with India and is engaged in a serious battle with hardliners within the country and on its borders with Afghanistan. Though the education sector is regarded as immune to political swings, militant Taliban groups have targeted traditional schools in Pakistan known as madrassas and have issued warnings against western education. Investor worries Those warnings gave some anxious moments to NSR when its limited partners—Lps, key investors in any PE fund—got worried, even if the Beaconhouse schools weren’t targeted. Lps seem to have got over the initial worries about investing in such countries as long as the deals are in line with the PE firm’s overall fund strategy. “We say explore and understand the market before you take the leap. It is not a very wise move otherwise,” Anubha Shrivastava, managing director (Asia) of CDC Group Plc., the UK government-owned fund-of-funds investing in emerging market fund managers, said over the phone from her office in London. CDC Group is an investor in NSR. NSR engaged Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, one of the fund’s founders and a former minister in Pakistan, from 2001-06, with a portfolio that included privatization and investment. Shaikh heads NSR Dubai and focuses on private equity opportunities in West Asia and other parts of the continent. Comfort zone For now, only a few Indian PE firms are lining up for overseas deals with the others saying there are enough opportunities within the country. Besides, overseas deals are not easy to strike. “How do you do the due diligence and verify things,” said Nitin Deshmukh, chief executive, Kotak Private Equity Group, a specialist PE arm of Kotak Mahindra Group. “These things increase investment costs.” Not all such investors are open to new areas of operation. “These countries (Pakistan and Sri Lanka) are still too small and risk perceived to be too high for most mainstream investors,” Low Han Seng, executive director, investment management, at Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd, which backs PE firms in India, said in an email. For Seng, and perhaps for other investors like him, mainstream markets such as India and China are still countries of choice. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:46 am HPCL plans Rs25,000 cr refinery in MaharashtraNew Delhi: State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd(HPCL) plans to set up an 18 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) refinery in Maharashtra, investing about Rs25,000 crore, to help it meet domestic demand, a top company executive said. “We have to expand as the current refinery in Mumbai is land-locked,” said K. Murali, director (refineries) at HPCL. The refining and marketing company is looking at a site on Maharashtra’s coast and is in talks with the state government for this, Murali added. “We are planning the new refinery during the next Five-Year Plan (2012-17). Going forward, the new capacity may be further ramped up,” he said. HPCL’s Mumbai refinery will be shut once the new refinery is commissioned. The company currently has two refineries—at Mumbai (6.5 mtpa) and Visakhapatnam (7.5 mtpa)—and controls 20% of the market share. HPCL is also constructing a 9 mtpa refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab in a joint venture with Lakshmi N. Mittal, chairman and chief executive of ArcelorMittal. “After Bhatinda is commissioned, there will still be a (demand) gap of around 6 mtpa,” Murali said. He added the new facility would be able to refine complex crude, and any excess capacity would be exported. The country is aiming for a refining capacity of 255.78 mtpa by 2012. Experts say plans to increase capacity should be seen in the context of India’s strategic geographical location—between the petroleum products market in East Asia and crude supplies in West Asia. Public sector oil marketing companies have a dominant share of the petroleum products retailing business in the country and the government decides the price of the products sold by them. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:43 am Capital flows: India to redefine road mapNew Delhi/Mumbai: India will redefine the roadmap for capital controls from time-to-time to cushion the impact of foreign investments on inflation and growth, central bank governor D. Subbarao said in Mumbai on Friday. Accelerating growth in emerging markets is attracting overseas funds and if they are volatile, it’s going to test the effectiveness of central bank policies, Subbarao said at a conference. How emerging market economies manage the impossible trinity—the impossibility of having an open capital account, a fixed-exchange rate and an independent monetary policy—is going to have an impact on their prospects for growth, price stability and financial stability, the governor said. The challenge for central banks is to better understand the interplay of global factors and domestic variables and factor that into their policy calculus, Subbarao said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:38 am IMF: allow more foreign investments in debtMumbai: India should allow more foreign investments in its debt market to boost trading and lower borrowing costs, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday. Increasing foreign participation would provide additional liquidity and more robust pricing of local bond-market issues, John Lipsky, the IMF’s first deputy managing director, said at a conference in Mumbai. India currently caps foreign investments in government debt at $5 billion (Rs23,250 crore) and in corporate bonds at $15 billion. India should have one foreign investment ceiling for both government and company debt, Lipsky said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:34 am DGH wants margin built into RIL s Gas priceIn a surprise move, oil regulator DGH has asked Reliance Industries to include the marketing margin that the company charges on sale of natural gas from its field, to the approved gas price, while calculating the government’s profit share from the project.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:24 am Airlines register 22.5% rise in number of passengersNew Delhi: Airlines have started 2010 with a 22.5% rise in the number of passengers carried and expect the pace to continue for the rest of the year as economic growth revives. India’s eight domestic carriers carried 4.08 million passengers in January, compared with 3.33 million a year earlier, data from the aviation regulator, directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), show. The airlines were able to sell tickets without massive promotions or discounts that usually kickoff in the second fortnight of January as peak winter traffic ends.  “The robust growth figures have been registered despite disruption in flight schedules over north India due to inclement weather and the fog in Delhi,” Nikos Kardassis, chief executive of Jet Airways said in a statement. The two airlines had the highest flight cancellation rate in January. Jet cancelled 9.2% of its domestic flights and JetLite, 12.6%—the highest. Passenger share for Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, India’s second biggest private airline, fell to 22.2% in January from 27.9% a year ago as it deployed fewer flights. Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd’s share fell to 1.8% from 2.1%. Other airlines fared better. State-run Air India‘s passenger share jumped to 18% from 16.7%; IndiGo’s rose to 15.3% from 13.7%; SpiceJet Ltd’s to 12.2% from 11.8%; GoAir’s to 5.4 from 2.4%. IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are low-fare airlines. Most carriers had at least 70% flight occupancy in January without any special offers or discounts. Last January, SpiceJet had announced a two-day promotion that offered flight bookings for two people at the price of one. “You need an equilibrium in the market,” Anurag Jain, head, revenue optimization, SpiceJet, said in a presentation at Singapore’s Low Cost Airlines World Conference late January. “Once that is achieved, tweak the pricing within the seeming perimeters of steady state,” he added. tarun.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:22 am Maruti not to upgrade 800The country's largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Friday reiterated that its entry level small car Maruti 800 does not have a future.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:18 am Now VW to recall 1 9 lakh cars in BrazilThe Brazilian division of German auto giant Volkswagen issued a recall for 193,620 of its popular Gol and Voyage models due to problems with rear wheels.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:09 am Not a rosy pictureBangalore: At 8.30am every weekday, at least 40 buyers stream into International Flower Auction Bangalore Ltd (Ifab) at Hebbal Road, hoping to get the best deals on roses and other cut flowers that come in from floriculture farms in and around Bangalore. On the mornings of 10, 11 and 12 February every year, the action gets more stressful as supply strains to meet demand. Valentine’s Day, a celebration of mush and a day of heightened sentiments that has often pushed couples into harrowed expenditure, does the same to vendors and suppliers of flowers too. This year, the difference is not the slowdown or any recovery from it, but the production of roses. Despite an increasing number of growers, it has dipped by 5% because of cloudy weather in the months before February. Also, demand has increased for red roses in tier I and II cities across India, according to Shankar Murthy, business development officer, Ifab. Bangalore, with a climate conducive for flower farms, accounts for 50% of the country’s rose supply and is also the largest exporter of roses. S.V. Hittalmani, additional director, fruits and floriculture, department of floriculture, government of Karnataka, puts the changes in perspective. “The demand for roses this season has increased by at least 10% in both domestic and international markets. Even small towns are buying roses for Valentine’s Day. Looking at the growth in the industry, especially with roses, we have seen seven-eight cultivators enter the domain every year.”  A close look: (from top)Buyers use advanced interactive systems on their desks to bid for roses at International Flower Auction Bangalore Ltd (Ifab); red roses account for 75% of the supply on the days before Valentine’s Day, followed by pink and yellow roses; the high-tech auction room at Ifab has made flower sales both convenient and transparent. Photographs by Heman Mishra/Mint The buyers, or bidders as they are called, sit at electronically-enabled desks resembling the stock market and stoically watch as trolleys of flowers are brought in for examination. The auction officer seated at the “pit” of the auction house, designed in amphitheatre style, announces the description of the lot that has been brought in and the lowest quotable price. James Paul, a Bangalore-based wholesale flower dealer, walks to the pit to take a close look at the red roses that have come in from a small farm in Doddaballapur, 35km from Bangalore. The roses, with 40cm-long stems, meet his approval. He heads back to his desk, inserts a card in a slot on the table to register his presence with the main server and punches in his quote. He wins the bid and the lot is taken by Ifab workers to be loaded into Paul’s vehicle. Paul, who has been in the business for seven years, has bought 20,000 stems on each of the three days, in contrast to the 8,000 he usually buys through the year. “Before Valentine’s Day, the demand doubles. The domestic market doesn’t always get the best quality. Most farmers keep the best for export purposes. But even the ones that we get during this time are sometimes sold at twice the price as that on any other day of the year,” says Paul, who sells the bunches to wholesalers in Hyderabad and Delhi at profit margins of 5-10%. They then sell to local florists. The most expensive roses with stem lengths of 60cm sell at Rs5 on any other day, but the price went up to Rs9 this year. “Bangalore and the areas around produce around 10 lakh stems of roses per day. Of these, 10-15% of the best quality stems are exported, a majority goes into the unorganized domestic market while around 10% come into Ifab for sale to wholesalers,” says Shankar Murthy. “On a normal day, we receive around 80,000 stems. On these three days, the numbers vary between 1 lakh and 1.5 lakh per day,” says Thanu Murthy, auction officer, Ifab. He says that although most of the domestic sales take place through local markets, buyers and sellers are beginning to move towards the more transparent process at the auction house. The number of bidders has only been increasing since Ifab’s inception in 2007. pavitra.j@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 8:58 am Fiscal deficit concerns are easingMumbai: As the European Union pledged support to ward off a debt crisis in Greece, markets around the world have taken a hammering. There are fears that the debt crisis might turn into a contagion, given the slow economic growth rates in Europe. Mint spoke to Aninda S. Mitra, vice-president and senior analyst, sovereign risk group at Moody’s Investors Service Inc., to find what the impact on India is likely to be. Edited excerpts: How will the sovereign debt crisis in Greece and other European countries affect India?  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar/Mint What about interest rates? Already credit spreads have widened in these specific countries. And there could be some spillover effect given the macro financials. Investors are averse to Greek bonds and other emerging markets as well. But precisely because we are saying that losses will be limited, we do not expect a huge kind of deleveraging around the world, which is what happened in the aftermath of Lehman’s collapse. In the last five months, we’ve had Dubai, which faced a similar crisis. Now there are these euro zone countries. Do you expect any more to follow? Well, possibly. In the sense, we are looking at very sub-par growth in a lot of European economies. And they are already saddled with very high levels of debt. On top of that, we have banking systems that are facing a lot of stress. So it’s going to be a slow recovery around the world and it’s going to be choppy. India’s debt to GDP ratio is around 80% now. Do you think it is sustainable? We were rather worried about the sustainability of India’s debt to GDP ratio in the last one or two years. But some of those concerns have dissipated as the growth response has been more resilient than what a lot of people expected. And also, the government appears to be showing signs of consensus on various fronts, such as pushing forward with disinvestment as well as possibly reining back some of the stimulus. Also, pushing forward with some structural reforms such as hiking fuel prices on a one-off basis or possibly following the Kirit Parikh panel recommendation which could be quite significant. These things will certainly help the sustainability although we are awaiting the 13th Finance Commission recommendations, or managing the debt position through the medium term. So what could be the triggers for a downgrade? We are not expecting a downgrade at this stage. We have a positive outlook on the local currency; bond ratings of the country is Ba2, which is one notch below investment grade; foreign currency ratings are Baa3, which is (a) stable outlook, the lowest in the investment range grade. As I said earlier, the consensus on disinvestment, reining back the stimulus—these things tend to point towards an improving fiscal position, not a deteriorating fiscal position. So, in view of that, it’s inappropriate on our part to consider downgrading sovereign ratings. We were quite worried about the fiscal deficit one or two years back, but those concerns are easing. If the position does improve, we will consider upgrades to the rating. ravi.k@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 8:55 am ANALYSIS - Greece faces race to win over markets, EU help or notATHENS (Reuters) - Even if EU leaders put some flesh on the bones of their vague promises to support Athens next week, Greece still faces a race against time to win back market confidence to fend off a financing squeeze looming before June.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 8:18 am EU leaders hurt confidence with vague Greek pledge - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:45 am China surprises with further rise in banks' reservesBEIJING (Reuters) - China raised the level of reserves banks must hold for the second time this year on Friday, spooking financial markets on the eve of its New Year holiday by showing it was intent to curb lending and inflation.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 6:02 am Industrial output surges; stimulus unwind likelyNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's industrial output grew at its fastest pace on record in December, smashing forecasts, in further evidence of a strong economic recovery that could allow the government to follow the Reserve Bank in withdrawing stimulus.Source: Reuters: Money News | 12 Feb 2010 | 3:46 am
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