|
|
|
|
Reliance submits revised offer for LyondellBasell: SourcesIndia\'s largest private gas refiner, Reliance Industries is still in the race for LyondellBasell, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 6:19 am No prosecution in cheque bounce case if issued as security!The Bombay High Court has held that if a blank post-dated cheque -- which has been issued only as a "collateral security" for a loan -- bounces, the debtor cannot be prosecuted under the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act.Source: Zee News : Business | 20 Feb 2010 | 5:10 am Will the cyber Rakesh Jhunjhunwala please stand up?Track Indias most outspoken investor online. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, legendary investor, has a blog. And a Twitter ID. Or does he?Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 5:01 am Wall St advances as worries ease over Fed\'s moveUS stocks rose on Friday as investors took the Federal Reserve\'s surprise increase in the discount rate.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am 4 more US banks close, total hits 20 for 2010Regulators seized four more US banks on Friday, bringing the total for the year to 20.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am Insurer: US government informed of Toyota claims in 2004The largest US auto insurer alerted regulators earlier than first believed about a worrying trend of accidents involving Toyota Motor Corp vehicles.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am Six apiece as US takes on rest of worldWhen it comes to Alpine skiing these are rapidly becoming America\'s Games.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am GM CEO Whitacre annual cash salary USD 1.7 millionGeneral Motors Co Chief Executive Ed Whitacre will receive a USD 1.7 million annual salary.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am US: No GM ownership conflicts in Toyota caseThe US government\'s majority stake in General Motors Co has no bearing on the response of regulators to safety problems at Toyota Motor Corp.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am Juniper to outline game plan against CiscoNetwork equipment maker Juniper Networks Inc is set to outline next week how it plans to compete against muchbigger rival Cisco Systems Inc and win over Wall Street.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:14 am Microsoft may end up resorting to MA in mobileThe new Windows phone software is a big improvement on its predecessor but may not be enough to reverse market share losses.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Feb 2010 | 4:11 am Sensex static as traders wait for budget - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am Budget 2010: Need for corporate tax reforms - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:47 am Banks using loyalty rewards schemes to increase card spendsBanks are increasingly looking at offering rewards or points on credit and debit card transactions in an attempt to attract more customers and increase cardSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Amul-Mother Dairy war benefits Gujarat farmersEven as Amul and Mother Dairy slug it out for the No. 1 position in Delhi's branded liquid milk market, their parent organisations are simultaneously waging a war in a totally different battlefront. And that happens to be in the very State ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am New FDI policy to be unveiled on March 31A new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy will be unveiled on March 31, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Anand Sharma, told a press conference here on Friday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am REC follow-on offer gets 29% on Day 1The follow-on public offering (FPO) of Rural Electrification Corporation fetched subscription for 29 per cent of the 17.1 crore shares on offer on Friday, the first day of theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Gold prices may drop as IMF plans open market saleThe International Monetary Fund's (IMF) move to offload 191.3 tonnes of gold in the open market may lead to further dip in spot market prices of the yellow metal in the shortSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am ACC ‘constrained by capacity'At a time when cement offtake is strong in the North, ACC's volume sales in the October-December period have dropped by over 4 per cent. Better realisations, however, helped it close the quarter with a marginal sales growth. Excerpts from anSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Stimulus exit may start with BudgetThe Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (PMEAC) has said that unwinding of fiscal stimulus should begin in the upcoming Budget to ensure fiscal sustainability and to avoid upward pressure on interest rates.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Dell's India sales close to $1-billion markDell Inc, the world's third largest PC maker, said on Friday that its business in India is now close to the $1-billionSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am HDFC Bank hikes deposit ratesIn a move that could signal hardening of interest rates, HDFC Bank today increased the rates on fixed deposits by up to 150 basis points acrossSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am More States allow sale of foreign liquor brandsAt least three major States have either brought down taxes on foreign liquor brands or allowed their sale in retail outlets on pressure from the EuropeanSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Anand Sharma confident of retaining sops - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:58 pm Infosys among top 20 firms that promote leadershipHuman resources consultancy Hay Group has named IT major Infosys among the world's 20 best companies for leadership, evident from its continued focus on employee development even during the global slowdown.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:56 pm Abolish surcharge on VAT, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce tells stateGujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), the apex body of trade and industry in the state, has urged the state government to abolish surcharge on value added tax (VAT).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 10:47 pm FDA reports says Avandia can hurt heart - reportWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Confidential U.S. government reports recommend that GlaxoSmithKline Plc's diabetes drug Avandia be pulled from the market because it can hurt the heart, The New York Times reported on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 10:22 pm US government was told of Toyota claims in 2004State Farm, the largest auto insurer in the United States, had said in early February that it reported what it saw as a worrying trend in claims activity to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:03 pm Bharti expects good terms for funding Zain dealNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel will have clarity by next week on funding its offer for Kuwaiti telecom Zain's African assets and expects good pricing if it takes on debt, its chairman was quoted as saying.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 8:57 pm No General Motors ownership conflicts in Toyota case: USThe US Treasury assumed a majority stake in GM and a nearly 10% interest in Chrysler in return for bailout and bankruptcy financing assistance last year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 8:25 pm Four more US banks close, total hits 20 for 2010The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, in charge of safeguarding bank deposits, has predicted that 2010 will be peak year for failures resulting from the recent financial crisis.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 8:12 pm Bharti-Zain : Negative vibes start flowing - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 7:50 pm Small banks in Florida, Texas shut; 18 now in 2010Regulators have shut down small banks in Florida and Texas, boosting to 18 the number of US bank failures this year following the 140 closures last year in the worst financial climate in decades.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 5:56 pm Inter ministerial group to review fertiser subsidy levels - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 5:50 pm U.S. gov't was told of Toyota claims in 2004 - insurerDETROIT/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The largest U.S. auto insurer alerted regulators earlier than first believed about a worrying trend of accidents involving Toyota Motor Corp vehicles, while the Obama administration's top transportation official said on Friday he would not relax pressure on the carmaker.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 5:22 pm U.S. says no GM ownership conflicts in Toyota caseLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. government's majority stake in General Motors Co has no bearing on the response of regulators to safety problems at Toyota Motor Corp, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 5:08 pm Wall St Week Ahead - Bernanke, retailers hold key for stocksNEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street could keep rallying after notching its best week this year if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gives a reassuring assessment of the recovery and retail earnings show improvement.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pm Fed seeks to calm markets after discount rate riseNEW YORK/SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Friday poured more cold water on speculation that a surprise rise in its emergency lending rate signalled it was moving faster to rein in its easy money policies.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 3:36 pm Stocks, dollar gain as views change on rate hikeNEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar gained broadly and stocks edged higher worldwide on Friday after investors swept aside negative views of a surprise move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike an emergency lending rate and took it as a sign of a healing economy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 3:24 pm Bharti joins global wholesale application communityThe alliance termed Wholesale Application Community (WAC), has telcos including China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, Mobilkom Austria Group, MTN, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, AT&T as members.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 3:08 pm The easy buck starts to stop hereStocks fall on fears that Fed move is the beginning of the end of supereasy money.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:53 pm Maruti deliveries may come fasterMaruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, will invest Rs 200 crore in setting up company-owned stockyards and model showrooms across the country by 2011-12.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:52 pm GMR plans cargo hub in Hyderabad AirportMost of the cargo operations for all national and international cargo take place from Nagpur, which is geographically the centre of the country.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:51 pm Obama unveils new fund to address US housing woesHENDERSON, Nev. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama used a campaign push for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday to announce a new fund to support homeowners in five states hit hardest by the U.S. housing crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:49 pm TrustPort kicks off Asian foray from IndiaTrustPort will launch products across four segments in India -- retail, SME, corporate and some special products.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:49 pm Godrej Prop in Rs2,000 crore Bangalore planGodrej Industries' real estate arm has lined up Rs 2,000 crore of investments for developing five projects over 30 million square feet (sft) in Bangalore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:48 pm Google attacks traced to Chinese schoolsA spate of Internet attacks that hit Google and other companies have been traced to two schools in China, according to reports, but Chinese sources have responded by denying knowledge of the strikes.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 2:09 pm U.S. judge reserves ruling on Galleon civil trialNEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge reserved ruling on Friday on requests to suspend the civil trial of Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and other defendants on insider-trading charges in order to give a criminal trial precedence.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 1:34 pm In 2 years back to 9 growth PM s councilThe N-word is back. The country’s economy is turning around faster than expected and will bounce back to a nine per cent trajectory in less than two years, the PM’s Economic Advisory Council said on Friday. Forecast: SunnySource: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 1:25 pm Rangarajan pitches for partial roll-back of stimulus - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:41 pm Fund managers optimistic about 2010Fund managers across the world are confident about higher equity returns this year and believe that economic growth, though modest, will manifest a continued global recovery, a survey by global professional services firm Towers Watson said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:36 pm Biyani, Kellogg bury differencesThe Future Group and Kellogg India have decided to break their fast, with the cornflake maker's products returning back to the retailer's shelves, after a three month hiatus.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pm HDFC Bank ups FD rates by up to 150 bpsCountry's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Friday increased fixed deposit rates by up to 150 basis points across maturities, a move that follows the CRR hike of 0.75% by RBI last month.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:28 pm Markets jittery over Feds discount rate hikeA surprise move by the US Federal Reserve to raise one of the key banking system rates, the discount rate, by 25 basis points (100 basis points = 1%) on Thursday night sent jitters through the world market on Friday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:27 pm Bharti-Zain deal likely by April-end, says MittalBharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on said his company does not need any regulatory approvals from the country to acquire the African assets of the Kuwait-based Zain Telecom and expressed the hope that the deal would be concluded by the end of April.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:25 pm Savings accounts will earn you moreIn a measure that would bring cheers to savings accounts holders, RBI on Friday asked banks to start calculating interest rates on these accounts on daily basis from April 1.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:24 pm Investment climate set to improve furtherThe investment climate in the country will improve further as more and more companies are expected to approach the capital markets to raise funds through issuances of equity and debt in domestic as well as overseas markets, according to Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC).Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:24 pm Small exporters to find it tough to raise foreign currency loans - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:18 pm 'Roll back stimulus gradually'A week ahead of the Union Budget, the clamour in policy-making circles for a rollback of the economic stimulus is getting increasingly louder.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:15 pm Lounge ReviewsPrego, Mumbai From the Western Express Highway, as you make your way to the Westin Hotel, the 32-storey tower in the midst of lush greenery is an impressive sight. The new hotel that marks the entry of the Westin brand in Mumbai has 269 rooms and the usual clutch of eateries, which includes the Italian restaurant Prego.  The good stuff The large trattoria-style restaurant has an outdoors section as well. Bright and cheerful in yellow, red and orange, Prego has two live food stations serving paninis, wood-fired pizzas, pasta and meat courses. There’s an extensive wine list, but if you choose to wash down your pasta with beer, no one here will scream sacrilege. If the antipasti set the tone for our meal, the oven-baked sea scallops wrapped in pancetta and served with asparagus, pinenuts, tomato, diced eggplant and fresh basil set the bar really high. The fresh, meaty scallops along with smoky ham made for a succulent mouthful. The rich mushroom soup was redolent with truffle oil and we couldn’t get enough of the tortellini either. The oven-baked tortellini stuffed with smooth mortadella, spinach and mozzarella made for a dazzling dish, without being too rich or heavy. By this time, two cocktails (rosemary green apple Martini and bitter chocolate and orange mojito) had passed through the table but there was no sign of the promised loopiness. Just as the perfectly done grilled tenderloin arrived at our table, a waiter accidentally dropped a fork and the staff started clapping. The service staff is cheerful, friendly and wears T-shirts. The music is perky and the open kitchen adds to the casual air. There’s a “wall of fame” with photos of guests in funky masks. On our way out, after the meal had climaxed with the tiramisu and hazelnut chocolate, we posed in large plastic glasses for snaps and left the restaurant grinning. The not-so-good After hearing so much about it, we were expecting some more gimmicks and felt short-changed. The other disappointment was the wood-fired pizza. The limp pizza we were served was flavourless. The smoked salmon pizza with cream cheese and mozzarella turned out to be a good idea only on paper. The mushroom risotto, though made well, was too rich and buttery. The grilled Norwegian salmon served with lentils also disappointed. Talk plastic The antipasti start at Rs450, the pastas at Rs650, the meat and seafood course is priced at Rs750-1,100. For reservations, call 022-67361050. — Rachana Nakra Kidology, New Delhi This month-old store at the DLF Promenade mall stocks clothes designed by Gaurav Gupta, Gauri and Nainika, Ritu Kumar and Malini Ramani for children up to the age of 7, besides offering mommies-to-be a chance to feel chic in maternity gear. The good stuff Gupta steals the show. He has experimented with plaid prints and anti-fit silhouettes for children. His is the only infant collection (age group up to 1) and includes bodysuits with appliqué cats (for girls), Rs2,990, and appliqué owls (for boys), Rs2,490, in bright reds, pinks and lime greens. These characters add a quirky touch to the outfits. His collection of plaid jackets with trousers is trendy, not outfits you are likely to find for toddlers and children elsewhere. Traditional Ritu Kumar gear for girls includes kurtas with kalis, Rs2,990, and lehnga cholis with smart jackets. Kumar sticks to her forte and does it well. Gauri and Nainika’s collection is not totally in line with the chic and ultra-feminine dresses they dish out for women but their “princess” collection will have many takers, especially the bright yellow daisy dress in georgette, Rs5,490. Kidology has an in-house designer who stocks at lower price points (blouses and infant bodysuits start at Rs1,200). The store also stocks accessories such as the lap tray (a tray on a soft bean bag-like cushion, Rs2,990), which doubles up as a breakfast table or a laptop table for pregnant women. The store has a limited furniture collection on display and the store representatives say the surface coating they use for children’s furniture has no lead and is non-toxic. The not-so-good The maternity outfits are buried at the back and not displayed in a way women can access easily. The number of designs per designer is limited to five or six options per season. Unless you are supremely label-conscious and adamant about dressing your child in a Ritu Kumar, for example, you will find the store’s collection limited. Perhaps it is not easy to get A-list designers to produce more than six-eight designs per season (with two colour variations per design). Talk plastic Apparel for children is priced at Rs1,200-7,500, while maternity outfits by Gupta, Ramani and Gauri and Nainika cost Rs4,500-11,000. — Seema Chowdhry Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pm A little bolder, a little betterWhen the first BlackBerry Bold, or the 9000 handset, was released, I was initially impressed mightily with the phone. Then, as I used it more, quite underwhelmed.  Sexed-up: The BlackBerry Bold 2 gets the style quotient right. A potent combination. At least at first glance. But then, once you actually tried using it for a while, the chinks began to show. The phone was too big, too heavy, too expensive and some of the design elements just didn’t work. There were too many curves, and the faux leather back cover was a little too...faux. All this flawed genius for a price not that much less than the so-sexy-it-aches iPhone. The reborn BlackBerry Bold 2, or 9700, overcomes most of these faults adequately. With the Bold 2, BlackBerry seems to have finally nailed that elusive device: a full Qwerty smartphone that looks great and has performance to match. First of all, the phone has received a comprehensive facelift. Gone are the curved corners that made the old Bold look like a giant squashed Halls mint. Instead, we have a sleeker handset with a distinctly more stylish silhouette. RIM seems to have picked up a few design cues from the Curve range of handsets, especially with the chrome trimming around the bottom of the keyboard. This is not a handset you want to hide in a holster. This is the BlackBerry you flaunt with pride. Sleeker and lighter, the most significant change is the new optical trackpad. BlackBerry has been using this alternative for the trackball in several new models, including the 8520 and 8900 Curves. It is a brilliant piece of interface design. The old trackball was erratic and often failed in mysterious ways (thereby generating several how-to video tutorials online). The optical trackpad, on the other hand, has no moving parts, needs no cleaning and is intuitive to use. So much so that browsing through long Web pages and dozens of email is now almost enjoyable. For some users, the sensitivity and response of the trackpad can be quite unnerving the first few times. In a good way. The Bold 2 uses the BlackBerry OS 5.0 operating system most users should be familiar with, but it does come with some minor but pretty changes. Drop-down menus have been redesigned, and setting clocks and alarms uses a nice new number wheel interface. The Bold 2’s weight reduction also trimmed some screen size but the display quality is as good as it was before. The keyboard also received a little squeeze. I found the new keyboard harder to use than those of both the old Bold and the 8520 Curve. I kept hitting the wrong buttons or hitting two at a time. The guitar fret-style dividers are good to look at but add nothing to usability. The phone also has a good 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus, picture stabilizer and flash. As good as most good camera phones these days. My two big grouses with the phone were not the ones I expected. First, the phone seemed sluggish with multitasking. Switching from a Twitter application to email, or the browser and then back, seemed slow and ponderous. Second, the Web browser was slower than the one on 8520 Curve (even using the downloadable Opera browser didn’t help. The phone just seemed to handle data slowly). A final complaint was not so surprising though: The Bold 2 costs Rs31,990. That is way too much money for a phone when you can do so many of the same things on 8520 Curve that costs half as much. Or get an iPhone or Android phone for a similar price. Still, if your employer is buying it for you...then enjoy the Bold 2. It is the best Qwerty BlackBerry yet. sidin.v@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am Math in middle ageEveryone has a midlife crisis. Mine, funnily enough, is math. Funnily, because I studied pure math in college, the kind of stuff where you spend 30 minutes proving that 1 is indeed greater than zero and then another 45 proving that 2 is greater than 1. One did this by assuming the reverse (that 0 was greater than 1 and 1 greater than 2). Then, you would proceed logically from this assumption till you arrived at something totally illogical. Or absurd. And since the result was absurd, the process would go, the original assumption must have been wrong. There is a name for this technique—reductio ad absurdum. I don’t remember but I may have written about the agonies of this kind of math earlier too—it has obviously left deep scars. Interestingly, over the past few months, I have rediscovered math. One of the finest books I have read in the recent past is The Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time by Jason Socrates Bardi. So, it seems in the fitness of things that I restart my column for Lounge with a graphic novel on math, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou. Logicomix, published towards the end of 2009, isn’t just any other graphic novel. It is among the best I have read (and believe me, constant reader, I have read a few). I was so taken in by the book that I presented the first copy I bought to a friend whose daughter is into math. And then, because I couldn’t stand the emptiness in my library, I went out and bought another copy. One of the reasons I gave the first copy away to a young student is because I believe that school takes all the fun out of math. The early mathematicians were tricksters, magicians and philosophers, but do you get any of that in school? That is one of the things that makes Logicomix special.  Adds up: Logicomix brings home the truth about math problems. Russell came across the paradox while looking for a basic truth on which all of math and logic could be based. It was in search of it that he authored Principia Mathematica, which, in all likelihood, dealt with the kind of proofs I have written about at the beginning of this piece. It may be easy for us to dismiss this search as a foolish quest for a non-existent thing, but remember, this was the early part of the 20th century, a time when everyone, as evident from the galaxy of famous mathematicians who walk through the pages of Logicomix, was obsessed with this. Doxiadis and Papadimitriou, who are already rock stars of sorts among the nerds of the world—the two have separately written novels on math—say this story simply (helped by the fact that the comic is presented as one about the two of them collaborating with two artists for a comic about Bertrand Russell and the search for mathematical truth). The art, by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna, is functional and quietly effective. Logicomix deals with a complex subject and at first sight, the art, more Tintin than Watchmen, seems out of place, till you read on (the book is almost 350 pages long), and realize that nothing else would have worked as well. Logicomix is a book that requires dedicated reading. Was it worth it? I would think so. I finally understood what we were trying to do in those math proofs. And I realized why it mattered. R. Sukumar, editor, Mint, restarts Cult Fiction as a fortnightly column in Lounge. Write to him at cultfiction@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:44 am Mamata gets her way, but Pranab reduces her to tearsCabinet Committee on Infrastructure clears 24 railway projects worth Rs 15,000 crore she submitted at the last minute.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:43 am REC FPO gets poor response on Day 1 - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:42 am FIIs take a break after record investments in first 9 monthsForeign institutional investors (FIIs) have taken a break after buying a record Rs 90,950 crore worth of shares in the first three quarters of the current financial year. As a result, a return to the peak level of FII stakes in Indian companies will take a while.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:42 am Carrefour set to enter IndiaFrench retailer Carrefour, which has been looking to crack the restrictive India market for seven years, plans to kick off its operations in the country this year by setting up a wholesale business.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:40 am REC FPO gets poor response on Day 1First-day subscriptions to the public issue by state-owned Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) surpassed NTPC in terms of poor investor response, being subscribed just 0.29 times, raising fresh doubts about the success of the government's disinvestment programme.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:40 am Bajaj hits barrier in control for superbike makerBajaj Autos hopes of acquiring a majority stake in specialised bike manufacturer KTM Power Sport AG have been stymied after CROSS Industries, the Austrian firms promoter, publicly declared it would not dilute its 50.9 per cent stake.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:38 am Growth hinges on farm output revival New Delhi: A revival in farm output in the next fiscal will help the Indian economy move closer to the growth rate it clocked in the boom years, even though financial market instability and rising prices could pose significant threats to growth, the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council (EAC) said on Friday.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint The economists’ panel also called for a gradual withdrawal of the fiscal and monetary stimulus that has helped the Indian economy weather the global economic storm. The government will announce its annual Budget on 26 February and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to announce its next interest rate move at the end of April. The advisory council expects the economy to grow at 8.2% in the next fiscal and may return to its trend growth rate of 9% by 2011-12. The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has estimated economic growth of 7.2% in the current fiscal. EAC’s growth forecast for the next fiscal hinges on a revival in farm output, which is expected to grow at 5% compared with the estimated 0.2% contraction in the current fiscal, assuming a normal monsoon this year. However, it has projected only marginal improvement in growth in both industry and services in the next fiscal over the current year. In 2010-11, industry and services sectors are expected to grow at 8.7% and 8.8%, respectively, compared with 8.6% and 8.7% growth estimates for the current fiscal. However, EAC fears that the spread of food price inflation into the general price level might occur in 2010-11, if inflationary expectations are not managed properly. It also said that high volatility in financial markets and weakness in major currencies have encouraged investors to hedge their bets by investing in commodities. “India and China, as well as several other developing countries are showing strong signs of growth and their elevated domestic demand in combination with unsettled financial conditions has the potential of causing commodity prices to rise further,” the council said in its report. Holding that high food inflation is a cause for concern, EAC chairman C. Rangarajan said the government should ensure that food prices are brought under control. “For this, advanced planning for timely import (of food items) and supplementary distribution channel along with the public distribution system is needed,” Rangarajan said. However, he hoped that food prices would moderate within the next two-three months.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint The council maintained that the India economy has rebounded from the global crisis and is now operating under vastly improved circumstances that can be considered to be “normal”. This necessitates that monetary policy revert to a more “neutral” stance from the excessively accommodative position it had adopted in response to the economic crisis, it said. “Further action by RBI will depend on credit growth, liquidity situation as well as price situation,” Rangarajan said while releasing the council’s report. EAC asked the Union government to begin fiscal consolidation in the coming Budget in order to ensure fiscal sustainability, enable greater flexibility in monetary policy calibration, contain interest payments and to avoid an upward pressure on interest rates. However, it maintained that as more pressure on the government exchequer has come from increase in expenditures than from tax cuts, corrective measure must focus on adjusting revenue expenditure. The council maintained that with adequate fiscal adjustment, it would not be difficult to reduce the Centre’s fiscal deficit by 1-1.5% in 2010-11, without any adverse impact on economic growth. “We should strike a balance between the need for growth and fiscal consolidation. Fiscal deficit between 5.3% and 5.8% would meet both ends,” Rangarajan said. EAC also spoke of the need to unify the threshold and rate structure of Cenvat (Central value-added tax) and services tax to introduce the proposed goods and services tax (GST) at the Central level. Rangarajan said some duty hike is desirable (in the Budget). “We can use this opportunity for transition towards GST,” he said. M. Govinda Rao, a member of EAC, said that both rates could be unified at 10%. To fast-track the introduction of GST, the council recommended that the Union government should immediately put in place a centralized agency to track inter-state transactions, and function as a clearing house. “This will also help in the computerized information system for central GST,” it said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:31 am Mittal says Zain a better fit than MTNNew Delhi: Bharti Enterprises Ltd chairman Sunil Mittal says clarity on how the Bharti-Zain deal is being funded will emerge as early as next week. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Mittal said that he was confident of closing the deal by the end of April. While all options are on the table, debt could be the simplest, fastest way forward. Edited excerpts.  Confident buyer: Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal says the proposed acquisition will give his company complete control over Africa operations. Madhu Kapparath / Mint Analysts are calling it a forced marriage. I know you came out and tried to allay investor apprehensions on that. Why forced? Forced because they see that there is no commercial, strategic or cultural fit as far as this is concerned. They feel MTN was a better proposition, of course, in terms of valuations. I think Zain is a significantly better deal than MTN was for Bharti. Really? Absolutely. Why would you say that? Complete controlled management, and an Indian model which we can actually go and test for ourselves and brand. In MTN, none of these would have been possible. It would have been a partnership; we would have been able to influence the local management to do certain things, but not control it. The management would have been MTN. So from that point of view, I would certainly say without doubt that this is a much better, cleaner deal for Bharti. Crisil has just put out a report which has put Bharti on ratings watch with negative implications on account of the debt you are likely to take on because of the Zain deal. I haven’t seen the report, but I won’t be surprised. Anybody who is going to assess this is going to see a very large potential debt coming into the company and until we go out and explain our whole plan and how we are funding and what are the funding plans, I think this is pretty natural. So what is the debt that you are comfortable with because you have been trying to allay investor apprehension on how this deal is going to be funded and structured. We are currently one of the only telecom companies in India, perhaps around the globe, which has no debt and on a net-net basis we are positive as you know and given our Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) levels, there is enough potential to raise debt, so debt is coming from all around. Everyone is very keen to fund it, how much, what terms, give it a few more days. What is the preferred option—debt or equity? All we know is that there is money available, so how we want to pick it up we have many ways to do this and that is precisely what is being discussed at the moment. I would say by the end of next week we will have a clear picture. Rights issue, preferential shares or promoters diluting stake? Have these options been considered? I would not know and the treasury team is working on multiple options. Right from the last two years, funding has not been an issue. When we went out to do MTN one or MTN two, different structures have come forward, so let’s see what new structure comes in. One of the other concerns is that this deal is going to dilute EPS (earnings per share). What is your own estimate because the concern really is on account of the interest cost. We are on a very good wicket here, the funding is likely to be available at a very good cost. Under 7%? That depends if you are doing on rupee or dollar and that depends on good pricing much better than even the last round, so I think there shouldn’t be any cause for worry in terms of debt being expensive. If anyone in India can raise debt at very good terms it is us. So just be patient and I would say maybe another week’s time. So has the due diligence begun? Yes. Will it be completed by March 25th? We don’t have a choice. We would try to do it early and you will need to go to the last date because once you do the semi-finals, the last issues which need to be resolved, so 25th March is a very aggressive timetable and there are multiple teams that are working and I think we will achieve our goal in this time frame. Are you talking to all the vendors—perhaps even Chinese vendors—to bring down costs? And in terms of capex (capital expenditure), how much you need to invest further to be able to beef up and strengthen operations? I would say we need more time, but all of our capex providers are being spoken to and all of them are very excited. Most of the people who provide us our equipment in India also service Zain, and the Chinese are among them. So all of them will be happy to jump on board and grow with us, and the comfort here is it’s the same equipment, the same technology, the same vendors. In the case of MTN it was meant to be a tripartite deal with SingTel also being a major or significant party to that transaction. How will SingTel play out? They have made no bones about the fact that they want to enter Africa and that if that happens through Bharti, they are fine with that. We are working very closely with SingTel. SingTel is an integral part of Bharti. Whatever we do, whatever we plan is thoroughly discussed with SingTel. Their inputs are taken at every stage. In fact, I would say without their support in due diligence and many other areas, it will be tougher for us to immediately go on. So, will this be a tripartite deal as well in that sense? SingTel is a part of Bharti, so they come with us everywhere that we go. So SingTel, as a partner of Bharti, will be there. A pre-agreed price that you will probably issue some equity to SingTel on account of this deal? I think those discussions are absolutely speculative. No preference issue as far as SingTel is concerned? No, we haven’t even had any discussions. That will depend on what the final arrangement of funding comes to. But could SingTel possibly be funding part of this deal as well? At the moment there is no plan. Take us through who you have on as bankers? For instance, we have heard Standard Chartered is on board. Is that the only bank advising you? I think this is again something which will be announced hopefully Monday or Tuesday. One name I can certainly confirm is Standard Chartered, which has been a very strong supporter of Bharti. How quickly can we expect you to turn things around at Zain’s African assets? As quickly as anybody else can do. I personally believe that we have demonstrated this country’s rollout, distribution, etc. one can do it very well, so I would say we can do it faster than what is being done in the past. So the estimate that the deal maybe EPS dilutive to the tune of 10% or more in the short term is an exaggerated concern? Those numbers will fall into place once the whole due diligence is done. We know exactly where we are, what the 2010-11 plans are for Zain that will determine where the EPS position is going to be. cnbctv18@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:01 am Bharti put on rating watchNew Delhi: Standard and Poor’s (S&P) ratings services put Bharti Airtel Ltd’s long-term credit rating on “CreditWatch with negative implications” following the $10.7 billion (Rs49,755 crore) bid by India’s biggest phone company for Zain Group’s Africa assets. “The CreditWatch reflects our expectation of a significant deterioration in Bharti’s cash flow protection measures and a weakening of the company’s business risk profile if it acquires Zain Africa,” S&P’s Yasmin Wirjawan said in a press release. Bharti Airtel, which has been seeking acquisitions outside India to expand into less saturated markets, also needs cash to pay for third generation auctions at home apart from its push into Bangladesh. Bharti’s shares have slumped following the announcement of the Zain plan. S&P said Bharti’s “liquidity is adequate” and that it expects the firm will be able to raise funds for the proposed deal. The company’s “business risk profile could weaken because of the macroeconomic and political risks associated with, and the lower profitability of Zain Africa’s operations”, Wirjawan said. The ratings company said, however, that the proposed acquisition holds the prospect of growth opportunities in a continent that has relatively lower mobile penetration. A combined entity would be able to achieve economies of scale given its position in India and Africa, S&P said. The watch on the BBB rating “will be resolved following Standard & Poor’s review of the final funding structure of this transaction and its impact on Bharti’s financial risk profile”, S&P said. “We will also evaluate the change in Bharti’s business risk profile given its entry into Africa through this potential acquisition.” Indian rating agency Crisil Ltd, which is controlled by S&P, also put Bharti’s long-term bank facilities and debt programme on “rating watch with negative implications”, it said in a press release. The acquisition could adversely affect Bharti’s gearing and debt protection indicators over the short term, Crisil said. “However, in case the deleveraging happens sooner than expected, the rating may not be impacted,” Crisil said. “If the deal does not go through, Crisil will remove the rating from watch and reaffirm the same with a ‘stable’ outlook.” Bharti Airtel had announced on Monday that it had entered into exclusive discussions with Kuwait-based Zain for the acquisition of its Africa assets. The discussions between Bharti and the Zain Group are expected to conclude by 25 March. The moves by the rating companies arise from expected changes in the debt profile, a Mumbai-based analyst said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media. “But even after the significant borrowing, they will still be in a comfortable position,” he said. “Some of the largest firms in the world are also the most leveraged.” shauvik.g@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:01 am Godrej Properties to focus on low-cost housing - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am Quick Edit | Why Taslima should stay In a country where creative controversies too often turn into law and order fiascos, India’s refusal to renew Taslima Nasreen’s residence permit is understandable. And at a time when India’s relations with Bangladesh are on the upswing, the government may be viewing Nasreen as simply too much political liability. In this trade-off between individual freedom and state interest, we seem to have forgotten that the chaos that results from a clash of ideas is essentially a manifestation of a democracy coming to terms with its pluralist image, and is a necessary phase in its evolution. Throwing Nasreen out would be the easy solution. But it won’t put controversies to rest, nor would it soften our overblown reaction to them. Relations with Bangladesh notwithstanding, what India needs instead is an effective way of engaging with these issues. That would not only further its political capital as one of the true liberal democracies in the region, but also go a long way in building an inherent, mature framework of tolerance. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am Small brands look to IPL for image makeoverMove over beverage and consumer electronics giants, a new wave of smaller advertisers are betting big on the billion-dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament this year.  Seizing the opportunity: A May 2008 photo of an IPL match held in Mumbai. While more brand associations generate revenue for the IPL franchisees, it is really the small advertisers that benefit from the exposure. Shirish Shete / PTI Season 3 of IPL, scheduled to start on 12 March, will see a new bunch of brands associating with individual teams and finding prime place on the jerseys and caps of star cricketers. Earlier this week, Mohali’s Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) announced its partnership with a new entrant in the handset market, Aroma Mobile launched by Aroma Telecom Pvt. Ltd, a company based in Mumbai. Kolkata Knight Riders has added Lux Hosiery Industries Ltd’s Lux Cozy innerware as well as energy drink “XXX” to its list of advertisers. The energy drink brand was launched in January by Goa Technology and Trade Pvt. Ltd (GT&T). The XXX logo will be present on the players’ T-shirts. Meanwhile Chennai Super Kings is breathing new life into Orient Fans, a 56-year-old company that is riding on the IPL frenzy to revive its brand image. The team has also signed on UniverCell Telecommunications India Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based mobile retailer, as its below-the-line partner to carry out local promotions for the team. Other brands such as cement manufacturer ACC Ltd, jeanswear brand Flying Machine and pain-reliever Moov, owned by Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd, are also some of the other brands not usually associated with cricket, which have tied up with teams such as KXIP, Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals this year. While more brand associations generate revenue for the IPL franchisees, it is really the small advertisers that benefit from the exposure. “It is not very expensive for local and small advertisers to partner with teams and the kind of visibility the brands get in return is worth it,” said Rakesh Singh, marketing head of Chennai Super Kings. According to senior team officials, brand sponsorships with teams do not hurt the pockets of advertisers as the deals can range anywhere from Rs2 crore to Rs7 crore per year, depending on the capacity in which the brand will be present. Compare this to an on-air sponsorship slot on the broadcast partner Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, which is signing associate and presenting rights for between Rs35 crore and Rs50 crore for its channel SET MAX this season. “Which is why you will see a lot of brand launches and brand revivals planned around IPL,” added Singh. For Moov and XXX, IPL will indeed be their launching pad. “It makes sense for us to tie in with Rajasthan Royals on IPL because we have just launched a new variant called ‘Neck and Shoulder’ pain relief, which is targeted at working men and women and a majority of IPL viewers fit our target audience,” said Ajay Rawal, general manager (marketing) at Paras Pharma. “XXX, a completely new entrant into the market, is a mass product so we need to be associated with a brand which can deliver mass coverage,” said Sachiin Joshi, vice-chairman of JMJ Group, the parent company of GT&T. “Kolkata Knight Riders was the most popular team in both season 1 and 2, even though the performance may not have been as great,” he said explaining the reason behind the association with the team. Experts say that unlike other cricket tournaments where advertisers can only buy into Team India, IPL offers sponsors eight teams to choose from and hence more sponsorship opportunities. “There are apparel sponsors, leisure apparel sponsors, pouring partners, mobile partners and a host of other rights that sponsors can choose from to best fit their need,” said Singh of Chennai Super Kings. The number of smaller advertisers associating with the IPL teams has doubled although the revenue contribution hasn’t increased significantly. “Right now teams are looking at improving their bottom line so we’re still primarily interested in going after the big sponsors,” said B. Vanchi, director at GMR Sports Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of GMR Holdings Pvt. Ltd that owns the Delhi team. “Sponsorship and licensing deals with smaller brands account for only 3-4% of the total revenue, but this percentage is growing rapidly as more such brands come on board for exposure.” However, not everyone is upbeat about smaller brands latching on to IPL. Some celebrity managers feel that such brand associations with IPL are killing the endorsement market. “Today any Tom, Dick and Harry can slap his logo on the back of a jersey of a star-cricketer for Rs2 crore, diluting the player’s brand,” said Harish Krishnamachar, vice-president (South Asia) at World Sport Group Pte Ltd (WSG), a sports management company that handles the accounts of Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir. WSG also owns the rights to the international broadcast rights of IPL. priyanka.m@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am Fed rate hike may not act as cue for RBI Mumbai: The decision on Thursday by the US Federal Reserve to hike the interest rate at which banks borrow short-term from it may not have an immediate impact on policymakers in India, since the higher discount rate is a signal that financial markets have stabilized rather than an attempt to tighten monetary policy, which is usually done by tweaking the Fed funds rate. But given that India’s central bank has previously followed the Fed’s rate actions, the move will be a key input into the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policymaking calculations, say economists and markets participants. Equity, currency and bond markets in India reacted to the Fed raising its discount rate on loans given to banks by 0.25 percentage point to 0.75%. However, according to bond and currency traders, that was more because of global sentiment rather than a direct impact on the domestic economy. The Fed funds rate is the more important policy rate in the US and the one that directly affects the flow of money and credit through the world economy. The Fed reduced its target rate to 1.5% from 2% on 10 September 2008. RBI followed suit on 24 September by cutting key rates. By 16 December 2008, the Fed brought down its rate to 0.25% and RBI followed by cutting its rates in tranches to the present 3.25% for the reverse repurchase rate—at which it sucks out liquidity—and 4.75% for the repurchase rate—at which it injects liquidity into the system. That was in sync with what other central banks were doing to protect their economies. This time, central banks are following their own unwinding process and economists expect RBI to chalk its own path. The Bank of England at its recent meeting kept rates unchanged as China twice raised banks’ cash reserve requirements as did RBI at its last monetary policy announcement in January. The central banks of Australia and Israel have hiked their key rates. However, India’s markets were not immune on Friday to the global movement set in motion by the Fed’s action. The dollar strengthened against 13 of the world’s 16 most active currencies. Stock markets, especially those in Asia, tumbled. Taking a cue from weak Asian markets, India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.83% to close at 16,191.63 on Friday. The rupee weakened to 46.33 per dollar from the previous close of 46.27. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, which rose to 7.9% in the morning on speculation of a rate hike by RBI, recovered to close at 7.88%, almost flat from Thursday’s level of 7.86%. This followed the head of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council C. Rangarajan saying the government’s borrowing in the next fiscal year may be lower than the current year’s Rs4.51 trillion. The recovery in bond yields, according to bond traders such as S. Raghavan, head of treasury at IDBI Gilts Ltd, indicated that India was more bothered about domestic factors than signals from the Fed of a global recovery. The only segment that could be affected by the Fed hike could be foreign institutional investors, as short-term rates will go up in the US. But market observers don’t read too much into the development. “Yes, it has caught markets on the hop, since they were expecting tightening in Asia and not the US,” said Deepak N. Lalwani, director at London-based brokerage Astaire and Partners Ltd. “But it’s not going to have much of an impact. People have been talking about it for quite some time.” Economists largely agree with market players. “We don’t need to read too much into it (Fed action) as it had been well flagged by Ben Bernanke and it has nothing to do with giving any monetary policy signal,” said Rajeev Malik, head (India and Asean economies) at Macquarie Securities Group. “For RBI, domestic factors like inflation and growth dynamics will be relatively more important for its monetary policy stance than the latest Fed action.” Headline inflation accelerated to 8.56% in January, but RBI governor D. Subbarao said on Thursday that he expects to contain it at the projected level of 8.5% by March-end even as food inflation touched 17.97% during the week ended 6 February. While the Index of Industrial Production for December grew at 16.8%, economists such as Devendra Kumar Pant, director of research at Fitch Ratings India, attributed this to the low base effect of last year. Just “signals of global recovery will not help”, he said. “Aspects like a steady growth in domestic exports and manufacturing will be of paramount interest before RBI considers a rate hike.” Pant said the coming Budget, scheduled for 26 February, will be the deciding factor for RBI rather than any global signals. Economists also point out that RBI has been at pains to signal that there will not be any rate action before its next policy announcement unless there are exceptional events. “At this point in time, we believe that a rate hike could come only in the April policy,” said A. Prasanna, chief economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership Ltd. “However, should primary articles’ prices fail to subside and/or fuel prices are hiked in a significant manner in the next few weeks, then action in March cannot be ruled out.” The hike could top his expectation of 0.5% as the “recent data on economic activity and prices have raised the question of a sharper hike”. Macquarie’s Malik expects it to be smaller—a 25 basis points hike in the April policy. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Ravi Krishnan contributed to this story. anup.r@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 10:59 am For luxury brands, India is a tiny market right nowNew Delhi: Hidesign is a hippie brand that was born in the late 1970s. Today, it’s a flourishing 30-year-old that is mainstream in both its availability and its brand values. Dilip Kapur, founder and president of the Puducherry-based company, is now straddling the upmarket, luxury end of the business with Louis Vuitton buying a stake in his company and also wooing the value-conscious Indian shopper with Holii, his partnership with Kishore Biyani’s Future Group.  Out of the bag: Hidesign is diversifying into accessories; its range of sunglasses will be launched in March. What is Hidesign about now? Is it high-end Louis Vuitton or affordable Holii? Louis Vuitton happened because we were a very lonely brand. When I started becoming successful, all kinds of people began to approach me and say we want to buy a stake in the company, we want to make it big, you have a great brand but you are not doing a good job with it—which is still true. But that’s a price we were always willing to pay, we didn’t want to sell out at the cost of our independence. But Louis Vuitton was an offer we couldn’t refuse, in a way. There is a big difference in saying we are an international brand in the sense that we are available internationally and saying that we are an international brand that is recognized internationally. How do you move from this to that? I think we need partnerships for that. We don’t have the knowledge and would have taken too long to find our way. That’s why we decided to accept this offer of help, in a way, from Louis Vuitton. And Holii? Holii started with Kishore Biyani bugging me for two years saying, “Dilip you don’t understand India”. So Holii helped me go back and realize aspects of our heritage which emotionally affect us and reflect that in a product. It’s a 50-50 joint venture, which is now eight months old. The first five months, Holii was doing 70% of the targets we set. Then we started advertising and people started seeing it around, talking about it and suddenly we jumped to 120%. At the moment, most Holii stores don’t have products. So we are quadrupling production. How do you expect the luxury market in India to unfold? For international luxury brands, India is a tiny market right now. When I talk to the CEOs of these companies, they say India is going to happen from 2015 onwards. Their huge hope is that India will be like the Far East where they are completely oriented towards European luxury brands. But is India going to go that way? I have no idea. I think it’s way too simplistic. Emporio (the Delhi mall that houses luxury brands) is the best thing that happened to Indian luxury brands. They are in the same place as Western luxury brands and suddenly the consumer goes upstairs (to stores of Indian designers) and sees this amazing stuff with incredible work with a price tag of Rs3 lakh. Then she comes downstairs to the international luxury stores and sees something that seems much less value— in her eyes—lot less work and it is priced even higher. So they go back upstairs and buy. What will Hidesign focus on in 2010? One of the exciting things we realized is that the privatization of airports has been fantastic. We are discovering that it is an incredible retail space for brands that talk to that aspect of modern life, which is work, career, travel and international lifestyle. Hidesign is right smack in the middle of that. So airports are a very big story for us. We are in Hong Kong and Heathrow. Now we are setting up our own store in Vienna airport, which is the crossroad of central Europe, where our shop is right next to Swarovski—the most important Austrian brand. After a year and a half of hell internationally, when the leather good luxury segment collapsed by 40%, we have seen positive growth in the last quarter. So, internationally, I think 2010 will be the year when we come back to life, internationally. This year, we will also expand our product portfolio. The first range of Hidesign sunglasses will hit stores in March. We are also launching a line with Rohit Bal that will be ultra luxury with a definite Indian sensibility. What about change style sensibilities, doesn’t the assault of cheap, synthetic knock-offs worry you? It’s a question that haunts me routinely now. The easiest way to be successful and make money now is to copy the best bag designs in the world. With the Internet it is so easy. So how do we compete against that? I am not stupid to say that our designs are always the best. Synthetics are the greatest segment of the market. You offer someone an opportunity to buy something and use it for three months and then throw it away. They are not relating emotionally to it and so they’ll just think it’s cool and use it and then just throw it away. In a way, the partnership with Louis Vuitton helped me reinforce what I was beginning to doubt. All the successful companies in India and China have essentially looked at what’s successful abroad and copied it here. But it is not a solution for the long term. If you have a long-term view of life you need to be yourself, you need to be independent and you need to have a reason to be there. Who would you want to see carrying Hidesign bag? You and her and her (points at women in the hotel lobby). I really want to be part of this modern story, the explosion of the young Indian into the world. That to me is much more exciting. I am not concerned any more about whether I am being carried by the society woman. I used to worry about that earlier, but now I am not interested in them. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:55 am Isolate credit rating analysts from issuers, says ministry panelMumbai: A high-level finance ministry committee said in a report released on Friday that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) should be the lead regulator for credit rating agencies (CRAs) that assess the creditworthiness of various firms and financial instruments, and that have come under fire for allegedly grading firms by fees received. The six-member committee on comprehensive regulation for credit rating agencies (CCRCRA), headed by joint secretary (financial markets) K.P. Krishnan, recommended in its report that CRAs restrict analysts from participating in fee discussions with issuers, should disclose fees received for rating, and should not be allowed to undertake consultancy and advisory services for clients seeking ratings. CCRCRA is under the jurisdiction of the high-level coordination committee on financial markets (HLCCFM). The report primarily responds to allegations that credit rating agencies issue ratings in return for the fees paid by debt-issuing entities, potentially compromising the quality of analysis and ratings assigned. Currently, there are five rating agencies registered with Sebi: Crisil Ltd, Fitch Ratings India Pvt. Ltd, Icra Ltd, Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE), and Brickwork Ratings India Pvt. Ltd. There are also a number of rating agencies that are not registered with Sebi, but are governed by other regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). CCRCRA said since credit ratings are primarily used by investors in the securities market, which is regulated by Sebi, it should be named the lead regulator and all CRAs be registered with it before using the words “credit rating” with their company names. Amit Tandon, managing director, Fitch Ratings, said the lead regulator concept would “ensure that different regulators do not pull in different directions”. To address the concerns of other regulators, the committee suggested existing Sebi regulations be amended before positioning itself as the lead regulator for CRAs. CCRCRA, which was formed in January 2008, said there should be established policies to separate those individuals who negotiate fees from those employees who rate an issue in order to reduce the possibility or perception that ratings might be linked to fees. The committee observed that in practice, CRAs often float subsidiary companies for undertaking non-rating activities such as consulting, software development, knowledge process outsourcing and research, which could potentially lead to a conflict of interest, a practice CCRCRA said should be avoided. “Internal Chinese walls are porous mechanisms to prevent such conflict of interest as such other businesses such as consultancy and advisory services should not be undertaken by CRAs,” it added. The committee also proposed increased disclosures for every rating, and that CRA should reveal sources of conflicts of interest including details of fees. It said details of fees over the past three years for activities other than rating be disclosed. “Disclosures always help. I am sure that these increased disclosures will help improve confidence in the ratings,” said Naresh Thakkar, managing director at credit rating firm Icra, of the committee’s recommendations. The committee also proposed a bi-annual internal audit of processes of CRAs. anirudh.l@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:54 am Mile-high lonelinessUp in the air, it can be lonely. And vacuous, and painful. For Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man hired by companies across the US to fire people from their jobs, life is pretty much limited to airports and American Airlines flights. He is bored on the inside, although on the outside he flaunts a sense of dire purpose as he flits from one airport to another, one depressing office to another—that too, when the economic meltdown is at its peak. “We make limbo tolerable,” he says, describing his job. Many Americans loathe him; he is not only fallible but seemingly beyond redemption.  Packed: (above) Clooney’s character dreams of the moment when he will complete one million flying miles; Clooney and Farmiga Besides being the star representative of the Omaha-based “future solutions” company, Ryan is also a motivational speaker. His mantra for distressed souls looking for purpose in dark times is, “Empty the backpack”, and start packing only that which fulfils you alone: “Your relationships are the heaviest components of your life”; “The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans, we are sharks”; “Make no mistake, we all die alone”. His animated litanies are a way of justifying his own banishment of meaningful human connection. The only relationship he has is with the mysterious and beautiful Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), another executive frequent flyer, whom he met at one of the airports—“Just think of me as you with a vagina,” she tells him—and all is hunky-dory between the accidental couple. His family—two sisters, one of whom is about to get married—however, is a conventional lot that misses his long absences. At Ryan’s coldly profit-driven corporate headquarters, there’s a new recruit—Anna Kendrick (Natalie Keener), a young Ivy League graduate who has moved to Omaha following her boyfriend and who, in the corporate textbook sense, is a prospective profit-driver for the company. Anna and Ryan go on a tour together to fire people and the quirks and insecurities of all the three characters unfold seamlessly. Up in the Air is a taut, unpretentious film propelled entirely by the two things that matter the most in good film-making: writing and performance. There is a fair amount of pop-philosophizing here, but the lines never quite overwhelm the film’s soul, which is Ryan’s pitiable, but understandable condition. Ryan has always dreamt of the moment when he would complete one million flying miles and if at all that moment arrives, he will likely remember only one thing that someone close to him said to him on a long-distance telephone call: “You are a parenthesis.” Besides the characterization and writing, the director’s other achievement is the sympathetic portrayal of the impact of the recession on ordinary Americans—he gets it down to the basic human level: For example, what will a man in his 50s tell his two daughters when his job is gone? Up in the Air is a small, bittersweet film, well worth your 300 bucks at the multiplex. George Clooney, more so. Up in the Air released intheatres on Friday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:53 am Wedding gags and match -(un) makingTabu, who headlines the cast of Toh Baat Pakki!, is the main selling point of this film. However, it is Sharman Joshi who makes the greatest impact as the rejected suitor. Tabu plays Rajeshwari, a meddling, gossipy, headstrong wife, mother and elder sister determined to find the perfect match for her younger sister Nisha (Yuvika Choudhary). Rajeshwari is the quintessentially passive-aggressive woman, living in a hill station with her henpecked husband Surinder (Ayub Khan), two children and an empty room for which she wants a tenant.  The suitable boy: Sharman Joshi (left) and Tabu in Toh Baat Pakki! The set-up should have lent itself to some hilarious scenes but the script fails to lift spirits. The humour verges on the pedestrian. Director Kedarh Shinde and his writers attempt to craft a typical Bollywood wedding saga, but Toh Baat Pakki! is devoid of the emotions and histrionics of those family dramas. Instead it feels like a TV soap opera with a big budget, but with all the soap staples—overdone editing and sound effects, et al. In an attempt to portray Indian values and comments on society, the story speaks of dowry, respect for elders and even makes a reference to daughters being as good as sons. Tabu pulls off her part with gusto, managing to evoke some amount of dread and dislike from the audience. But the role hardly challenges an actor of her calibre as Maqbool or The Namesake did. Joshi is well cast in a part that lends itself to his understated charm. Seth is given little opportunity to impress, while Khan and Choudhary are saddled with weak characters. The music, cinematography (some seriously strange shot-taking) and dialogue burden an already overloaded script. The film plods along at such a laborious pace that you feel like you’ve been forced to suffer through the seven-day wedding celebration of a long-distance relative. The climax shows hints of Priyadarshan-style chaos, with many random characters making unnecessary appearances. When Rajshri Productions meets Priyadarshan, it’s anything but a match made in heaven. Toh Baat Pakki! released in theatres on Friday. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:52 am The merits of being privately heldIf I were Sunil Mittal I would probably take my company private.  Of course, it also limits the company’s ability to use its stock as a currency—stock swap transactions involving privately held companies are notoriously messy—but few Indian companies use their stock as a currency anyway, for several justifiable reasons, instead preferring to use cash. The debate inherent in these opening lines isn’t new. It’s been around for some time and I am aware that because this is the second time I am bringing up the issue in this column—in an entirely different context, of course—I run the risk of being labelled a radical capitalist, but look at the evidence. A company announces a bid for a significant global acquisition, one that it must make if it wants to remain profitable and grow. And the stock markets react by beating down the stock. I don’t have an issue with analysts who are, by the very nature of their business, short-termists; however, I find it very strange that the breed labels nine acquisitions out of 10 “overpriced”.  Illustration by Jayachandran/Mint Being privately owned also allows a company (and its promoter or promoters) to take strategic risks without being unfair to shareholders. Last year, the well-respected CEO of a large IT firm told me that while at the personal level Ratan Tata was his friend, he believed that the well-regarded chairman of Tata Sons (and Tata Motors) had maybe been just a tad unfair to shareholders by championing his auto firm’s acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. “Both are 10-15-year plays,” the CEO told me. “And I don’t know whether I would have gone out and made such an acquisition when I was 70.” Ratan Tata is now 72 years old. I didn’t really see the issue the same way because the Tata group has successfully managed several acquisitions and it always seems to find the right people to do so (and this argument is reinforced by the news earlier this year that the group had embarked on a global search to find Tata’s successor). Still, I am sure the CEO wouldn’t even have raised the issue had Tata Motors been privately held. There are enough people who advocate the merits of being privately held. And privately held, family-owned and managed enterprises will usually end up adding value for their shareholders (the family) in the long term, goes another theory (but we will deal with that in another column). PS: I do realize that some companies go public to raise money to fund their ambitious plans and that, over the past decade, equity was probably cheaper than debt in the country. Write to actueangle@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:51 am Airlines return to premium services as economy recoversMumbai: Encouraged by the economic recovery and anticipating a growth in premium passengers, international airlines are beginning to offer a raft of services to first and business class fliers. While some carriers have reintroduced first class sections on certain routes, others have launched exclusive lounges at airports. On Friday, Dubai-based Emirates Airline threw open its first such lounge in India at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport for its first and business class passengers as well as some of its frequent flyers. These customers will also be offered a pickup facility to the airport, which already has five premium lounges by other airlines. The Emirates lounge, built at a cost of around $4 million (Rs18.6 crore), offers services such as wireless internet access, designer bathrooms and even massages.  Graphics by Yogesh Kumar/Mint Deutsche Lufthansa AG, which operates Lufthansa, in November reintroduced a first class section on its Mumbai-Munich route, which was discontinued in November 2008 due to a global economic slowdown. A spokesperson for Lufthansa in India said the airline is also considering a lounge for premium passengers. Swiss International Air Lines Ltd, or Swiss Air, introduced a first class section on its Mumbai-Zurich flights in September and on its New Delhi-Zurich route in October. British Airways Plc, which in February upgraded its first class section to include a bed and a personal closet, will launch it in India shortly, a spokesperson said. A December report of International Air Transport Association (Iata), an international trade body that represents 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled global air traffic, said the number of passengers paying for higher priced tickets rose marginally by 1.7% in that month from a year earlier. Globally, airlines had a difficult time in the past year-and-a half because of the slowdown. Earlier this year, Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of Iata, said in a statement that 2009 “goes into the history books as the worst year the industry has ever seen”. The rise in December, Iata said, was the first year-on-year growth for premium travel since May 2008, when it fell 25% compared with May 2007. Premium traffic is critical for airline earnings as a carrier can generate profits if it can fill only its first and business class seats on a flight. Such seats typically cost multiples of an economy class ticket. “Premium traffic is picking up with the domestic economy reviving, and Indian and international carriers are getting positive responses for their business class, though corporate travel is yet to be in full swing,” said Regi Philip, a travel agent who runs Cosmos Agencies in Mumbai. An executive with GVK group, which runs Mumbai airport, said at least two leading international airlines are in talks with Mumbai International Airport Ltd for setting up exclusive lounges, but declined to name the carriers. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak with the media. pr.sanjai@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:38 am Share sales may surge in 2010: CitigroupMumbai/Hong Kong: Indian equity and equity-linked offerings may jump by as much as a third this year as companies and the government tap a growing pool of domestic capital and the economy recovers, according to Citigroup Inc. Indian firms may raise $25- 30 billion (Rs1.16-1.39 trillion) in share sales in 2010, up from $22 billion last year, said Ravi Kapoor, head of capital markets and origination for South Asia at Citigroup. If liquidity keeps coming into the market the way it did last year and equity markets continue to perform, we could possibly cross $30 billion in primary issuance, Kapoor said in a 17 February interview in Mumbai. Two-thirds of the equity capital Indian companies raised last year was from domestic offerings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The pool of local capital has grown as insurance companies and mutual funds pour more money into the equity market, said Kapoor, whose bank was the top arranger of domestic stock sales in India in 2009. The Sensitive Index rallied 81% in 2009, making it the third-best performing benchmark in Asia, as the economy weathered the global recession and stock purchases by foreign investors rose. The gauge has fallen 6.5% this year. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:37 am Economy | India’s iron ore exports fall as tax cuts demandMumbai: Iron ore exports from India, the world’s third largest shipper of the steel-making material, fell for the first time in six months after the government imposed an export tax, cutting overseas demand. Shipments in December fell 10.7% to 12.37 million tonnes (mt) from 13.85 mt a year earlier, said the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries. India exported 10.73 mt in November. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 9:32 am How soon will the US Federal Reserve start tightening policy? The authors point out that the risks are enormous—tighten too soon and the economy risks being pushed into a double-dip recession, as had occurred during the Great Depression; tighten too late and the economy could overheat and it could result in inflation, as happened in the 1960s and 1970s and which led to the great inflation of the 1970s.  Illustration: Jayachandran / Mint The authors examine every US recession since 1920 in order to spot the trends. They find different results for recessions pre- and post-World War II. Before the War, the US Federal Reserve would tighten monetary policy when the price level turned up. This would cause it to tighten too soon. But, after World War II, the Fed tended to postpone tightening till unemployment started to trend down and this led to a resurgence of inflation. Further, the authors noticed a difference in the business cycles before 1965, when the Fed adhered to some form of convertibility of the dollar to gold, and cycles after 1965. Post-1965, in the 1960s and 1970s, the Fed waited until unemployment declined before tightening and gave little weight to inflation. This changed in the 1980s, when the then Fed chairman Paul Volcker tightened policy even though unemployment was very high and was able to break the back of inflation. What about the most recent episodes? This is what Bordo and Landon-Lane say: “In the last two cycles, in the early 1990s and early 2000s the Fed, concerned with persistent unemployment (“a jobless recovery”), waited too long. In the first case, significant tightening occurred close to three years after the trough following “the inflation scare of 1994”. In the second case, the Fed, concerned with the risk of deflation, waited four years after the trough and accordingly may have ignited the housing price boom which burst in 2006 leading to the current recession. The recent episode with unemployment at over 10% and low inflation may be similar to the two preceding cycles.” More precisely, they say that if the Fed follows the exit timing patterns for most post- World War II recessions and if unemployment is seen to peak in the fourth quarter of 2009, then tightening is likely to begin in the first half of 2010. But they also say that “if unemployment declines slowly from its current elevated level, political pressure or the Fed’s experience from the last two recessions may stall the tightening longer.” Most recently, the Fed has said that, despite the US unemployment rate coming down from 10% in December to 9.7% in January, unemployment is expected to stay within 9.5-9.7% in 2010. That is why most economists are predicting that the Fed will begin to tighten only in the second half of the year. Till that happens, liquidity will continue to be abundant. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 8:51 am Rapid Fire | Small rollback has been priced in; more than that will be a surprise Mumbai: In six days from now, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the Union Budget for 2010-11, at a time when the equity markets are increasingly volatile. Mint spoke to Nirmal Jain, chairman of India Infoline Ltd, the largest listed local brokerage, to find what the equity markets are expecting from the Budget. Edited excerpts: The market has slowly been losing enthusiasm about the Budget.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint Yes, that’s a fact. The market is not enthusiastic about the Budget. The Budget has become less relevant from the policy point of view or the direction of reforms or the markets point of view. If you go a few years back, the government announced all major policy changes and reforms in the Budget. Now they are announced throughout the year and sometimes very close to the Budget. Over the last three-four years, it’s not been easy to take a direction after the Budget. The immediate reaction has been different over what has happened later. But more or less the Budget is predictable, unless there is a big surprise. The market is not waiting for the Budget with much of excitement. But even then, there must be some kind of expectation about the Budget. What are you looking forward to? The new direct tax code and tax reforms have come as positive steps. But unfortunately it seems that the timeline will get extended and nothing much will happen. If you look at the tax laws, you can simplify them and make them much better. The tax code can be simplified. Similarly, the move towards GST (goods and services tax) is positive. These are underlying macro changes that are required to make our tax system more efficient and more compliant from people’s point of view. If you want to do something about it (reforms), it still can be done. Like simpler taxes and doing away with a number of taxes such as FBT (fringe benefit tax), STT (securities transaction tax), etc. The other part is that people are expecting a partial rollback (of the fiscal stimulus) in excise (tax hike). I don’t think the finance minister—in this environment—will have the courage to disturb it in a big way. Is the rollback of the fiscal stimulus priced in, or can it still spook the market on Budget day? What has been priced in is a very small rollback. Like a 2% (increase in excise tax) kind of a thing. If it is more than that, it will be a bit of a negative surprise. But I think it is unlikely. But markets have been volatile in the last month or so now. Is it because of the Budget? Yes, markets have been more volatile, but they have been governed more by global cues than by Budget expectations or domestic events. Indian markets, in a way, have decoupled. If you look at the last one year, our markets have given returns of almost 100%, whereas if you look at, say, the US markets, they haven’t given similar kind of returns. From that perspective they have decoupled. But still, on a major (global) event or major jitters (the local markets will move.) The pace and quantum of change will be different, but the direction will still continue to be driven by global markets. What is your sense of where the markets will end this year? I think markets from here till the year-end can give 15-20% returns, unless something unforeseen happens. ravi.k@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 8:37 am Maruti to hire 3,000 staff over 3 yearsKOLKATA (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, will hire 3,000 people over the next three years as the leading Indian carmaker expands its operations in the fast-growing market, a senior official said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 19 Feb 2010 | 5:06 am Shares rise for 2nd week; weak globals weigh on FridayMumbai: Indian shares rose for the second week but were down 0.8% on Friday, in line with global equities which tumbled after the US Federal Reserve unexpectedly lifted an emergency lending rate. Energy major Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the main index, contributed the most to its losses and declined 1.3% to Rs984.25. The economictimes.com website reported the company may raise its offer for LyondellBasell that will include cash and stock options for shareholders and creditors. The 30-share BSE Index closed 0.83% or 136.21 points lower at 16,191.63, taking the week’s gain to 0.2%. Twenty-six of its components lost ground. “Clearly, our market today was hurt by the weakness in global markets, after Fed hiked the discount rate,” said Rajen Shah, chief investment officer of Angel Broking. Shah expects the main index to hover in the 15,500-16,500 range in the near term. “At the Budget, the government will take care not to hurt investor sentiment as they are coming up with FPOs (follow-on public offers) themselves,” Shah said. India unveils its Budget for the 2010-11 financial year (April-March) on 26 February. Shah said he expected the government to balance any stimulus withdrawal measures with positive moves to offset the damage. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries dropped nearly 3%, as London Metal Exchange copper declined as it was pressured by a firmer dollar and an unexpected hike in the US Federal Reserve discount rate. Tata Steel, the world’s eighth-largest steel maker, dropped 2.6%, while aluminium producer Hindalco lost 1.6%. It was a mixed bag for financials. Top lender State Bank of India shed 1.8%, while private lender HDFC Bank climbed 0.9%. Top private lender ICICI Bank dropped 1.1%, while mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp rose 0.5%. Shares of top mobile operator Bharti Airtel resumed their fall and shed 1% after two days of mild gains, with a $9-billion potential deal for Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s African assets weighing on the stock. Rating agency Standard & Poor’s put Bharti on “creditwatch with negative implications”, citing possible significant deterioration in Bharti’s cashflow protection measures and weakening of its business risk profile after it enters Africa. The stock has shed more than 11% this week, its biggest weekly loss since end-October. In the broader market, fallers were more than twice the number of gainers in a volume of 299 million shares, lower than last week’s daily average of 351 million shares. Global stocks were weak with Asian markets other than Japan dropping 1.6%, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.5% by 1026 GMT. The 50-share NSE index declined 0.9% to 4,844.90. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Feb 2010 | 4:55 am Maruti to set up model showrooms - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Feb 2010 | 3:58 am
|
