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Varun Ind eyes renewable energy space; to setup 5 windmillsVarun Industries plans to set up 5 windmills in South India during the current year. This is in addition to the windmills set up in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan in 2006. Commenting on the plans, Mr. Kiran Mehta, Chairman Managing Director, Varun Industries Limited says clean renewable solar and wind energy are the businesses of the future.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 6:10 am Open offer for Areva TD India postponedThe offer opening date to buy 20% additional shares in Areva TD India by a consortium of Alstom Holdings and Schneider Electric and others, has been postponed, the manager to the offer said on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 5:48 am Buyout deals increase amid investor, tax pressuresPrivate equity deals have spiked in recent months with a spate of assets changing hands as funds face pressure to spend capital raised in the boom and are nervous about the threat of higher taxes.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 5:47 am To launch rights issue around Septemberend: UflexRK Jain, Group PresidentFinance, Uflex says that the company is going to launch rights issue around Septemberend.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 5:05 am See slowdown in Aug, iron ore prices to fall: Tata SteelIn an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18 Koushik Chatterjee, the group CFO of Tata Steel said the steel prices were significantly higher than last year, however, he sees a seasonal slowdown in August and expects iron ore prices to soften further.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 4:31 am Adani group may buy IPL team Deccan ChargersCNBCTV18 reports, quoting agencies that the group may acquire the IPL league, Deccan Chargers, for USD 280300 million.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 4:23 am Kavveri Tele to raise Rs 6070cr for overseas acquisitionsTelecom products manufacturer Kavveri Telecom has initiated talks with several investors for preferential allotment. The placement is likely at Rs 110 per share.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 4:20 am ZEEL Q1 FY11 PAT up 64.3% yoy - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 4:04 am Fiat India to export cars in SAARC countries - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 4:04 am Rupee near 6-week lows on corporate dollar demand - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:44 am SKIL Infra will make an open offer for Everonn Edu sharesSKIL Infrastructure will make an open offer for the shares of Everonn Education, said Nikhil Gandhi, Chairman, Pipavav Shipyard, in an exclusive interview to CNBCTV18. SKIL also controls shipbuilder Pipavav Shipyard.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:40 am Sensex turns negative in range bound market - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:36 am Implications of proposed food security lawNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The ruling Congress party is pushing for a law to subsidise grains for the poor, a move that will impact government finances as well as political support for the party ahead of key state elections that begin in October.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:35 am Govt looking to rejig subsidy system - officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is looking to rejig its subsidy mechanism, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar told reporters on Tuesday, indicating the government's intent in slashing its fiscal deficit.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:25 am Synchronica to buy mobile messaging firm at discountReuters - British mobile email software developer Synchronica said it agreed to buy Canadian peer iseemedia for about 5.3 million pounds ($8.1 million) in an all-stock deal to expand in India and South-East Asia.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:25 am NIIT Tech's Q1 net more than doubles, risks remainNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Software services firm NIIT Technologies Ltd said on Tuesday its quarterly net profit more than doubled although currency risks remained a challenge in coming quarters.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:21 am Patni appoints Apoorva Singh as Global Head--IMSIn his new role, Singh will be spearheading the infrastructure mangement services vertical along with Patni's customer interaction services division relating to technology-based support business.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:17 am Everonn Education approves preferential issue to SKIL InfraThe board of Everonn Education has approved a preferential allotment to SKIL Infra, reports CNBCTV18. The company said that 40 lakh convertible debentures have been allotted for Rs 208.4 crore.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 3:10 am Honda to launch plug-in hybrid, electric car in 2012WAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co plans to launch a plug-in hybrid and battery electric model in 2012 as part of its strategy to push to the front of a race by global automakers to develop more fuel efficient cars.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:56 am BHEL bags Rs 2665cr coal-based thermal power plant contract - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:45 am YoY PAT down due to FMP maturity in Q1 last year: PTC - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:45 am Weak monsoon not yet a worry for India - farm secyNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Weak monsoon rains in recent days is not a cause of concern for India, Farm Secretary Prabeer Kumar Basu said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:27 am Life was quite a drudgery: Ratan TataTop industrialist Ratan Tata talks about his childhood memories and what he misses about his school and college daysSource: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:18 am Tata Steel in talks to refinance $5.4bn in loansTata Steel has started talks with lenders including Citigroup to refinance as much as 3.5 billion pounds (USD 5.4 billion ) in loans for its British unit, Bloomberg reported, citing six sources with knowledge of the matter.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 2:18 am Govt sees normal or good monsoon this year - officialNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India expectes to have normal or good monsoon this year, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:59 am Nokia conducting search for new CEO : ReportMobile phone maker Nokia Corporation has launched a search to replace current chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who has been struggling to mark a place for the company in high-end smartphone market, says a media report.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:57 am Asian Development Bank cautious on East Asia recoveryThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) today was cautious on robust economic recovery experienced by the emerging East Asian economies, saying it was too early to know if the worst was over.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:36 am Commonwealth Games lays bare India’s infrastructure woesNew Delhi: India aims the Commonwealth Games will be a showcase of its economic clout, but with less than three months to go, the world’s third largest sporting event is instead laying bare its perennial infrastructure problems. The Games, held ever four years and grouping athletes from the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations, are intended to be India’s answer to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, hailed as a success for its economic and political rival China. But while China set out to wow the world with iconic structures such as the Bird’s Nest stadium, many Commonwealth Games venues in New Delhi are far from finished while others are falling apart under the force of a few weeks of monsoon rains. A shooting range built for the Games, and inaugurated two months ago, was extensively damaged by heavy rains earlier this month, Indian media reported. At another complex, rains felled the false ceiling and other venues have sprung leaks. Shoddy construction is one of the challenges Asia’s third-biggest economy faces as it gears up to take on big-ticket projects needed to propel growth to China’s double-digit rates. Analysts say one of the main problems is a government practice of awarding contracts -- regardless of their size -- to the lowest bidders, which are often smaller, more aggressive, but less experienced construction firms which also lack the manpower needed to implement such projects. Contractors also sometimes take shortcuts when they’re running over budget or running out of time. This often translates into sub-standard structures, and this is a problem that would remain even if the oft-cited difficulties of getting land and necessary bureaucratic clearances are solved. “Quality, yes, there is a serious issue in India. Developers are stretched and a lot of sub-contacting is happening,” said Nandita Vohra, a senior consultant to the Asian Development Bank. “Two or three levels down, one feels the supervision is not as intense as it is needed.” Cutting costs and corners India expects to spend $1 trillion, a sum roughly the size of its GDP, between 2012 and 2017 to boost its infrastructure. This is double of what it will spend in the five years to 2012. Some of this spending has been fast-tracked due to the Games: in addition to venues, a new airport terminal is due to open this month and new subways and roads are being built specifically for the athletes and the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected. New Delhi is also going through a makeover, with its colonial buildings being renovated and sidewalks ripped out to be repaved. Residents grumble about the chaos, pointing to rubble everywhere and roads that cave in due to underground tunnelling. “The scale and ability of contractors is going to be a huge issue and a risk for projects,” Arvind Mahajan, an infrastructure specialist at consultancy KPMG, told Reuters. “Many of the bigger and key contractors are sold out, and cost factors, too, are pushing people to look at these smaller players. But if you push too much on cost, the quality would suffer, either in terms of execution or timelines not being adhered to,” he added. The infrastructure woes dogging the Games are not the first example of an Indian signature project going awry. Work on the Delhi Metro, a project backed by top officials, was delayed after an overhead bridge collapse in July 2009, killing five workers. A month later, strong winds blew off the roof of the new airport. While the construction opportunities in India are huge and capital is plentiful, analysts rue there aren’t enough large-scale, quality projects worth financing. “There is a paucity of high quality, or even quality, projects that are financeable. It’s not a question of capital being inadequate,” Anil Ahuja, Asia head of private equity firm, told a recent conference as the audience nodded in approval. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:36 am Commonwealth Games lays bare India's infrastructure woesNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India aims the Commonwealth Games will be a showcase of its economic clout, but with less than three months to go, the world's third largest sporting event is instead laying bare its perennial infrastructure problems.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:30 am Facebook, small firm square off over patent claimsWILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc on Monday began its defense against claims that the most basic functions of its hugely popular website infringe a patent held by a little-known company.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:18 am Canon may raise camera sales forecastTokyo: Japan’s Canon Inc said on Tuesday it is thinking of slightly raising its camera sales forecast for 2010 from the current 25.9 million units, thanks to better-than-expected sales in the profitable interchangeable lens camera segment. Sales of compact cameras, forecast at 21 million units, are in line with expectations, Masaya Maeda, head of the Image Communication Products division at the world’s biggest digital camera maker, said in an interview. Canon is likely to post a 180% jump in profits to about 182 billion yen ($2.10 billion) for the January-June period, the Nikkei business daily said earlier this month. The company last revised its annual camera sales forecast upwards in April and is set to announce its April-June results on 27 July. Maeda also said the company was working on a smaller version of its upmarket single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras in a bid to compete with the new breed of mid-range so-called “mirrorless” cameras launched by Sony Corp., Olympus Corp., and Panasonic Corp. Nikon also has a new camera in the works, though it has yet to reveal details. Maeda did not give further details of the new camera, including whether the internal structure would include a mirror. Competitors have made high-quality cameras more compact by removing the mirror that enables the user to look at the actual scene through a viewfinder, creating a new market segment that is popular in Japan and which analysts say may grow rapidly. “It’s not a question of whether or not you have a mirror. There is a consumer need for good-quality cameras to be made smaller,” Maeda said. “We will meet this need.” He denied this would be difficult without removing the internal mirror, adding that Canon had produced very small SLR cameras in the past. One analyst said a smaller, lighter SLR camera would likely be good news for Canon. “This would be very positive,” said Kazumasa Kubota of Okasan Securities. “Looking directly at something through a viewfinder is different from seeing it indirectly via semiconductors,” he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 1:00 am IMF challenges Asia to change its economic habitsThat warm glow and soft purring emanating from South Korea was the International Monetary Fund trying, yet again, to put the Asian financial crisis behind it. The IMF needs Asia on its side. As the fastest-growing part of the world economy, the region will wield more clout at global institutions like the IMF and provide more of their funding. The problem, to put it bluntly, is that Asia does not need the IMF or like the IMF, whose invasive policy prescriptions are blamed in the region for having exacerbated the 1997/98 meltdown. Hence the charm offensive by the fund’s managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at a big conference in the central South Korean city of Daejon last week. “Let me be candid: we have made some mistakes,” he said. ”We have learned the importance of focusing on essential policies, and of protecting the most vulnerable, when tackling a crisis.” Declaring that he wanted Asian countries to see the IMF as a second home, Strauss-Kahn added: ”Asia’s time has come in the global economy, and so it must be at the IMF.” But there was an implicit quid pro quo. In return for a bigger role, Asia had to take more responsibility for reducing global imbalances. Governments had to nurture a ”second engine of growth” -- domestic demand -- instead of relying so much on exports now that Europe and America face years of belt-tightening. In a nutshell, Strauss-Kahn seemed to be saying, the IMF is ready to change. Is Asia? ”The decisions made now will impact Asia’s performance for decades to come,” the IMF chief said. Against that background, it’s reasonable to ask whether Asia will be able to rise to his challenge. Shares in Indonesia are near record highs, reflecting confidence in economic reforms. India and Malaysia have both cut domestic fuel price subsidies to reduce their budget deficits. Yet some contributors to a recent VoxEU.org publication, “Rebalancing the Global Economy: A Primer for Policymaking”, wonder whether Asia really can change its spots. The most striking imbalance in Asia is that it saves too much, and a major reason for that thriftiness is beyond the control of governments: the bulk of Asians are in their prime working years when people salt away money for their old age. But policymakers could do much more to promote more balanced growth, for example by building social safety nets to lessen the need to save for a rainy day, allowing currency appreciation and reducing corporate savings. Jong-Wha Lee, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, said governments should give priority to enhancing the investment climate; Asia’s current account surpluses reflect in part a paucity of domestic investment, especially in long-term infrastructure, he argued. ”The business environment across the region lags behind the world’s competitive economies because of serious shortcomings in regional institutions and skill shortages. Remedying these weaknesses will help translate domestic savings effectively into domestic investment,” Lee wrote. His case is buttressed by a new World Bank report, ”Investing Across Borders, 2010”, which examines the openness of 87 economies to foreign direct investment. East Asia and the Pacific score poorly, with more curbs than any other region in the world on foreign equity ownership, starting a local business and accessing industrial land. Underdeveloped financial sectors are also holding up Asia’s economic transformation. The old model of a bank-dominated financial system that paid depositors a pittance and funneled cheap loans to exporters and manufacturers is past its sell-by date. People would need to save less if they got higher returns on the money they do save. “The process of creating diverse financial institutions has happened too slowly relative to the needs of the rising middle class and aging demographics,” Andrew Sheng, an adjunct professor at the University of Malaya and Tsinghua University in Beijing, wrote in the latest East Asian Bureau of Economic Research newsletter. Deeper foreign exchange and capital markets would also help countries to absorb capital inflows instead of imposing administrative controls on them, as Indonesia and South Korea have done recently. Linda Lim, a professor of business strategy at the University of Michigan, said financial sector liberalisation had helped Asian rebalancing but was incomplete because of nationalist objections and resistance to increased competition. One example was the continued dominance of China’s state-owned banks, Lim wrote in the VoxEU.org e-book. ”But it is the corporate restructuring necessary to reduce high corporate savings rates that is likely to prove most politically intractable, requiring authoritarian and semi-authoritarian governments to relinquish state control of economic resources and activity on which their political power is partly based,” Lim added. Lim singled out Singapore, Malaysia and China as countries where there was little political pressure on state-owned and government-linked firms to distribute their income to boost domestic consumption. Yung Chul Park, a professor at Seoul National University, also put economic rebalancing squarely in a political context. Despite vanishing overseas markets, policymakers would be wary unless they were sure that domestic demand will be as powerful as exports in driving growth. Rebalancing was a tall political order because it entailed removing tax and other incentives that favour exporters, while pursuing deregulation and market opening steps to boost the inferior productivity of non-export sectors. ”East Asia may have difficulties in finding such measures,” Park concluded drily. Strauss-Kahn knows all this, of course. But the Daejon meeting was an opportunity to accentuate the positive and not to dwell -- too much at least -- on the past. ”Rapid growth has turned the region into a global economic powerhouse -- and Asia’s economic weight in the world is on track to grow even larger,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:53 am Honda to launch plug-in hybrid, electric car in 2012Wako, Japan: Honda Motor Co. said on Tuesday it would launch a plug-in hybrid and battery electric model in 2012 and mapped out other plans to put greener vehicles on the road as rivals catch up with more fuel-efficient cars. Honda, Japan’s No.2 automaker, was one of the world’s only car makers to offer gasoline-electric cars during the past decade but has begun looking like a laggard without a “strong” hybrid or plans to mass-produce pure electric cars. Honda lost a few years after deciding in late 2008 to drop the development of clean diesel engines to power its bigger cars, opting instead to come up with a new, more powerful hybrid system that could be mounted on its larger models. Outlining a medium-term strategy, chief executive Takanobu Ito told a news conference that Honda was planning to sell a plug-in hybrid vehicle and a battery electric model in Japan and the US in 2012. Honda also said it would launch a new small diesel model in Europe in 2012 as well as revamp its gasoline engine and transmission line-up to improve fuel efficiency of its fleet. Many global competitors from Volkswagen AG to Hyundai Motor Co are preparing to launch “strong” hybrid models that are more fuel-efficient than Honda’s “mild” hybrids such as the Insight, while also readying battery-run cars in case the technology takes off. Honda had so far only announced plans to sell a battery-run electric car in the US simply to meet legal requirements in California, arguing their batteries were too expensive to be practical. Honda has been a strong proponent of hydrogen fuel-cell cars as the best zero-emission alternative to today’s combustion engine cars, but their infrastructure hurdles are even bigger than for plug-in vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp., also previously an electric car sceptic, changed its tune in May by tying up with California start-up Tesla Motors to develop electric cars, leaving Honda looking even more vulnerable. Honda also announced plans to build a 500,000 unit motorcycle factory in Indonesia in the latter half of 2011 and said it was developing a new product to compete in China’s promising electric bicycle market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:42 am C Achuthan on the Draft Takeover Code - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:37 am Maruti Suzuki to limit exports to last year's levelMaruti Suzuki exported 1.47 lakh units in 2008-09, it's highest ever export figures, with the compact car A-star alone clocking over 1.27 lakh units.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:35 am China satisfied with Google search engine tweaksBEIJING (Reuters) - China is satisfied that U.S. Internet giant Google Inc is complying with Chinese laws after it tweaked the way it directs users to an unfiltered search page, a senior official said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:21 am Triveni posts net loss of Rs 14.23 cr - Indian Express
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:19 am Indian bond yields, swaps up on US cues, tight cashMumbai: Indian federal bond yields and swap rates inched up on Tuesday, tracking US Treasury yields and as domestic cash levels remained tight. Volume was light with traders cautious ahead of an expected interest rate increase by the Reserve Bank of India when it reviews policy on 27 July. At 10:17a.m., the benchmark 10-year bond yield was at 7.63%, up one basis points from Monday’s close. Volume was Rs11.8 billion ($250 million) on the central bank’s trading platform, compared with an average of 30 billion in the first hour of trade. The one-year swap rate and the benchmark five-year swap rate were both up 1 basis point at 5.77% and 6.82% respectively. “The market is quiet today as liquidity is still tight but no supply this week is a positive,” said S. Srikumar, manager of fixed income at Corporation Bank. “However, there are no fresh triggers.” Banks have been net borrowers at the central bank’s repo facility since early June following payments by companies toward telecom spectrum sales and quarterly tax that drained around 1.36 trillion rupees from the banking system. Dealers expect cash conditions to improve when a 11.30%, 2010 bond matures on 28 July, releasing about Rs302 billion into the banking system. “Even as the current phase of liquidity tightness ends, there could be phases when the overnight rates could jump back to the upper end of the interest rate corridor,” Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a note. “There are thus likely to be opposing pulls for the bond yields and the 10-year benchmark yield could stay in the range of 7.55-7.65%.” Dealers said the market had fully priced in the possibility of a 25 basis points rate increase at next Tuesday’s monetary review and they would watch the tone of the policy to gauge future actions. The US government debt market retreated on Monday as a rebound in the stock market pared safe-haven demand for bonds and offset grim news on the housing market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:19 am High Court grants bail to Rama Raju in Satyam case - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:15 am Geodesic, Zee in pact for entertainment applicationsMumbai: Geodesic Ltd said on Tuesday it has signed a strategic deal with Zee Entertainment Enterprises to launch real time entertainment applications for mobile and internet-enabled devices. Zee and Geodesic have formed a new company, ITM Digital Pvt Ltd, to address the “hugely growing market for content convergence and mobile value-added services,” it said in a statement to the National Stock Exchange. Financial details were not provided. ITM Digital will launch interactive internet TV on mobile and desktop platforms which will stream over 20 live television channels and several on-demand video channels, it said. added. Besides, the two companies are exploring opportunities to extend the alliance to combine Zee group’s other entertainment assets and Geodesic’s extended mobile products portfolio, it added. At 11.26 a.m., shares in Zee were up 2.2% at Rs323.25 while Geodesic was down 1.12% at Rs83.8 in the Mumbai market. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:08 am HDFC Bank net up 34% on higher credit growthRobust credit growth and stable margins helped HDFC Bank post a 34 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 812 crore for the quarter ended June 30. In the same period last year, the bank had reported a net profit of Rs 606Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am No re-look at changes in ULIP norms: IRDA chiefThe recent changes in norms of unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs) are here to stay and there will be no re-look , according to Mr J. Hari Narayan, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development AuthoritySource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am SEBI takeover panel moots hiking open offer to 100%It is all or nothing for anyone making open offers for shares in Indian companies, says the draft discussion paper tabled for public comments by SEBI's Achuthan Committee on takeoverSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am L&T General Insurance set for product rolloutThe latest entrant in the general insurance, L&T General Insurance is all set to startSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Export growth continues in JuneThanks to a good showing by big-ticket sectors such as engineering, oil, iron ore, chemicals, gems and jewellery, exports stayed in the positive territory for the eighth consecutive month with shipments in June posting a 30.4 per cent growth overSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am New policy to revive 8 public sector urea plantsThe Union Government will soon come out with a new investment policy to revive eight urea factories in the public sector in order to make the country self-reliant in thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am TCS delivers a more broad-based growth than InfosysThe results of TCS and Infosys Technologies suggest that IT spends by clients are staging a reasonable comeback, going by similar volume growth (of over 7.5 per cent) that both companies demonstrated in the June quarter, their best in nearly 18Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am ETC Networks (Rs 284.8): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of ETC Networks from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts of the stock that it has been on a steady intermediate-term uptrend shaping rising peaks and troughs, from its March 2009 low of Rs 50.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Coming soon: Made-for-mobile Bollywood moviesProduction houses are looking at additional revenue streams through delivery of film-based content such as music, video and games on mobile. Most of them have already started dabbling with mobile-specific content whose development will accelerateSource: Business Line - Home Page | 20 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Markets up 0.3%; Reliance, L&T riseMumbai: Indian shares rose 0.3% on Tuesday led by gains in energy major Reliance Industries and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, with mostly firmer Asian markets helping. However, investors were cautious with a drop in US housing data showing cracks in the recovery of the world’s largest economy. Traders were watching foreign funds, who have moved $8.6 billion into Indian equities this year, for direction amid concern a slower than expected global recovery could affect the inflows. By 11:11am, the 30-share BSE index was trading up 0.34% at 17,989.12, with 19 of its components gaining. The 50-share NSE index, or Nifty, was up 0.3% at 5,402.40. In the broader market, gainers were almost double the number losers while 131 million shares changed hands. “We are trading higher today looking at the strength in Asian stocks,” said Kunal Sukhani, manager of institutional equities at Asian Markets Securities. The MSCI’s measure of Asian markets other than Japan was up 1.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei shed 1.2%. The BSE index is up 3% so far this year on the back of rebounding domestic economy, while most of its emerging market peers have dropped. Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the main index, climbed 0.6% to Rs1,062.50, while Larsen & Toubro rose 1.1% to Rs1,912.80. Sukhani said quarterly earnings would be the key driver for the market in the near term. HDFC Bank was up 0.2% at Rs2,055.25, a day after the private-sector lender reported its strongest profit growth in more than a year and highlighted more gains for the booming industry on robust loan demand. “Quality of earnings continues to improve on the back of margin expansion, loan book growth, and provisioning pressure,” Edelweiss said in a note. “We continue to like the bank’s attractive franchisee and overall improvement in metrics.” The stock is just 2.6% of its record high hit last week. Iron ore exporter Sesa Goa rose 1.6% after its consolidated net profit for the June quarter trebled. The share was also helped after a senior government official told Reuters on Monday India had no plans to curb iron ore exports. Tata Steel, the world’s seventh-largest producer of the alloy, and rose non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries rose 1.1% each, while aluminium maker Hindalco gained 0.9%. The sector was supported by gains in regional peers. The resources index for Asian shares other than Japan was up nearly 2%. “We see Nifty to be rangebound between 5,300-5,450 in the near term due to mixed cues from overseas,” Sukhani said. STOCKS MindTree shed 5.2% to Rs539 after its quarterly results disappointed investors, dealers said. Cairn India, a unit of Cairn Energy, was up 0.3% at 316.15 rupees as crude oil prices rose toward $77 a barrel. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:29 pm ADAG ups stake in Fame India to 15.88%Mumbai: Anil Ambani group company Reliance MediaWorks on Tuesday said it along with two other group firms has purchased another 0.11% stake in Fame India, hiking their combined stake in the multiplex chain to 15.88%. Three Anil Ambani Group companies -- Reliance MediaWorks, Reliance Capital and Reliance Capital Partners -- have acquired 37,359 shares, or 0.11% stake, of Fame India through open market transaction, Reliance MediaWorks said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The acquisition of shares was made on 19 July, multiplex chain Fame India said in a separate filing to BSE. Post purchase, the combined holding of the ADAG companies in Fame India stands at 15.88%. ADAG firms, on 6 July, had acquired 0.05% stake to increase its holding in Fame India to 15.77%. ADAG firms purchased the shares at an average price of Rs83.28 a piece and the highest price paid was Rs83.40, the disclosure said. Reliance MediaWorks, which is in competition with theatre chain Inox for acquiring majority stake in Fame India, had made a Rs180 crore open offer at Rs83.40 a share to raise its holding to 52.72% in Fame. Inox Leisure Ltd, an entertainment venture of the Inox Group, holds 51% stake in Fame India and has made an open offer for an additional 20% at Rs51 per share. Reliance MediaWorks operates BIG Cinemas, the country’s largest cinema chain. Shares of Reliance Mediaworks were quoting at Rs221.90, up 0.61%, while Fame India was trading 0.60% up at Rs83.70 on BSE at 0934 hrs. Meanwhile, the BSE 30-share benchmark Sensex was trading 0.35% up at 17,990.39. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:28 pm Dell agrees to buy storage technology companyThe deal is expected to close by the end of July.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:27 pm IMF challenges Asia to change its economic habitsThat warm glow and soft purring emanating from South Korea was the International Monetary Fund trying, yet again, to put the Asian financial crisis behind it.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:23 pm Sensex slips from morning high of 18,000 plusA benchmark index for Indian equities today slipped from its morning highs with the overall market turning sluggish in afternoon trade. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:18 pm Bayer CropScience surges on land sale approval - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:17 pm Oil extends gains in Asian tradeOil prices extended gains in light Asian trade today, riding a rebound the previous session following a modest rise on Wall Street, analysts said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:17 pm BP worries cloud Cameron’s US visitLondon: David Cameron hopes his first trip to Washington as British Prime Minister will showcase a flourishing friendship with President Barack Obama, but it may be overshadowed by US concerns over BP. BP Plc’s role in the US Gulf Coast oil spill and speculation about any influence the British oil giant may have had over the release of the Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish prison last year has complicated relations ahead of Tuesday’s talks. Cameron’s office has tried to play down the concern, saying the US debate over how the terminally ill Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight was allowed to return home “may come up” but is not a “major issue”. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the matter would likely be raised, but Afghanistan was expected to top the agenda. Asked in an interview with BBC television whether the oil giant lobbied to have Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi released, Cameron replied: “I’ve no idea what BP did. I’m not responsible for BP.” BP has confirmed it lobbied the British government in late 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, but said it was not involved in talks on the release of al-Megrahi, which was strongly opposed by the Obama administration. British foreign secretary William Hague said last week there is no evidence BP was involved in the release or that the decision to free him was made to facilitate oil deals for BP. Cameron’s office said on Tuesday it had no plans to re-examine the case, despite demands by US lawmakers for an investigation. “That will be up to the British government to determine,” Gibbs told reporters in Washington. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, responding to US lawmakers, said the US would continue to maintain in exchanges with Scottish officials “our unshakable conviction that al-Megrahi should not be a free man”. “To that end, we are encouraging the Scottish and British authorities to review again the underlying facts and circumstances leading to the release of al-Megrahi and to consider any new information that has come to light since his release,” she said in a statement. Cameron said as the opposition leader at the time he thought the release decision was “completely and utterly wrong”. He said he was convicted “of being the biggest mass murderer in British history. I saw no case for releasing him from prison and I said that a year ago, remember, a year ago when we were all told, of course, he had only two months to live.” Megrahi remains alive today. Special relationship A spokesman for Cameron said the focus of the US trip would be on “the big issues on which we have a strong common agenda: Afghanistan, the global economy and the Middle East.” Cameron, in power since May, has said he will stand up for BP in Washington, worried that the firm could face unreasonable compensation claims from businesses and families affected by the worst oil spill in US history. The BP saga and concerns the US has decoupled from Europe in its approach to economic policy at an important juncture for the global recovery will test Cameron’s aptitude for diplomacy. British leaders have long treasured a “special relationship” with the US, which has helped the smaller country punch above its weight on the global stage. Cameron, an outspoken fan of the American way of life, will be no different. His new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is aware Britain needs to build other special ties to maintain its influence and help its economy bounce back from recession. “I think this is a government that is cautious about being seen as being in America’s pocket or being instinctively and automatically a follower,” said Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House think tank. A Cameron trip to India with several business leaders due after the US visit will underline the importance Britain is placing on emerging markets for future trade. Cameron will pitch for business during meetings with industry leaders in New York on Wednesday, conscious that an increase in British exports is important for recovery at home. In Washington, Afghanistan will dominate several of Cameron’s meetings. Britain wants to pull its troops out of Afghanistan within five years, an announcement that has raised some eyebrows in military circles. Talks at the White House and the Pentagon on Tuesday and Wednesday, coinciding with an international conference in Kabul, could address how realistic that timetable is given the slow progress made in improving security on the ground. “This will be a good opportunity for the leaders to take stock of progress in this vital year,” Cameron’s spokesman said. Fiscal policy differences between Europe and the US will also come under the spotlight. Britain leads European attempts to cut budget deficits that have ballooned in the wake of the global financial crisis, while the US has urged caution. Officials say both sides have agreed to disagree on fiscal policy for now, but markets remain nervous over the health of the U.S. economy -- the world’s biggest -- and analysts say reducing borrowing too fast could hinder the fragile global recovery. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:10 pm Rupee weakens by 4 paise against dollar, to six-week lowAt the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit was trading 4 paise lower at 47.15 a dollar.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:04 pm Apple shares fall; rivals respond on “Antennagate”San Francisco: Apple Inc’s attempt to smooth over a controversy surrounding its iPhone 4 failed to impress investors, as the computer maker’s shares stumbled on a day when technology stocks rose. On the first full trading day after a defiant Steve Jobs defended the new gadget’s design, Apple shares temporarily broke through a key support level that technical analysts said could lead to an even steeper decline. Shares of Apple, which is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, closed down 1.7% on the Nasdaq after falling as much as 4.1% earlier. The Nasdaq Composite Index, meanwhile, ended up nearly 1%. Apple’s chief executive held a rare 90-minute news conference on Friday in an attempt to staunch the so-called Antennagate controversy surrounding perceptions that the iPhone 4’s wraparound antenna is flawed. The device was launched on 24 June. The company said the media had blown the issue out of proportion, but offered free cases to consumers to help mitigate any signal strength problems. Apple maintained the reception issue, which occurs when its smartphone is held in a certain way, was also present in its competitors’ devices, naming Research in Motion, Samsung Electronics and HTC Corp. as examples. “Most every smartphone we tested behaved like this,” Jobs said on Friday. Apple’s rivals responded over the weekend. RIM co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie called the claims “unacceptable,” and Apple’s explanation was similarly dismissed by the co-CEO of Motorola, Sanjay Jha. While many analysts said Apple’s press conference and offer of free cases helped fix the public relations damage the antenna issue has caused, others said the matter is not yet resolved. Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said it remains to be seen whether the Antennagate flap is finished. He also said the news conference reinforced a larger concern about Apple in the “emerging pattern of hubris” that the company has displayed. In a research note, Sacconaghi suggested the controversy could have an impact on the company’s outlook for the September quarter, which it will provide on Tuesday. “The immediate-term question for Apple and investors is whether the company may be incrementally more cautious in its revenue and EPS guidance given potential lingering issues from ‘Antennagate,´” Sacconaghi said. Others said Apple has succeeded in addressing concerns about the iPhone 4. “While we expect the debate to continue, we believe the company’s response should begin to lower the rampant criticism emanating from the media-driven frenzy,” J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said in a note to clients. However, Moskowitz called the free cases a “band-aid” for the problem and said a permanent fix was needed, either with this version of the iPhone or a later one. Earnings on tap Even as the antenna issue continued to percolate, Wall Street shifted its focus to Apple’s fiscal third-quarter earnings report. The antenna dustup has already hurt Apple’s shares, knocking billions off its market capitalization. The company’s shares are down more than 10% since the iPhone 4 launch. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Doug Reid said the company’s June quarter earnings per share is unlikely to top Wall Street’s estimate, which stands at $3.11, due to gross margin headwinds. “Although we expect a ‘good news´ quarter for revenue trends our analysis suggests a key area of near-term risk is gross margin,” Reid wrote in a research note, noting evidence of component shortages and price erosion. Wall Street’s gross margin estimate is 39 percent, but Reid expects Apple to miss that target. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:52 pm Asia shares rise, yen strength in focusHong Kong: Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, looking past weak revenue growth at top US firms and more weak US economic data, as shares of resource firms and banks clawed back some of their recent losses. The Japanese yen hovered near its recent 7-week high against the dollar, amid growing talk of intervention as traders wondered if Tokyo could stomach further yen gains. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks rose 1%, led by gains in resources and financials. The Nikkei average fell as much as 1.7% as traders returned from a long weekend and caught up with Monday’s losses in the region. US stocks rose overnight, spurred by optimism ahead of earnings from key tech firms International Business Machines and chip maker Texas Instruments which were released after the closing bell. But both firms failed to impress as their topline revenue growth disappointed markets, highlighting concerns that the global economic recovery is losing steam. and Investors also faced yet more worrisome data from the United States. On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market index fell more than expected in July to its lowest level since April 2009 after a popular tax credit for homebuyers expired in April. “US earnings and indicators are increasing concern about a slowdown in the economy,” said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at the equity division of Nikko Cordial Securities. “We could definitely see a test of the downside, though not until later in the week.” Despite the disappointing IBM and Texas Instrument results, some tech-dependant Asian markets such as Taiwan and South Korea were marginally higher as the outlook for Asian tech firms remained more upbeat. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.2% after opening lower and Taiwan’s main TAIEX share index was up 0.5%. “Big tech companies that have a wider customer bases and good product portfolios should still be doing okay in the third quarter,” said John Chiu, a vice-president at Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust. The dollar was marginally higher at yen86.74 having hit a seven-month low of yen86.25 on Friday, and the euro was steady at $1.2940, having brushed aside Moody’s downgrade of Ireland’s credit rating on Monday and concerns that negotiations between Hungary and international lenders had broken down. For details, see The dollar was bid up by Japanese importers, but was still within striking distance of a seven-month low versus the yen leading many market players to look to what authorities in Japan would do if the yen climbed to the 85 level. The market was looking to a press conference by finance minister Yoshihiko Noda for clues on Japanese policymakers’ pain threshold. Japan’s fragile economic recovery has been largely due to surging exports, offsetting persistently weak domestic demand, and further yen gains threaten to erode its export competitiveness. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index was up 1%, boosted by banks which rose after China changed rules to allow the sale of yuan-denominated financial products in Hong Kong, giving companies greater access to yuan funding. Standard Chartered Plc, which immediately announced it would offer yuan-denominated structured investments to its retail and wholesale clients, rose 1.4% and BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) was up 1.7%. Oil futures rose about 25 cents towards $77 a barrel, supporting shares of energy companies, as forecasts for a fourth consecutive weekly drop in US crude inventories countered fears that a slowdown in the global recovery would curb fuel demand. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:43 pm Sensex opens 112 points upThe 30-share index, which had lost 27.40 points in the previous session, bounced back 111.75 points to 18,040.17 level.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:37 pm Afghanistan invites Indian companies to tap resourcesAfghanistan, sitting on vast reserves of iron, copper, cobalt and gold, has invited Indian companies to tap the nearly $1 trillion worth of minerals discovered in the country.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:35 pm Virus targets Siemens industrial control systemsBoston: Hackers have built a computer virus that attacks Siemens AG’s widely used industrial control systems, creating malicious software that analysts said can be used for espionage and sabotage. The German company said the malware is a Trojan worm dubbed Stuxnet that spreads via infected USB thumb drives, exploiting a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. “Just viewing the contents of the USB stick can activate the Trojan,” said Siemens spokesman Alexander Machowetz. “Siemens recommends avoiding the use of a USB stick.” Siemens first learned of the problem on 14 July, he said. Stuxnet is among the first to surface that attacks software programs that run Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA, systems. Such systems are used to monitor automated plants -- from food and chemical facilities to power generators. Once the worm infects a Siemens system, it quickly sets up communications with a remote server computer that can be used to steal proprietary corporate data or take control of the SCADA system, said Randy Abrams, a researcher with ESET, a privately held security firm that has studied Stuxnet. Analysts said attackers may have chosen to spread the malicious software via a thumb drive because many SCADA systems are not connected to the Internet, but do sport USB ports. Siemens said it has so far only identified one customer whose SCADA systems were infected by the virus, a customer in Germany that Machowetz declined to identify by name. Security experts have long theorized that hackers -- including ones working for nation states or terrorist groups -- would one day develop viruses that target SCADA systems. They could be used to steal sensitive data or sabotage major infrastructure facilities by instructing software to attack those plants. “It could be very valuable to a nation-state for war-like espionage. It could be very valuable to terrorist organizations,” said ESET’s Abrams. Microsoft spokesman Jerry Bryant said he did not know when the company would update its Windows software to address the vulnerability that Stuxnet exploits. Now that the exploit has been publicized, other hackers will quickly rush to develop malicious software programs that take advantage of the same vulnerability, said McAfee Inc spokesman Joris Evers. Siemens, Microsoft and security experts who have studied the Stuxnet worm have yet to determine who created the malicious software. REUTERS Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:28 pm Virus targets Siemens industrial control systemsBoston: Hackers have built a computer virus that attacks Siemens AG’s widely used industrial control systems, creating malicious software that analysts said can be used for espionage and sabotage. The German company said the malware is a Trojan worm dubbed Stuxnet that spreads via infected USB thumb drives, exploiting a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. “Just viewing the contents of the USB stick can activate the Trojan,” said Siemens spokesman Alexander Machowetz. “Siemens recommends avoiding the use of a USB stick.” Siemens first learned of the problem on 14 July, he said. Stuxnet is among the first to surface that attacks software programs that run Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA, systems. Such systems are used to monitor automated plants -- from food and chemical facilities to power generators. Once the worm infects a Siemens system, it quickly sets up communications with a remote server computer that can be used to steal proprietary corporate data or take control of the SCADA system, said Randy Abrams, a researcher with ESET, a privately held security firm that has studied Stuxnet. Analysts said attackers may have chosen to spread the malicious software via a thumb drive because many SCADA systems are not connected to the Internet, but do sport USB ports. Siemens said it has so far only identified one customer whose SCADA systems were infected by the virus, a customer in Germany that Machowetz declined to identify by name. Security experts have long theorized that hackers -- including ones working for nation states or terrorist groups -- would one day develop viruses that target SCADA systems. They could be used to steal sensitive data or sabotage major infrastructure facilities by instructing software to attack those plants. “It could be very valuable to a nation-state for war-like espionage. It could be very valuable to terrorist organizations,” said ESET’s Abrams. Microsoft spokesman Jerry Bryant said he did not know when the company would update its Windows software to address the vulnerability that Stuxnet exploits. Now that the exploit has been publicized, other hackers will quickly rush to develop malicious software programs that take advantage of the same vulnerability, said McAfee Inc spokesman Joris Evers. Siemens, Microsoft and security experts who have studied the Stuxnet worm have yet to determine who created the malicious software. REUTERS Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:28 pm IBM profit up 9%, revenue falls shortNew York: IBM said Monday that second-quarter net profit rose 9% but currency fluctuations pushed the US computer giant’s revenue below the expectations of Wall Street analysts. IBM reported a net profit of $3.4 billion, or $2.61 per share, in the quarter which ended on 30 June compared to $3.1 billion, or $2.32 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue increased 2% to $23.7 billion, less than the $24.2 billion forecast by analysts. IBM said currency fluctuations reduced revenue by some $500 million in the second quarter. “The difference with analysts’ expectations is all currency,” IBM chief financial offer Mark Loughridge said in a conference call. “Our operations performed right on target.” The company raised its full year outlook for earnings per share to “at least $11.25” from $11.20. “We are confident of our ability in the second half of the year to continue our strong business performance, grow profit and drive shareholder returns,” IBM chairman, president and chief executive Samuel Palmisano said. IBM said revenue from its Americas operations increased by three percent to $10.2 billion in the quarter while revenue dropped six percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $7.4 billion. Asia-Pacific revenue increased 9% to $5.4 billion. “Europe should see improving trends and overall for the IBM corporation it should be the same,” Loughridge said. IBM said it signed services contracts during the quarter totaling $12.3 billion a decrease of 12% over a year ago. IBM shares shed 4% in after-hours electronic trading to $124.50 after gaining 1.37% during the day’s trading. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:16 pm Rupee hits 6-week low on defence paymentsMumbai: The Indian rupee fell to its lowest level in a month and half on Tuesday, weighed down by defence-related import payments and demand for dollars from some companies. Firm domestic shares and the dollar’s weakness against major currencies and Asian units should help limit the rupee’s drop, traders said. At 9:40am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs47.18/19 per dollar after hitting Rs47.2050, its lowest since 7 June, and weaker than Monday’s close of Rs47.12/13. “It is the continuation of the much talked about defence demand. Early morning price action indicates demand is broad based -- sundry import cover could kick in if we break Rs47.25,” said R.K. Gurumurthy, head of treasury at ING Vysya Bank. Traders said Rs47.20 and then Rs47.40 were strong support levels, but if broken, could push the rupee as far as Rs47.75. Good resistance exists at Rs46.70 levels, they said. “There is a lot of dollar demand seen from local corporates as well, but there are also good offers tracking the sharemarket and other Asians,” a senior dealer with a foreign bank said. Indian shares rose 0.5% in early trade, with financials leading the rise, taking cues from mostly firm Asian markets. Foreign fund flows into and out of the sharemarket are a key driver for the rupee. So far in 2010, foreigners have bought shares worth a net $8.6 billion, in addition to last year’s record $17.5 billion inflow. The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs47.40, weaker than the onshore spot rate, suggesting a bearish near-term outlook. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs47.2425, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $560 million. Most Asian units edged higher versus the dollar. The dollar eased slightly, inching closer to a two-month low versus the euro hit last week as investors continued to cut long positions on more disappointing US economic data. The index of the dollar against six majors was slightly negative and would be watched for cues during the day, traders said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:12 pm US removes restriction on Indian carpetsWashington: Observing that use of forced child labour has been significantly reduced in the production of carpets in India, the US has removed the industry from its mandatory child labour free certification. Indian carpet industry did not find mention in a final list prepared by the department of labour’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs. In a statement, the department of labour said that the final list has been announced following careful consideration by it, departments of state and homeland security. “The only change from the initial determination is that carpets produced in India are no longer included,” the department of labour said in the statement. Explaining the reasons for this, the department said it received a submission during the 11 September 2009 initial determination public comment period that described the nation-wide, third party monitoring of registered carpet looms in India. It gave details of the monitoring programme of registered looms, and that provided detailed analysis of data results related to child labour. “Such detailed information on the monitoring of registered looms provided an analysis suggesting that child labor, including forced child labour, has been significantly reduced in the production of carpets in India,” it said. While the submission only addressed registered looms, it provided enough information to warrant further consideration of the matter especially given that a department of labour contractor is undertaking extensive research on child and forced labour in carpet production in South Asia, including India, it said. The department expects to receive information on the use of forced child labour on both registered and unregistered looms through this research and intends to wait until that time before a final decision is made regarding the inclusion of carpets from India on the EO List, it said. However, several other Indian products continue to be in this list like bricks, cottonseed (hybrid), embroidered textiles (zari), garments and stones. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 10:03 pm Oil extends gains in Asian tradeSingapore: Oil prices extended gains in light Asian trade on Tuesday, riding a rebound the previous session following a modest rise on Wall Street, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rose 24 cents to $76.78 a barrel on its last day of trade, while Brent North Sea crude for September gained 29 cents to $75.91. “We’re just seeing oil prices creeping up marginally higher,” David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, told AFP. “There hasn’t been really any macroeconomic news of note... so I’m not sure if the gains are anything other than a slight drift in the market.” Traders were watching financial data from corporate giants for leads as the US earnings season picks up steam, with major companies including Apple, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Yahoo! next in line. Later this week, markets will also focus on US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s two-day Congressional testimony and the outcome of so-called “stress tests” on the health of European banks on Friday. Moore said oil prices would continue to trade within the $74 to $78 a barrel range but could see “further volatility” in the near term. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 9:51 pm Tata Steel in talks to refinance $5.4 bn in loansSingapore:Tata Steel has started talks with lenders including Citigroup to refinance as much as £3.5 billion ($5.4 billion ) in loans for its British unit, Bloomberg reported, citing six sources with knowledge of the matter. Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas are also part of the negotiations, according to the Bloomberg report. The sources declined to be identified before an official announcement. Tata Steel took out the loans to fund its $12.9 billion acquisition of Europe’s second-largest steelmaker Corus in 2007, just before the global economic slump pared demand for steel and prompted banks to curtail lending. Tata Steel is in talks for a five-year loan for £2 billion pounds of the debt, with the bulk of payments due toward the end of the tenor, two of the people said in the Bloomberg report. Interest rates for the loans are likely to be more than 300 basis points above the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, one of the sources said. Tata Steel is also considering selling bonds, two of the people said, according to the report. Tata Steel’s finance head Koushik Chatterjee declined to comment to Bloomberg, saying “there is nothing on the table”. Earlier this month, the company denied a media report it was planning to raise $2 billion through fresh equity over the next quarter to help fund expansion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 9:37 pm Morgan Stanley might scale back on real estate: Wall Stret JournalQuoting people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Morgan Stanley might reduce its own capital in the funds or sell them.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 19 Jul 2010 | 9:18 pm Etisalat close to buying 26% in RComThe deal is estimated to be worth $3 billion.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 1:36 pm Shriram Group may take over Vishal's retail armThe Chennai-based Shriram Group is likely to take over the cash-strapped front-end retail company of Vishal Retail Ltd (VRL), after leading private equity investor Texas Pacific Group (TPG) takes charge of its wholesale division. This will be subject to approval from all stakeholders and regulators.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 1:27 pm Panel rewrites Takeover CodeWants open offer size raised to 100 per cent, trigger point to 25 per cent.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 1:23 pm Major recast of takeover codeIt has been a period of far-reaching changes in commercial law, with the Direct Taxes Code and the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) being adopted by 2011 and now the publication of the Draft Takeover Regulations, 2010 (“Draft Code”) prepared under the chairmanship of C. Achuthan, former presiding officer of the SEBI appellate tribunal. Hot on its trail, businesses are anticipating the Companies Bill and competition law merger regulation guidelines which would complete the four corners of major changes to corporate law and life in 2010-11. After 2001, this is the first major recast of the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2010 (SEBI takeover code). Since it is fresh off the press, my attempt is to focus on only a few key elements of change in this Draft Code, which are significant and far reaching to the business community and the practitioner alike. One of the most significant changes concerns the threshold, which triggers a takeover offer where the acquirer and persons acting in concert with such acquirer would trigger a mandatory offer after breaching the 25% limit of shareholding or voting rights. As a corollary, the Draft Code permits creeping acquisition of up to 5% shares or voting rights in any financial year after crossing the threshold trigger limit of 25%. Another major but subtle change has been made to the concept of control where the explanation of “cessation of control in relation to joint control”; not constituting a change of control has been deleted from the definition of the word “control”. Acquisition of direct or indirect control of a listed company cannot now be undertaken without making a public announcement of an open offer. In the existing SEBI Takeover Code, explanation to Regulation 12 dealt with indirect acquisition through acquisition of holding companies – foreign or Indian. The Draft Code elaborately prescribes processes for dealing with indirect acquisition of shares or control and have an equally detailed offer price determination mechanism in Regulations 5 and 8. New concepts like primary acquisition, disclosure of the intention or the decision to make the primary acquisition and its announcement in the public domain have been introduced in the context of indirect acquisitions, which will be subject to expert scrutiny in the very near and short term. A missed opportunity Given market realities, we have to recognize that it is impractical for large billon dollar transactions to be undertaken on the basis of limited public information filed by the promoters and persons acting in control with the stock exchange. It is in the interest of the market, and the interest of the acquirer, that the US model, which provides transparency in scrutiny of business data be brought in use even in India. We must encourage a change in law which debunks the “sham” that most merchant bankers, accountants and law firms engage in, especially when a negotiated purchase of controlling interest in a listed company is being developed. The Achuthan committee had been given suggestions for introducing transparency in negotiated acquisitions of public listed companies and due diligence concerning public listed companies, (for scrutiny of information not available in the public domain), however, there is no change forthcoming in this space so far. Interesting variations have also been made concerning voluntary open offers, mandatory open offers and offers which would result in delisting of a listed company based on the threshold of holdings by persons in control and persons acting in concert with such persons. Again marrying the formulaic pricing under the Draft Code, with the reverse Swiss auction in delisting offers remains a challenge. Further, Regulation 3 of the SEBI Takeover Code which prescribed the statutory exemptions, have now been shifted to the provisions in Regulations 10 and 11 in the Draft Code. Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati’s prescription that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” had resulted in a “swing change” in dealing with provisions for exemptions in the 1994 Takeover Code. His prescription was based on his judicial experience and statesmanship that regulatory discretion should be curtailed and exemptions should be express rather than implied or left to a regulator’s discretion. This still holds good in current times. Consequently, the proposal set out in Regulation 11 of the Draft Code, taking away the requirement of making a mandatory reference to the Takeover Panel by SEBI before granting an exemption is a retrograde move. Discretion in important market-linked regulations must always be controlled and minimal. The earlier formulation of the SEBI Takeover Code in my book, is still superior. We must consider and critique the Achuthan Committee’s deliberations on why there is a “peechhe hat” move on this score. Deliberations on the non-compete fees are likely to invite major criticism as the distinction between the control premium, non-compete fees and the rationale to pay the “knowledge holders and know-how brains” of a listed company has been mixed up and blurred. An acquirer of a listed company is unlikely to pay value to an existing promoter and persons acting in control with such person, if the “brains” and the “know-how holder” can replicate value and knowhow in another company, after the public acquisition. Non-compete payment can be made to non-shareholders who have embedded knowledge and knowhow of the nuances of running processes and developing products. To negate such non-compete payments as permissible payments, not affecting share price in a public offer is short sighted; as knowhow providers and “the brains” cannot be denied price for their ability to be paid for their goodwill and knowhow. How can you tell a non-shareholder, having such knowhow, that you cannot be paid, either for being a non-shareholder promoter and a technocrat knowledge provider? Further, the Takeover Code cannot do away with the Indian Contract Act, 1872 for payment of goodwill and knowhow to such persons as non-compete consideration. Even the Income Tax Act recognizes this currently. The Achuthan Committee needs to relook and reconsider the issue as to how they would deal with a true non-compete fee payment for knowhow and a voluntary reasonable restraint of not engaging in replicating the same process or product, for a period post-sale to non-shareholders not forming part of the selling shareholders. This question had vexed the Bhagwati committee and will continue to trouble future SEBI committees, as it is a complex issue, best left alone! In this instalment, I shall deal with the last issue concerning exempt acquisitions (Regulations 10 and 11 of the Draft Code) relating to acquisition of control or shares pursuant to an amalgamation, merger or demerger either in India or abroad. Whilst detailed provisions have been made for indirect acquisition in Regulation 5 and 8 of the Draft Code concerning offer price, the “ipsi dixit” of cash compensatory exits to the extent of 25% of the consideration through a scheme of arrangement or the continuation of a 33% past shareholder continuity in schemes as exempt from the SEBI Takeover Code negates several well considered international SEBI precedents, which the Takeover Panel has approved, like in Eaton Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, etc. When a global merger is undertaken in an international context, which is exempt under international law of the foreign jurisdiction, when such re-construction is undertaken, pursuant to arrangements being approved by competent authorities of foreign nations; the globally recognized three company merger processes applied e.g. in the Daimler Chrysler structure or the Proctor & Gamble Gillette cases run the risk, now, of being non-exempt amalgamations or schemes. This would trigger alarm bells in the context of global transformation, in a world affected by deflationary and recessionary factors, and where reconstruction will be the norm of business for the next five coming years. Shardul S. Shroff , managing partner, Amarchand Mangaldas, was a member of the two Bhagwati committees, constituted in 1994 and 2001, for drafting and reviewing the Sebi takeover code 1997, and is an active practitioner in the public takeover space. We welcome your comments at feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 1:15 pm Economy and Politics | Government sets up four member committee for higher educationNew Delhi: The Central government Monday set up a four-member committee headed by additional secretary (higher education) Sunil Kumar to attract quality teachers to the higher education sector. The committee will try to set up a national corps of research fellows and encourage the concept of roaming professors. It was decided in a roundtable chaired by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal. The committee will also ask higher educational institutes to award deserving candidates in teaching so that the profession looks attractive. It was also decided that the HRD ministry will set up a research park in collaboration with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, where academicians will do research alongside industries. The land for the park will be provided by CSIR and HRD ministry will collaborate with industries for the purpose. Prashant K Nanda ********* New Delhi: Teachers inflicting corporal punishment should be denied increments, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recommended Monday and advised states set up child right cells in all schools. NCPCR issued the guideline for dealing with violence in schools. It said that the school management and the principal should be held responsible for corporal punishment in schools. It also advised removal of the principal and vice principal of La Martinere School in Kolkata where corporal punishment led to the death of a student early this year. The commission, which is also the official monitor of the right to education act, urged the states to place systems and structures in all schools so that matters related to discipline and punishment are dealt with in a continuous and comprehensive fashion by all concerned and do not result in tragic outcomes. Prashant K Nanda Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 1:07 pm Urban transport debate: Is BRTS the answer?Ahmedabad: Movement of passenger traffic on the 30km bus rapid transit system (BRTS), aptly name Janmarg (passage for people), in the eight months since it was commissioned, has risen nearly four times to 60,000 passengers a day in July. Further, surveys show that one in two passengers were those who had earlier walked, or used private vehicles or alternative public transport. Even the user experience seems to have been pleasant. Most Ahmedabad residents, even those that do not use the system regularly, say BRTS cuts 15-30 minutes in journey time to Kankaria, a lakefront area in east Ahmedabad. “Going to Kankaria by regular road would take us not less than 45 minutes. But on the BRTS, it is less than 15 minutes,” said Ruhi Lal, whose residence is in Vastrupur, currently not a stop on BRTS. According to her, once the network is complete, it will become easier for her to commute to the workplace. The alacrity with which citizens of Ahemdabad have taken to BRTS has settled the debate on urban transport, at least in Gujarat, and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which operates 41 dedicated buses on BRTS, is now proceeding with plans to add another 10km by end-August and eventually, 217km in all. The Ahmedabad experience is significant, especially because town planners view this as the best way to address the problem of urban transport, especially in the context of a sharp spurt in privately owned vehicles. Vehicle sales in India, including those of three-wheelers, two-wheelers, cars and commercial vehicles, have nearly doubled in the last seven years, increasing from 6.8 million in 2003-04 to 12 million in 2009-10. What’s happening in Ahmedabad is also important, because the only other experience of this nature in India, BRTS in Delhi, has largely failed in the first phase. While the early experiences in Ahmedabad have been positive, analysts warn that unless run well, systems such as BRTS could run into problems in very crowded areas. “I think the bus rapid transit system works well in cities where you can to some extent regulate car movement,” said Arvind Mahajan, an executive director with audit and consulting firm KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd, adding that the real test would come when it was implemented in areas that had a lot of mixed modes of traffic. The experience A few reasons underlying Ahmedabad’s successful experience flow from unique characterisitics of the city that may be difficult to replicate across the country. BRTS comprises two access controlled single-lane carriageways with a median in between, which broadens into a common bus stop in the middle of the road. On either side of the BRTS carriageway, city transport buses, autorickshaws and the other modes of transport vie for two lanes of road space. Unlike Delhi, Ahmedabad has less traffic congestion. According to data from a 2008 study on traffic and transportation strategies, Ahmedabad’s lower geographical spread means city residents travel much less per trip than Delhi. According to the data, which was based on numbers reported by cities in 2007-08, Ahmedabad residents on an average travelled 6.2km per trip per day, as opposed to 10.2km in Delhi, 11.9km in Mumbai and 9.6km in Bangalore. The Ahmedabad BRTS differs from Delhi in another key aspect. Only specifically identified buses ply on the network. Regular Ahmedabad transport service buses ply on regular roads. They aren’t allowed access to the dedicated lane. “Here it is a success. In Delhi, it failed,” said Pradeep Chawda, a professional driver, who’d heard about the city’s problems with BRTS when he drove some customers to Delhi recently. While planning BRTS, the planners decided to avoid earmarking dedicated bus lanes in arterial roads. Instead, as H.M. Shivananda Swamy, a planning expert and professor of urban transport at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, who helped design the corridor, puts it, the planners chose to “focus on busy places, not busy roads”. To be sure, Ahmedabad’s development as a ring-radial city —a city, much like Delhi, that evolved in concentric circles with radial roads—definitely helped transport planners. According to Swamy, in the case of Ahmedabad it ensured that people were on the road much less on an average, when compared with other cities. The debate In some ways Swamy and his team are at the centre of the ongoing debate on the future of public transport. As many as 590 million people—or roughly 40% of India’s population— will live in urban areas by 2040. According to one school of thought, BRTS is the cheaper and hence more effective method; the other favours a Metro network. But there are some, like Swamy, who believe that it does not have to be a case of either-or and can actually be a mix. Swamy’s office is cluttered with city maps and books on transport planning, while the walls of an adjoining room are festooned with Google maps of large cities around the world. His students have traced the outlines of different classes of roads onto these maps as a way of comparing transport plans for these cities. In another room, a large-scale map of Kolkata covers much of the wall. The students are trying to evolve—as a project—the ideal transportation plan for Kolkata. Swamy stresses that the debate is not about choosing between BRTS or the Metro. “We’ve reserved one corridor for Metros. Suburban rail—we are looking at seriously. We did not argue that BRT is an alternative to Metro. We don’t think that is the way to plan for cities. Multi-modal is important,” he said. Arguing similarly, I.P. Goutam, the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner, said, “Before government, there are two issues. (Whether to) modernize AMTS (Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service) or city bus services of the city and introduce either BRTS or Metro in Ahmedabad. At that point of time (2006), Ahmedabad’s population was about 14 lakhs or so.” In 2006, several local agencies together decided that the city should first have a BRTS. The Metro project wasn’t ruled out. But BRTS was selected as a better option, Goutam said. “If a person is joining a job, private or government, he will first look for a house. And second, look for some kind of a two-wheeler...whatever his salary will match. Because urban transport is not giving him a dependable transport system. Because our city is not planned on the basis of public transport availability.” Goutam said the problem was exacerbated because existing public transport services rarely kept to time, forcing people to buy their own vehicles. And once people buy vehicles, road space for public transport reduces. Some experts say that in the developing country context, with a large number of poor people, there are additional challenges such as ensuring the right mix of public transport options that take into account the ability of the consumers to pay. “The big challenge for developing countries like India is to keep a balanced transport mix that provides adequate accessibility for people and goods. Currently, India is rapidly motorizing as a result of its very fast economic growth, and lack of convenient public and active transport facilities, but it still has the majority of trips by foot, bicycle and public transport,” said Dario Hidalgo, a senior transport engineer for the World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport. Hidalgo was part of a panel that awarded the Janmarg this year’s sustainable transport award—an award given annually to cities worldwide. Last year’s winner was New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg. “It is very important to at least maintain the current modal split (small share of auto, large share of public and active transport), to avoid catastrophic increases in fuel consumption, air pollution, green house gas emissions, congestion and road traffic injuries and deaths,” he said. The choice, to a large extent, will also be influenced by the underlying capital costs. The first phase of the Delhi Metro cost some Rs10,571 crore, or around Rs162 crore per km. The first BRTS phase of 12.5km cost Rs96 crore, with the entire 90km network expected to cost Rs1,000 crore. Umesh Varma, an activist with Citizens for Better Public Transport in Hyderabad, a civil society organization that has been fighting against the city’s planned elevated Metro rail project, said the project should be immediately scrapped as it is “highly expensive” compared with alternatives such as BRTS, both in terms of capital cost per km and passenger fares. “Metros are not a solution by themselves in any city. Metros are part of the transport system, and should be targeted for the very high demand corridors, above 50,000 passengers per hour per direction, because their cost is very high ($60-150 million/km or around Rs283-707 crore/km). For all other corridors (below 50,000 passengers per hour per direction), it is possible to handle the traffic operations with buses if the full BRT concepts are applied integrally,” Hidalgo said. Ahmedabad seems to have proved that. C.R. Sukumar in Hyderabad contributed to this story. rahul.c@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:36 pm Airbus wins $4.4-bn deal for 51 A320sAirbus has won a 4.4-billion-dollar order from new US group Air Lease Corporation for 51 single-aisle A320 jets, the European aircraft maker said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:22 pm Boeing sees India doubling C-17 ordersIndia could buy 10 to 12 more C-17 transport planes from Boeing beyond the 10 planes already planned, Christopher Chadwick, president of Boeing military aircraft said on Monday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:19 pm Is IRDA micro managing life insurers?The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) seems to be trying to micro-manage the sector with its proposed measures on hiking the policy persistency ratio, say industry experts.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:14 pm Vodafone Essar may go in for IPO, Ruias said to be in talksSteel-to-shipping conglomerate Essar Group has been in talks with banks to explore options, including an initial public offering, for its stake in its Indian telecoms venture with Britain's Vodafone, according to people familiar with the matter.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:05 pm Etisalat close to buying 26% in Rel Comm: FTEmirates Telecomunications (Etisalat) is close to buying a 26 per cent stake in Reliance Communications (R Comm), according to a report in the Financial Times.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 12:01 pm Govt mulls pharma export tags to check counterfeitsThe government is planning to roll out a unique identification system for exports of pharmaceuticals, to curb the menace of counterfeit drugs and to protect the Indian pharma industry's brand image.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:57 am HDFC Bank Q1 net up 34% on strong demandHDFC Bank on Monday announced a 34 per cent jump in its net profit during the quarter-ended June 2010 over the corresponding period last year on the back of a strong demand in corporate and retail loans.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 19 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am
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