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Invested in nonlinear initiatives during downturn: PremjiOver the last two years, Wipro has weathered a dramatic swing in business demand courtesy the recession in the US and now the uncertainty in Europe. In an exclusive interview to CNBC\'s Christine Tan, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji spoke on how the company has been able to weather the storm.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:19 pm RBI allows currency options trading for residentsIn order to increase the menu of hedging tools, the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India have finally come out with the much awaited guidelines on currency options.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:18 pm Partners to invest $58m in Qualcomm India JVQualcomm said on Friday Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecomwould each invest USD 28.86 million for the 13% stake that each would take in its India broadband venture.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 3:10 pm V Vaidyanathan quits as MD CEO of ICICI PruIn yet another high profile exit from the ICICI group, V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has quit. He will be joining Kishore Biyani\'s Future Group.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:51 pm RBI imposes Rs 5 lakh penalty on StanChart, ICICI BankThe Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each on two of India\'s leading private banks, Standard Chartered Bank and ICICI Bank.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 1:29 pm ICICI Bank, StanChart penalised for violation of banking norms - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:45 pm Saffron Asset Advisors to merge with IIMLReal estate private equity fund, Saffron Asset Advisors, is likely to merge with ILFS Investment Managers (IIML). It is being learnt that the merger is to take place between the Mauritius entities.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:43 pm Alembic Q1 profit down 6% to Rs 11.48 crore - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:30 pm SEBI allows currency options in stock exchanges - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:26 pm Heavy rains forecast for next two months - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:14 pm W.House: Europe crisis "stunted" U.S., world growthThe White House blamed the second quarter slowdown in U.S. economic growth reported on Friday on "headwinds," including the debt crisis in Europe.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:09 pm W.House: Europe crisis "stunted" U.S., world growthWASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The White House blamed the second quarter slowdown in U.S. economic growth reported on Friday on "headwinds," including the debt crisis in Europe.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:09 pm Imports slow U.S. Q2 growthWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as companies invested heavily in equipment from abroad and the pace of consumer spending eased, raising concerns about the recovery in the rest of 2010.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:04 pm Imports slow U.S. Q2 growthU.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as companies invested heavily in equipment from abroad and the pace of consumer spending eased, raising concerns about the recovery in the rest of 2010.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:04 pm Investor pressure to oust Pru execs waning - sourcesThe pressure on Prudential chief Tidjane Thiam to quit in the wake of the insurer's failed bid for Asian rival AIA has eased, with big investors refusing to put their weight behind an attempt to remove him.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 pm ANALYSIS - FX intervention may be a losing gameLONDON (Reuters) - The adverse effects of currency intervention, as a recent foray by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) shows, may deter governments in major economies from entering into an increasingly losing game.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:58 am ANALYSIS - FX intervention may be a losing gameThe adverse effects of currency intervention, as a recent foray by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) shows, may deter governments in major economies from entering into an increasingly losing game.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:58 am Pakistan in surprise rate rise, cites inflation riskPakistan's central bank unexpectedly increased its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 13 percent on Friday as inflation and fiscal weakness is overshadowing improvement in the current account deficit and economic growth.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:54 am Gallery - Image5 Supporters of the Telangana movement celebrate after Centre’s decision to initiate the process of creating a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh, at Osmania Universaity in Hyderabad, on Thursday. Mahesh Kumar A / AP Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image7 Commonwealth Games Organising Commttee chairman Suresh Kalmadi exchanges MoU documents with NTPC chief R S Sharma in the presence of Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and MoS for power Bharatsinh Solanki in New Delhi on Thursday. NTPC shall be official Power Partner for the XIX Commonwealth Games. Kamal Kishore / PTI Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image6 Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image1 US President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama receives his medal and diploma from the chairman of the Nobel committee Thorbjorn Jagland at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at City Hall in Oslo, on Thursday. Bjorn Sigurdson / AP Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image4 US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama arrive in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony to be held later at Oslo City Hall on Thursday. Heiko Junge / Reuters Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image2 US President Barack Obama signs a book as first lady Michelle Obama looks on during a Nobel Signing Ceremony at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on Thursday. Susan Walsh / AP Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Gallery - Image3 Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg with US President Barack Obama in the Norwegian prime minister’s office in Oslo on Thursday. Hakon Mosvold Larsen / AP Source: Gallery - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am Chevron earnings triple, top Wall St viewNEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil company, posted three-fold profit growth that beat estimates as refinery margins improved, and raised its 2010 oil and gas production growth target to 3 percent.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:43 am India to set up $10-bn infrastructure debt fundBangalore, July 30 (IANS) India plans to set up a $10-billion infrastructure debt fund for long-term financing infrastructure projects across the country, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said late Friday.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:36 am Goldman employees still enamored with firm, CEOGoldman Sachs Group Inc is the bank many Americans love to hate, but one group just plain loves it: its employees.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:35 am Goldman employees still enamored with firm, CEONEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc is the bank many Americans love to hate, but one group just plain loves it: its employees.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:35 am Tata Chem Q1 net jumps 5-fold; to enter customised fertiliser biz - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:34 am Rel Power Q1 FY 11 net profit at Rs 195.40-croreMumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) Anil Ambani Group's Reliance Power has posted a net profit in the quarter ended June 30 at Rs 195.40 crore as against Rs 263.31 crore in the year ago-period.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:33 am Bharti Airtel appoints Andre Beyers as CMO for African opsTelecom major Bharti Airtel today announced the appointment of Andre Beyers as the Chief Marketing Officer for its African operations.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:32 am RInfra Q1 net grows 6 pc to 375.29 crMumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Infrastructure today said it clocked six per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 375.29 crore in the April-June quarter thsi fiscal.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:32 am Asians more likely to buy gold in next 6 monthsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian investors are more likely to buy gold in the next six months than their North American and European counterparts, a global survey found.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:31 am Asians more likely to buy gold in next 6 monthsAsian investors are more likely to buy gold in the next six months than their North American and European counterparts, a global survey found.Source: Latest Business News | World Business Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:31 am For now, cashless medical treatments are back - Hindustan Times
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:28 am Biometric ID of LPG, kerosene buyers to be linked to UIDAI - Financial Express
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:27 am China oil spill could be as high as 60,000 tonnes - GreenpeaceBEIJING (Reuters) - As many as 60,000 tonnes of heavy crude oil could have been spilled into China's northeast coastal waters as a result of an explosion that rocked the port of Dalian on July 16, Greenpeace said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:26 am Q2 to be challenging for insurance biz: Aditya Birla Nuvo - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:25 am Asians more likely to buy gold in next 6 monthsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian investors are more likely to buy gold in the next six months than their North American and European counterparts, a global survey found.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:15 am Which is the best IPO method?The flaws of the book- building mechanism, which gives the underwriter substantial discretion over allocations in an initial public offer (IPO), are well known. That is why the suggestion often is that issuers are best served by using an auction method instead. Auctions are relatively more transparent, giving little discretion to the auction administrator, and are consequently less subject to manipulation and abuse. Yet, many countries have tried the auction method and abandoned it. The usual reason given is that lobbying by investment bankers has scuttled the adoption of the auction method, because they benefit by charging higher benefits or by granting favoured allocations to their cronies. The researchers examine the arguments for and against the book-building method and why the auction method has not been universally adopted. Incidentally, while in India we continue to talk about our IPO method being one of book building, the authors say that, “Although India still labels its method book building, the method is now a uniform price auction, with no allocation discretion.” That’s because underwriters no longer have power over allocation, which are required to be proportionate to bids. In true book building, the authors argue, “the offering price is set only after the order book is full, giving the underwriter some idea of demand. The underwriter has substantial discretion over allocations, with those customers who helped in pricing the issue and those with long term relationships with the underwriter getting more favourable treatment.” After conducting a study of IPO practices in 50 countries the researchers find that while the book-building method that was once rare outside the US is now common, auction methods have been tried in 25 countries, but are rare today. Moreover, the auction method has been tried for issues of all sizes and the auction methods too have varied. Yet, says the paper, “the outcomes have been surprisingly consistent: When issuers have been given a choice, they have generally chosen not to use auctions once they became familiar with the method. In this sense, IPO auctions have consistently failed the market test.” Book building is gaining in popularity or is already the dominant method in more than 40 of the countries, while fixed-price public offers are still used in smaller countries and for smaller offerings. In fixed-price public offers, the price and allocation rules are set before information on demand is received, and shares are allocated according to the rules announced earlier. Why did the auction method not succeed? The researchers say they did not find support for the common explanations offered for the unpopularity of IPO auctions in the US—that issuers were reluctant to use a new, experimental method, or that underwriters pressured issuers to use a method for which they charged higher fees or were able to allocate underpriced shares. They also said there is little support for the popular view that auctions lead to highly accurate pricing and, hence, to a low mean and variance of initial returns. In India, for example, they point to a paper by A. Bubna and N.R. Prabhala which found that “when underwriters control allocations, bookbuilding is associated with lesser underpricing, but this effect quickly dissipates when regulations withdraw allocation powers.” Why, then, is the auction method not used? The authors say that auctions are a very complex mechanism and even sophisticated investors have difficulty in getting prices right in an auction. In sum, “optimal auction bidding strategies are complicated, requiring sophistication and discipline, and mistakes by some impose costs on all bidders. Without some way to screen out ‘free riders’ and ensure the participation of sophisticated, long term investors, IPO auctions are highly risky for both issuers and bidders.” The conclusion: the optimal placement method is likely to be different from both traditional book builds, with their lack of transparency and resulting opportunities for potential abuse, and standard sealed bid auctions, with their high risk for both investors and issuers. Write to simplyeconomics@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:13 am Facebook may postpone IPO to 2012Social networking website Facebook Inc may postpone its initial public offering until 2012, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the matter.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:11 am Indian Hotels to raise room rates by SeptOct this yearIndian Hotels Co Ltd, the owner of the Taj luxury chain, plans to raise its room rates by September or October this year, Ajoy Mishra, senior vice president sales marketing, told a news conference on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:11 am Taiwan`s Acer sees India revenue up 25% in 2010Taiwan\'s Acer, the world\'s No. 3 PC brand, sees its India revenue rising 25% this year to Rs 2500 crore (USD 539 million) on increase in demand, its India head said on Friday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:10 am RBI fines StanChart, ICICI BankStandard Chartered was penalised for not furnishing within the stipulated time information on a foreign currency loan facility arranged by the bank for an offshore special purpose vehicle, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:09 am BP to try "static kill" on Gulf well TuesdayBILOXI, Miss. (Reuters) - BP Plc will attempt on Tuesday a planned "static kill" operation to seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well, and hopes to have a relief well finished by the end of August, incoming company CEO Bob Dudley said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:07 am The Lounge Show for 31 July 2010On this week’s show: Indian Ocean talks about their new album, Sanjukta Sharma reviews Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, artists from around the world come together in New Delhi for a residential art program, CEOs sing for charity, Lounge looks at the rehearsals for the Indian International Salsa Congress, and a new chain of salons that offer high-end services at low costs. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:07 am Karnataka Bank Q1 net profit up 16 pcMangalore-based Karnataka Bank today reported a growth of 16.03 per cent in its net profit at Rs 46.48 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 11:06 am The Week in ReviewIndia’s monetary policy went through a greater-than-expected tightening this week. On Tuesday the RBI increased its policy rates as part of its efforts to control inflation. Along expected lines was the hike in the repo rate by 25% to 5.75%. The surprise was the reverse repo, which was increased by 50 basis points to 4.50%. The repo is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks, while the reverse repo is the rate at which banks park their excess cash with the RBI. Fortis Healthcare admitted defeat the battle to control Singapore-based hospital chain Parkway. On Monday it announced it was withdrawing from its bidding war with Malaysia’s Khazanah. The move came after Khazanah offered to buy all of Parkway for a new high price of S$3.95 per share. Earlier Fortis had offered to buy every Parkway share at S$3.80. Unwilling to match that bid, Fortis will now sell its 25% stake in Parkway for a profit of about S$116 million. Fortis chairman Malvinder Singh now says he’s hunting for other acquisitions in Asia armed with about US $900 million dollars in cash and a strong line of credit. In other news from the week, the government plans to make it easier to re-finance power projects. It’s looking at setting up a Rs50,000 crore debt fund that can raise long-term money more cheaply. At the heart of the proposed fund will be so-called take-out financing, which is expected to encourage long-term lending. The take-out system allows financial institutions like IIFCL buy an existing loan off the books of a bank. Reliance Industries posted record profits on Tuesday. Net profit for India’s biggest company rose 32% to more than $4,851 crore. Revenues did even better, shooting up eighty-five percent to nearly sixty thousand. RIL’s profits were boosted by its oil and gas business. The company’s gross refining margins recovered to $7.30 a barrel in the first quarter. In 2009’s first quarter, those margins were at $6.80 per barrel. While RIL’s profits are looking up, some brokerages are downgrading shares of the company. They predict a fall of Rs20-39 from their initial projections of the company’s target price. The downgrade has been prompted by delays in ramping up gas output from RIL’s KG basin fields. BlackBerry users watch out. The home ministry is once again threatening to shut down services for the smart phone. It says BlackBerrys are a potential security risk because the company RIM is not sharing information about its users. At present, Indian intelligence agencies cannot decrypt data sent on BlackBerrys. India has more than 400,000 BlackBerry users. RIM has partnered with Indian telecom operators to increase local services. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:55 am RBI OKs currency options trading on exchangesMUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India said on Friday it has decided to allow trading in currency options on spot U.S. dollar-rupee on stock exchanges.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:49 am A hairy taleRecycled as expensive wigs for the West or sold for use as raw material for the chemical industry, India’s human hair trade has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry. At least three types of hair are harvested in India: temple hair, village hair and barber hair. Given the mass numbers of faithful Hindus, temple hair is the most abundant source available. Each year, thousands of worshippers make pilgrimages to temples where their hair is cut as an act of religious offering or thanksgiving. This custom is lucrative and temples designate women to ensure that the pilgrims’ hair is braided properly before it’s cut. By having the hair cuticles face the same direction, temples are able to sell the locks to wig makers for big money. The Balaji temple in Tirupati collects tons of hair each week, generating an estimated annual income upwards of a couple of ten thousand dollars. Click here To view a slideshow on the human hair trade Click here To see a video on the human hair trade by Adrian Fisk Village hair is regarded as lower quality than temple hair because it’s derived from women’s hair combs. The hair is collected monthly by a “hacker”, who then sells it to hair-processing factories. The women exchange the hair for sweets, plastic toys and bindis. Barber hair, or thuku as it is known, comes from the sweepings off the floor at barbershops. Once collected, cut, cleaned and sorted, it is exported for different end uses. The bulk of the hair trade is for wigs and hairpieces. Indian hair is renowned for its quality. It is generally 30-70cm long and is bought raw for $2-5 (Rs93-233) a kilo by buyers from hair-processing factories at hair auctions held by the temple authorities. Once processed, it’s sold to wig makers for around $40 per kg. Hair is used for a multitude of purposes. Men’s temple hair is used for jacket linings, cosmetic brushes and is also interwoven with other fabrics to make suits. Lower-quality barber hair is converted into amino acids which, in turn, are used in food and medicine. The hair goes through different cleaning processes depending on how it will be used. Temple hair is soaked overnight in caustic soda and shampoo, rinsed clean the next morning and put in the sun to dry. Then in designated “combing rooms”, large groups of women take bunches of hair and thrash them repeatedly against upward-facing spikes. By repeatedly doing this, the worker is left with a bundle of hair of the same length, with the shorter strands left on the metal spikes. It is then tied with a cord to make thick bunches and the ends are cut to precise lengths. The hair is then ready for export. Village hair, which is also used for wig making, goes through the same process apart from the fact that immediately after collection, hackers rub it in dirt to increase its weight and hence the value. Thus, when it comes to cleaning, the workers have the laborious task of using a metal spike to undo the knots and shake the dust out. Low-quality barber hair arrives in big piles. It is sifted carefully by hand to remove debris such as razors. It is then put into a large machine and chopped into little pieces to be sold and converted into amino acids. Workers employed in the hair trade are predominantly women. Protective clothing is non-existent—not even gloves for workers who remove razors from barber hair. Women cover their mouths with their saris to avoid inhaling hair dust belched out by hair-chopping machines. Children are also used as labourers, often at the first stage of cleaning when a child’s small nimble fingers are good at untangling knots. Adrian Fisk is a British photographer who has been living and working in India since 2003. His work has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Financial Times, Vanity Fair and The Economist. In 2007, he was identified as one of “The World’s Top Photographers” in a book published by RotoVision. feedback@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:47 am Jubilant Foodworks net up 346%The country’s largest multinational food service brand Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd on Friday reported a 346 per cent jump in net profit for the April-June quarter at Rs 15 crore.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:36 am Mobile power grows in rural India with new appsNot long ago, the very idea of a remote rural citizen — be it a farmer or a worker — sporting a mobile phone was a novelty. Things have come a long way now, with companies offering innovative, empowering content products aimed at revolutionising the countryside.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:33 am ‘Affluence to aid card spending’Aiming a high growth in the credit card business, Shailesh Baidwan, CEO, American Express India, is eyeing to grow faster than the Indian market. He spoke to HT on various issues.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:31 am Brain Drain 2.0: Expat executives gain ground at India Inc, with curry & worriesThis is brain drain of a different kind. Time was when Indians went overseas seeking plum jobs. Now, the trend is for Indian companies to hire expatriate talent in senior management jobs as local companies try to get global competitive edge with brain power.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:29 am Six ideas for laid-back livingCue up the colour: The happy colours in this Florida, US, living room  Photographs by Michael Partenio; Styled by Stacy Kunstel Bring the outdoors in: The two-tone sofa, with raffia fabric (made of African palm leaves), is Mickley’s take on outdoor furniture. “It makes you think of a wicker chair with cushions without looking—and feeling—like something that belongs on a patio,” he says. Let it breathe: Wooden accent chairs, slender lamps and curtain-free  Keep it real: “A room should function for the way you live,” Mickley says. Rather than hide the TV, he hung it front and centre, then decorated around it. He centred an oversize, woven, round coffee table so that it would be accessible from both the sofa and chairs. Don’t be too predictable: Nothing looks more serious than a room in which everything matches. Here, smooth wood and rough woven surfaces break up any monotony. The painted end table in the far corner is another change. Mickley likes to add something fun and unexpected, such as the vintage rope-wrapped chairs. “It doesn’t have to be anything expensive—just something that says ‘I don’t really belong here but, wow, I look great anyway,’” Mickley says. Make things movable: Think of baskets as cabinets-on-the-go. They do the obvious (store the stuff), but they also make it easy to tote board games to the patio or magazines and books to wherever you feel like flopping down. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:29 am SKS Micro, EIL issues get good responseThe initial public offering (IPO) of SKS Microfinance witnessed a subscription of 10.51 times on Friday. The IPO closed for subscription for the qualified institutional buyers (QIB) on Friday but is open till August 2 for retail and high net worth investors.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:26 am Will SKS redefine governance standards?You can either love Ashok Jhunjhunwala or hate him, but you cannot ignore him. Depending on whom you are listening to, the professor either is the man who holds the keys to the salvation of indigenous, low-cost technology or the one responsible for its damnation (for the record, this writer believes he is the former). The recent debate about the initial share sale of SKS Microfinance—in this paper (see Monika Halan’s insightful column on it at www.livemint.com/sksmicrofinance.htm; the then work-in-progress initial public offering was also the subject of an earlier column by this writer) and elsewhere—reminded me of Jhunjhunwala, and, more specifically, a meeting with him many years ago. The meeting had happened at his small flat, inside the verdant campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. It was a Sunday morning and this writer’s arrival in the quiet corner that housed the professor’s house had startled a spotted deer that had been grazing on a grassy embankment nearby (it was a stag, antlers and all). Up a flight of stairs, inside the flat, Jhunjhunwala and this writer discussed, sitting cross-legged on mattresses in the living room— the only furniture around— low-cost technology and how it could be made more inclusive (inclusion was just beginning to become a buzzword). “Charity isn’t a sustainable business model,” the professor had said. I agreed with him then and I agree with him now, which probably indicates where I stand in the whole for-profit or not-for-profit debate that is being played out around SKS. Which means—and this is possibly a red flag for liberals of all hues—that I do not agree with Mohammed Yunus. Enough has been said about the advantages and disadvantages of being a public company, the biggest among the former being access to low-cost funds and that among the latter, an unhealthy obsession with profits. Without getting into the positives, it is clear to this writer that SKS should succeed simply because this will benefit the ranks of the unbanked; it has already reached a scale, in terms of reaching out to people who previously had no access to credit, that no Indian bank, including state-owned ones have. And without getting into the negatives, it is equally clear to this writer that SKS should, just like it redefined the business of microfinance in India, also set new standards in terms of how companies are managed and governed. SKS’ IPO filings are transparent—most companies’ are—but they shed no light on the quality of management and governance. On paper at least, SKS has a good board but a true measure of its performance, as well as that of the company’s management’s, will come only after a few quarters. By then, the company would have undergone the regulatory and media scrutiny that all high-profile public companies go through. For our part, we will cover SKS much like we would cover any large public company—which means we won’t cut it any slack for being a microfinance company that is, essentially, improving lives. Then, nor will we criticize it for focusing on profits or profitability. Write to acuteangle@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:18 am Film Review | Those groovy SeventiesIn pulp fiction, few characters can parallel the benevolent don. He is an outlaw, rebel, smuggler and killer. But he has heart. Ghettoized men and women admire him and depend on him for cash and protection. In public consciousness and criminal lore, he swims in apocryphal waters—and is difficult to hate outright. In Milan Luthria’s Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn) is one such don. He arrives in Mumbai as an adolescent runaway from Tamil Nadu, slogs at the docks, which earns him some money, and goes on to rule over a smuggling fiefdom—smuggling, mostly gold, watches and transistors. The film has a disclaimer right at the beginning denying the maker’s earlier claims that Sultan Mirza is a celluloid version of Haji Mastan—the reformed smuggler who became a politician—in order to appease Mastan’s family who took producer Balaji to court. The disclaimer speaks volumes. Sultan is, of course, Haji Mastan whose life is the stuff of Mumbai underworld annals, and therefore public knowledge. The other man in this drama is the petty thief and son of a police constable from Dongri, Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi), who cockily challenges policemen when he is a toddler, falls in love with the power that oozes from a gun—and with a pretty and docile jewellery salesgirl played by Prachi Desai. He becomes Sultan’s kingpin. Sultan is in love with Rehana (Kangna Ranaut), the quintessential 1970s gun moll. She is a Hindi film star who becomes Sultan’s lover. The story is narrated in flashback by Agnel (Randeep Hooda), a steely cop who, while taking on the two men heads on, unintentionally rocked Mumbai’s establishment. The story by Rajat Aroraa (story, screenplay and dialogues) is pretty simple. There are no digressions, layers or intertwining of strands like masterpieces of the gangster genre. The violence is for the weak-hearted. The flunkies are not quirky fringe characters who idolize as well as abhor their bhais. Aroraa focuses on the simple drama of a popular, big-hearted bhai’s fall after his wily and ravenous protégé exploits his trust to adopt ways that Sultan’s conscience does not allow him to do. Shoaib is an unintentionally funny man in the story, his self-obsession and wry humour evident in some great one liners. Sultan divides the city into five parts, and ensures all the city’s smugglers have their domains; Shoaib calls Mumbai Sultan’s Draupadi. The film’s dialogues take the film a notch higher. They have the kind of crackling, street wit reminiscent of those which characterized roles that Amitabh Bachchan played in his early angry young man days. There’s a direct reference to the superstar in one scene when Rehana tells Sultan a film could be made on his life and the young and bright star Amit could play the role: “He has the same eyes that you do.” The throwback to the 1970s is immensely enjoyable. Costumes, such as multicoloured nylon shirts, body-hugging saris and white bell-bottoms, nightclubs shimmering with disco balls and fuchsia wallpapers, and of course, R.D. Burman sounds—the retro groove is tastefully and arduously evoked. An entire love scene is a cute ode to the shirt Dimple Kapadia wore in Bobby. Devgn’s last major role as a mafioso was in Ram Gopal Verma’s spectacularly crafted Company, which was inspired by the story of Dawood and Chhota Rajan. He is a natural in don roles, fitting into Haji’s shoes perfectly. His eyes speak louder than his words, a trick that the actor has often overused. Here it defines the role. Devgn gives the character a groovy swagger and quiet dignity. Hashmi has a tough task on hand. How do you play the role of a man who exists in everybody’s imagination, the most written-about don in India’s underworld history? Hashmi is in character in most parts and plays the role convincingly—lending it the kind of stealthy menace that portraits of Dawood Ibrahim evoke. Ranaut has tried really hard. She has developed acting acumen over the past few years. The character is that of a feisty woman who knows her mind—and Ranaut has grasped her. In most scenes, she is only a doll, Sultan’s arm candy, and her costumes and make-up are more important than what she says. Prachi Desai, who showed promise in Rock On!!, is adept and in character in the few important scenes she has. Luthria is a technically accomplished film-maker. None of his earlier films—he has directed many, including some memorable ones such as Taxi No. 9211—have the stamp of greatness; most of them being formulaic, big-budget films. Here, with good writing and performances, Luthria’s talent for great shot compositions and his control over the medium shows. Some visual flourishes are impressive—the film’s end shot, for example, smacks of Hollywood cool. Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is a fun ride. Don’t expect ingenious gangster opera; but it has the sizzle and glaze of a well-cooked Bollywood masala movie. Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai released in theatres on Friday. sanjukta.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:09 am Book Review | A structural wizard roams free The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: Hachette, 472 pages, Rs595. Jacob de Zoet is a Dutch clerk newly arrived on Dejima, a small artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki. Dejima has been set up as a trading post for the local chapter of the Dutch East India Company, and represents the inward-looking Japanese empire’s one point of contact with the outside world. Jacob, a pastor’s son, has thrown himself into this rough-and-tumble world of trade, business, hardship and intrigue because he needs to set up a career for himself in order to win the hand of Anna, his sweetheart back home. In Dejima, Jacob finds himself quickly having to learn the ways of an unfamiliar world, and to navigate the cliques and power structures both of the Dutch and the Japanese. The first time we see him, he has his nose broken in a scuffle. Soon, he is put to work investigating corruption at the trading post in years gone by. He fears the discovery of the small book of psalms that he has smuggled in (any trace of Christianity is forbidden by the Japanese), tries to scout for opportunities in the private sale of goods, and surprises himself by falling in love with a Japanese girl, possibly because he has so much time on his hands and so little chance to see her.  Unfamiliar world: Dejima, where the book is set. Tiseb/Flickr  David Mitchell. Murdo Macleod/Sceptre/Bloomberg Although the conventions for how dialogue is written in a novel—the quote marks that bracket speech, the little bits of authorial description of how the character is speaking, the breaks away from a conversation to something significant and then back again—are now firmly established, readers will observe how Mitchell loves to tinker with the basic elements of narrative till he has made something distinctive. His novel has more one-sentence paragraphs than any book in recent memory, giving the narration a thrilling speed and dramatic urgency. This is a book with a real love of story—this may be surprising, but very few of the hundreds of novels published every year are actually worthy of this compliment—and one that confirms its writer as the best British novelist of his generation. IN SIX WORDS Original story, craft and narrative art Chandrahas Choudhury is the author of Arzee the Dwarf. Write to lounge@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:07 am Spot Light | The little ‘big’ carReviewer: Prathap Suthan Having spent around two decades in advertising, Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil Worldwide, is known best for his India Shining campaign. Suthan has also worked on brands such as
Rasna, General Motors and Samsung. Campaign The new campaigns for Maruti show Indians in different situations: looking at a rocket, a luxury boat, a tank. But the only question on their minds is, how much mileage does it give? What did you think of the campaign?  Bold: When the idea is strong, small mistakes can be forgiven. Though not superbly made, I’m willing to forgive the slight production glitches, the small detailing errors, and the budgetary lack of gloss in the finish of the ads. When the idea is strong, the audience blurs out the mistakes. You just wait for the killer line to happen, and then you give in to a grin or a guffaw. How does this campaign compare with other Maruti ads? If there’s one brand in India that has consistently been admired for great fuel efficiency, it has been Maruti. I remember the commercial of the sardar kid and his little toy car, plus its regional versions. That ad certainly was about fuel efficiency and no other ad appealed more to Indian middle-class cardiac units. This campaign, I think, is an attempt to garner and own the fuel-efficiency space. While most Indians are yet to catch up with the cosmetic and aesthetic boundaries of automotive design, our mass judgement has always revolved around fuel economy. In a country where fuel prices rise almost every year, reinforcing and building up to being the most lauded brand in that area is great strategy. What should India’s small car brand do to stay relevant? Tata has redefined the market with the Nano, but that does not compromise anything that Maruti stands for. Maruti is more than just an automobile company. In its almost demure first 800cc avatar, the nation found a future. The brand occupies more than just a physical share of the market; it has become part of our psyche. There would be almost no family in India whose story doesn’t keep a page aside for that tiny car. More than anything else, there’s certainly a chunk of the car-buying, Indian middle class who will not truck with any other brand. At some level, there’s aspiration still out there and people will not want to buy the cheapest car in the market. Across most of India, owning a car is still the biggest status symbol, and status symbols can’t be the last rung at the bottom of the ladder. I am sure the leadership of Maruti knows exactly what buttons to press. As told to Gouri Shah. gouri.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:05 am Action replayTristan Donovan’s Replay: The History of Video Games is an exhaustively researched account of the fledgling but extremely popular medium. From its origins in World War-II era research labs to its domination of living rooms, Donovan uncovers the creative and imaginative roots of gaming and game development. The book, he says, is an attempt to move away from a “hardware-centric” conception of games—one which “suggests that games are nothing more than some by-product of hardware engineers and business decisions.” In an email interview, the UK-based writer told us about game design culture, writing games history, and what non-gamers can learn from a video game or two. Edited excerpts: As a gamer, did delving into the medium’s history change your opinion of it significantly? A little bit—I grew up with video games, they were always part of my life just like books and television, and so a lot of the research just reinforced what I knew. But there were some surprises. One was that not all game makers play games. Seems obvious in hindsight but it did surprise me that a significant minority of game developers—including many great ones—don’t play video games. The biggest discovery for me, however, was how influential games were on the adoption of home computers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, people didn’t know what to do with a home computer. They used to talk about storing family recipes or cataloguing stamp collections on them. Even the boss of Atari, which used to make computers, admitted in public he didn’t know what the point of them was. Back then games were the primary reason for owning a computer—although people were reluctant to say it. Without them it’s doubtful computers would have sold in the numbers they did and without those sales it would have taken longer for the price of computers to fall. I’ve no doubt that the mass adoption of computers worldwide would have happened anyway, but I do think it happened that bit earlier thanks to the popularity of video games. Is an increased awareness of this early history something you’d recommend to everyone who’s encountered a video game? I think most avid game players would enjoy learning about the history of the medium. Games by their very nature require more investment from their audience than a movie, which most people could watch fairly effortlessly. Because of this, game players tend to be more personally invested in the medium and more passionate about it. So I think they would find it enjoyable to learn just how far games have come in a few decades. There’s also something exciting about knowing you are a witness to the birth of a new form of entertainment. What do you think non-gamers would take away from your book? I would hope non-gamers would come away with a new understanding and appreciation for the creativity that lies behind video games even if they have no intention of playing them ever. For example, I don’t like poetry, but I would never ever argue that it is not art or it is to be looked down upon because I understand it has something about it that connects with many, many people. I hope Replay could bring non-gamers to a similar viewpoint, where they understand that games are not just vacant silly diversions (although they can be that too) but an emerging art form worthy of respect. I think the focus on the technology of video games has done the medium harm. In the UK, games are still included in the technology sections of newspapers, not in the arts, entertainment or culture sections. That’s a mistake. It’s like looking at a painting and only seeing the types of paint used rather than the actual picture that paint has produced. How well documented is the early history of the medium? Did the fact that games are a true “digital” medium make uncovering their history easier? Prior to the 1980s, the information is quite patchy. Games only became commercially available at the start of the 1970s and the games were simple—mostly copies of the bat and ball game Pong. It must have been hard in 1975 to imagine that games could evolve into the medium we see today when your experience of video games has been knocking a ball back and forth on a black and white TV screen for hours on end. So people thought it was a novelty or fad and wasn’t worth much attention. In the past 15 years, there has been a real effort by historians, particular amateur historians, to save the information that existed at that time from rubbish bins. A lot has been lost, including some historically significant games that were deleted from computers because people thought it was just a waste of memory space and details about the arcade games being made in the Soviet Union during the 1980s. But these people did make the job of tracking down information much, much easier and I owe them a debt. That said, there were many gaps. There was little information available on the first coin-operated video game, Galaxy Game, for example. As a result, a lot of people have ended up believing that a game co-created by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell called Computer Space was the first. Other gaps included information on the early years of the video-game industry in Europe, especially outside the UK. France, for example, had a distinctive game-design culture of its own in the 1980s but it took a lot of digging to find out anything about it in French, let alone in English. What was helpful in finding some of this missing information is that video games are still relatively new. Many of the early pioneers are still alive and it was possible to track them down and get information first-hand from them. That’s one of the reasons I think it was important to do this book now. Do you think there’s a peculiar combination of circumstances that create a vibrant game-design culture? India, for example, has a huge number of gamers but little local game development. The lack of game development in India is surprising. India already has many of the ingredients. It clearly has the creative talent and technological expertise needed, as demonstrated by its film and IT industries. It also has a large domestic audience with access to platforms needed to play games. One of India’s big problems is the high levels of piracy, but it isn’t insurmountable. South Korean game designers, for example, tackled their country’s piracy problem by focusing on making online multiplayer games. Since pirates would need a server to run these games, there’s little incentive to copy them. On top of that, many of these games are free to play and companies make their money from advertising or selling in-game items that enhance the experience to loyal players. It’s a model that has worked well, and since it emerged in the late 1990s it has spread throughout the world. Bonus question: Would ‘Replay’ work as a video game? That’s an interesting idea! I don’t think games are great for getting across factual information in a linear way; players need choices to make or an ability to influence what is happening in order to enjoy the experience. If you are just trying to tell them a series of facts, it’s hard to give them that choice or influence. But what might work is to have a game where you ran a game company and had to try and keep it going throughout the history of games. That way the player would have influence but you might be able to get across some of the key ideas and moments from game history as you went along krish.r@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:05 am Tata chem profit zoomsTata Chemicals on Friday announced a 406 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 at Rs 215 crore as against Rs 43 crore in the year-ago period.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 10:03 am Adani Power starts third unit of power plant at MundraAdani Power has commenced the third unit of power plant at Mundra, another 330 MW go on stream. In an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18, Ravi Sharma, CEO, Adani Power, gives more details.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:56 am Potrait of a legendOf the many events being planned to commemorate the birth centenary of Mother Teresa, her exhibition of paintings is touched by rare intimacy, says Sunita Kumar, a painter, who has had a long association with the Missionaries of Charity. The prestigious Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London had a one-day show of Mother Teresa paintings by M.F. Husain and Kumar on 30 June, and the exhibition is scheduled to open in Kolkata in November. Plans are also being made to take the exhibition to Hong Kong and Singapore.  Lines: A Husain work in the show. As a long-time companion of Mother Teresa, a relationship which began over three decades before the Nobel laureate’s death, Kumar enjoyed special status, being her official biographer, a spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity and the person chosen to announce the news of Mother Teresa’s death to the world on 5 September 1997. I got the urge to paint her when I found Mother seriously ill, two years before her eventual death,” says the trained artist and wife of tennis player and former Indian Davis Cup captain Naresh Kumar. “Mother would comment but never criticize my paintings,” the 68-year-old painter says over the phone from London. The nun wished to have children from the orphanages represented in the paintings. The 20 paintings Kumar exhibited at V&P. A included paintings of “Mother’s children”—orphans and abandoned children in her homes, people suffering from leprosy, and even nuns and sisters of her order. Unlike the foreboding undertone present in the work of Husain, who was introduced to Mother Teresa in the late 1970s by Kumar, the latter’s paintings have an unfussy, life-affirming spirit. Having been privy to “the simplistic way of life in the Missionaries of Charity, where nuns used to be taken on an annual picnic to the Tollygunge Club lawns”, Kumar has attempted a similar, unambiguous treatment in her paintings. Various stages and moments from Mother Teresa’s life have been given an artistic interpretation, starting with the Kolkata-Darjeeling train journey in 1946 during which she is said to have found her calling— working for the needy. “I got married when I was only 18, but instead of being a housewife I did voluntary work at the Missionaries of Charity,” recounts Kumar. “It was around then that I met Mother and when she shook my hand, it did something to me.” The painting exhibition, initiated by Husain and implemented by Kumar, is a homage. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:56 am Raghuram Rajan | The problem of inequality in India is worryingNew Delhi: Raghuram Rajan, former International Monetary Fund chief economist and currently professor of finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, is known for his candid views. Rajan was in the Capital ahead of the launch of the Indian edition of his latest book, Fault Lines. He spoke to Mint about his book and other issues. Edited excerpts: What inspired the book? It all started when I was thinking what new I could say about the crisis. Why do checks and balances break down? That is when I realized that this is part of a bigger problem in the US. In some sense the US is a metaphor for industrialized countries. The issues there are those that countries could identify as their own; inequality for one. Inequality is a problem because when people don’t stand at the same level in the long run and see very different opportunities, then their attitudes towards reforms are very different. So ultimately, the destruction of a society is when you have extreme levels of inequality and you don’t have an agreement on anything. I think in the US there has been creeping inequality for reasons I document in the book—different access to education. What about emerging markets?  Unprepared: India will not be able to survive if hit by a crisis similar to the one that hit the US, says Rajan. Priyanka Parashar/Mint What I worry about India, however, is the problem of inequality. The rural areas, in many ways, are falling behind because they are not connected to the urban and coastal areas. Many of the ones that are backward do not have access to education, healthcare. It is very much a thing that the US has; so, in that sense, while 8-10% growth is fantastic, we also need to figure out how to expand opportunities for those being left behind. Are the Indian social safety nets sufficient? There is no substitute for giving people the capabilities to be productive workers. We are not a rich country. How much redistribution can we afford? Which means schools, healthcare, some level of insurance, financing, access to markets; roads that connect them to bigger markets; railway and transport lines. In a sense you have to move the vibrant economy into interior parts of India. So, I would say that many of these schemes are palliatives to keep the pressure down before they explode. I think they are necessary, but you can’t let palliatives overcome what is essential—creating those capabilities. There are ways, but they are enveloped in the old ways of socialist thinking, which I think is holding us back in tremendous ways. But this will take time, while aspirations have taken flight. So will people have the patience to wait? They won’t. This is why governance is difficult. I can sit here and preach, but somewhere out there someone has to balance it. While they are acquiring those capabilities, you have to allow them to live. Which is why targeted subsidies are fine. But time is short? This is where the politics comes in. The dangerous political path is to say we can protect you from all problems. If petrol prices go up, we will buffer them; if food prices go up, we will buffer those. Ultimately, food prices going up is telling you something and you need to respect that. The broader issue is that you can draw a social safety net for the poorest of the poor and this is where targeting is important. Targeting through UID (the government’s unique identity programme) could reduce leakages appropriately. I think we also need a mindset, which says that we cannot afford to go beyond this. Beyond that, the only way forward is to create capabilities. We have to some extent be careful about promising too many rights that we can’t deliver upon in an effective way or deliver in a distortionary way. Your book talks about how foreign investments, while important, hold the threat of collateral damage. Doesn’t this pose a serious challenge to public policy in a country such as India? That is why the Reserve Bank of India’s task is complicated at this point. On the one hand, these flows can be and need to be used. We are running a current account deficit—our savings are less than our investments. This is not necessarily a bad thing at our stage of growth..., but (we) also (need to be) improving the quality of the financial system to ensure that it can allocate these resources coming from outside appropriately. A key to this is the resolution of distress, where we are still inadequate. What if a firm goes bust? Even when the new Companies Act, which has a bankruptcy system in place, is passed, we have to ensure they are implemented properly by the courts. But if we can’t reallocate resources from entities that are failing or products that are failing, we are going to have very high costs of using this money...the plumbing of the system so to speak (has to be fixed). We can gloat for all we want (that) we bypassed the crisis…, but at the same time we must recognize that if a crisis of that magnitude hit our system, would we survive as well as the US system has? My sense is that, probably not. Because we don’t have the resolution mechanisms for deep distress and we haven’t tested our existing systems…we haven’t been tested. Till such time we can’t be complacent. Is the worst behind the global economy? I would stick my neck out and argue that we are on the recovery path of the global economy. I think we will have weakness in the second half of the year, but to go back to strong negative growth—I can’t see what will compel that. What about China? It is a big question mark, more because of the medium-term pattern of growth. Obviously, people are worried about the credit boom; they will have some problems there. But the big question is whether the inequality question that is building up will create an implosion at some point or whether it will somehow be managed away. I think the jury is out on that. The fixes you are proposing in your book for the US as well as India will take time. For a politician, this is an uncomfortable reality. I am saying that there are no magic bullets. Let us start with that. Everybody is looking for a quick and dirty answer. In fact, the whole search for the magic bullet is part of the problem. We thought we could deal with the problem through monetary or fiscal policy and find that doesn’t work. Once you accept this, then you realize you have to work for the long haul. What about the short term? I think the answer there is precisely the one India has given, which is you have to paper over the problems in the short term without doing long-term damage. Going by what you say, politicians the world over are facing their most compelling challenge ever. It’s a fair point. Politicians understand that long-term solutions are hard and so across the world they have focused on short-term solutions. Take China, for example. Its entire effort during the crisis has been to revitalize its exports without focusing on the fact that changing the pattern of growth is also important. Why? Because politicians know that one is a tried and tested path. Why go down the untested path right now? In the US, the Fed (the Federal Reserve) is on hold because monetary policy is a low-cost way of trying to get the economy back on a growth path. No matter if there are old problems—we are creating a bubble economy—we can live with that so long as the economy is back to where it was because then the jobs will be back and the politicians are back. To my sense, you are absolutely right and that is the central problem: the fixes every country has are very short-term, which ensures that the deeper fault lines are never addressed. anil.p@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:50 am Reliance Infra returns to profit; net up 6%Leading infrastructure company, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd has posted a 6 per cent increase in its net profit in the first quarter of 2010-11.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:46 am Indian Hotels Q1 profit dipsIndian Hotels Company registered a significant drop in standalone net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. The company’s net profit dipped 79.7 per cent to Rs 3 crore during the quarter from Rs 16 crore in the same quarter last year.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top business News Headlines | 30 Jul 2010 | 9:45 am Indian Hotels to raise room rates this year - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 8:50 am Monsoon seen 107% of normal in Aug-SepNew Delhi: India’s monsoon rains, crucial for the farm-dependent economy, are likely to be 107% of normal in the remaining two months of the June-September season, the weather office said, raising expectations of strong growth in farm output. The La Nina weather phenomenon, which increases precipitation in south Asia, will boost rainfall, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement on Friday. “The latest model forecasts from a majority of the dynamical and statistical models indicate very high probability (about 80%) for the La Nina conditions to continue during the remaining part of the monsoon season,” it said. A normal monsoon, after last year’s driest season in nearly four decades, will help Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government to tame widely watched headline inflation, which surged to 10.55% in June, holding in double digits for the fifth straight month. Monsoon surged in the past week to deliver its highest weekly rainfall this season, raising hopes of strong harvests in the world’s leading consumer of rice, cooking oils and sugar. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 6:31 am Markets up for 2nd month; lag other Bric peersMumbai: Indian shares rose for the second straight month in July after ending 0.7% lower on Friday, but underperformed emerging market peers in the month, as the central bank’s key rates hike and mixed earnings limited gains. India’s main stock index rose 0.9% in July, but underperformed China’s Shanghai Composite Index, Brazil’s Bovespa and Russia’s RTS Index, which gained between 9.9 and 10.6% so far this month. “For this month, we really had nothing much to cheer about,” said Prakash Diwan, head of institutional business at Networth Stock Broking. “High inflation, two consecutive interest rate hikes, mixed corporate results, all contributed to the underperformance of our market this month.” Diwan expects Indian market to be volatile in August due to uncertainty in the global markets. But, for the year to date, the Indian benchmark has outsmarted its rivals other than Russia by notching a 2.3% gain. Its peers in China and Brazil shed 19.5% and 2.4% respectively while the Russian benchmark gained 2.5%. Foreign funds have poured in $9.3 billion in Indian stocks in the year to 28 July after a record $17.5 billion in 2009. The 30-share BSE index closed 0.69% or 123.71 points lower on Friday at 17,868.29, with 22 of its components closing in the red. The 50-share NSE index closed 0.8% lower at 5,367.60 points. The benchmark eased, in line with weak world equities, and on disappointing quarterly earnings from Oil & Natural Gas Corp and Hero Honda. Top motorcycle maker Hero Honda shed nearly 3% to Rs1,815.40 after it posted a 1.6% drop in quarterly net profit, its first decline in 11 quarters, and analysts said margins would remain under pressure in the current quarter as well. JPMorgan cut its share price target for the stock to Rs1,845 by next March from Rs1,915. “Some of the key earnings are disappointing the market. After Maruti, people were expecting Hero Honda to follow suit and that was the case,” said Diwan. State-controlled explorer ONGC closed barely changed after dropping as much as 1.7% as it reported a more-than-expected 24.5% drop in quarterly profit, as a rise in crude oil prices meant it had to make higher subsidy payouts. Outsourcers contributed the most to the main index’s losses on gloomy outlook by U.S. tech majors and as Federal Reserve official’s downbeat comments raised concerns over the speed of economic recovery in the world’s largest economy. Top outsourcer Tata Consultancy dropped 1%, while smaller rivals Infosys and Wipro shed 1.6% and 1.2% respectively. In the broader market, declining shares outnumbered gainers in the ratio of 1.2:1. A total of 367 million shares changed hands on the BSE. STOCKS ABB Ltd, a unit of Swiss engineering group ABB, fell 4.1% to Rs812.05 as it posted a 54% fall in quarterly net profit on certain exit costs in some projects and increasing pricing pressure in the market. Hindustan Construction Company climbed 3.8% to Rs133.70 as the construction and civil engineering firm posted a 56-percent rise in quarterly net profit and also declared a 1:1 bonus share issue, sending its shares up as much as 8.3%. Real estate firm Omaxe jumped 6.6% to 117.85 rupees on a 38.7% rise in quarterly profit. Titagarh Wagons rose 2.3% to Rs409.40 after its April-June net profit jumped 84%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:46 am Emami sees profits rising 38% in FY11Mumbai: Personal care products maker Emami is targetting a 38% rise in net profit for the current fiscal on the back of robust growth in its flagship brands, a top official said. It expects a profit of Rs235 crore in FY11 on sales of Rs1,300-1,350 crore, Mohan Goenka, director, told Reuters in an interview. It had a consolidated net profit of Rs170 crore on net sales of Rs1,040 crore in FY10. Emami manufactures personal care brands such as ‘Fair and Handsome’, ‘Navratna Oil’, ‘Boroplus’ and ‘Sonachandi Chyawanprash’. However, the firm currently faces a lot of pressure from rising input costs and that will force them to take price increases in the coming months, Goenka said. “This quarter there was a lot of pressure on the input cost side. Our costs have increased by 2-2.5% for the quarter...If the prices don’t come down and continue at the same level then we might take a corrective price increase after 3-4 months,” he added. Key raw material prices such as menthol and LLP (light liquid paraffin) have risen by 25 percent, pressuring margins of the firm, Goenka added. Earlier in the day Emami posted a more than double growth in its June quarter net profit at Rs350 million on net sales of Rs242 crore during the June quarter, which rose by 28%. “The profits jumped mainly because of the reduced interest burden,” Goenka said. Last year in the June quarter the firm had an interest burden of Rs150 million compared to 10 million this year. Emami also has plans to set up two new manufacturing units in Egypt and Bangladesh during this fiscal, he added. “We will manufacture our entire range of products from these units...they will help us expand our base into the neighbouring countries,” Goenka said over the telephone. The plants should be operational by March 2011 or first quarter of the next fiscal, Goenka said. The firm has set aside a capital expenditure of Rs600 million for the current financial year, he said. “Part of it will be used for the two new units. Our regular capex will take about Rs10-15 crore (100-150 million) and then we will use the remaining for setting up some warehouses in the country,” Goenka said. Emami, whose revenue from international business rose 48% in the quarter, expects to aggressively expand its exports, Goenka said. “We are aggressively focusing on the Middle East, Africa. We are already present in Egypt and Bangladesh via our exports from India and now we are setting up manufacturing bases there,” he added.” Goenka said Emami’s international revenues, which last year stood Rs135 crore or 13%, is expected to go upto 15% in FY11. The consumer goods maker is also planning to ramp up its domestic reach by concentrating on ramping up rural distribution. It is investing Rs70-80 million in ‘Swadesh,’ its rural distribution programme, Goenka said. Emami said it plans to launch new products in the haircare space in this fiscal, pricing it at the mass level. Shares of the firm ended up 5.62% at Rs457.05 per share in a weak Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:43 am Qualcomm chooses two Indian partners to incubate TD-LTEGTL and Tulip promoters stand in as Indian partners in Qualcomm's broadband venture.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:37 am Bitter smartphone war seen pinching vendor marginsHelsinki: An increasingly heated battle in the global smartphone market is set to weigh on handset vendors’ profit margins for the rest of the year, analysts said on Friday. All top cellphone vendors including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Research in Motion are rolling out new smartphone models for the holiday sales-fuelled fourth quarter. “The smartphone market is becoming heavily congested as a host of players seek to boost margins. The reality in the second half is set to be very different,” said analyst Geoff Blaber from British consultancy CCS Insight. “The market will swell in volume but price erosion will inevitably result in casualties as value is captured by a minority rather than the majority,” Blaber said. Research firm Strategy Analytics said the ramp-up in supply will drive higher volumes, but this will pressure margins as vendors fight to outsmart rivals. The world’s three largest cellphone makers -- Nokia, Samsung and LG Electronics -- all saw smartphone rivalry hitting their profit margins in the April-June quarter. “Each is in the midst of refreshing its respective product portfolio, with greater emphasis on smartphones during the second half of this year,” said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. “Still, the upward pressure from vendors outside the current top five vendors, particularly Apple and Motorola, will provide tough competition in the quarters to come,” Llamas said. Samsung on Friday warned of weaker margins and profit growth in the second half after reporting telecom unit margins slumped to 7.2% as it boosted marketing spending in the absence of a strong smartphone model. Samsung is making a big bet on its top model Galaxy S, which went on sale last month, while Nokia is counting on its upcoming N8 model to win a larger share of the high-end market. Nokia has said its phone unit margin fell to 9.5% in the second quarter and was likely to slip again this quarter. LG’s phone unit made a loss last quarter and had a negative margin of 3.5%. It has forecast another loss for the business in the current quarter. Market growing again The cellphone market grew in April-June for the third quarter in a row, boosted by demand for low-end models in emerging markets and for high-end phones with touchscreens in mature regions. Growth in the global cellphone market is set to slow slightly to 12% in the July-September quarter, but there are no signs of a major slowdown, Strategy Analytics said. The researcher and CCS Insight both estimated the market grew 13% in the April-June quarter, while IDC saw the growth at 14.5%. Top vendor Nokia said last week the market grew 14% from a year ago. The phone market saw a sharp downturn last year as the recession sapped consumer spending on new gadgets. Canada’s Research in Motion -- which broke into the No. 4 position in the global market in the first quarter -- held on to it, selling 11.2 million Blackberries in the last quarter, just ahead of Sony Ericsson’s 11 million phones. Both firms held roughly 3.6% of the global market. Market shares of the top three changed little in the quarter, with Nokia holding 36%, Strategy Analytics said. Samsung holds 21% of the market and LG 10%. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:07 am Bitter smartphone war seen pinching vendor marginsHelsinki: An increasingly heated battle in the global smartphone market is set to weigh on handset vendors’ profit margins for the rest of the year, analysts said on Friday. All top cellphone vendors including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Research in Motion are rolling out new smartphone models for the holiday sales-fuelled fourth quarter. “The smartphone market is becoming heavily congested as a host of players seek to boost margins. The reality in the second half is set to be very different,” said analyst Geoff Blaber from British consultancy CCS Insight. “The market will swell in volume but price erosion will inevitably result in casualties as value is captured by a minority rather than the majority,” Blaber said. Research firm Strategy Analytics said the ramp-up in supply will drive higher volumes, but this will pressure margins as vendors fight to outsmart rivals. The world’s three largest cellphone makers -- Nokia, Samsung and LG Electronics -- all saw smartphone rivalry hitting their profit margins in the April-June quarter. “Each is in the midst of refreshing its respective product portfolio, with greater emphasis on smartphones during the second half of this year,” said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. “Still, the upward pressure from vendors outside the current top five vendors, particularly Apple and Motorola, will provide tough competition in the quarters to come,” Llamas said. Samsung on Friday warned of weaker margins and profit growth in the second half after reporting telecom unit margins slumped to 7.2% as it boosted marketing spending in the absence of a strong smartphone model. Samsung is making a big bet on its top model Galaxy S, which went on sale last month, while Nokia is counting on its upcoming N8 model to win a larger share of the high-end market. Nokia has said its phone unit margin fell to 9.5% in the second quarter and was likely to slip again this quarter. LG’s phone unit made a loss last quarter and had a negative margin of 3.5%. It has forecast another loss for the business in the current quarter. Market growing again The cellphone market grew in April-June for the third quarter in a row, boosted by demand for low-end models in emerging markets and for high-end phones with touchscreens in mature regions. Growth in the global cellphone market is set to slow slightly to 12% in the July-September quarter, but there are no signs of a major slowdown, Strategy Analytics said. The researcher and CCS Insight both estimated the market grew 13% in the April-June quarter, while IDC saw the growth at 14.5%. Top vendor Nokia said last week the market grew 14% from a year ago. The phone market saw a sharp downturn last year as the recession sapped consumer spending on new gadgets. Canada’s Research in Motion -- which broke into the No. 4 position in the global market in the first quarter -- held on to it, selling 11.2 million Blackberries in the last quarter, just ahead of Sony Ericsson’s 11 million phones. Both firms held roughly 3.6% of the global market. Market shares of the top three changed little in the quarter, with Nokia holding 36%, Strategy Analytics said. Samsung holds 21% of the market and LG 10%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:07 am Bitter smartphone war seen pinching vendor marginsHelsinki: An increasingly heated battle in the global smartphone market is set to weigh on handset vendors’ profit margins for the rest of the year, analysts said on Friday. All top cellphone vendors including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Research in Motion are rolling out new smartphone models for the holiday sales-fuelled fourth quarter. “The smartphone market is becoming heavily congested as a host of players seek to boost margins. The reality in the second half is set to be very different,” said analyst Geoff Blaber from British consultancy CCS Insight. “The market will swell in volume but price erosion will inevitably result in casualties as value is captured by a minority rather than the majority,” Blaber said. Research firm Strategy Analytics said the ramp-up in supply will drive higher volumes, but this will pressure margins as vendors fight to outsmart rivals. The world’s three largest cellphone makers -- Nokia, Samsung and LG Electronics -- all saw smartphone rivalry hitting their profit margins in the April-June quarter. “Each is in the midst of refreshing its respective product portfolio, with greater emphasis on smartphones during the second half of this year,” said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas. “Still, the upward pressure from vendors outside the current top five vendors, particularly Apple and Motorola, will provide tough competition in the quarters to come,” Llamas said. Samsung on Friday warned of weaker margins and profit growth in the second half after reporting telecom unit margins slumped to 7.2% as it boosted marketing spending in the absence of a strong smartphone model. Samsung is making a big bet on its top model Galaxy S, which went on sale last month, while Nokia is counting on its upcoming N8 model to win a larger share of the high-end market. Nokia has said its phone unit margin fell to 9.5% in the second quarter and was likely to slip again this quarter. LG’s phone unit made a loss last quarter and had a negative margin of 3.5%. It has forecast another loss for the business in the current quarter. Market growing again The cellphone market grew in April-June for the third quarter in a row, boosted by demand for low-end models in emerging markets and for high-end phones with touchscreens in mature regions. Growth in the global cellphone market is set to slow slightly to 12% in the July-September quarter, but there are no signs of a major slowdown, Strategy Analytics said. The researcher and CCS Insight both estimated the market grew 13% in the April-June quarter, while IDC saw the growth at 14.5%. Top vendor Nokia said last week the market grew 14% from a year ago. The phone market saw a sharp downturn last year as the recession sapped consumer spending on new gadgets. Canada’s Research in Motion -- which broke into the No. 4 position in the global market in the first quarter -- held on to it, selling 11.2 million Blackberries in the last quarter, just ahead of Sony Ericsson’s 11 million phones. Both firms held roughly 3.6% of the global market. Market shares of the top three changed little in the quarter, with Nokia holding 36%, Strategy Analytics said. Samsung holds 21% of the market and LG 10%. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 5:07 am China overtakes Japan as No.2 economyBeijing: China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, the country’s chief currency regulator said in remarks published on Friday. The economy expanded 11.1% in the first half of 2010, compared with a year earlier, and is likely to log growth of more than 9% for the whole year, according to Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. “China, in fact, is now already the world’s second-largest economy,” he said in an interview posted on his agency’s website, www.safe.gov.cn. Yi said China’s growth rate, which has averaged more than 9.5% a year over the past 30 years, was bound to slow over time. If China could chalk up growth this decade of 7-8% annually, that would still be a strong performance. The issue was whether fast growth can be sustained, he said. If China expands by 5-6% a year in the 2020s, it will have maintained rapid growth for 50 years, which Yi said would be unprecedented in human history. He said expectations of a stronger yuan, also known as the renminbi, had diminished. There was no basis for a sharp rise in the exchange rate, partly because the price level in China had risen steadily over the past decade. “This suggests that the value of the renminbi has moved much closer to equilibrium compared with 10 years ago,” he said in the interview with China Reform magazine. Yi’s remarks carried an echo of a report by the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, which said the Chinese authorities viewed the yuan right now as closer than ever to equilibrium. “At present, there is no basis for big fluctuations in the yuan. We have the conditions to keep a flexible exchange rate mechanism and we can keep the yuan basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level,” he said. Yi’s comments are unlikely to go down well in Washington, where lawmakers have scheduled a hearing for 16 September to consider whether US government action is needed to address China’s exchange rate policy. China scrapped the yuan’s 23-month-old peg to the dollar on 19 June and resumed a managed float. The yuan has since risen only 0.8% against the dollar, and economists calculate that it has fallen in value against a basket of currencies. Beijing had no timetable to make the yuan fully convertible, Yi said: “China is very big and its development is unbalanced, which makes this problem much more complicated. It’s difficult to reach a consensus on it.” In the same vein, he said China was in no rush to turn the yuan into a global currency. “We must be modest and we still have to keep a low profile. If other people choose the yuan as a reserve currency, we won’t stop that as it is the demand of the market. However, we will not push hard to promote it,” he added. China has been encouraging the use of the yuan beyond its borders, allowing more trade to be settled in renminbi and taking a series of measures to establish Hong Kong as an offshore centre where the currency can circulate freely. But Yi said: “Don’t think that since people are talking about it, the yuan is close to becoming a reserve currency. Actually, it’s still far from that.” China would stick to the principle of holding its $2.45 trillion of international reserves in a mix of currencies and assets. The stockpile -- the world’s largest - was so big that it was impossible to adjust its currency composition in a short space of time, he added. “We won’t be particularly bearish on the dollar at a given time or particularly bearish on the euro at another time,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:59 am April-June fiscal deficit at Rs40,196 croreNew Delhi: India’s fiscal deficit for the June quarter stood at Rs40,196 crore ($8.64 billion), or 10.5% of the full-year’s target, mainly due to receipts of about Rs1 trillion from sale of wireless spectrum, government data showed on Friday. In February 2010, the government had forecast a fiscal deficit of Rs3.81 trillion, or 5.5% of gross domestic product for the 2010-11 financial year. The spectacular gains of around 1 trillion rupees from third-generation (3G) wireless spectrum auction, against an estimated Rs35,000 crore, and a jump in corporate tax collection boosted the government receipts in the first quarter of the current fiscal. “The fiscal deficit in the current financial year is expected to fall below 5.5% on account of higher receipts from auction of 3G spectrum and better tax collections,” said N R Bhanumurthy, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a Delhi-based think tank. “However, the government might go for the same level of market borrowings (Rs4.57 trillion) as announced in the budget while spending more on social welfare programmes especially providing food security to people above poverty line as well,” he said. The government has liberally released funds for educational and health ministries, and spent about Rs95,300 crore in June compared with Rs73,800 crore a year ago, government data showed. The fiscal deficit during the first quarter in 2009-10 stood at 31% of the full-year’s revised gross domestic product estimates. “The reduction in fiscal deficit in 2010-11 has been projected on the basis of improvement in tax revenues primarily due to increase in the central value added tax, increase in non-debt capital receipts and reforms in expenditure management,” finance minister Pranab Mukhejee said in a written statement submitted in Parliament on Friday. Tax receipts were Rs83,994 crore and total expenditure was Rs2.42 trillion for the first three months of the current fiscal year. Analysts say despite hike in key policy rates by the central bank, Indian economy could still grow at around 8.5% in 2010-11 compared to 7.4% in the previous fiscal. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:57 am Samsung Elec to introduce Android-based tablet in Q3Global handset vendors and PC makers including Nokia, LG Electronics and Hewlett-Packard Co are moving into the new category of devices, between traditional PCs and smart phones, taking a cue from Apple.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:33 am Gold buying eases; premiums seen inching higherMumbai: India gold buying eased on Friday after a four-day pick-up as traders waited for lower prices to stock for festivals next month, and premiums are expected to inch higher driven by continued lower-level buying, dealers said. “Sales today are in less quantity compared to previous days, I did 25-30 deals, in all 150 kgs between $1,160-1,168 (an ounce) yesterday evening,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. International gold was trading a tad higher at $1,170.25/1,170.90 an ounce at 3:33pm, as against the previous close of $1,168.05/1,169.05. Gold was steady in early European trade as investors awaited US second quarter GDP data to find out more about the health of the world’s largest economy. Dealers said premiums charged on the market price of the yellow metal could inch higher on the back of contiued offtake from the world’s largest consumer of bullion. “It’s a seller’s market now, for 4 buyers there is only one seller, demand-driven premium would be witnessed in coming days,” said Pinakin Vyas, assistant vice-president with IndusInd Bank, a large gold importer. Gold premiums rose to $1.50 an ounce as against $1.10/1.20 in the previous session. Provisionally, India’s imports for July stood at 14-15 tonnes, down from 28.4 tonnes in the year-ago period, but a spurt in demand has raised chances of an upward revision. Indian gold demand is set to pick up for the busy festival season, starting with Raksha Bandhan on 24 August, and extending till Dhanteras in November, the single-biggest gold buying day. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 4:11 am Rupee retreats from 1-month high on weak sharesMumbai: The Indian rupee retreated from fresh one-month highs on Friday afternoon as weak domestic shares weighed on sentiment but the dollar’s defensiveness against major currencies continued underpin sentiment. At 2:10pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.49/50 per dollar, after hitting Rs46.41, its strongest since 30 June and marginally stronger than Thursday’s close of Rs46.53/54. Dealers said losses in domestic shares pulled the rupee off day’s highs. Shares were trading down 0.5% after disappointing earnings from Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Hero Honda Motors, and weak global cues. Traders said some last minute month-end dollar buying from oil refiners and importers was also seen. Oil is India’s largest import and refiners are the biggest buyers of dollars in the local currency market with their demand tending to peak at the end of each month when they make payments. Gains in most other regional peers however supported sentiment. The dollar fell to an eight-month low against the yen on Friday, hurt by selling from Japanese exporters and concerns that US GDP data would add to signs of fading momentum for the US economic recovery. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was little changed and would be watched for cues. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs46.7150, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.5 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2010 | 3:59 am Sony surges after lifting outlook, Q1 profitSony, the world's second-largest camera maker after Canon Inc, reported April-June operating profit of 67 billion yen ($766 million) versus the consensus for a 13 billion yen loss.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 3:30 am Disney sells Miramax for $660mln to investor groupThe sale underscores Disney's plans to focus its film resources on bigger, franchise film properties such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and then exploit them across various platform.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:54 am Indian Oil Corp has no plans to revise petrol prices nowIndia freed petrol prices from government controls, giving state-run firms like IOC, HPCL and BPCL the freedom to fix retail prices for petrol, and raised prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene on June 25.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:12 am Not in talks for Inox, says Reliance MediaWorksReliance MediaWorks and Inox have been slugging it out to buy another multiplex operator, Fame India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:09 am Partners to invest $58 million in Qualcomm India joint ventureThe company is betting that ownership of the airwaves in India will boost sales of advanced cell phones and the chips that power them.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:07 am Mining group Vedanta posts record EBITDA for Q1 of $794 millionProduction of saleable iron ore, its most profitable product in the quarter, jumped 31% from the year-earlier quarter to 6.4 million tonnes.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:06 am Qualcomm sells stake in India unit for $58mln - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2010 | 2:04 am SEBI amends MF regulationsTo bring greater transparency in the fee structure and improve turn-around time for customer service processes, market regulator SEBI has amended four mutual fund regulations and omitted oneSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am New security norms worry telecom gear vendorsExpansion plans of mobile operators could slow down considerably with telecom equipment suppliers raising concerns about the security linked norms announced by the Government on Wednesday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am ONGC net dips 24% on subsidy payoutHigher subsidy payout pulled down ONGC's net profit by 24.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The company's net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 3,661 crore against Rs 4,848 crore in the same quarter last year.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am UltraTech plans Rs 5,600-cr spendUltraTech Cement has reported a 42 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 243 crore for the quarter ended June 30 against Rs 418 crore logged in the same period lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Ashok Leyland acquires 26% in UK's OptareAshok Leyland today announced that it would acquire a 26 per cent stake in Optare plc, a UK-headquartered bus manufacturer, for $7.5 million (Rs 28Source: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am India, UK to double trade in 5 years: PMIndia and the UK are to work towards doubling bilateral trade in five years, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said here onSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Petronet LNG (Rs 94.4): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of Petronet LNG from a short-term perspective. The stock jumped 10 per cent on July 29, conclusively breaking out of its medium-term sideways consolidation range between Rs 76 and Rs 86. With this break through theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Food inflation eases to single digitFood inflation eased to single digits, rising to an annual 9.67 per cent during the week ended July 17, compared with the previous week's year-on-year surge of 12.47 perSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Post Karnataka ban, Centre to go into mining issuesTaking exception to Karnataka Government's ban on iron ore exports, the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, said a Group of Ministers, led by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, will decide on all mining sectorSource: Business Line - Home Page | 30 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am Vodafone, TalkTalk sign tie-up deal: ReportTalkTalk will use Vodafone's network to target its existing broadband customers through low-cost monthly contracts, the report said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Jul 2010 | 11:45 pm Noel Tata moves to a new roleResigns as Trent MD to become non-executive vice-chairman, appointed MD of Tata International.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Jul 2010 | 1:19 pm Top RBI official turns loose cannonCentral bank mandarins are almost always taciturn, mostly withdrawn, reticent, and at worst, measured with what they speak, as any unintentional slippage can wreak havoc in the financial markets.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Jul 2010 | 1:18 pm Pranab rejects 3G refund pleaRaja may now seek more subsidy for BSNL.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 29 Jul 2010 | 1:16 pm
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