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Bharat Forge: Looking beyond auto businessIn an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, Baba N Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge, speaks about the company, 2008 crisis and its future plans.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 8:46 am How will RBI rate hike impact 10year bonds?In an excluisve interview with CNBCTV18, Hemant Mishr, Managing Director and HeadGlobal Markets, Standard Chartered and Shubhada Rao, Chief Economist, YES Bank, spoke on the immediate impact of RBI rate hike on bond prices and the economy as a whole.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 8:10 am Deposit rates may go up lending to remain stable: BoBIn an interview with CNBCTV18, MD Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda, spoke about his reading of this rate hike.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 8:04 am Compassionate or ruthless: Which biz policy to adopt?Noted mythologist and Chief Belief Officer at Future Group Devdutt Pattanaik and CNBCTV18\'s Menaka Doshi discuss the purpose of a corporation, leadership qualities, Dharma Sankat and modern day business conflicts and other issues pertaining to Leadership and Governance.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 7:46 am Former Stanchart India exec to return to bankFormer Standard Chartered executive V. Anantharaman is returning to the bank as managing director and head of its corporate finance and advisory business in India, the Economic Times reported on Saturday, without citing any sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 7:23 am BhartiWalmart Training Centre: Empowering Indian youthFifty seven percent of Indian youth do not have opportunities to avail training to make them employable and providing opportunities at least in the retail sector is the BhartiWalmart Training Centre setup in 2008 in partnership with the Punjab Government.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 6:24 am Abhipra to open 1 lacs pension account in a financial yearAbhipra capital has announced a new activity of point of presence to provide services to the subscribers to new pension system launched by pension fund regulatory development authority for all citizens except government employer covered by NPS.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 5:51 am Big swings in yuan would hurt economy: Chinese central bank governor'Speculative and flock-driven fluctuations are a big blow to confidence, and are harmful to the real economy,' Hu Xiaolian, vice governor of the People's Bank of China said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 4:05 am European Central Bank says fiscal consolidation impact on growth limitedThe measures European countries have taken to shore up public finances will benefit growth in the long run, European Central Bank Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 4:02 am Bharti to invest $100m in Niger by 2012India\'s Bharti Airtel Ltd will invest about USD 100 million in Niger to improve the reach and quality of its network in the West African nation by the end of 2012, the mobile phone company said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 3:55 am RBI raises rates in off-cycle move - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Jul 2010 | 3:33 am Policy framework to be aligned with aviation industry needs: PM - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Jul 2010 | 3:26 am Centre to write to parties on caste category in census: Pranab - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Jul 2010 | 3:26 am ECB sees positive growth outlook despite budget cutsSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Fiscal consolidation in Europe will drag on growth in the short-term but overall economic prospects are positive, a senior European Central Bank policymaker said on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 2:41 am Big swings in yuan would hurt economy - c.bankerSHANGHAI (Reuters) - It is beneficial for China's currency to be flexible, but big swings in the yuan's value would be harmful to the economy, a deputy Chinese central bank governor said on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 2:28 am Apple says iPhones overstate signal strengthNEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc came clean on Friday about an embarrassing software glitch that overstates network signal strength in its hot-selling iPhone, as complaints mounted about the phone's wraparound antenna.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 2:18 am Former Stanchart India exec to return to bank: ReportInvestment banking veteran V Anantharaman will help Stanchart build its equity capital markets team and is likely to join from OctoberSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 2:17 am Egypt's Mobinil signs off on purchase of Orascom Telecom internet unitsThe purchase finalises a deal made possible by an ownership pact reached in April between Orascom and co-owner France Telecom.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 1:53 am Wall Street wrap for 02 July 2010Much awaited news came from the Labor department on Friday - the government reported that employers cut 125,000 jobs in the US economy mostly the result of the loss of temporary Census-worker jobs, which was in line with expectations. The good news was the American unemployment rate fell from 9.7% in May to 9.5% in June. 83,000 new private-sector jobs were created - a modest figure that was weaker than expected. Only 33,000 private-sector jobs were created in the previous month. Major indices fell to new 2010 lows with the Dow and Nasdaq at 8-month lows and the S&P 500 at a 9-month low. The S&P 500 is down 15% from its April high on concerns of the European debt crisis and the US economy. In other economic news, a government report showed May factory orders fell 1.4% after rising 1% in April. Economists expected the orders to fall by 0.6%. Movers in the market today were drug makers which rallied on speculation of potential takeovers. Allergan which sells the Botox wrinkle smoother saw a huge gain of 7.2%. Biogen, the world’s largest maker of multiple-sclerosis medicines rose 5.8% while Genzyme, the world’s largest producer of drugs for rare genetic diseases advanced 5.9%. GE, Caterpillar, and Bank of America led the Dow lower for the day. In commodities, oil prices fell 81 cents to $72.14 a barrel and gold for August delivery rose $1 to about $1,207 an ounce. Markets will remain closed on 5 July in observance of Independence day. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Jul 2010 | 1:52 am Egypt's Mobinil signs off on purchase of OT internetCAIRO (Reuters) - Mobinil shareholders approved the $130-million purchase of two internet assets from major shareholder Orascom Telecom on Saturday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 1:49 am Opposition misleading people on price rise issue: Murli Deora - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Jul 2010 | 1:34 am Google comes up with a new 'gay only' policyGoogle says it will pay homosexual employees, who include domestic partners, on their health insurance plans more money to make up for the federal taxes they pay on that benefit.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 1:27 am More is needed to ensure global economy is sustainable: KaurMinister of State for External Affairs, Preneet Kaur on Friday told the UN that shoots of economic recovery could be easily upset by the Euro-zone crisis and that it was important to ensure that global economic recovery is durable, balanced and sustainable.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:52 am China small power plants closures ahead of scheduleNANJING, CHINA (Reuters) - China will reach the 2010 goal of closing coal-fired power plants with a total installed capacity of 10 gigawatt (GW) next month, the head of the National Energy Administration said, as part of moves to reduce reliance on the hydrocarbon.Source: Reuters: Money News | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:39 am US regulator probes Mazda, BMW steering complaintsMore than 342,000 cars made by Mazda Motor Corp and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are under investigation by the US auto safety regulator for possible steering defects that could lead to loss of vehicle control.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:35 am Mega deals stage a comebackBig deals seem to be making a grand comeback into India Inc's growth plans. According to Ernst & Young's latest Transactions quarterly report, companies struck four billion-dollar deals in the quarter-ended June 2010 against none in theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Monsoon boosts sowing of oilseeds, cottonGood monsoon rain in Maharashtra, the Saurashtra-Kutch belt of Gujarat, and much of Andhra Pradesh has helped boost sowing of oilseeds and cotton during the current kharif season, even as plantings are yet to fully pick-up in otherSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Mutual fund assets slump 16% in JuneThe mutual fund industry witnessed its biggest-ever monthly drop (in absolute terms) in average assets under management in June, chiefly because banks withdrew money to fund telecom spectrumSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Singapore Govt not worried over battle for Parkway controlThe Singapore Government does not seem to be losing sleep, as two overseas players — India's Fortis Healthcare and Malaysia's Khazanah — battle over its leading healthcare-provider, ParkwaySource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am HSBC acquires RBS' retail business in IndiaHong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation has agreed to acquire the Indian retail and commercial banking business of Royal Bank of Scotland for a premium of $95 million over the net asset value of the business, both banks announced onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Textiles Ministry suspends funding for tech upgradation schemeThe Textiles Ministry has suspended sanctioning any fresh funding under the Technology Upgradation Fund SchemeSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am RNRL to be merged with Reliance PowerThe ADAG group proposes to merge Reliance Natural Resources with RelianceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Monsoon hindered by land, sea anomaliesThe south-west monsoon broke over Kerala on May 31 this year but ran into a weak phase from June 18 toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Ports may have to pay traders for delay due to congestionThe Government is considering a proposal wherein ports may have to pay a penalty to traders in case their cargo gets delayed due to congestion at the ports, official sources told BusinessSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am RBI hikes key policy rates by 25 bps to tame inflationThe Reserve Bank of India on Friday took yet another baby step to stem the rising inflationary tide. It hiked the key policy rates, repo and reverse repo, by 25 basis points each with immediateSource: Business Line - Home Page | 3 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Govt to implement pan India automated toll system - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:36 pm Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry concerned over direct tax codeOffice bearers of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry made representations to top officials of the finance ministry and Central Board of Direct Taxes.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:28 pm US stocks sink after mixed jobs reportThe tech-rich Nasdaq composite index slid 9.57 points (0.46%) to 2,091.79 and the S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the markets, shed 4.79 points (0.47%) at 1,022.58.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 9:00 pm U.S. regulator probes Mazda, BMW steering complaintsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 342,000 cars made by Mazda Motor Corp and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are under investigation by the U.S. auto safety regulator for possible steering defects that could lead to loss of vehicle control.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 8:51 pm Apple admits iPhone 4 problemApple Inc has said that it was "stunned" to find that its iPhones have for years been using a "totally wrong" formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 8:27 pm Wall St Week Ahead: Bulls on the run in shortened weekNEW YORK (Reuters) - Bearish bets in the equity options market, coupled with an increasingly sour view from a technical perspective, suggest stocks will struggle to break from a vicious two-month downtrend next week.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 7:47 pm Reliance Power, RNRL to talk merger tomorrow - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 6:09 pm GM to file mid-August IPO - sourcesNEW YORK/FRANKFURT/DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co plans to file its nearly $20 billion initial public offering in mid-August, a source familiar with the situation said Friday, later than some expected as bankers work to help sort out the automaker's finances post-bankruptcy.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 6:02 pm Bharti to invest $100 million in Niger by 2012 - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 5:14 pm Bharti to invest $100 million in Niger by 2012NIAMEY (Reuters) - India's Bharti Airtel Ltd will invest about $100 million in Niger to improve the reach and quality of its network in the West African nation by the end of 2012, the mobile phone company said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 5:07 pm Toyota recalling 270,000 cars that may stallDETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it would recall 270,000 of its luxury Lexus models and Toyota Crown sedans for the chance that faulty valve springs may cause engine stalling.Source: Reuters: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 4:40 pm Rupee at 3wk low; post ratehike bounce seenThe rupee fell to its lowest in three weeks on Friday, weighed by weak stocks and US jobs data, but traders expect the local unit to bounce back on Monday following the central bank rate hike move.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 4:34 pm Don\'t see rates going up immediately with this hike: HDFCIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Keki Mistry, VC, HDFC gave his perspective on the RBI\'s rate hike, on interest rates and its impact.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 4:22 pm Praful Patel levels obstructionism charge against Jairam Ramesh - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 3:11 pm Stamp valuation is taxable under the head 'income from other sources'There cannot be an agreement to gift and in any case, such an agreement is not enforceable in law.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 2:55 pm Ulips will now turn long-term productsWhat are these significant changes? They are from the regulator's side as well as from the proposed changes in the direct taxes code (DTC) that will become effective from April 1, 2011.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 2:54 pm Short-end yields set to spike, curve to flattenReserve Bank's rate hike may be a good thing for the markets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 2:28 pm Competition Commission settles 24 cases in a yearThe average time to clear cartel-related cases is 2-6 years globally by agencies such as European Commission's cartel department, according to the industry sources.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 2 Jul 2010 | 2:25 pm Paul Smith | Commercially, sport is one of the greatest casinos you will ever go intoMumbai: These are exciting times for Paul Smith, founder and chief executive of Repucom International, a Stamford, Connecticut-based firm that provides sports marketing analysis and sponsorship research to brands globally. The privately held company, which has worked with clients such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India, International Cricket Council, International Management Group and National Football League (NFL), reported revenue of around $25 million (Rs117 crore today) in 2009 and is targeting 90% growth this year, as advertisers focus on their return on investment.  Competitive spree: Repucom’s Smith says brands in the US now say they have to be in IPL or they will lose. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint Smith spoke in an interview about changes in the sporting landscape and the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament. Edited excerpts: What is it about the changing dynamics of sport that brought you into the business? In 1994, I left the PGA (Professional Golf Association) and started a company called Total Sport Entertainment in Australia, which specializes in sponsorship activation, leveraging and management of portfolios—purely just representing brands. Six to seven years of working in this business, more questions were asked on what is the value of this. The reality is: today sports has changed. It is no longer based on the interests of the chief executive officer or some ties like that. Now, it is a media decision, there’s planning around it and consumer activation. It’s a complex model. What does your firm do? We use an image detection or biometric software technology developed in France by a company called SpikeNet (Technology) to detect brands and images. In short, we don’t measure 30-second spots, we measure content, what happens inside play. That could be graphics, branding on players, endemic signage on boards—we pick up everything in the content. What we sell is data to clients who commission us a project. Then we launched Cricket 24 early this year, which is a database of every brand in cricket in India. That data sits inside a database; clients can come in and pick whatever data they want to get a competitive analysis and to get a view of what they are doing and what their competitors are doing. Our whole business—our global production centre is based in Bangalore—centres around measurement; it’s all about dissecting numbers, looking at demographics, how many eyeballs am I getting and placing that back to sales. How has the approach to sport changed in this region? The way IPL has been executed has highlighted the enormous commercial landscape for the product in the sub-continent. It shows how people are looking at this product (IPL) and commercializing it, instead of doing it the old way. Brands in the US now say they just have to be in IPL. It is being seen as a product you have to be a part of because if you don’t, then your competitor will go at it. Regarding IPL, there is constant speculation that the valuations are inflated. We are not out there touting a currency, we are providing a perspective that comes together through data, married to media rights and executes a number. We can’t make it high, we can’t make it low and we can’t cook these numbers up. When we say there were 11,202 seconds of exposure for Sahara, we provide 11,202 verification images, so there is proof of performance. We run a consistent methodology globally. The same methodology applies to IPL, NFL or cricket in Australia. People might say it’s high and the values are inflated, but the truth is that it rates its head off! The broadcaster sets the price, people are stepping up and paying the price. So, if it is a bubble, it’s sustainable at this point. When people start to walk away from this, that’s when the bubble bursts. Is the cost of the two new IPL teams, collectively worth $703.33 million, sustainable? Welcome to the commercial marketplace! If I offer you a price, and you accept it, that is what it’s worth. People can put a book value on anything, but ultimately it is what it’s traded at. It may be based on no common sense, it’s just a straight out: “I want to buy that asset, because it’s important to me,” then who is to say that it’s inflated? Look at the billions of pounds tied up in the English Premier League now, that is what people are paying for those teams. We don’t know if it’s sustainable, no one knows. If this is so dynamic, how does one get into a long-term investment? Sport is one of the greatest casinos you will ever go into. As a sponsor, I buy into a team. And if they don’t win, then I lose. That is an inherent dynamic of sport from a commercial perspective. Are people going to watch it? Will my team do well? But sport touches people, it goes to an emotional point that a Bollywood movie does not go to. In these tough economic times, sport has come back stronger as it is a comfort point, they trust it. It’s a cheap form of entertainment, how much does it cost to turn on the TV? That’s what sport has been doing for centuries, but today you can commercialize it. gouri.s@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:12 pm HSBC to buy RBS' India banking unit - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:11 pm Premji and Son in Wipro reportBangalore: Premji asks Premji a question on succession planning and the answer is, er, vintage Premji: “...in terms of our succession planning is that every position we have to have at least three successors to that position—one on immediacy basis, one within one-two years and one within two-four years. And we get into a lot of depth vis-a-vis the track record of candidates with respect to the candidates put up for succession. And this applies to my position too.” This, and not the numbers, is probably the highlight of the latest annual report of Wipro Ltd. If the report is any indication, then, three years after he joined the company, Rishad Premji, 33, the elder son of Azim Premji, 64, the chairman and single largest shareholder in the firm, is slowly but surely coming into his own. Rishad Premji is currently a general manager in Wipro’s investor relations division and reports to Rajendra Kumar Shreemal, who heads the function. The annual report for fiscal 2010 of Wipro carries an interview of Azim Premji conducted by Rishad Premji and Shreemal. It is accompanied by a photograph of the two interviewing the chairman.  Larger role: Rishad Premji, the elder son of Wipro’s Azim Premji. He is currently a general manager at the firm’s investor relations division. The company played down Rishad Premji’s appearance in the annual report too. “The chairman has repeatedly reiterated that ownership and management are two separate things. Like any other position, we have succession planning in place for everybody, including that of the chairman,” said Pratik Kumar, corporate vice-president for human resources at Wipro. Rishad Premji has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and joined Wipro on 18 July 2007 in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) business after working with GE Capital and Bain and Co. “He was very interested in the security vertical of our BFSI practice and was involved in a couple of key mergers and acquisitions activities, including the acquisition of Gallagher Financial Systems Inc. in the US,” said a senior official of the firm, who did not want to be identified given the way Wipro views succession. The executive added that Rishad Premji’s appearance in the annual report is one way to make him known to the larger shareholder community of the firm. The biggest shareholder in the company knows Rishad Premji very well indeed; the Premji family owns just under 80% of Wipro. Perhaps because of that, there has always been considerable interest in the careers of Rishad Premji and his younger brother Tariq Premji, who works with Azim Premji’s personal investment firm, PremjiInvest.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint A former senior Wipro executive, who used to directly report to Azim Premji (called AHP by insiders), said: “Seriously nobody believes that Rishad is just one more employee. But to his credit Rishad is a chip of the old block, both shrewd and a quick learner. He is being rotated among various divisions of the company so that he will learn the ropes.” “He (Rishad) is humble and has no sense of entitlement. At some point, Premji will induct him into the board. After AHP, he might become even the non-executive chairman and the company might have a managing director to run the day-to-day operations of the company. What is wrong in AHP wanting to groom his children to take up positions of responsibility?” asked this executive, who now heads another IT services firm and did not want to be named. Little is known about Rishad Premji, who is married to his childhood sweetheart and has two children. venkatesha.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:11 pm RBI raises key policy rates to tame inflationMumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday raised its key policy rates, for the third time this year, by a quarter of a percentage point each, three weeks ahead of its quarterly policy review, to fight rising inflation in the world’s second fastest growing major economy. It also said it will revise its growth projections for the economy from its “8% with an upside bias” as “recent data suggest that the upside bias has largely materialized”.  Yogesh Kumar / Mint The Indian central bank raised its repo and reverse repo rates to 5.5% and 4%, respectively. Repo is the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks and at the reverse repo rate it drains out surplus liquidity from the banking system. Economists expect another round of a quarter percentage point rate hike on 27 July when the central bank reviews its monetary policy. A hike in policy rate will make money costlier for corporations and retail borrowers even though banks do not seem to be in a hurry to raise their base rate as yet. The base rate is the rate below which banks cannot price any loan. However, the impact of the policy rate hike will be seen in the bond market on Monday and the bond dealers expect the yield on the benchmark 10-year paper to go up by around 10 basis points. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. On Friday, the yield on the 10-year paper closed at 7.58%. RBI announced the rate hike after the market hours and auctions of three government bonds, raising Rs10,000 crore. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the RBI measures “are desirable given that core inflation has risen and credit situation is tight”. It is “good that RBI has not raised cash reserve ratio (CRR)” of banks. RBI had earlier raised banks’ CRR, or the portion of deposits that banks need to keep with it, by one percentage point in two stages, but has refrained from raising it further this time as there is not enough money in the system. In fact, RBI has taken quite a few measures to infuse liquidity in the system in the past one month. The market was expecting a hike in policy rate as wholesale price inflation jumped to 10.2% in May and is expected to rise even further following the government decision to deregulate petrol prices and raise diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices. The growth in industrial production has also been very high, signalling the robustness of economic recovery. “Although entirely justified in terms of long-term fiscal and energy conservation objectives, the recent increase in fuel prices will have an immediate impact of around one percentage point on WPI (Wholesale Price Index) inflation, with second-round effects being felt in the months ahead,” RBI said in its release. RBI noted that two-thirds of the wholesale inflation in May was contributed by non-food items, “suggesting that inflation is now very much generalized and that demand-side pressures are evident”. It also said economic “recovery is consolidating” and “the strong underlying growth momentum” is evident from the sharp upturn in the capital goods sector, acceleration in credit growth and the widening current account deficit. Yet another positive factor is the relatively smooth progress of the monsoon, which so far has been “decidedly better than during last year”. “The liquidity will be improving faster than what many of us expect,” said Indranil Pan, chief economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist of Axis Bank Ltd, is surprised by the “timing of the hike”. According to him, the liquidity in the system is expected to remain tight until mid-July. “Repo, reverse repo rates have no direct impact on the base rate,” said K.R. Kamath, chairman and managing director of Punjab National Bank, indicating no change in loan rates. Bank of Baroda chairman M.D. Mallya said there may not be that much of pressure on the deposit rates that could force his bank to alter the lending rates. Union Bank of India chief M.V. Nair also ruled out altering his bank’s base rate till the “the next quarter”, even if RBI goes ahead with another 0.25% tightening in its July policy. Anita Bhoir contributed to this story. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:10 pm RNRL to merge with R-PowerThe Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) has decided to merge Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), its gas trading subsidiary, with Reliance Power.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:04 pm With help, Pawar can do two jobsSharad Pawar, the new International Cricket Council president (ICC), today said the assignment will not come in the way of discharging his ministerial responsibilities.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:02 pm UIDAI proposes an e-toll plan, radio frequency tags for vehiclesNew Delhi: Highway users would in a couple of years be able to pay tolls electronically, through a prepaid mechanism to be set up by the road transport ministry. The government has accepted a report by a committee headed by Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which recommends that vehicles be installed with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Vehicles with these tags, each with unique identification numbers, would be tracked as they pass toll barriers. The tolls would be debited electronically from the user’s prepaid account. Highways minister Kamal Nath said he would request the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, a trade body, to ensure that all new vehicles come with RFID tags. Nath said the technology would also help check revenue leakage at toll barriers. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) loses an estimated Rs300 crore a year due to toll evasion. The new proposal, expected to be implemented by May 2012, involves setting up a national toll clearing house, which would administer the prepaid cards. Individual toll plazas would send information on vehicles that cross the plaza to the clearing house every evening which would be validated and sent back. Only two private national highway operators—in Bangalore and New Delhi—provide electronic toll payment facilities. Some 8,000km of highways, out of a network of 70,000km, are currently tolled through 147 toll plazas. Of these, 100 are operated by NHAI. The government’s policy of financing highway development by awarding stretches to private developers means more and more of the national network is likely to be tolled. Electronic toll collection lanes in highways process 2.5 times more vehicles on average when compared with lanes where customers pay in cash, said NHAI board member V.L. Patankar. The tags will be in the form of a sticker pasted on the windshield of vehicles and would cost about Rs100 each, said a committee member. RFID readers installed at toll plazas would cost Rs2 lakh. “That’s the ideal way of doing it because it will reduce the hassle of having the right amount of money. It will also substantially reduce leakages,” said Amrit Pandurangi, who heads the transport and infrastructure practice for consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers. While there may be initial glitches, in the long run, the benefits would outweigh the costs, he added. Once the tags are installed, they could be used for a number of other applications such as payment for parking, he said. rahul.c@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:02 pm Key rates up 25 bps to check inflationLending rates may not rise immediately: Bankers.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 1:01 pm Quick Edit | Another round firedThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shot another bullet to slay rising inflation on Friday, announcing a mid-cycle rate hike. The question now is: how many more bullets will it take to kill this monster? In raising its two interest rates—but leaving the cash reserve ratio intact—the central bank’s signals are clear. It doesn’t want to tinker with liquidity that got strained when telecom companies had to borrow cash last month. It is instead worried about the broader economy. And there is much to be worried about. Wholesale price inflation has crossed the 10% mark, last week’s fuel decontrol surely adding pressure. A roaring economy is pushing price levels up. Yet, the last time inflation and growth were as high (in mid-2008), RBI’s effective policy rate was around 8%. It now stands at 5.5%. By that measure, there are still many rounds left, assuming RBI has the gumption to keep pulling the trigger, and assuming this will help. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 12:38 pm MF assets see steepest fall since Oct '08 - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 2 Jul 2010 | 12:30 pm The Week in Review for 02 July 2010The RBI increased its two main short-term interest rates on Friday, both by 25 basis points. The repo rate, which is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks is now at 5.5%. The reverse repo, which is the rate at which the RBI borrows from banks, stands at 4%. Friday’s rate hikes came sooner than many expected. But the RBI said robust growth and increasing exports made it necessary to tighten monetary policy. The rules of the game changed for banks this week, with the new base rate system coming into effect. India’s top banks scurried to announce their new minimum lending rates to comply with an RBI directive that came into effect on Thursday. State Bank of India set the tone, announcing a base rate of 7.5% on Tuesday. Other public sector banks like Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India pegged theirs at 8%. Private lenders raised the stakes on Wednesday, offering base rates that meet or beat SBI’s. India’s biggest private bank, ICI CI, announced a rate of 7.5%, as did Axis Bank. HDFC Bank, meanwhile, went even lower at 7.25%. The new base rate system is a replacement for benchmark prime lending rates. And while private banks are offering lower base rates, analysts have told Mint the actual applicable rates of these banks may not be very different from their public sector counterparts. Infosys turned 30 on Friday and to celebrate, it’s going to hand out presents. All 113,000 employees are will get five free shares along with one share for every year they’ve worked at Infosys. That’s a minimum pay out of about Rs160 crore. Back in 1994, Infosys offered its employees stock options that were stopped later. And in 2006 it paid out a bonus of one Rs126 crore. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:55 am HSBC to buy RBS’ retail assets in IndiaMumbai: Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd (HSBC) is set to acquire the retail, and small and medium enterprises (SME) business of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) in India for a premium of $95 million (Rs444 crore) over the net asset value of the business, which has not been set yet. The price will be subject to clawbacks depending on losses in unsecured lending in the two years after the deal is completed. “The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to complete in the first half of 2011,” said HSBC in a media statement. RBS is present in India through its acquisition of ABN Amro Bank NV’s Asian operations in 2007. RBS’ retail and commercial banking businesses in India currently has 1.1 million customer relationships, served by at least 1,800 staff through 31 branches. The employees will be transferred to HSBC after the deal is closed, said RBS in a press statement. “In connection with seeking the required regulatory approvals, HSBC will apply to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for branch licences required to support the acquired businesses,” said HSBC. HSBC in India has an asset base of Rs94,632 crore. It has 7,000 employees on its payroll, spread over 50 branches. If it is able to acquire the RBS branches, it will end up with 81 branches, the second highest network for a foreign bank in India, after Standard Chartered Bank Plc, which has 94 branches. In June 2009, RBI had declined to transfer RBS’ branch licences to a prospective buyer. The banking regulator based its decision on the fact that the proposed transaction is a portfolio sale and not a bank buyout. “The main focus of our strategy is on emerging markets and this acquisition is our third transaction in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing developing markets in the last two years,” HSBC chief executive officer Michael Geoghegan said in the statement. Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC group general manager and country head in India, said: “This transaction is an important addition to our existing network and testament to our ambition to expand our footprint in India.” Madan Menon, country head (global banking and markets) at RBS NV India, said, “Post the sale of its retail and SME businesses, RBS will continue as a leading global wholesale and investment, transaction services and private bank in Asia-Pacific with a significant presence in 11 markets, including core markets such as India and China.” HSBC had entered the bidding race for select Asian assets of RBS in October 2009, after talks between Standard Chartered Bank and RBS broke down over differences on the valuation of assets. This is the second acquisition made by HSBC in India. In September 2008 it had acquired IL&FS Investsmart Securities Ltd, now HSBC InvestDirect Securities (India) Ltd, a retail brokerage business with more than 130,000 customers and outlets across 52 cities. RBS has been in the process of selling businesses designated as non-core in select markets to raise funds even though it will continue and grow the corporate and wholesale banking activities of ABN Amro. In February 2009, RBS declared that it would move its India retail and commercial banking operations into non-core businesses, making it clear that these assets were up for sale. RBS shares gained 2.2% to 40.34 pence (Rs28.32) apiece at 2.45pm in London, while those of HSBC rose 1.12% to 605.8 pence. Mint had first reported about the deal in December 2009. Subsequently, in March it reported that HSBC and RBS had started making joint calls to clients. Bloomberg contributed to this story. anita.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:41 am India's infrastructure sector needs $90 bn in 5 years: Kamal NathRoad Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath on Friday said that India's infrastructure sector needs $90 billion investment in the coming five years. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:40 am RNRL to consider merger with R-PowerMumbai: The trading firm at the heart of the gas dispute between Mukesh and Anil Ambani could soon cease to be an independent entity, with the boards of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance Power Ltd (R-Power) informing the stock exchanges that they would meet on Sunday to discuss a merger. Both companies are controlled by Anil Ambani. The proposed merger is a fallout of the Supreme Court judgement of 7 May that said that natural gas was a national asset and which struck down a family agreement between the Ambani brothers that would have given RNRL access to gas from the fields operated by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) at a discount to the price mandated by the government. RNRL was to procure the gas for power plants being set up by R-Power. Analysts said RNRL had little choice but to merge with its sister company since the government has made it clear that an entity receiving gas should have a power plant, which RNRL doesn’t. “The original purpose of RNRL was to get gas from the KG basin at a subsidized rate. Since that has been disallowed by the court, the sanctity of RNRL’s existence was in question,” said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm who spoke on condition of anonymity. The KG basin refers to the Krishna-Godavari gas fields operated by RIL. A spokesperson of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag), which owns RNRL and R-Power, declined to comment. “Left on its own, RNRL was a redundant entity without any assets. Without the merger, RNRL’s share value would have eroded rapidly,” said Prakash Diwan, head of institutional business at Networth Stock Broking Ltd. Share prices of R-Power gained 3.33% on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday to close at Rs175.15 each, while RNRL’s shares lost 1.93% to close at Rs63.65 apiece. The exchange’s benchmark Sensex index declined 48.38 points, or 0.28%, ending the day at 17,460.95. The two announcements were made after market hours. Friday’s closing share prices imply a share swap ratio of one share of R-Power for every 2.7 shares held in RNRL. However, market analysts said that a more fair swap ratio could be arrived at if the book value per share of both the companies is taken into account. “Since RNRL and R-Power are both companies that have projects under development, book value is the only parameter on which a swap ratio can be decided. R-Power has a book value of Rs60 per share and RNRL has a book value of Rs12 per share, which works out to a ratio of one share of R-Power for every five held in RNRL,” said independent stock market analyst, S.P. Tulsian. The analyst cited earlier said that R-Adag might not want to risk gas allocation for the ambitious 7,480MW gas-based power plant at Dadri due to legal problems. “The Supreme Court, which would finally grant approval to the GSMA, might not buy the argument that being companies in the same group, the gas would be transferred from RNRL to Reliance Power.” The so-called gas supply master agreement (GSMA) was revised and signed on 25 May and submitted to the Bombay high court by RIL on 30 June. R-Power had raised at least Rs11,000 crore in an initial public offering in 2008 to raise funds for its proposed gas-based power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. In 2005, RIL had signed an agreement with RNRL to supply 28 million standard cu. m a day of gas from its KG basin at a price of $2.34 (Rs109.28 today) per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) for a period of 17 years. RIL subsequently pleaded that it could not meet these conditions as it was in contravention of the government-fixed price of gas, which is $4.2 per mmBtu. Pallavi Pengonda contributed to this story. aveek.d@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:17 am When the cup is in the rainbow nationZinedine Zidane’s face stares out from a giant French tricolour in front of a tea stall in Kerala’s Wayanad district. Argentine and Brazilian flags compete for space atop telephone poles, and wall space traditionally reserved for political slogans has been given over to murals of Latin America’s football heroes. For a month, most parts of Goa will go back to being little Portugal (or Brazil), and in West Bengal, Sony expects to sell 30,000 Bravia LCD television sets. Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri and the national side may be a world away from the month-long carnival that began in South Africa yesterday, but for millions, life over the next 30 days will be centred around the Jabulani (Bantu for “to celebrate”), a ball whose latex bladder was manufactured in India.  The new powerhouse: European champions Spain are the favourites at the World Cup for the first time, with the best combination of attacking players on paper. Paul White / AP Cricket may be the national sport, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that more people will watch the World Cup in India than they will in England, or the other European countries that have qualified for the event. Starved of top-level football, Indian fans live vicariously, through Brazilian samba beats and Argentine tango. For some, especially children in the metros with their Lampard, Rooney and Gerrard replica shirts, the pulse rate will quicken most when England plays. Despite recent improvement under the stewardship of Bob Houghton, the British coach who once took unfashionable Malmö FF of Sweden to the European Cup final, it could be a generation or more before India can even dream of gracing the biggest sporting stage of all. From being a big player on the continental stage in the 1950s and 1960s, India’s decline since then has been like the financial meltdown of 2008. As Japan, South Korea and the West Asian states moved ahead, Indian football stood still and watched, and then took a few steps backwards. How inept officialdom has ruined the game is a story for another day. Suffice to say that the excuses trotted out about physique, diet and genetics are not even worth the paper they’re printed on. If you want any proof as to their fallacy, just look to the North Korean side that will make a reappearance 44 years after they caused such a stir against Italy and Portugal in 1966. Despite living in Alice-in-Blunderland conditions in a totalitarian state that’s never far from famine, the small group chosen was more than a match for Saudi Arabia and Iran, two of Asia’s traditional powers.  Flaring passions: (from top left) The England team sits on the bench during a friendly match against South African premier league side Platinum Stars. Darren Staples / Reuters; Brazil’s football team. Antonio Scorza; and a fan sports a wig with the colours of the Argentine flag in Pretoria. Ricardo Mazalan / AP Though it can boast of the “People’s Rooney” in Jong Tae-se, North Korea is unlikely to be anything more than also-rans in South Africa. Their predecessors, on whom the wonderful The Game of their Lives was based, shook the world largely because they were complete unknowns. In the era of YouTube and freeze-frame video analysis, the Japan-born Jong and his compatriots will come up against opponents who are all too aware of their bustling and energetic play. If North Korea and the rest of the Asian contingent fall short as expected, who will be celebrating on the night of 11 July? History tells us that a European side has never won the trophy outside of the home continent, but South Africa will throw up playing conditions much to their liking. Traditionally, the World Cup has always been a summer event. This time, it’s bang in the middle of the South African winter. In Cape Town and at altitude in Johannesburg, there’ll be more than a bit of nip in the air—ideal conditions for football compared with an afternoon kick-off in enervating heat. Brazil may have been at the receiving end of a Zidane master class in Germany four years ago, but the only nation to play at every World Cup since 1930 once again start favourites despite the switch to a more pragmatic style under Dunga, the coach who was captain when they ended a generation of pain in 1994. Ageing stars such as Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have been left at home, as has AC Milan’s brilliant young Alexandre Pato. Robinho, who escaped the Eastlands revolution to go back to Santos a few months ago, and Sevilla’s Luis Fabiano will be expected to score the goals, though much will depend on Kaká rediscovering his best form in an advanced midfield role. Maicon, the Internazionale fullback who scored the goal of the season against Juventus, and Barcelona’s Dani Alves offer potent attacking options from the back, but the midfield looks pedestrian, especially in comparison with the magical quartets of 1970 and 1982. Argentina, their great rivals, had a horrendous qualifying campaign, scraping through only with a last-ditch win in Montevideo. Diego Maradona was a controversial appointment as coach, and he blundered through without ever seeming to know what his best XI was. The squad selection generated more debate, with Inter’s Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso both left out. There’s also no Juan Román Riquelme, after irreconcilable differences between playmaker and coach. Maradona has also gambled by picking two over-35s, Juan Veron (La Brujita or the Little Witch) and Martin Palermo, who once missed three penalty kicks in a Copa America game. Despite the imposing presence of Walter Samuel at the heart of the defence, there are plenty of concerns over a backline that Brazil and even Bolivia (6-1 winners in La Paz) carved up in qualifying. Those worries are offset to a large extent by the plethora of attacking riches. Diego Milito, whose goals won Inter the Champions League last month, should start alongside Lionel Messi, though Maradona also has Sergio Aguero (Maradona’s son-in-law), Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain to call on. Javier Mascherano, Liverpool’s bull terrier-like midfielder, will sweep up in front of the back four, while Angel Di Maria, who will command a transfer fee of more than $40 million (around Rs188 crore) if he has a good World Cup, should provide genuine menace down the left flank. The key to emulating the heroes of 1978 and 1986, though, is Messi, unquestionably the best player of his generation. At Barcelona, he has the luxury of playing in a side that has been built to accommodate his rare talent. In the light blue and white of the national side, he hasn’t been indulged in the same way. Maradona may not have a Xavi or Iniesta to pull strings for him in the midfield, but his best chance of glory still lies with the Rosario boy who moved to Barcelona at 13 because they offered to pay for the growth-hormone treatments he needed. Xavi will spend the month in Spain’s colours, as the heartbeat of one of the best all-round sides that Europe has ever seen. Spain were imperious en route to victory at Euro 2008 and they appear to have even more options two years on. The forward line of David Villa and Fernando Torres, if fully fit, is drool-worthy, unless you’re a hapless defender entrusted with marking them. Vicente del Bosque’s side has so many midfield options that Arsenal’s Cesc Fàbregas isn’t even guaranteed a starting berth, while three of the world’s best goalkeepers are in the squad. A defence led by Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol and Sergio Ramos will be tough and uncompromising. The challenge for Spain now is to cope with the pressure of expectation. On paper, there’s no better squad in the competition. But their World Cup scars are many. Four years ago, they romped through their opening-round group before coming unstuck against Zidane and France, who found a special gear that few thought they still possessed. “Everyone is talking about us,” said Torres recently. “Whenever coaches or players are asked for their favourites, they mention Spain. We’ve earned that. In the past we talked about being favourites when maybe we weren’t—this time we really are.” The other European teams from whom much is expected are England and the Netherlands. For England’s so-called golden generation, South Africa means last orders. Since their victory in 1966, the furthest England have gone was the semi-final in 1990. In recent times, despite the Premier League becoming a global behemoth, the team has always lacked the spark of champions. In Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard, they have three genuinely world-class talents, but the absence of a quick-thinking playmaker should mean they fall short yet again. The Netherlands too have an embarrassment of riches in attack, even with Arjen Robben’s fitness a worry, but the better sides in the competition will look at their back four and lick their lips. The same can be said of France and Italy, neither of whom have shown intimidating form in the build-up to South Africa. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal will be dangerous floaters, as will the always talented Danes, but it’s easy to see why the Spanish armada will fly the flag for the Old World. Of the less fancied sides, the US will be the most dangerous. Conquerors of Spain at last year’s Confederations Cup, they are powerful, direct and determined. The African challenge has been hit by Didier Drogba’s injury woe, and neither Ivory Coast nor Ghana look as formidable as they did before the 2006 tournament. Cameroon, typically robust and with Samuel Eto’o one of the world’s finest finishers, offer Africa’s best chance, but it’s a matter of regret that the continent’s first World Cup is being played in the absence of its best side. Egypt have dominated the Cup of Nations in recent times and been by far the most cohesive and accomplished team, but a shock loss to mediocre Algeria sealed their fate. Nearly a million tickets remain unsold in a country that features the prosperity of uptown Johannesburg and waterfront Cape Town alongside the grim realities of township life. The bulk of the profits will go back to Fifa’s already overflowing coffers, but for one month, as the vuvezelas crescendo and the likes of Messi and Kaká further disorient opponents, this most complex of rainbow nations will be at the centre of the sporting universe. Through victory and defeat, jubilation and despair, the eight-panelled ball will hold millions in its thrall. Dileep Premachandran is associate editor, Wisden International. Write to lounge@ livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:16 am Small firms playing big roles in M&A dealsEarlier this week in Mumbai, I met an old friend in the investment banking business. He looked happier than he has looked in the past 18 months (I last met him in late 2009). His firm, he told me, had several mandates going for cross-border deals. “From large companies, right?” I asked, because I knew that many large Indian firms were looking to expand or establish their global presence.  Graphic: Jayachandran / Mint “No, you’d be surprised,” he said. “Some of them are from mid-sized companies you wouldn’t have heard of.” Now, I have heard of many companies in my 17 years in business journalism, so I was offended by this statement, but no amount of pushing could get him to reveal the names. So, we drank a toast to his success and went our separate ways. Even before I met the gentleman in question I knew that deals were back in the Indian business landscape. June and July are usually silly season for business newspapers (barring coverage of the first quarter financial results of companies). The budget is usually a dim distant memory, most corporate executives are out on holiday, and few managers at HQs of multinationals are rash enough to venture to India during these months (Delhi and Chennai are hot and Mumbai is usually flooded). This year has been different: there have been several acquisitions—both local and cross-border—to write about. Hardly a day has gone by without an announcement about a deal or a possible deal. Still, I hadn’t realised that the deal-frenzy is back. It turns out that it is. According to a quarterly report by audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young that was reported in Friday’s Mint, the value of deals involving Indian firms in the April-June quarter was $16.9 billion (around Rs79,000 crore), up from $3.5 billion in the same quarter last year. And Mint reported on 24 June that bankers and analysts expect to see more M&A deals. It isn’t just the big companies that have acquired firms or are in the process of doing so. Even small ones have started playing the game. And I am not really convinced that this behaviour—last exhibited by Indian firms in 2006 and 2007—is a good thing. Even large companies have it tough when it comes to integrating firms they have acquired. The chairman of a large diversified company that had traditionally grown through acquisitions once told me that three out of every 10 acquisitions are very successful, another three, just about successful, and the rest, complete failures. Large companies can live with the 30-60% hit rate; and they usually have the financial and managerial strength to move on if something isn’t working out. Small companies usually don’t have this luxury. This may seem unfair, especially because both large and small companies can make whimsical and foolish purchases motivated by hubris and not business sense, but it is the way of the world. This is why Mint doesn’t celebrate acquisitions (anyway, there are others who have a rosier view of life than we do). It’s always good to watch the M&A story play out before our eyes, but, like all story-junkies, we always want to know what happens next. Write to acuteangle@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 11:07 am It was not all quiet, pleaseIn 2001, as Tim Henman reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, he sparked a frenzy in the country—his face adorned Tube station walls, British tabloids screamed “Henmania” with every match he won and the giant screen on the grounds invited hundreds of viewers to watch proceedings perched on “Henman Hill”. He almost won the semis before being thwarted by rain breaks, self-doubt and a man with half a shoulder called Goran Ivanisevic. What Henman did by losing was to maintain a Wimbledon tradition—no local lad has won here since Fred Perry in 1936. At the time of writing this, another local—a Scotsman actually—waits in the semis to break that tradition, with hundreds watching from the same hill now named (Andy) Murray’s Mound. Click here to view a slideshow on the newsmakers of Wimbeldon Tradition is something Wimbledon takes pride in—the Williams sisters have swapped the favourite’s tag for a decade now; there is always that celebrity in the crowd, be it Brian Lara or Sachin Tendulkar or Bobby Charlton; Anna Kournikova is still the hottest contestant; the grass still pristine clean, kept clear even of pigeon droppings, as Rufus the hawk circles over the grounds to scare them away. No wonder Martina Navratilova plucked a few blades as souvenir when she retired, safe in the knowledge of its hygiene. But 2010 was also different in some ways.  The big fall: Roger Federer’s (right) ouster by Tomas Berdych (above) in the quarter-final has been this year’s biggest upset. Gary Hershorn/Reuters The relatively rain-free fortnight produced sparks on court—James Blake had an argument during a match with commentator Pam Shriver, calling her an “ass” while she retorted with “rabbit ears”, and Romanian Victor Hanescu spat at a bunch of men harassing him in apparently the first instance of courtside hooliganism in Wimbledon’s history. It’s not yet known if the “drunk hooligans” thought they were at a World Cup football match. Finally, the event got its first official poet in Matt Harvey. Sample this, courtesy the official Wimbledon website: THE GREAT UPSETS 1965: Charlie Pasarell of the US, Spanish legend Manuel Santana becomes the first defending champion to lose in Wimbledon’s first round. 1970: British player Roger Taylor ends Rod Laver’s 31-match winning streak in the quarter-final. Only two other British men have reached the semis since Taylor. 1985: Kevin Curren becomes the only player to beat World No. 1 John McEnroe and World No. 3 Jimmy Connors at the same Grand Slam. He wins both matches in straight sets before going down to a 17-year-old Boris Becker in a heated final. 1987 : 70th-ranked Peter Doohan beats Boris Becker in the second round. Becker had been unbeaten at Wimbledon since 1985; Doohan had never before gone beyond the first round. 1994 : Steffi Graf goes down to Lori McNeil in straight sets, becoming the first women’s defending champion to lose in the first round. It was also the first time Graf had lost her opening match in any tournament since 1992. 1996: World No. 1 Pete Sampras, unbeaten at Wimbledon since 1993, loses to World No. 14 Richard Krajicek. 2002: George Bastl, ranked 145th in the world, takes out Pete Sampras in the second round 2003: Ivo Karlovic, ranked a lowly 203 but standing tall at 6ft 10 inches, beats defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round. 2010 : Six-time winner and defending champion Roger Federer loses to Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final. This is the first time since 2002 that Federer fails to reach the final. Thwok A game in the life Bounce bounce bounce bounce Thwackety wackety zingety ping Hittety backety pingety zang Wack, thwok, thwack, pok, Thwikety, thwekity, thwokity, thwakity arun.j@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:51 am Government intervention if crude oil prices turn volatile: DeoraThe central government will step in to regulate the decontrolled price of petrol if crude oil rates turn highly volatile in the international markets, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Friday said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:46 am RBI's decision to raise key rates desirable: PranabFinance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday called the Reserve Bank of India's decision to raise key policy rates "desirable", even as a leading industry body voiced concern over the increase in cost of borrowing for corporates.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:39 am Oenology to the rescueReview: Vitiquette, Good Earth Winery What does it take to sell a successful red wine brand? Conventional wine producers believe it is the careful tending of grapes that grow in your own vineyards, utmost elevage techniques at the winery, and estate-bottled wines—always in demand and commanding a premium price. Girish Mhatre, the Mumbai born, New York-based promoter of Good Earth Winery, seems to be breaking that mould by operating a virtual winery. Much like the négociants of Burgundy and other wine regions in France, Good Earth Winery buys the grapes from various vineyards. These are then made into wine at a third-party winery that lends its unutilized or excess production capacity for winemaking by other brands. One advantage is that it saves the initial investment in land, winemaking and ageing equipment, licences and labour. But an even greater advantage is that it allows the company to concentrate on branding and intelligently marketing its wines, and getting to know the customer and catering to his wine needs. Vitiquette, a private wine party programme offered by Good Earth Winery, epitomizes this. It promises to deliver a complete wine-drinking experience within the comfort of your home. A great promise, so I decided to experience it first-hand. I called a few friends over one Friday evening and that was pretty much all I had to do. The Vitiquette team arrived an hour before the party with Good Earth wines, glassware, decanters, ice buckets and some delicious finger food. Great, I thought, for someone who does not wish to go through the hassle of choosing and buying wine or does not own the paraphernalia and equipment to host a wine party at home. As the party began, wine was served from decanters at the right temperature. Service temperatures can make all the difference to wine enjoyment—the correct temperature lets the wine show off its variety of flavours and nuances. Whites must be served cold (8-10 degrees Celsius) and reds cool (15-18 degrees Celsius). Serve it too chilled and all the complex fruit flavours get masked and numbed; serve it too warm, and the wine tastes insipid. The glasses, too, were just right—not the small sizes one sees at five-star hotel banquets. They were of generously proportioned, well-shaped Bordeaux and Burgundy styles.  Server:Vitiquette takes care of the paraphernalia, but the wine menu is limited to Good Earth brands. Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint Basso 2008, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, was an attractive ruby colour dry red with generous black fruit and sweet spice aromas. The biggest positive was that unlike most other Indian Cabernet Sauvignons, this one did not taste as unripe and green and although big on fruit flavours, it was not jammy or over-ripe. However, for the price of Rs1,450 and a maturing period of one year in oak barrels, followed by four months of bottle ageing, the wine seemed young and relatively unevolved. Perhaps a bit of further ageing in bottle was necessary to bring out the complexity and harmony in flavours. But otherwise a well-made wine, with all the ingredients of acidity, soft tannins, alcohol and fruit in correct proportion. The last wine we tried was Brio 2008—100% Shiraz. They say this wine is their best-seller, and I wanted to find out why. A deep ruby colour, surprisingly medium bodied and a restrained red fruit character with a hint of spice made this wine look attractive and taste elegant. It is almost made in an Old World Syrah style. I was slightly disturbed by the bitter finish coming from the green yet soft tannins, but when paired with olives the red fruit bursts on the palate, making the wine taste slightly sweeter. Overall, I was pleased with the prompt service of the wines with labels being presented for someone who wishes to read the information on the back label. As far as possible, the finger food had been selected keeping in mind the food and wine pairing aspect. By now I was wondering if this end-to-end service would cost a bomb. The answer is that it need not. If you wish to learn about winemaking, they will even arrange for the winemaker himself to attend. Finger food is optional and is arranged mostly from good restaurants. So the programme seems to be perfectly customizable; the cost could vary from Rs500 (for just wine) to Rs3,000 per person depending on the frills. But the wine is unlimited, so one can drink away. Several of Mumbai’s party folk enjoy entertaining at home, but few among us are confident wine hosts. This programme aims to bridge that gap. However, its success will depend on how effectively it can access people who prefer to serve only wine at their parties. My only crib: The programme is designed just to promote wines from Good Earth Winery. The formula for hosting a successful wine party is trying several different wines in one evening. Selling a Vitiquette-serviced party to a wine lover will be a challenge. Sonal Holland is a Mumbai-based wine educator and consultant. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:37 am A debut takes flightThe steel town exudes a cold, industrial, oppressive energy in Vikramaditya Motwane’s debut film Udaan. Seventeen-year-old Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) returns to Jamshedpur, his hometown, after being expelled from his boarding school in Shimla. He comes back to an abusive father (Ronit Roy), a factory owner, and a young stepbrother whose mother abandoned him and the father. Most of the film is heartbreaking and dark—but eloquent—in the hands of a terrific team. Motwane, 33, was surprised when Udaan became the first Indian film in 15 years to be selected for a top competitive category, the Un Certain Regard, at the Cannes Festival this year. Most Western critics, however, were unmoved; some praised it with the lens of someone used to the “Bollywood” language. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: “It’s well made, involving, but (to my eyes at least) not particularly Indian. This story could have been set anywhere; it doesn’t depend on location, but on personalities.” He ended the short review by saying, “But India has one of the world’s largest middle classes, and its members spend little time riding around on elephants.”  Rajat Barmecha as Rohan Motwane has lived in Mumbai all his life. He began as a TV director and then entered films, working with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on films such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam as assistant, and later associate, director. He met writer-director Anurag Kashyap while they were both working on Deepa Mehta’s Water. “His two films, Paanch and Black Friday, were in the cans without a distributor. I had given the script of Udaan to him to read. He said ‘Only I will produce it one day’. Six years later, after Dev.D was released, he called me,” Motwane says. Motwane wrote the script when he was in his early 20s and the coming of age theme was close to his heart: “I had read many books with that theme, Catcher in the Rye being one of them. But after watching Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen, I thought about writing the story seriously.” The cruel father, with a few shades of grey of his own, was imagined, based on a real character Motwane had heard about, a role Roy perfected. It is the best performed role in the film. The story was ready in the form of a screenplay by 2003 and was rejected by many producers and production companies before Kashyap took it up. Made with a production budget of Rs3 crore, Udaan is releasing in theatres in India, the UK, Australia and some parts of West Asia. UTV Motion Pictures, which is releasing the film, is distributing more than 150 prints worldwide. Motwane preferred to have two cuts. The India version is longer, with about 2 hours and 10 minutes of running time. For the US and Europe markets, Motwane has deleted an entire track in the film—an edgy sub-plot of Rohan’s friendship with a gang of boys who get high, get into brawls and laugh and cry talking about their sad, insignificant small town lives at the town’s seedy bar. “The shorter version is an entirely different film in mood and pace. It is more dark and relentless. I wanted to pull people into the two boys’ plight to a point from which it can only get better,” Motwane says. The Super 16mm film medium works well for Udaan although that was dictated entirely by budget constraints. The slightly pixilated and raspy quality of the frames eliminates all possibilities of prettiness. The story stands tall. “I wrote for two years and shot in real locations in Jamshedpur for two months. I think that will pay off,” says Motwane. Udaan will release in theatres on 16 July. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:36 am Bangalore’s loreSometime back, an article in the Tehelka news magazine lamented that “original rock in India is still wandering around with its umbilical cord, trying to find some place to plug it in”. It is an old, familiar lament—rock music in India is unoriginal, elitist and disconnected from Indian traditions and realities. In this context, here are some facts about Thermal And A Quarter (Taaq), the Bangalore-based band I have been associated with since it began playing at venues in India and overseas 15 years ago. A thousand or so 30-something Bangaloreans might remember the date 24 July 1999. That day, Taaq performed at the Potatoe Junkie concert and hauled the city’s underground rock music movement to the surface. The theme song—its title inspired by former US vice-president Dan Quayle’s infamous spelling howler—sneered at the city’s growing obsession with cable television. The band played a 2-hour set consisting mostly of original songs and, after breaking even, donated Rs15,000 to a relief fund for the families of soldiers martyred during the Kargil war.  Rooted: Taaq’s Bruce Lee Mani (right) and Rajeev Rajagopal (on drums) with jazz guitarist Vinny Valentino in Jakarta. In 2000, with the dot-com bubble about to burst, Taaq released its debut album, Thermalandaquarter.com, which commented on the city’s obsession with information technology (IT)—everything had to be dot-commed to be cool (a barbershop in Lingarajapuram was called Haircut.com). The songs in the album warned of changes in the erstwhile pensioner’s paradise. One of those Days fumed at peak-hour traffic snarls in a city where commuting used to be a breeze and Somebody’s Fool smirked at simple folks confused by big consumer brands that had landed like aliens in their backyards. Released in 2002, Jupiter Café was arguably the first concept album by an Indian band, reflecting the angst of Bangalore, notorious as the back office of the world at the time. Brigade Street was perhaps the first song written about everybody’s favourite downtown haunt and State of Mine was about being pink-slipped. While composing for the album, the band jammed on the sixth floor of a well-known high-rise notorious for suicides. One evening, we looked out below to see the body of a woman, her wedding invitation cards scattered in the air. That, along with reports of suicide by IT workers, inspired the gloomy Without Wings. In the album Plan B (2005), the band members were frogs in a well, looking out. Among other things, the band toasted the Bangalorean’s ravenous appetite and deplored the metro-mania of an overzealous government that uprooted trees, stacked flyovers and dug up streets in the name of “development”. City authorities clamped a ban on “live bands” in 2006, clubbing rock bands along with clandestine businesses such as dance bars. For three years, the band had few opportunities. Though they gigged across the country and abroad, they worried that Bangalore had no future. This sentiment was reflected in the title track of their fourth album This is It (2008). There are more Bangalore stories in Taaq’s repertoire, and they will be told in albums to come. Bijoy Venugopal is a biographer for Thermal And A Quarter. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:36 am My new get-rich-overnight ideaI’ve got it. That One Big Idea that will allow me to make the magical leap from successful professional to super successful entrepreneur. The idea hit me as I was saying my sixteenth good morning en route to my swimming pool in a five-star hotel. I’m not exaggerating. The list of employees who greet me every morning before I’ve had my breakfast includes the two security guards who scan my car for chemical weapons before I enter the hotel; the man who opens the door of my vehicle in the driveway; the gent who opens the first door that leads to the lobby; the two security people (one male, one female) who wait patiently to scan (male/female) customers’ bags; the hostess who’s always lurking behind the second door that opens into the lobby; at least two staff members as I cross the lobby to the elevator; the man who stands near the elevator dusting its doors; the two people at the fitness centre reception; the lady on duty in the changing room; the two staff members I encounter from the changing room to the pool; and finally, the pool attendant whose main job, it would seem, is to hand me a towel. And that’s just on my way in. Also Read | Priya Ramani blogs All of them greet me with an excessively cheerful, sing-song “good morning madam” or they join their hands and bend vigorously for a direct eye contact “Namaste”. I grew up in a hotel and three questions immediately occur to me: Why does this hotel have so many employees? It’s 2010, why are they bending so low? Most importantly, who’s training them? That’s my big idea.  Wait list: are you being served? Of course, the A-list hotel chains in this country run intensive in-house training programmes. One training manager at a leading hotel in Delhi says she trains the staff to handle anything from the three stages of a drunk customer (a little high, happy but can’t stand, passed out) to dealing with the fussy customer (one tip: don’t ignore him but engage only in minimal conversation). She says that since last year, the hotel chain has also begun to train staff to understand that engaging a guest is not necessarily about responding excessively to him/her. “So if the guest is having a conversation or reading a book, they should understand that he doesn’t want to be disturbed,” she says. When she goes out to a restaurant, she notices everything from the server’s breath to the dirt on the cuffs of his uniform. If she spots a hint of stubble she knows that it means he shaved earlier than his shift. The few quality training outfits notwithstanding, clearly, the demand for good training far outweighs its supply. I think I’m on to something big. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:34 am Of money and marital blissHow does income affect a person’s decision to marry or divorce? Does a bit of extra income breed dissatisfaction with your existing partner, or does it smooth over some of the bumps of married life? These are questions that have been occupying economists ever since Gary Becker’s work on the subject as early as 1981. The authors of this paper argue that while extra income helps reduce the bickering that sometimes leads to divorce, it could also result in more couples breaking up simply because they now find it easier to bear the costs associated with a divorce. Hence the title of the paper, “Lucky in Life, Unlucky in Love?” To test these hypotheses, the researchers look at the effect on marriage or divorce of persons who have won a lottery. They find “no evidence that pure income shocks cause statistically significant or economically meaningful changes in divorce rates”. More specifically, they find that fewer than one in 70 couples will be induced to go in for a divorce as a result of receiving a positive income shock that is twice as large as their per capita income. There is, though, one definite impact of winning the lottery. Hankins and Hoekstra say that they find evidence that winning a windfall reduced the chance of single women to marry in the next three years by as much as 40%. In other words, if you have the money, why do you need to get hitched? Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction: Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage By Scott I. Rick, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Deborah A. Small, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Eli J. Finkel, Northwestern University Do birds of a feather flock together, i.e., do people marry people who are like themselves? Or do opposites attract? The authors of this paper say that the former is true, and say that people tend to select spouses with similar demographic characteristics, similar attitudes, similar values, and even similar names. But they tweak that conclusion a little. They say that people also choose mates who share a common dislike of traits they hate in themselves. So, for instance, a person who is a spendthrift may dislike being so and he may therefore end up marrying a tightwad. Or vice versa. This is because “spendthrifts do not experience enough pain for their own good, leading them to generally spend more than they would ideally like to spend. Tightwads, by contrast, experience too much pain for their own good, leading them to generally spend less than they would ideally like to spend”. The “pain” referred to here is what the authors call “pain of paying”, an ache all of us are familiar with. They then construct a “Tightwad-Spendthrift” scale and place husbands and wives along that scale. The researchers find that tightwads do indeed tend to marry spendthrifts. The problem, though, is that this leads to marital discord and the fiscal attraction becomes a fatal one. This is in spite of the fact that spendthrifts would be financially better off marrying tightwads. The moral of the research? Tightwads will be happier if they marry tightwads and spendthrifts should marry spendthrifts. Write to simplyeconomics@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 10:26 am BP eyes $9-bn asset saleChina National Offshore Oil Corporation looks poised to help bail out BP by buying up to $9 billion worth of energy assets in South America helping the British oil company pay bills from environmental liabilities in the Gulf of Mexico.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 9:54 am MF assets plunge by Rs 127,621 crThe 3G auction may have been healthy for the government coffers, but it has eaten into the assets under management of mutual fund houses.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 9:39 am China revises up 2009 GDP growthChina on Friday revised up 2009 GDP (gross domestic product) growth to 9.1 per cent from 8.7 per cent on the back of higher output from industry and services.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 2 Jul 2010 | 9:37 am Apple says iPhones overstate signal strengthNew York: Apple Inc. admitted its iPhones overstate network signal strength and promised to fix the issue in the coming weeks, following complaints about the effectiveness of the phone’s wraparound antenna. Apple said that its signal strength miscalculation dates back its original 2007 iPhone, but it did not directly address concerns that iPhone 4’s antenna design played a role in recent problems. It was the third time in three weeks that Apple apologized to customers of iPhone 4, its latest smartphone, “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong,” Apple said in an open letter to customers published on Friday. Since iPhone 4 hit stores on 24 June, consumers have complained about cellphone reception problems when they hold the phone in a certain way. Even while just standing in one place a rapid decline in the number of signal bars can be observed depending on how the phone is gripped. The company has already been sued by iPhone customers in at least three complaints related to antenna problems on the iPhone 4. Rivals such as Motorola Inc have made thinly veiled digs at the iPhone’s problems in advertising of their own phones since the iPhone 4 complaints emerged. Apple said in its letter that “gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars.” It said this problem is not limited to iPhone, but also plagues phones from Nokia and Research In Motion as well as phones with Google Inc Android software. But Apple conceded that iPhone 4 consumers complained of a far bigger than normal drop in signal bars. As a result of its investigation of the complaints, the company said it will update its software in coming weeks using a formula recommended by AT&T Inc, the exclusive US provider for iPhone. Apple said that when users noticed a dramatic drop in the number of signal strength bars on their phone’s display it was likely due to weak network coverage in that area. “Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars,” according to the letter. The company already had to apologize for order delays when it started taking iPhone 4 pre-orders on 15 June. It then apologized for a shortage of the phone in its stores since the device hit shelves 24 June. Despite the complaints Apple has described the iPhone 4 as its most successful phone launch ever and it boasted sales of 1.7 million by the end of June 26. Apple shares were down 0.6% at $246.99 on Nasdaq while AT&T shares were down 0.3% at $24.26 on New York Stock Exchange. Users of iPhone have long criticized AT&T’s network performance. Its rival Verizon Wireless is widely expected to be added to Apple’s iPhone distribution in 2011. Also on NYSE, shares rose 2% in Verizon Communications, the majority owner of Verizon Wireless, a venture with Vodafone Group. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 9:14 am HSBC to buy RBS’s banking assets in IndiaLondon/Mumbai: HSBC Holdings said it would buy the Indian retail and commercial banking businesses of Royal Bank of Scotland as the part-nationalised UK bank continues its retreat from overseas markets. HSBC said it would pay a premium of up to $95 million over the tangible net asset value (TNAV) of the businesses when the deal is completed, probably in the first half of next year. The price will be reduced if bad debts in the business increase during the next two years. The deal could end up being neutral or even costing RBS, as the TNAV could be near neutral or negative and a deterioration in bad debts in the next two years could wipe out the premium. Overseas lenders have been stepping up their presence in India, a fast-growing market that restricts foreign participation in banking. This week, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group agreed to buy 4.5% of mid-sized Indian lender Kotak Mahindra Bank for $296 million. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citigroup have the biggest presence in India among foreign lenders. RBS, 83% owned by the UK government, has sold a string of small non-core businesses in recent weeks as it refocuses on its key strengths. It is reversing a decade-long international expansion drive and has raised over $2.5 billion from exiting or selling over 20 businesses in the last 14 months. It will still have a presence in Asia’s third-largest economy. “Our commitment to our wholesale and investment banking, transaction services and private banking businesses in India remains unchanged,” said Madan Menon, RBS’ India head of global banking and markets. HSBC is buying operations from RBS with 1.1 million customers, over 1,800 staff and 31 branches. The portfolios had a gross asset value of $1.8 billion at the end of March. HSBC currently has about 2 million customers and 50 branches across 29 cities in the hard-to-enter Indian market. India’s central bank limits the participation of foreign lenders in the country, but many overseas banks have been looking to enter or expand their presence in a country on track to grow by more than 8% this year. Last week, Dutch lender Rabobank moved a step closer to setting up its own banking unit in India by cutting its stake in midsize local lender Yes Bank. Goldman Sachs has applied for a banking licence in the country, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group is planning a return to India after a 10-year absence. UK-based Standard Chartered recently raised $530 million in the first-ever issue of Indian depositary receipts (IDRs), move that was less about raising capital than about boosting its profile in India. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 5:58 am Markets shed 0.3%; log 1st weekly loss in threeMumbai: Indian shares logged first weekly loss in three as they shed 0.3% on Friday, on mixed world markets amid caution ahead of the US jobs data which is expected to shine a light on the strength of the US recovery as double-dip recession fears remain. Investors awaited the all-important US June employment data, due at 1230 GMT, which likely contracted for the first time this year as thousands of temporary jobs for census workers ended, though private-sector hiring probably picked up, according to a Reuters survey. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the main index, led the decline and dropped 0.7% to Rs1,068.45. Merger talks between Reliance Power and Reliance Natural Resources, both led by Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani triggered volatility in the pack. The two boards will meet on 4 July to consider a merger, the firms said after market hours. Reliance Power closed 3.3% higher while Reliance Natural Resources closed down 1.9%, after rising as much as 4.7% in the day. The 30-share BSE index closed 0.28%, or 48.38 points lower at 17,460.95, taking losses for the week to 0.6%. Eighteen of its components closed in the red. “Market will be largely rangebound next week,” said R.K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund.“The bias though is likely to be positive ahead of June quarter earnings that will trickle in later in the month.” Investors withdrew $453.8 billion from money market funds in the first-half of 2010 despite the May-June risk shakeout, heading mainly for bond funds and emerging equities, data from fund tracker EPFR Global showed. Investors are nervous about the global growth recovery, with the euro zone crisis continuing to weigh heavily on sentiment, but they appear more confident about the economic outlook for the developing world, the data indicates. Foreign funds have poured in $6.7 billion in Indian equities so far this year, with primary market offering absorbing some of this inflow. The benchmark index is barely changed year-to-date. Foreign funds invested a record $17.5 billion in 2009, which saw the benchmark index post an impressive 81% gain. State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp rose 0.3% on its plan to step up exploration off India’s western coast and on last week’s government move to raise fuel prices. Tata Motors raced 0.5% on a 49% jump in domestic sales in June, while No. 2 cement producer ACC declined 0.5% as its June shipments fell 1.7%. Top outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services and rival Wipro <rose 1.7% and nearly 3% respectively. “There are some questions on the pace of global economic recovery. But the situation (for IT companies) is far better than the turmoil before,” said Tejas Doshi, head of research at Sushil Finance. “Cross-currency fluctuations are, however, a concern.” Infosys dropped 1.4% on concerns its valuations could be expensive, dealers said. Infosys was trading at 21.5 times the 12-month forward price/earnings according to Starmine’s SmartEstimate, which places more weight on recent forecasts by top-rated analysts instead of using a general average. TCS and Wipro were trading at 18 times and 16.8 times their respective 12-month forward price/earnings. Reliance Communications eased 0.7% on profit-taking after jumping about a third since end-May. India’s second-largest cellular provider said late Thursday it had approved a proposal to acquire unlisted cable television services provider Digicable in an all-stock deal, to create Asia’s largest triple play -- digital TV, broadband and voice services -- provider. In the broader market, gainers almost equalled losers in a relatively moderate volume of 419 million shares. The 50-share NSE index dropped 0.3% to close at 5,237.10 points. STOCKS State-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, and Bharat Petroleum Corp rose between 0.5 and 1.1%, helped by the recent fuel price reforms. Last week, India allowed market prices for petrol and said diesel would also be freed in the future, to bolster the government’s finances. It also raised prices of state-subsidised kerosene and cooking gas. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals climbed nearly 2% to Rs666.20 as the drugmaker said its unit got US FDA nod for adapalene gel used to treat acne. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 5:47 am Stanchart eyes physical crude, coal trade in AsiaSingapore: Asia-focused Standard Chartered Bank Plc is looking to expand its commodities trading business into the physical energy markets, mainly for crude oil and coal, a senior executive said on Friday. The bank has also increased its portfolio of products which it offers to clients in the past year, to include iron ore, freight, coal, palm oil and rubber, to capitalise on Asia’s growth, said its global head of commodities Trading, Arun Murthy. Stanchart’s expansion in the region’s energy and commodities sector is in line with moves by banks such as France’s Societe Generale, Australia’s Macquarie and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “We are looking to move into other physical markets, we will take it step by step, but we can’t say for now when we will roll out. What makes sense for us to start with would be crude and coal,” he told Reuters in an interview. “For now, we have no intentions of owning warehouses or storage terminals but we are leasing for our physical base metals and precious metals business,” added Murthy, who was promoted to global head of commodities trading based in Singapore, from his previous role as global head of energy trading last month. The bank’s main focus, as with others in the commodities business, is to provide hedging services to its clients, mainly end users and producers. Citing examples, Murthy said 70% of its trades in the oil markets were customer-driven while the remaining 30% were the bank’s proprietary volumes for its own risk-management purposes last year. For 2010, the proportion is expected to be 80% to 20% because global crude benchmarks have been more volatile within a thinner range at $70-$85a barrel, versus a gradually rising curve last year when prices range from $50 to $80, said Murthy. Stanchart, which currently has 50 staff in Asia and the Middle East dealing with commodities and energy, including 18 traders, is also expanding its manpower. It recently hired the former managing director of Singapore-listed Chemoil, Karan Chabria, as its global head of oil products trading. Growth Market The plan to move into physical coal trading is driven by expectations that it will be the largest growth market in the commodities sector due to increasing activity in the Indonesia-India corridor, with production volumes from Indonesia rising to meet rapidly growing demand in India, he said. “Our strategy is to increase our commodity product offering, while having a good understanding of what our clients in Asia needs,” said Murthy. “We make it a point to understand everything that our clients need to a T.” Murthy said one of the biggest tests in promoting business in Asia is that many countries are tightly regulated, such as state-controlled prices, which minimises the need for end users to hedge their purchases. However, he expects these countries to eventually deregulate, citing India’s recent move to allow market prices for gasoline and may do the same for diesel in future. “India is letting prices float by removing subsidies and I believe it could be a growing trend. This will lead to more opportunities to provide risk management services,” he said. India also plans to open its antiquated coal mining industry — breaking the near monopoly of state-owned Coal India, the world’s largest producer of thermal coal, by inviting domestic and foreign firms to invest — like oil and gas reforms did in 1999. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 2 Jul 2010 | 4:06 am
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