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Maharashtra, UP sugar cos decide to hike prices: SourcesSugar companies in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have decide to hike prices, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. The decision comes after sustained losses in sugar sales.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 8:30 am IDBI confident of delivering 20% credit growth in FY11P Sitaram, CFO of IDBI is confident of the bank delivering 20% credit growth in FY11. \"We are working on taking NIMs to industry levels.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 8:05 am Moody\'s places Hungary under review for possible downgradeToday, Moody\'s placed Hungary\'s rating under review for possible downgrade. Only a few days back Moody\'s had downgraded Ireland from Aa1 to Aa2 on grounds that Ireland\'s debt level justified the Aa2 rating.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 7:46 am Indian operations are now cash positive: VodafoneThe India operations of Vodafone are now cash positive, an official of the company told CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 7:44 am How does US financial regulation benefit the world?CNBC\'s Maria Bartiromo spoke to Lawrence Summers, former treasury secretary and the director of Obama\'s National Economic Council on the issue.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 7:11 am Amara Raja signs pact with Japan\'s HondaBattery maker Amara Raja Batteries Ltd has entered into an agreement with Japan\'s Honda Motor to develop a valve regulated lead acid battery, newspaper DNA Money said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 4:39 am UCO Bank Q1 net profit up by 45.95 pc - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 4:10 am Vodafone announces BlackBerry prepaid service plansVodafone announced new BlackBerry service plans for prepaid users. These plans come in daily, three day, weekly and monthly options.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 4:00 am Praj Ind Q1 net profit down at Rs 10.4 cr - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 4:00 am Amtek Auto open offer date for Amtek India to be revisedThe open offer for shares in Amtek India made by group firm Amtek Auto will not begin on July 23, as stated earlier, DA Financial Services, manager to the offer, said in a filing to the BSE.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:51 am PM's panel forecasts 4.5 pc growth for agri sector for FY11 - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:51 am Quicksilver to sell Quicksilver Gas for $701 millionShares of Quicksilver Resources rose more than 16 percent in extended trade after closing at $12.75 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:43 am Rupee extends gains to fresh 1-wk highs - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:32 am China less likely to become top FDI destination - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:27 am JSW Steel, JFE deal likely next week - sourceTOKYO/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's third largest steelmaker, JSW Steel, is likely to announce a stake sale to Japan's JFE Holdings Inc on July 27, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:25 am Will meet Rs 1000 cr FY11 sales target: Riddhi Siddhi Gluco - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:25 am Strong policy tightening needed, says C RangarajanNew Delhi: Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan on Friday called for strong monetary policy action to combat high inflation, days before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to raise rates for the fourth time this year. Rangarajan said headline inflation would ease to 7% or 8% by December from 10.55% in June. Still, the projection is above earlier official forecasts of 5% to 6%, striking a more hawkish tone than that suggested by other government officials in recent weeks. “There must be a bias towards tightening because the demand situation also needs some control,” said Rangarajan, a former RBI governor. Rangarajan’s remarks came a day after finance secretary Ashok Chawla, the top bureaucrat at the ministry, warned against aggressive tightening that could pose a risk to growth in Asia’s third-largest economy. “Strong monetary policy action is required,” Rangarajan said when asked if he would be happy if the central bank raised both its policy rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Tuesday. The economic adviser said he expected the central bank to carry out a series of small policy tightening steps. Rangarajan said inflation was being driven by high food prices, which is usually considered beyond the scope of monetary policy. “I don’t think the economy is overheating. One of the symptoms of overheating is inflation. This inflation particularly is due to what has happened to the food prices, therefore this is not overheating,” Rangarajan said. India’s one-year overnight indexed swap rate rose 2 basis points to 5.87%. The benchmark 10-year bond yield rose 1 basis point to 7.67% after Rangarajan called for “strong” action. “The market is probably ignoring the comments - basically traders are lightly positioned,” said RK Gurumurthy, head of treasury at ING Vysya Bank. “Economic adviser is perceived as a hawk so it is not unusual if market hears hawkish statements.” ‘Calibrated’ exit The RBI has already raised interest rates three times this year as the economy emerged from the global downturn and inflation picked up. Wholesale price index (WPI), India’s most closely watched inflation measure, have risen more than 10% from a year earlier for the past five months. In response, the central bank is widely expected to raise both its repo and reverse repo rates on Tuesday by 25 basis points, taking them to 5.75% and 4.25%, respectively. The central bank has repeatedly said it favours a “calibrated” exit to loose monetary policy, which economists take to mean 25 basis point interest rate increases at each of the next quarterly policy reviews for the rest of the fiscal year. That outlook is clouded by a weak global economic recovery and tight liquidity conditions on one hand, and persistently high inflation on the other. “Liquidity conditions are taut enough for monetary policy signals to be appropriately transmitted to the financial sector. A bias towards tightening is necessary,” a report released by the advisory panel said. Tight liquidity in the banking system has acted as an effective 150 basis point increase in rates. “Overall, it looks like he favours monetary tightening in small phases,” said Sreenivasa Raghavan, treasury head at IDBI Gilts in Mumbai. The panel said wholesale inflation should ease to 6.5% by the end of the fiscal year in March 2011. It forecast GDP growth in the current fiscal of 8.5%, in line with government forecasts. The report also said capital inflows will ensure that the current account deficit, which swelled to a three-decade high of $13 billion in January to March, can be managed. The panel expects the current account deficit to be 2.7% of GDP this fiscal year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:18 am ECB's Paramo: stress tests will have positive impactSAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (Reuters) - Bank stress tests will undoubtedly have a good impact on the banking sector, European Central Bank Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:17 am CESC to invest 20 bln rupees for solar power projectKOLKATA (Reuters) - Power utility CESC Ltd is looking to invest 20 billion rupees to develop a 200 mega-watt (MW) solar power project in the state of Rajasthan, Vice-Chairman Sanjeev Goenka told a news conference on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 3:00 am Strong policy tightening needed - PM adviserNEW DELHI (Reuters) - A top government adviser on Friday called for strong monetary policy action to combat high inflation, days before the Reserve Bank is set to raise rates for the fourth time this year.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:59 am Ten banks to fail European stress tests - GoldmanLONDON (Reuters) - Ten out of the 91 banks subjected to Europe's stress tests are expected to fail, according to a survey of investors conducted by Goldman Sachs.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:46 am CESC to invest Rs2,000 crore for solar power projectKolkata: Power utility CESC Ltd is looking to invest Rs2000 crore to develop a 200 mega-watt (MW) solar power project in the state of Rajasthan, vice-chairman Sanjeev Goenka told a news conference on Friday. “For the first phase, the work is going to start in the next 2-3 months. We have already acquired 300 acres of land near Bikaner,” Goenka said. The project will be developed over a period of five years and the company is in talks with some firms for technology partnerships, Goenka said. India, whose grid-connected solar power capacity is close to 3 MW, recently launched its solar policy framework, National Solar Mission, that aims to increase it by more than 300 times to 1,000 MW by 2013. A spate of firms have rushed in to tap the fledgling sector. Areva Renewable, a unit of France’ Areva, is considering solar-thermal projects in India, it said in April. Bharat Forge has said it is targeting 100 MW of solar power projects over a 3-4 year period. Apart from solar power, CESC has also achieved financial closure for a 600 MW thermal power project at Haldia in West Bengal and the firm would pump in around Rs3300 crore to develop the project, the work for which will commence shortly. The firm is also reviving another 600 MW power project in Balaghar in West Bengal by investing Rs3200 crore, Goenka had said in April. Earlier on Friday, CESC had reported flat April-June net profit at Rs110 crore, despite a 34% growth in sales to Rs1,082 crore, as a rise in fuel prices hurt tarrifs and profits. “Steep rise in fuel price impacted the power purchase price and tariffs significantly which impacted our net profit”. Spencer’s Deal Delayed CESC, which also runs retail chain Spencer’s, has been looking to raise funds by selling a stake in the unit but a potential deal with a private equity firm fell through on valuation deadlock. “We were in talks with a particular private equity firm, but it could not go through because of the valuation issues,” Goenka said without elaborating. But the plan to divest stake in Spencer’s is not shelved, he said. “We are in the process of dialogues with 2-3 other private equity players”. Spencer’s is looking to add 200,000 square feet this fiscal, and expects revenues of around Rs950 crore in FY11, Goenka said. Under Spencer’s, CESC currently has 900,000 square feet of retail space. Revenue from retail business stood at about Rs900 crore in FY10, Goenka had said in April. “We have achieved a profitability at the store level. Overall Spencer’s should breakeven in next 18 months”. At 1:35 p.m., CESC shares were down 0.82% at Rs400.2 in a firm Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:41 am Ericsson Q2 profit lags forecasts, market toughStockholm: Ericsson, the world’s number one mobile network gear maker, posted second-quarter core profit below expectations as operators stayed cautious about investing and parts shortages hit sales. The telecoms equipment market has begun to show signs of life, but customers’ spending is well below pre-crisis levels. Ericsson, which has slashed billions of crowns from its cost base to offset falling demand, said on Friday cost-cutting would be a priority while market conditions remained tough. In the second quarter, operating profit excluding joint ventures and restructuring costs was 5.3 billion Swedish crowns ($715 million) against a forecast of 5.8 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts and 6.1 billion a year ago. Sales were down 8% year-on-year at 48 billion crowns versus a forecast of 50.5 billion. On Thursday, rival Nokia Siemens Networks reported sales down 5% in the quarter. Like NSN, Ericsson said that its sales had been hit by industry component shortages and supply chain bottlenecks. “We estimate that this (the shortages) had a negative impact on our sales in the quarter by 3-4 billion crowns,” Ericsson said in a statement. Ericsson’s gross margin came in at 39%, well above forecast, with the company saying it had benefited from cost cutting and a favourable business mix. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:38 am Vodafone returns to organic service revenue growthLondon: Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator by sales, has returned to growth for the first time since the economic downturn hit due to improvements in Germany, Britain and Turkey, and strong sales of data plans. Vodafone said its key service revenue, which is made up of revenue related to ongoing services, was £10.6 billion ($16.1 billion), up 1.1% organically, compared with a 0.2% drop in the fourth quarter. The performance shows a continuing improvement in the company’s recent trading, as group organic service revenue declined by 1.2% in the third quarter and by 3% in the second quarter. The improvement enabled the group to reiterate its full-year outlook and pledge an update later this year on its strategy to drive shareholder value and push further the adoption of data services for accessing the Internet. In a further boost to the group, Vodafone said it had also finally settled a long-running deal with British tax authorities and would pay £1.25 billion to settle all outstanding issues, which was less than had been expected. Chief executive Vittorio Colao said he was happy with the performance and the return to growth could help lift some of the pressure on Vodafone, after one shareholder called for a board shakeup over its strategy. Shares in the group were up 1.9% to 151.012 pence at 2:18pm, ahead of the FTSE 100 Index, which was up 0.07%. “These are the first quarterly results to show service revenue growth since the global recession impacted,” Chief Executive Colao said. “I’m happy but not very happy. Yes we have returned to revenue growth but there are still parts of Vodafone which are not in a revenue growth situation and this is linked to challenging economies.” The European service revenue was down by 1.7% but this was better than the previous quarter and reflected an improvement in Germany and Britain and a focus on selling smartphones with data plans for accessing the Internet. Trading in the Africa and Central Europe division was driven by a strong performance in Turkey which has undergone a turnaround plan and enjoyed an improving economic environment. Strong customer growth and better usage trends in India boosted the Asia Pacific and Middle East division, as the price war which hit all operators in the market stabilised. Total group revenue for the period were £11.3 billion. Analysts had been expecting service revenue of 10.5 billion pounds and total revenue of £11.2 billion, according to a Reuters poll. “Vodafone’s results beat our estimates and consensus convincingly for group organic service revenue growth and showed continued recovery biased to certain markets, notably India, UK, Germany and Turkey,” Citi analysts said. “The acceleration in mobile data revenue is particularly encouraging and the selling of data plans and increased take up of smartphones were repeatedly cited as a positive driver in the developed markets.” The group also said it had agreed to adjust the payments that would be made with the Essar Group to have first option on buying Essar’s stake if Essar were to sell. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:31 am Oil falls from 11-week high ahead of bank test resultsCrude prices slid from an 11-week high to stay near $79 today, as uncertainty about European bank stress tests and US oil demand tempered a boost from positive corporate results and storm threats.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:29 am State Bank of India sells $1bn 5 yr notesThe State Bank of India sold USD 1 billion of fiveyear notes on Thursday, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 2:00 am Wipro Q1 net rises 31% at Rs 1319 cr; beats forecast - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:59 am Citigroup arm may further reduce its stake in PolarisCitigroupowned Orbitech has been selling stake in Polaris significantly since September 2009. CNBCTV18 learns that the aim of the company is to finally cut down its holding in Polaris to just about 5% from the current levels of 19.8%.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:50 am ITC plans Rs.23000 crore investment over 10 years - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:46 am India can grow at 8.5 pct, despite rate hikes - adviserNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy can expand at 8.5 percent in the current financial year despite monetary policy tightening, C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:38 am Vodafone says revenues resumed growing in Q1Vodafone Group PLC, the mobile phone company, says revenues grew on a comparable basis in its first quarter, the first period of growth since the recession hit.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:35 am Economy to grow 8.5%; Inflation to ease to 6.5% by Mar'11: Prime Minister's Economic Advisory CouncilIn February, the Council had projected a growth rate of 8.2% for the current fiscal.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:07 am Strong Q1 result powers Bhel - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 1:06 am Several Spanish savings banks fail stress test - paperMADRID (Reuters) - Several of Spain's 18 savings banks, including some that have been involved in recent mergers, have failed tests to see how they would cope with worsened economic conditions, a newspaper reported on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:56 am Wipro Q1 net beats forecast, sees strong demandBANGALORE (Reuters) - Wipro beat forecasts with a 31 percent rise in quarterly profit on robust outsourcing demand from its mainstay financial clients and gave an upbeat outlook, sending its shares up 4 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:54 am Sensex pares gains on profit booking - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:28 am LG Display may cut output; can't meet iPad demandLG Display may cut production of its liquid crystal displays next month due to weak demand from TV makers but is unable to meet strong demand tied to Apple's iPad tablet computer, its chief executive said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:24 am Business Line journalist wins Ramnath Goenka awardHarish Damodaran, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu Business Line, has bagged the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, in the ‘Books (Non-Fiction)'Source: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Petroleum products, alcohol and power are out of GST netThe Centre and the States have agreed to leave out alcohol, petroleum products and electricity duty out of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST)Source: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Bajaj Auto Q1 net doubles to Rs 590 crBajaj Auto has posted a net profit of Rs 590 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal, over twice as much from Rs 293 crore in the same period last year. The company declared a 1:1 bonus that will see its authorised share capital double to RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Food inflation eases on lower wheat, pulses pricesFood inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), eased, while fuel prices ruled flat in early July, even as analysts predict that a rate hike looks imminent when the Reserve Bank of India reviews its policy onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Coffee stocks wow with strong aromaStocks of companies involved in the coffee sector have gained over 10 per cent thisSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am V-Guard Industries (Rs 117.1): BuyInvestors with short-term perspective can consider buying the stock of V-Guard Industries. It is seen from the charts of the stock that after taking support around Rs 40 in March 2009, it started to trend upwards. Since then the stock has been onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am DTH players told to offer pay channels on la carte basisTelevision subscribers of digital platforms such as DTH and IPTV will soon be able to pick and choose the pay channels they want toSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Overseas operations drag Dr Reddy's net 14% in Q1Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd's consolidated net profit declined 14 per cent to Rs 210 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2010 compared with Rs 244.5 crore in the year-agoSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Media toys around with markets“They” provide us a running commentary from morning till late evening. “The morning session is crucial,” they say. And if you thought that was a cricket commentator talking about the first hour of play, you areSource: Business Line - Home Page | 23 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am India develops world's cheapest "laptop" at $35NEW DELHI (Reuters Life!) - India has come up with the world's cheapest "laptop," a touch-screen computing device that costs $35.Source: Reuters: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:59 pm Markets hit 2-year high; Wipro gainsMumbai: Indian shares rose to their highest level in two-and-a-half years on Friday, bouyed by a rally in world equities and better-than-expected quarterly earnings by outsourcer Wipro. Export-driven software services companies were among the gainers after Wipro posted a 31% rise in quarterly profit said it was seeing strong business environment. Wipro rose as much as 4.2% to 433 rupees. If it rises past 451.80, it would be the highest level in a decade, data from Thomson Reuters showed. “For the IT sector, demand environment is good. Also, pricing scene is stable and improving,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares. He expects a 15-20% upside for tier-I IT stocks. Bigger rivals Tata Consultancy Services rose as much as 0.9% to a record high of 850 rupees, while Infosys Technologies was up 0.6%. By 11:12am, the 30-share BSE index was trading up 0.32% at 18,171 points -- after hitting 18,237.56, its highest level since February 2008. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.3% at 5,459.35. Eighteen of its components were trading in the green. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.3:1 on volume of 139 million shares. Foreign funds have poured $8.8 billion into Indian equities this year, driving the benchmark index up more than 4%. In 2009, they had bought a record $17.5 billion of stocks and helped power an 81% rally. Asian stocks rose as strong earnings from economic bellwethers such as Caterpillar tempered concerns about a global slowdown. “Global cues will remain uncertain for a while. But a lot of corrective measures which are taken, will prevent the economies from going down under,” said Choksey. Brokerage Sharekhan said the hourly momentum indicator showed an upside was gaining strength. Top-listed biotechnology firm Biocon slipped 1.3% after it reported a lower-than-expected 33% rise quarterly profit. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, climbed 0.3% to Rs1,062. Cigarette-to-hotel group ITC added 0.7% after rising 1.6% on Thursday following a 22% rise in quarterly profit. STOCKS Credit rating firm Crisil was down 2.8% at Rs5,700, after the unit of Standard & Poor’s Corp said late on Thursday its net profit fell 13%. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories shed 1.3% to Rs1,363.10, extending losses after the drugmaker said on Thursday consolidated quarterly profit fell a more-than-expected 14.3% following a drop in sales in its key US market. JSW Steel was up nearly 1% at Rs1,213, after a report said JFE Holdings Inc, Japan’s second-biggest steelmaker, plans to invest about $1 billion in the Indian firm. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:53 pm Reform bills set for delay in noisy parliamentNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The ruling coalition faces an emboldened opposition raring to attack it on soaring inflation and other issues when parliament resumes on Monday, possibly distracting from debate on several key reform bills.Source: Reuters: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:48 pm SBI raises $ 1 bn via bonds issue from US mktThe country's largest public sector lender, State Bank of India, has raised $ 1 billion (about Rs 4,700 crore) through an issue of bonds to qualified institutional buyers. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:45 pm Oil slips from 11-week high ahead of bank test resultsSingapore: Crude prices slipped from an 11-week high to stay near $79 on Friday, as uncertainty about European bank stress tests and US oil demand tempered a boost from positive corporate results and storm threats. Prices have still climbed about 4% this week, with US crude for September down 24 cents at $79.06 a barrel on Friday by 10:35am. They jumped more than 3% on Thursday as Tropical Storm Bonnie over the Bahamas was forecast to move towards energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. Asian stocks rose on Friday as strong earnings from US economic companies such as Caterpillar eased concerns about a global slowdown, while the euro steadied ahead of European bank stress test results later in the day. But sales of previously owned US homes hit a three-month low in June while new claims for jobless benefits surged last week, Thursday data showed, the latest indications the economic recovery of the world’s top oil-consuming nation remains tentative. “There are still a lot of macroeconomic concerns around, and the stress tests from Europe are also spurring some uncertainty,” said Stefan Graber, a commodities analyst with Credit Suisse in Singapore. “We still have some weak spots in the oil market, and on a global scale, it is fairly balanced at the moment,” Graber said, adding that “the fundamentals warrant this range between $70 and $80,” within which oil has continuously traded for almost seven weeks. Results of the tests on 91 European lenders are eagerly awaited by markets whose scepticism about the sector has driven up funding costs and hurt appetite for risk since Greece’s debt crisis triggered fears the euro zone could unravel. “Sentiment could show some decisive improvement if markets think that the results of the tests are credible, that it’s a fair assessment of the situation in the banking system and that only moderate recapitalisation is necessary,” Graber said. Major companies including UPS and 3M reported strong revenues on Thursday, easing investor concerns about future growth and boosting Wall Street and commodities. Forecasts call for Bonnie to pass over key oil and natural gas production areas to the south of Louisiana before making landfall in four days. All the weather models show the storm will skirt Florida and move northwest across the oil-producing central Gulf of Mexico before hitting the coast. The storm threatened efforts to plug BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Friday and officials said many of the vessels and rigs involved in the operation would prepare to move out of the system’s path. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:39 pm Oil slips from 11-week high ahead of bank test resultsSingapore: Crude prices slipped from an 11-week high to stay near $79 on Friday, as uncertainty about European bank stress tests and US oil demand tempered a boost from positive corporate results and storm threats. Prices have still climbed about 4% this week, with US crude for September down 24 cents at $79.06 a barrel on Friday by 10:35am. They jumped more than 3% on Thursday as Tropical Storm Bonnie over the Bahamas was forecast to move towards energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. Asian stocks rose on Friday as strong earnings from US economic companies such as Caterpillar eased concerns about a global slowdown, while the euro steadied ahead of European bank stress test results later in the day. But sales of previously owned US homes hit a three-month low in June while new claims for jobless benefits surged last week, Thursday data showed, the latest indications the economic recovery of the world’s top oil-consuming nation remains tentative. “There are still a lot of macroeconomic concerns around, and the stress tests from Europe are also spurring some uncertainty,” said Stefan Graber, a commodities analyst with Credit Suisse in Singapore. “We still have some weak spots in the oil market, and on a global scale, it is fairly balanced at the moment,” Graber said, adding that “the fundamentals warrant this range between $70 and $80,” within which oil has continuously traded for almost seven weeks. Results of the tests on 91 European lenders are eagerly awaited by markets whose scepticism about the sector has driven up funding costs and hurt appetite for risk since Greece’s debt crisis triggered fears the euro zone could unravel. “Sentiment could show some decisive improvement if markets think that the results of the tests are credible, that it’s a fair assessment of the situation in the banking system and that only moderate recapitalisation is necessary,” Graber said. Major companies including UPS and 3M reported strong revenues on Thursday, easing investor concerns about future growth and boosting Wall Street and commodities. Forecasts call for Bonnie to pass over key oil and natural gas production areas to the south of Louisiana before making landfall in four days. All the weather models show the storm will skirt Florida and move northwest across the oil-producing central Gulf of Mexico before hitting the coast. The storm threatened efforts to plug BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil leak on Friday and officials said many of the vessels and rigs involved in the operation would prepare to move out of the system’s path. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:39 pm Reform bills set for delay in noisy ParliamentNew Delhi: The ruling coalition faces an emboldened Opposition raring to attack it on soaring inflation and other issues when Parliament resumes on Monday, possibly distracting from debate on several key reform bills. The Opposition is on a high after successfully shutting down parts of the country this month to protest against a fuel price hike, but their ideological differences will likely mean only a short-lived unity on some issues of the day. Besides high prices, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a slew of issues to attack the government on, including last week’s failed talks between India and Pakistan and rising Maoist violence. This could delay enacting of legislation, including bills to expand a welfare scheme to provide cheap grains to the poor, simplify taxation and to cap private firms’ liability in case of a nuclear accident. Cheap food will boost the ruling Congress party’s chances in upcoming state elections, while tax reforms will cut business costs and raise government revenues. But these reforms could be delayed if opposition protests shut down Parliament. “Opposition actions will create some discomfort for the (ruling) Congress party, but will not derail the policy programme of the government,” Seema Desai of Eurasia consultancy group said in a research note this week. “Right and left do not have a history of long-term collaboration on anything and share no ideological affinities whatsoever.” The communists will seek a special discussion on the fuel price hike and on high prices of essential goods, a demand that is certain to disrupt proceedings on the opening day as lawmakers troop to the Speaker’s chair shouting for their cause. Rallying the people Food prices in India have been rising at double-digit annual rates for nearly a year and fuel prices were hiked thrice in 2010 in a country where over 40% of its 1.2 billion citizens live in abject poverty. The Congress-led government has said inflation should cool with the new harvest coming in and has refused to roll back on fuel prices, saying it is necessary to bridge a fiscal deficit. The often-squabbling Opposition capitalised on public anger, and on 5 July rallied hundreds of thousands of people in a strike that shut down parts of the country. “Frankly, I’m not very sanguine. They’ll be at their disruptive best,” a Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said referring to the opposition in Parliament. But there is only so much the Opposition can agree on, given their ideological differences, a fact that the government might use to push through some bills. “On entire (range of) issues, how can you expect all opposition parties to remain united?” communist leader Basudeb Acharia said. The left-of-centre Congress has 208 members in the 545-member lower house of Parliament (Lok Sabha) , with allies taking it past the half-way mark required to pass ordinary legislation. But reform-suspicious partners and a socialist old-guard have meant the government has, in the past, had to shelve big-ticket reforms such as opening up the retail, pension and insurance sectors to greater foreign investments. Reforms in the retail sector are seen helping rein in food price inflation by curbing waste, but this is opposed by smaller retailers who fear they will be wiped out. The government has tested the waters by floating a discussion paper on retail, but little movement is likely in this session. “We want that legislation marked up for debate and discussion be allowed,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:26 pm Oil hovers around $79 in AsiaNew York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, was down 14 cents at $79.16 a barrel, while London's Brent North Sea crude for September dropped 21 cents to $77.61.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:18 pm Rupee gains 12 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee had closed 3 paise higher at 47.12/13 a dollar yesterday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:10 pm Sensex opens 124 points up on strong global cuesThe 30-share index, which had gained 135.92 points in the previous session, added another 124.41 points to 18,237.56 points in the first five minutes of trading.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:08 pm Wipro ups guidance for IT revenue in Q2Wipro Ltd projected an higher average revenue guidance of $1.3 billion from its global IT services business for the second quarter (July-Sep) of this fiscal (2010-11).Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 22 Jul 2010 | 10:57 pm ‘JFE to invest $1 billion in JSW Steel’Tokyo: JFE Holdings Inc, Japan’s second-biggest steelmaker, plans to invest about $1 billion in JSW Steel Ltd, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the deal. JFE plans to buy securities convertible into shares at a minimum price of Rs1,300 ($27.59) each, and may own a little less than 15% of JSW after conversion, Bloomberg said. The deal’s announcement could be imminent as cash-hungry JSW, India’s third-largest steelmaker, said on Thursday that its board will consider issuing shares to qualified institutional buyers on 27 July. JFE and JSW will both announce first-quarter results that day. Financial sources in Mumbai have said the transaction could be for below $1 billion as JFE is looking at striking a deal closer to JSW’s current market price. Given JSW’s current market value of $4.8 billion, an investment of $1 billion by JFE for a 14% stake would represent a premium of nearly 50%. JFE Steel spokesman Eiji Okumura said the firm is considering taking a stake in JSW but that nothing has been decided. Sajjan Jindal, JSW Steel’s vice chairman, said last month that JFE may buy 5% to 15% of the company, and that The Economic Times reported in April that JFE is in advanced talks to buy a 14.06% stake in JSW for about $1.1 billion. JFE Steel, the main steelmaking unit of JFE Holdings, and JSW had agreed in November on an alliance that could include the two companies taking stakes in each other. A partnership with JSW would give the Japanese company a crucial foothold in India as it aims to boost supply of its high-grade automotive sheet steel to Japanese carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co, which have set up manufacturing bases in Asia’s third-biggest economy. Bigger rival Nippon Steel Corp plans to form an automotive sheet steel joint venture with India’s top steelmaker Tata Steel Ltd by the end of the 2012 financial year. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 10:53 pm Wipro Q1 profit up 31% to Rs1,319 croreBangalore: India’s third largest software services firm, Wipro Ltd said first quarter profit jumped 31% to Rs 1,319 crore, on improved business from western customers and large new deals from customers such as Hungary’s Magyar Telekom, as business improves for the Indian IT industry as clients outsource more to cut costs and remain competitive. Revenue for the quarter, which beat street estimates, grew 16% to Rs7,236 crore over the year before period. “We are seeing higher demand environment across our industry verticals despite macro challenges. We added the highest number of billable employees ever, in this quarter,” said Wipro Chairman Azim Premji in a statement. “Our guidance indicates this momentum.” Wipro’s local rival Infosys Technologies Ltd last week raised its annual revenue forecast and increased its hiring plans to 36,000 people this year, as business grows from customers. Infosys has forecast annual revenue to grow 16.3-18.2% in the range of Rs 26441 crore to Rs 26885 crore. In April, it had expected rupee revenue to grow 9-11% in the 2011 fiscal. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, which saw business volume grow over 8% in the April-June quarter would hire 40,000 people this year. Wipro has forecast IT services revenue in the second quarter to be beween $ 1.25 to $ 1.27 billion, a sequential or growth of 4.1% to 6.1% over April to June period. In the first quarter, Wipro’s IT Services business earned Rs 5500 crore or Rs $1.18 billion, a growth of 14% over the year before period.% Wipro’s stock was up 2.73% to Rs 426.95 at 9.17 am on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The benchmark sensex was also up 65.96 points at 18179%. A Mint analysis of forecasts by 10 brokerages showed Wipro’s average profit to be Rs1210 crore on sales of Rs 7182 crore. Wipro added 22 new clients but hired a net of 4854 employees to take its total strength to 112925. Indian firms are benefiting from increased orders from US clients as they outsource more to cut costs and stabilise their business in an improving economy. But the crisis in Europe and the resultant weakening of its currency has been a concern. It also means it is not able to charge higher rates for customers even as costs increase. “We delivered ahead of the top end of our guidance ein constant currency with a sequential growth of 4.4% and saw yet another quarter of margin expansion with a 30 basis points increase despite the head winds of wage increase and a decline in price realisation,” said Suresh Senapaty, chief financial officer at Wipro. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 10:43 pm Earnings lift Wall St, but Amazon.com plungesNew York: Earnings from economic bellwethers 3M, UPS and Caterpillar catapulted US stocks on Thursday as investors shed some of their fears about the strength of the recovery. The parade of prominent names reporting profits continued after the market’s close. Microsoft Corp reported a 48 percent rise in quarterly profit late on Thursday. In regular trading its shares rose 2.9% to $25.84, but they were down 0.2% after hours. In other after-hours action, online retailer Amazon.com Inc’s earnings fell far short of Wall Street’s estimates, sending its shares 13.5% lower to $103.88. During the regular session, the major indexes posted their largest daily gains in more than two weeks, led by United Parcel Service Inc, which rose 5.2% after it raised its profit outlook. The world’s largest package delivery company is viewed as a barometer of consumer and business demand. “UPS guiding higher is a very good sign since the amount of shipping volume is directly correlated to the strength of the economy,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer of OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. Caterpillar Inc, up 1.7% to $68, and 3M, up 3% to $84.75, were among multinationals that raised their outlooks, suggesting the global economy may also be on a stronger footing. “The companies that are doing well generally are the ones that have significant overseas revenues or some kind of unique product,” said Kim Caughey, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 201.77 points, or 1.99%, to 10,322.30. The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 24.08 points, or 2.25%, to 1,093.67. The Nasdaq Composite rose 58.56 points, or 2.68%, to 2,245.89. Thursday’s rally reversed losses from a day earlier after testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke soured investors on the economic outlook. But for the fourth time this month the S&P 500 came close but failed to break through 1,100, a level that is proving to be a tough hurdle and could be in the way of further gains. Earlier on Thursday, data showed weekly applications for unemployment insurance rose. Job growth has slowed after strong gains early in the year, cutting into household spending and holding back the economy’s recovery from the toughest recession since the 1930s. “We can’t find a story that’s going to convince us unemployment is going to materially get better any time soon and that weighs on the consumer, who controls a lot of the economy,” Caughey said. “That’s a prevailing negative force investors think about.” Home resales declined less than expected but still hit a three-month low in June, while the median home sale price rose by 1% from the previous year.. KB Home rose 3.9% to $11.06 and Lennar Corp added 3.1% to $14.76. The PHLX Housing index jumped 4.2%. Advancers outnumbered decliners by almost seven to one on the New York Stock Exchange, and by five to one on the Nasdaq. About 8.86 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 9:19 pm ACC sales drop dents profitSales volume dipped 2.8% to 5.27 million tonne against industry estimated growth average of 9.1%. Net sales fell nearly 3% to Rs 2021 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 3:19 pm Amara Raja signs first two-wheeler OEM dealAmara Raja will manufacture the battery for Honda to be used in its two-wheelers.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 3:15 pm Robust core operations boost Punjab National Bank bottomlineThe bank's April-June net profit stood at Rs 1,068 crore, while net interest income grew 45.4% year on year to Rs 2,619 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 3:12 pm Sales boom doubles Bajaj Auto Q1 netThe country's second-largest motorcycle maker on Thursday said its net profit for April-June rose 101% from a year ago to Rs 590 crore.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 22 Jul 2010 | 3:09 pm Sensex, Nifty at 30-month high on global cuesStrong cues from the European markets helped the Indian benchmark indices record fresh highs on Thursday. The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the broader 50-share Nifty on the National Stock Exchange reversed intra-day losses to close at the highest level in the last two-and-a-half years.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 22 Jul 2010 | 1:17 pm Four banks to join Bharti loan syndicationMumbai: At least four more banks are slated to join the core group of lenders that syndicated a $7.5 billion (around Rs35,475 crore) loan for Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest mobile telephony firm by subscribers, to acquire the African asset of Kuwaiti Mobile Telecommunications Co. KSC (Zain), according to an official of Standard Chartered Bank Plc (StanChart), the lead arranger of the loan. State Bank of India on Thursday closed its $1 billion five year overseas bond at 260 basis points over Libor, an investment banker said. Away in New York on a road show for the loan, SBI chairman OP Bhatt could not be contacted. This will take the total syndicators to 15 from the present 11. Between them, the members of the syndication will buy around $1 billion from the existing syndicators. While the amount of loan already raised remains the same, with the entry of new members, the existing members of the syndication will be able to bring down their exposure to the loan proportionately. This is not a sell-down of a loan to other banks but an expansion of the core group of syndicators, known as “mandated lead arrangers”. StanChart had underwritten $1.3 billion and Barclays Plc $900 million. The other syndicate members are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, BNP Paribas SA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole CIB, DBS Bank Ltd, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and State Bank of India. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA committed $400 million on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank AG, too, has committed $300 million towards the syndication. At least two other multinational banks are expected to join the syndication within three weeks with at least $300 million and become part of the mandated lead arrangers, Charles Corbett, managing director and head of syndication for South Asia, StanChart, said. Mint did not reach out to Intesa Sanpaolo and Deutsche Bank. According to Corbett, the pricing of the loan has been at the “original mandated price or less than that”. The loan was raised at 195 basis points over the London interbank offered rate (Libor) for a tenure of six years. Libor is the international benchmark for loans. The average maturity period of the loan is 4.7 years and the first principal outgo will be after 2.5 years. The annual interest payment on account of the loan will be $200 million. Bharti Airtel in June closed the deal with Zain for $9 billion. Including the loans taken for Zain and the licence fee paid for 3G telecom licences and broadband, the consolidated debt of the company is $12 billion, its officials said in a teleconference with analysts on 14 July. Concerned with the debt profile of Bharti Airtel, rating agency Standard and Poor’s put Bharti Airtel’s long-term debt rating under credit watch in February and subsequently downgraded it by one notch to BB+ from BBB-, the lowest investment grade. BB+ is considered the highest speculative grade. “A rating action may affect the bond holders and not the syndicators of the loans. It has next to no impact at all on syndicators,” said Corbett. According to Corbett, the latest development will encourage other players to come into the general syndication. Typically, banks that form a syndicate take the loans on their books at the first stage. At the second stage, they sell down part of it to other banks at a price which is higher than what they had paid, and make some profit in the process. In this case, they have not yet sold down part of the loan. Instead, they are expanding the group that syndicated the loan. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 1:15 pm Delhi airport, Air India close to mega dealDIAL offers discount on airport charges, government carrier commits five-fold increase in passenger traffic.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 22 Jul 2010 | 1:15 pm 'Desh' Deshpande to co-chair Obama's Advisory CouncilIndia-born Gururaj Deshpande, chairman of Tejas Networks, A123 and Akshaya Patra, has been appointed co-chairman of US President Barack Obamas National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He will support Obamas innovation strategy by helping develop policies that foster entrepreneurship, create jobs and drive economic growth.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 22 Jul 2010 | 1:15 pm Only ‘skilled foreigners’ to get work visas under new policyNew Delhi: The home ministry is preparing a fresh set of guidelines for Indian missions abroad to clear uncertainties in the country’s new visa policy for foreign workers, two senior government officials said. “Within a couple of days we will issue all the clarifications,” said one of the two, a senior home ministry official. Pushing an “Indians first” policy, the new rules stipulate that work visas be issued only for skilled foreigners and not for unskilled jobs that can be performed by locals. But the rules have also scrapped conditions on the number of foreign workers that can be hired and salaries for them, as reported by Mint on 6 July. The new policy has already been communicated to all Indian diplomatic missions. Earlier rules had stipulated that foreigners shouldn’t comprise more than 1% of a company’s workforce, and that those earning $25,000 or more be counted as skilled workers. A new definition for a skilled worker hasn’t been spelt out. “People are not clear about the 1% cap rule and the $25,000 salary cap,” one official said. Both the officials declined to be named. According to the new visa policy, reviewed by Mint, the government has directed its missions abroad not to issue visas for jobs for which qualified Indians are available. The “kind of people who can come to India for work are artists, who have contracts from Indian hotels and entertainment firms and film industry…foreign coaches or sportsmen having contracts with state or regional bodies can also seek for employment visas”, the policy reads. It adds that employment visas can be given to language teachers, interpreters, chefs, engineers and technicians, as well as self-employed foreigners coming to India for providing engineering, medical, accounting, legal or other such highly skilled services as independent consultants.  Under the new policy, foreign nationals must comply with all legal requirements and payment of tax liabilities. They have to submit their professional and academic documents to Indian missions in their respective countries. Also, they should have been residing in the country from where they are applying for at least the previous two years. Indian missions abroad have been asked to check documents of proposed employment, registration of companies under the Companies Act. The duration of an employment visa depends on the bilateral agreement between India and the other country. Foreigners working for IT companies are given visas for three years or till their term of contract—whichever is earlier. sahil.m@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 1:13 pm Neha Dhupia cheers on Gaurav Gupta at Couture WeekNew Delhi: A Bollywood celeb is yet to walk the ramp at the ongoing Delhi Couture Week but they haven’t deserted it totally. After Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan occupied the front row on day one, actress Neha Dhupia turned up on Wednesday to cheer on designer Gaurav Gupta. The actress who wore a pink gown by Gupta for the show said that she likes the fact that he thinks “out of the box.” “I am at a loss of words after seeing Gaurav’s show, its so fabulous. I knew he is good at pret collections, but today I found he is equally superb with his couture collection as well,” said Neha. “Not only does he understands my style, he also understands my personality and makes dresses which suit me,” said the actress. The designer’s latest collection was inspired by fairies and mythical creatures, with the music and decor evoking an underwater ambience. “This is my first Couture show in India and I had a lot of fun putting together the collection. We have tried to show fairy-like creatures in a lost forest underwater. I have also used Swarovski embellishments and embroidery to make things look richer,” said Gupta. The colors used ranged from white to grey, black and red. “I haven’t used a set color pattern as couture collections don’t go by definitions,” said Gupta. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 12:56 pm Need to Know | Gujarat home minister summoned by CBINew Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) again summoned Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, a close aide of chief minister Narendra Modi, on Friday after he failed to turn up for questioning of his role in alleged fake encounter case of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Sohrabuddin Sheikh in November 2005. Shah did not appear before the agency as he was said to be out of town. “Summon has been issued to minister of state for home Amit Shah for purpose of examination as he is acquainted with circumstances of the case,” CBI DIG P. Kandaswamy said. “Supreme Court has directed us to investigate the fake encounter case and we are doing it as per the laws laid down. Further investigations is on and nothing more can be disclosed in the case,” he said. Shah in his press statement said: “this is an attempt by the central leadership of the congress to carry out my political encounter. It is for the court to decide whether the Shorabuddin encounter was fake. “As MoS home, i have always followed the constitution and democratic rules. All the lies spread about me have no basis. Lies are spread at the behest of the Congress party, There can not be any bigger misuse of power than this. I have full faith in the judicial system,” he said. Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said: “does Gujarat deserve a home minister who is under investigation in a case of fake encounter which is really an acronym of cold-blooded murder. That is something on which BJP needed to do an introspection.” The CBI took over the case relating to the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi in January, 2010 on the directions of the Supreme Court. Rubabuddin, Sohrabuddin’s brother, said: “Amit Shah should have resigned by now...CBI is doing its investigation in the right direction. I hope CBI will trace the culprits.” “We are investigating Amit Shah. we will submit the report to SC by the end of this month,” CBI director Ashwani Kumar had told Mint last week. A senior CBI official close to investigations said that Shah role is also being probed in 2006 fake encounter of Tulsi Prajapati, who was sole witness to Sohrabuddin’s killing. With inputs from PTI ********* SEZ rules eased for B1 category cities With an aim to boost investment in smaller cities of the country, the ministry of commerce has reduced the mandated built-up area for SEZs in B1 category cities such as Kochi, Patna, Indore etc to 50% of the built-up area and 25% of the built-up area in cities which are even smaller than the B1 towns.” We have been pushing for this for the last one-and a half years and this move will really industry in promoting investments in smaller cities,” said Som Mittal, president of IT lobby body Nasscom. However, there continues to be a lot of certainty for the policy as the guidelines for the Direct Tax Code has said that SEZ units coming up after April 1, 2011, will not be eligible for the tax incentives.” We are pushing for continuance of the tax sops under the new tax code,” he said ********* Akzo Nobel to set up new plants Kolkata: Paint maker Akzo Nobel India Ltd, formerly ICI Ltd, is planning to set up new plants in northern and central India, its managing director Amit Jain said on Thursday. The company is going to set up a plant in Karnataka, and is waiting for the state government to allot 70 acres of land. This plant is expected to be commissioned in 2012. The proposed plant in Karnataka would increase the firm’s annual production from 70 million litres to about 120 million litres in two years. The company is also increasing production capacity of its factory at Hyderabad by 30 million litres. The company has two other factories at Mohali and Thane. Akzo Nobel expects its revenue from Indian operations to grow to Euro one billion by 2015, its global chief executive officer Hans Wijers had recently said. ******** Spice exports up in Q1 Mumbai: India’s spice exports rose 17% in volume and 19% in value in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 ending June. In the first three months of the fiscal, 1,48,730 tonnes of spices and spice products valued Rs1,533.84 crore, up from 1,27,265 tonnes worth Rs1,293.14 crore in the year ago quarter. Chilli, ginger, celery, fennel, fenugreek, garlic and other spices such as tamarind and asafoetida contributed to the increase both in volume and value. While cardamom and turmeric showed an increase value owing to higher prices, cumin, nutmeg and mint products declined on both fronts. — Ajayan Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 12:17 pm India rises up FDI RankingsIndia broke into the top 10 of destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) for the first time in 2009, when the world battled to emerge from a brutal financial crisis and FDI flows slowed dramatically. Top 10 host economies of FDI, emerging countries’ performance and more (PDF) The country rose to the ninth place in 2009 from 13th in the previous year in the list of FDI destinations, according to the World Investment Report 2010 released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). According to the report, global FDI inflows declined 37% in 2009 while inflows into India dropped by a much smaller 14%. Compiled by Asit Ranjan Mishra asit.m@livemint.com Graphics by Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:54 am New GST law to give veto power to CentreNew Delhi: The draft constitutional amendment proposed by the Centre to usher in the goods and services tax (GST) provides the Union finance minister veto power over all key aspects, including rates, thereby setting the stage for tough negotiations with states that are unwilling to let go of all autonomy over taxation. The draft amendment, circulated by the finance ministry to states at the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting to discuss the GST contours, mirrors the suggestion of the 13th Finance Commission (TFC) on veto power—it had done so as it wanted to prevent states from ganging up against the Centre. The draft amendment, which was reviewed by Mint, suggests setting up a GST council made up of the Union finance minister and the minister of state dealing with revenue, and finance ministers from all the states. Also Read | A step backward on GST “Every decision taken by the GST council, with a majority of two-thirds of the members present and voting, and agreed to by the Union finance minister, shall be binding on the government of India and all the state governments,” the draft amendment said. GST binds states to the uniform rate through the constitutional amendment, which also details the principles that should guide the GST council’s decisions. One of the principles is to have “due regard to the development of a common national market for goods and services”. Even though they would have majority in the GST council, the proposed amendments ensure that the Union finance minister can shoot down any proposal coming from the states on tax rates, goods to be left out of GST and also the taxes to be subsumed in GST. To be sure, the amendments do ensure that the Centre too cannot unilaterally effect changes in taxes, but empowers itself the right to veto. At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, finance ministers of some states said autonomy was a sensitive issue for states, indicating tough negotiations between the two sides when they meet next on 4 August. “We are looking forward to constructive suggestion from empowered committee on this landmark legislation (constitutional amendment),” finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday while addressing industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on tax reforms. According to Madhya Pradesh finance minister Raghavji (he uses only one name), who spoke after Wednesday’s meeting, the implication of GST on states’ fiscal autonomy is that neither the state legislature nor the state cabinet any longer have a say in taxation. The autonomy issue would be keenly debated in the next meeting, he said. Over the last two years, compensation to states for loss of revenue after switching to GST and the loss of fiscal autonomy emerged as two of the most contentious issues. On Wednesday, Mukherjee offset states’ fears over loss of revenue by promising open-ended fiscal support to states in case GST yields less than what they currently raise under the value-added tax (VAT) system. However, the nature of the amendments proposed by the finance ministry imply that the issue of fiscal autonomy will become more contentious. “It is a challenge because it is a very significant change affecting fiscal federalism in India,” said Satya Poddar, partner at audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young. “You have to be careful because the change will last decades.” The states are set to lose fiscal autonomy both individually and collectively. At an individual level, states would lose autonomy as the draft amendment clearly takes away powers to unilaterally tinker with the tax rates. Presently, under the VAT system, states had an informal agreement to divide taxable goods into three categories and fix three different rates. However, states such as Gujarat and Delhi have deviated from the agreement due to local compulsions and have enhanced tax rates. sanjiv.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:53 am TPG speeds up deal talks for Vishal Retail, but no pact yetNew Delhi: In a bid to pre-empt a rival offer by Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, US-based private equity firm TPG Capital Lp sought to rush through a deal to acquire the assets of beleaguered discount retailer Vishal Retail Ltd on Thursday, but a formal agreement proved to be elusive. TPG and Vishal agreed in principle on the terms after day-long efforts to reach a deal, but the retailer’s creditor banks deferred a decision, said a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations, who asked not to be named. The consortium of banks that are part of Vishal’s corporate debt restructuring programme will discuss the deal next week before deciding whether to back an agreement under which TPG would take over the retailer’s assets, said the person. An agreement would not only give TPG control of the company, but also mark the exit of Vishal Retail’s founder Ram Chandra Agarwal, who built one of India’s largest discount chains before it fell prey to the economic slowdown of 2008-09. Also Read | Biyani makes bid for Vishal, may queer TPG pitch “There has been a sudden change of emotion and the promoters are in a hurry to get the deal done,” said the person cited above. Vishal Retail spokesman Manmohan Sharma said talks with TPG were ongoing. Procedural issues were still being discussed, he said, but declined to comment on the specifics of Thursday’s talks. TPG director Amol Jain declined to comment. In order to make the acquisition compliant with the rules on foreign direct investment in retail, Vishal will transfer all its assets to an entity engaged in wholesale activities, according to the deal that’s being discussed. TPG will control the company through this so-called cash-and-carry venture, the only retail business in which India allows 100% foreign ownership. It’s unclear who will operate the retail part of Vishal’s operations. The person cited above said both TPG and Vishal Retail had to fast-track the final agreement after Biyani’s Future Group made a bid for the company. Biyani declined to comment on his interest in Vishal Retail, which began as a tiny apparel store in Kolkata in 1986. Agarwal opened the 150 sq. ft store selling ready-made garments after quitting his job as an assistant manager at a Kolkata metals firm. Most of his expansion came in the 2000s. Sales almost tripled to Rs288 crore in 2007 from Rs88 crore in 2004, while net profit jumped to Rs12 crore from Rs38 lakh in that period. Agarwal hired professional managers to help him run a retail network that had by then spread to many parts of the country and went in for an initial public offering in mid-2007 that was oversubscribed almost 70 times. Agarwal’s style of functioning, however, came under criticism from the professional managers he had hired for refusing to delegate power to them. The economic slowdown brought on by the global financial crisis hit Vishal badly, leaving it with unsold goods and mounting debt, forcing bankers, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank Ltd and ING Vysya Bank Ltd among others, to resort to the debt restructuring. The banks that are not part of the debt recast, including Singapore’s DBS Bank Ltd, London-based Barclays Bank Plc and Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG have filed separate winding up petitions in the Delhi high court against Vishal Retail to recover their dues. divya.g@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:41 am RHC files complaint against IHH for misleading press releaseNew Delhi:The Indian suitor for Singapore-based Parkway Holdings Ltd has a filed a complaint against its rival bidder for issuing a “misleading press release”, which gave the impression that Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund was on track to take control of the firm. Brothers Shivinder and Malvinder Mohan Singh, through their special investment vehicle RHC Healthcare Pte Ltd, complained to the Securities Industry Council of Singapore against Integrated Healthcare Holdings Ltd (IHH), owned by Malaysian state investment firm Khazanah Nasional Bhd. RHC Healthcare is a 51:49 joint venture between the Singhs and Fortis Healthcare Ltd, which is also promoted by them. In what could intensify the tussle between the Singhs and Khazanah for Parkway, the complaint, filed on Thursday, relates to “misleading press release and press articles relating to level of approval and acceptances” issued by Khazanah to the Singapore Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Khazanah’s disclosure statement carried a quote from Quek Pei Lynn, director of IHH, saying that it was “pleased that the majority of Parkway shareholders who have voted to date have chosen to approve our partial offer”. According to the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Mint, filed by the Singhs’ law firms—Stamford Law, and Rajah and Tann—the statement gives the impression that the “latest development is a positive development for IHH, when in reality both conditions to the partial offer remain unsatisfied”. Quoting rules and principles from the takeover code, the lawyers, on behalf of RHC, urged the council to take immediate steps to direct IHH to issue a public statement to clarify and correct what it said was the mistaken impression that the Malaysian entity would be victorious in gaining control. The IHH press release issued on Wednesday announced that as on 20 July, it had received valid votes from approximately 70% of shareholders eligible to vote on its partial offer. Of these valid votes, approximately 50.5% were to approve the partial offer. In addition, about 5% of the 313 million offer shares that Khazanah has offered to buy have been tendered as acceptances. As per RHC’s complaint, a significant number (30%) of eligible shareholders are yet to vote. “Khazanah also has not indicated how many shareholders voted for the partial offer before RHC announced its general offer on 1 July. Most of their votes might have been cast before RHC’s offer,” said a person closely associated with the RHC deal, who did not want to be named. Moreover, IHH’s announcement was voluntary. As per the complaint, under Singapore’s code of takeovers and mergers, there is no requirement for IHH to make an announcement. The market also reacted to the IHH announcement, with the volume of trading in Parkway shares increasing considerably during trading hours following the announcement. In May, Khazanah, which already owned 23% in Parkway, made a partial offer to acquire an additional 28% stake for $839 million (Rs3,968.5 crore today). This came two months after Fortis acquired a 23.9% stake in Parkway for $959 million at $3.56 per share. Fortis later increased its stake to 25.37%. The success of Khazanah’s partial offer, however, is subject to two conditions. First, that it receives, by the closing date, approval of the offer by shareholders representing more than 50% of the valid votes. Second, that it receives valid acceptances for no less than 313 million shares, which along with its existing stake in Parkway, takes its total stake to more than 50%. Following Khazanah’s partial offer, in July, the Singhs made a counter-bid for Parkway through a general offer to acquire all of Parkway for S$3.2 billion (Rs10,976 crore today) at S$3.80 a share. While Khazanah’s offer closes on 26 July, RHC’s offer will close on 12 August. A report in www.dealreporter.com, an online publication, said Khazanah may need to offer more than S$4.45 under the partial offer to make its offer more compelling than RHC’s for shareholders. It also says Khazanah may make an offer on 26 July that will be more than RHC’s S$3.80 per share. Both Fortis and Khazanah declined to comment. Shares of Fortis rose 0.53% to Rs153.15 on a day when the benchmark Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 0.76% to close at 18,113.15 points. radhieka.p@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:32 am The Mint Report for 23 July 2010The battle for Parkway could get messy. A special investment vehicle belonging to the promoters of Fortis has complained against a unit of Malaysia’s Khazanah. According to the complaint, the Khazanah unit, called IHH, produced misleading press releases that gave the impression Khazanah would soon be in control of Parkway Healthcare. The complaint was sent to the Securities Industry Council of Singapore. India’s Fortis and Malaysia’s Khazanah are currently locked in a battle to control Singapore’s Parkway Healthcare. Idea Cellular’s profits have fallen in the first quarter. Net profit fell to Rs201 crore from Rs291 crore in the same period last year. Idea’s numbers were expected to fall because of the merger with Spice Communications. In the quarter ending June the company absorbed fresh debt of around Rs3,600 crore. The company also paid Rs5,768 crore to the government for 3G spectrum licenses. Bajaj Auto has met street expectations with its quarterly numbers. Net profit sped up to Rs590 crore from just Rs293 crore. And sales increased 65% to Rs3,737 crore during the first quarter. Things could get even brighter for Bajaj Motors in the coming months, with the company expected to see its margins improve and spend less on wages. Power Grid Corporation will go ahead with its stake sale, possibly in the next three months. On Thursday the union cabinet approved a selling a 20% stake in the company for about $1.8 billion. 10$ will be fresh equity and the other 10%, government stake. India plans to make some Rs40,000 crore this fiscal by selling PSU shares. The Sensex closed at its highest in two and a half years on Thursday, taking its cue from surging European markets. The index jumped up 136 points to finish at 18,113. And the Nifty also made gains, shooting up 43 points to end at 5,442. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 22 Jul 2010 | 11:18 am
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