Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (27/04/08)

1. India is world’s second largest wireless market with the total number of the subscribers at 261.09 million at the end of March, 2008. The first place goes to China and India has overtaken US to become second largest wireless users.
2. Hindujas Group will invest US$10 billion in various power projects across India in the next 10 years.
3. The BSE sensex closed at 17,126 points with a 405- points gain. The gain was restricted to frontline large-cap stocks. Heavy buying was seen in banking and communication stocks. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.11,550/10gm and silver at Rs.22,775/kg.
4. ICICI Bank’s net profit for the year ending March 2008 increased 34% and the bank has declared a dividend of 110% for the year. IDBI Bank also posted higher net profit for the year.
5. Ten years from now, India will have more billionaires than any other country in the world, says a poll by American Business Publication Forbes.
6. Telecom and broadcast regulator Trai has recommended liberalization (up to 49%) of foreign direct investment (FDI) in broadcast sectors like TV, radio, cable and direct to home (DTH).

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (25/04/08)

1. The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India needs to provide around Rs.600 Cr against losses in derivative transaction in the domestic market. The Chairman said that as the credit growth is not very strong and the money markei is flush with liquidity, banks will not resort to increase in the interest rates in the short term.
2. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sees India as not a part of a low-pay world but as a part of high-skill world.
3. Tatas hunt for telecom investors: South Korea Telecom, China Unicom among the suitors for the Teleservices stake.
4. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked the banks to take full responsibility for their recovery agents and desist from deployment of abusive practices.
5. The Government clarified that foreign companies are free to acquire up to 74% stake in new telecom operators ar permitted by foreign direct investment rules.
6. The BSE sensex closed at 16,721, 23 points lower. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.11,730/10gm and silver at Rs.23,175/kg.
7. Infosys, the IT major intends to recruit more than 20,000 employees in Kolkata over a period of time.
8. Reliance Globalcom, a wholly-owned subsidy of Reliance Communications, said that it has acquired a 90% stake in eWave World, a UK headquartered telecom company.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (23/04/08)

1. India government warns steel and cement companies to against raising the prices so as to contain the inflation. The steel prices have gone up by about 50% in thae past one year. The Finance minister says that the steel and cement companies are forming cartels.
2. The BSE sensex closed at 16,784, 45 points higher. Promoters are increasing their holdings in group companies. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.11,900/10gm and silver at Rs.23,595/kg.
3. Makers of consumer appliances have begun hiking prices due to increase in the prices of raw materials like steel.
4. Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms is bullish on India, planning to increase head count by hiring 13,000 people in 2008.
5. Crude oil continues record run, touches US$118 a barrel.
6. Government informs the parliament that more than half of the total number of IPOs listed on BSE and NSE in the last two years, are trading below their offer price.
7. India gets US$4 billion as private equity investments in the first three months of this year, with real estate and infrastructure sectors accounting for a majority share.
8. Hospitality industry to grow immensely in the coming years driven by a huge surge in both business and leisure travel by domestic and foreign tourists.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 22/04/08)

1. Inflation at around 7% to stay for a while as the higher global commodity prices which are unlikely to fall in the near future.
2. ArcelorMittal is committed to invest US$25 billion in India.
3. Global M&As cross US$1trillion in 2008. India’s share is about 1%.
4. ONGC to spend US$6 billion to boost oil and gas output.
5. US slump dampens technology major’s results. Tata Consultancy Services report PAT below forecast, up 19% at Rs.5,026 Cr. RIL reported 28% higher net profit in 2007-08. Satyam Computer Services joins the US$2 billion revenue club of India.
6. Crude oil prices hit new high at US$117.40 on Monday.
7. Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Money joined hands with BSE and the Bombay Bullion Association to launch the country’s first organized bullion trading platform.
8. The BSE sensex closed at 16,739, higher by 258 points. In bullion market gold closed at Rs.11906/10gm and silver at 23,885/kg.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 18/04/08)

1. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex rose by 237 points to close at 16,481. The technology stocks have been in demand. The IT sector and banking sectors were also up by over 3% each. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.12,260/10gm and silver closed at Rs.24,480/kg.
2. Inflation rate declined to 7.14% from a 40-month high of 7.41% in the previous week. RBI tightens cash supply in market. The RBI increased the cash reserve ratio to 8% from 7.5%. Export duty on steel and iron ore to increase.
3. Shareholders of Reliance Energy Limited have approved the company’s proposal to change its name to Reliance Infrastructure. They also agreed to stock buy-back offer worth up to Rs.2000 Cr.
4. Crude oil and gasoline rose to record levels. Oil climbed to $115.21 a barel in New York.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 17/04/08)

1. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex rose by 91 points to close at 16,244. The trading sentiments remained buoyant on Wednesday, with the technology index rising by almost 4%. The IT sector was the top gainer. The reliance shares did well in the trading. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.12,115/10gm and silver closed at Rs.23,935/kg.
2. Ranbaxy plans open offer for Orchid. One of the group companies, Solrex now has a stake of 14.7% in Orchid.
3. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is to tap Venezuela for cheaper crude oil that will yield higher margins. The oil price rose to US$114.46 a barrel in New York.
4. Dow Chemicals is planning to set up a manufacturing unit in India by forging a JV with Gujarat Alkalies (GACL).
5. Government of India to import one million tones of edible oil and 15 lakh tones of pulses to deal with the demand-supply gap.
6. The market regulator, SEBI took a major step to widen debt market by deciding to allow mutual funds to sell government securities subject to certain conditions.
7. Government may restore 7-year income tax holiday on oil and gas production. This may provide major relief to companies like RIL.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 16/04/08)

1. India eyes Israel pipeline deal. To maintain energy security, India looks to tap Central Asian crude oil via Mediterranean – Red Sea route. The pipeline will also open an easier maritime door for oil from Algeria and Libya.
2. Ranbaxy eyes US$1.5billion in revenue during 2008-14, from an agreement reached with pharma major AstraZeneca over the world’s largest ulcer drug Nexim.
3. Infosys Technologies showed 21% higher overall growth in spite of the US slowdown. The company declared a total dividend of Rs.33.25 per share for fiscal 2008 (665% on par value).
4. The technology stocks rallied smartly to lift the BSE sensex by 346 points to close at 16,154, its highest closing in two weeks. Ranbaxy was the top gainer. In the bullion market, gold closed at Rs.12,080/10gm and silver at Rs.23,770/kg.
5. Oil price rises to record US$113 a barrel in New York.
6. Foreign fund house Morgan Stanley has increased its stake in Reliance Energy to over 5%.
7. India is leading the globalization of medical services. There is marked rise of medical tourism in India.
8. Delta Airlines agreed to buy Northwest Airlines in a US$3.63billion stock deal.
9. Mumbai witnessed the world’s highest (94.4%) increase in rentals of industrial space in 2007.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 15/04/08)

1. Inflation control measures: Steel companies are feeling “forced” to bring down the prices without controlling the raw material costs. Steel prices have gone up by almost 40% in the last one year. Typically, the rise in the input cost to produce a tonne of steel has gone up by Rs.14,629 while the rise in steel prices is Rs.11,000/tonne. The costs of the raw materials continue to rise.
2. Domestic drug companies may face tighter norms: Pharma multi-nationals are pushing the government to introduce guidelines to link drug registration for marketing approval to the patent system in the country.
3. The US subprime problem is causing worldwide collapse of realty prices ans assuming a global chain reaction.
4. The Kingfisher-Deccan combine has drastically cut its ambitious plan for international operations for August this year. However, it is going to cover almost all parts of the world that Indian carriers currently fly.
5. The markets were closed yesterday. Today by 11.30 am, the stock prices were recovering. Reliance and IT stocks were up. Announcements of the Q4 results of IT majors are commencing today.
6. RIL, the India’s largest private firm, is in talks with global energy majors for a possible stake sale in its Krishna-Godavari basin deepsea gas field.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 14/04/08)

1. Spiraling inflation: The UPA Government in India to plan Strategic Reserves to check prices of wheat, rice, sugar, etc. Further rises in food prices will be “terrible” for the world’s poor, and may result in starvation of hundreds of thousands people says IMF.
2. Banks must be responsible for credit card misuse. Policy measures will be initiated to ensure exemplary punishments to banks for adopting illegal methods to recover dues on credit cards.
3. Novartis and Cipla will soon be introducing once-daily oral iron chelator (Deferasirox) to remove iron deposits in thalassaemia patients.
4. The stock markets are expected witness a rally this week, driven by corporate Q4 earnings.
5. Export ban will affect profitability – Cement companies.
6. Caparo (UK) to step up presence in India by setting up more automobile component plants across the country.
7. Consumer product companies such as soap manufacturers need to label the products indicating the exact weight of the commodity when purchased. This may be difficult to implement, but need to done in view of the change in the Package Commodity Act. Certain schedule under the act, “when packed”, stands deleted from May 1, 2008.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (12/04/08)

1. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex rose by 113 points to close at 15,808.
In the bullion market, gold closed lower at Rs.11,970 /10gm and silver closed at Rs.23,860/kg.
2. Inflation at 3-year high of 7.41%, with prices of vegetables and pulses continuing to rise. Government is planning to a series of measures to contain the rise in the prices. Government threatens to fix steel prices.
3. Incentives on exports of cement & steel lifted to boost supply in domestic market and to curb inflation.
4. Industrial growth jumped to 8.6% in February as compared to January’s growth of 5.3%. The figure is lower than 11%, a year ago.
5. India okays China airline’s Mumbai and Chennai operations.
6. JK Tyre eyes N. American market. Buys Mexican Tyre maker Tornel for Rs.270Cr.
7. GE has unexpectedly reported its first quarterly profit decline since 2003. Profit from continuing operations dropped to US$4.36billion from $4.93billion last year.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 11/04/08)

1. The markets closed weak on Thursday with the bench mark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC) sensex, the 30-share index losing 95 points. The sensex closed at 15,695 points after reaching the intra-day high of 15,953. Reliance Energy share jumped 6.5%. Other gainers were Cairn, RPL and TCS. The Ranbaxy was down by 4.5%. Other losers were Suzlon, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. In bullion market, gold closed higher at Rs.12,125/10gm and silver closed at Rs.24,245/kg.
2. Apart from the 3G spectrum auction guidelines, the telecom department (DoT) is preparing to auction spectrum for broadband wireless access services in the 2.5 ghz and 2.3ghz bands.
3. Thousands of recession-weary US small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are looking for outsourcing engagements with Indian companies.
4. Indian auto industry’s overall sales were down 4.7% due to high interest rates, poor availability of retail finance and economic slowdown.
5. Rules for commodity bourses soon, says Forward Market Commission, the Commodity Market Regulator.
6. Inflation rate in India has soared to 30-month of high of just over 7%.
7. India Inc raised a record Rs.52,253 Cr through public issues, initial public offers (IPOs) and follow-on public offers (FPOs) in the fiscal year 2007-08.

Global Commodity Prices are soaring?

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) opined that in near-term the prices of commodities are unlikely to come down due to a tight supply-demand situation. The Director General, FAO said recently that the world has only 4-5 million tons (MT) of cereal’s stock that can feed the global population for only 8-12 weeks!

The possible reasons are: increasing demand from the populated countries like China and India, natural calamities such as floods, and climate changes such as untimely rains, severe cold spell which resulted in the destruction food crops worldwide. Another important factor seems to be the diversion of crops such as corn for producing bio-fuels (ethanol). Financially, it may be more profitable to grow crops for producing bio-fuels than using the agricultural land for growing crops to produce food grains to feed people.

National and international bodies should prioritize the need of feeding billions, who spend more than 60% of their daily earning on food, rather than using the agricultural land to grow crops to produce bio-fuels. Diverting food grains (say corn) to produce bio-fuels should be avoided to bring down the prices of the commodities to affordable levels.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 10/04/08)

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC) sensex, the 30-share index closed at 15,791, 203 points higher on buying support in heavyweight stocks, especially those of banking, capital goods and metal sectors. In bullion market, gold closed lower at Rs.11,740/10gm and silver closed at 23,475/kg. Stock markets, in general, on Thursday are fluctuating.
2. The telecom department (DoT) is in the process of signing off fresh M&A (Merger & Acquisition) guidelines that will allow new entrants to be acquired by existing operators.
3. IMF projects 7.9% growth for India in 2008, a slip from 9.2% in the previous year.
4. Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Big Entertainment has acquired the digital images business of US based DTS Inc.
5. Venezuela eyes India for refinery-investing in a refining and petrochemicals project with ONGC Videsh.
6. Europe wary of India outsourcing. However, Indian IT companies are looking at Europe as a big market waiting to be tapped.
7. Shipping Corporation Of India, the country’s biggest shipping company has said it plans to buy 40 vessels worth a combined $3.5 billion by 2012.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 09/04/08)

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC) sensex, the 30-share index closed at 15,588, down by 169 points. Tata Communication was the biggest loser and Tech Maindra and Yes Bank were the major gainers. In bullion market, gold closed higher at Rs.11,935/10gm and silver closed at 23,875/kg. Stock markets, in general, on Wednesday are down.
2. National Stock Exchange (NSC) launched its volatility index (also called a fear index), India VIX , which will be calculated using the prices of 50 stock options. The index measures the amount by which an underlying index is expected to fluctuate in the near term. The index closed at 31.40 points, up 1.32% on its debut on Tuesday.
3. Indian Chief Financial Officers get highest pay hike (25%) in Asia.
4. Government plans more steps to contain steel prices.
5. The newly appointed Minister of State for Power at the centre said that his main objective will be to ensure that 11,000 MW targeted power generation capacity was achieved for 2008-09.
6. Asian inflation begins to sting US shoppers as the local currencies rise against the dollar.
7. US-64 bonds of UTI, of face value Rs.100, are due for maturity on May 31, 2008.
8. Emerging markets are not safe from financial crisis says IMF. However, it noted that risks to Indian financial sector appeared manageable.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts 08/04/08)

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC) sensex, the 30-share index ended up by 414 points on Monday to close at 15,757 points. Among sectorial indices, banking and FMCG (HUL, ITC) were the top gainers. Ranbaxy rose by 5.6%. The company is making inroads into the shareholders books of the Orchid Chemicals. In bullion market, gold closed higher at Rs.11,860/10gm and silver closed at 23,810/kg. Stock markets, in general, on Tuesday are down.
2. Market regulators, SEBI is considering measures to smoothen the procedure of cross-listing of companies in India and abroad, its Chairman, C.B. Bhave said.
3. Exports of hosiery from the textile hub, Tirupur in South India drops by 10%, first time in the past three decades.
4. European regulators allow mobile phone use on planes throughout EU airspace.
5. Novaratis AG to buy Nestle AG’s 77% stake in US company Alcon for US$39 billion.
6. Major IT firms are expected to post decent revenue growth for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007-08 due to rupee depreciation against the dollar.
7. Internet icon Yahoo is looking for a better than US$41billion buyout offer from Microsoft.
8. Godrej to enter women’s hygiene market through joint venture with Sweden-based SCA Hygiene Products AB.

Reliance plans to enter into dairy business, but why?

Reliance Industries is quietly entered the milk distribution and retail market by pursuing an aggressive pricing strategy. The company will be competing with cooperative giants like AMUL, and Mother Dairy. The investments are projected to touch Rs.5000 Cr by 2010. The company’s stated objective is to improve the quality of milk better testing, collection and procurement infrastructure. The daily production of milk is 2.6 Cr liters. And, one-third of the milk entering into the market (1.5 Cr liters) is managed by the organized retail chain such as Amul.

The opinion of some of the Reliance milk consumers is not satisfactory. The quality of the milk is not up to the mark. Another most important point is: why big business house like Reliance should enter into sectors which are predominantly managed well by the cooperative sector? Already, the company started fresh fruits, grains and vegetable business and hurt a lot of small traders. At this rate, the cooperative sector is facing extinction slowly but surely. There are many hi-tech fields in engineering, nuclear and bio-tech where there is a need of big players such as reliance. Ambanis are listening?

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (05/04/08)

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC) sensex, the 30-share index ended 489 lower and closed the day at 15343 points. Banking stocks were among worst hit. Losers included RIL, Infosys and L&T. In bullion market, gold closed at Rs.11,740/10gm and silver closed at 23,265/kg.
2. BSC launched trading of sensex-based futures on the US Futures Exchange in Chicago today.
3. Inflation in India breaches 7% mark – 3-year high. Prices of food products, manufactured goods continue to rise, government warns against hoarding.
4. Market regulator, SEBI to issue guidelines on real estate mutual funds in the next 15 days.
5. Gujarat NRIs buy big into dirt-cheap US realty, thanks to the subprime mortgage crisis that has hammered property prices in the US.
6. Tatas to pick up 60% stake in a Spanish company, Comoplesa Lebrero SA, a construction equipment company.
7. Rupee closes below 40 rupees against US dollar on Friday.
8. India received US$20.13 billion as foreign direct investment (FDI) in the April-February 2007-08 period up by 70% that flowed in a year ago.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (04/04/08)

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensex ends flat. The sensex closed at 15,833, 82 points higher. Technology stocks had a good trading session. Power and capital goods were hit the hardest. Gold closed at Rs.11635/10gm and silver at Rs.23,010/kg.
2. BSE would launch trading of sensex-based futures on the US Futures Exchange in Chicago today.
3. The state run power equipment maker BHEL has posted a net profit of Rs.2,815 Cr in 2007-08. Its annual turnover crossed Rs.20,000 Cr mark.
4. US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that US could reel into recession due to housing, credit and financial crisis.
5. The Thai government had invited investment from car makers to make eco-friendly cars and proposed to give tax benefits subject to certain conditions.
6. Forbes names 48 Indian companies in list of top global firms. The leaders are RIL and ONGC. All these 48 firms have a billion-dollar market value.
7. RIL has submitted an Rs.30,000 Cr proposal for setting up facilities to promote semi-conductor technology. Location is yet to be decided.
8. Indian core infrastructure industries’ (coal, power & cement) growth accelerated to 8.7% in Feb. 2008.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (03/04/08)

1. The BSC sensex closed yesterday at 15750 points after starting the day with 16163. Today, the market is showing mixed trend and the sensex remained higher through most of the trading period.
2. Bullion market was also down and the gold closed at Rs.11560/10gm and the silver at Rs.22790/kg.
3. Microsoft asked to pay Rs.700 Cr in taxes for the tax returns pertaining to financial years: 1998-99 and 2003-04.
4. The Reliance Anil Ambani Group is planning to enter the commodity trading business by setting up a large exchange in the country. Kotak Group is also thinking on similar lines.
5. Tata Motors to list its shares in Tokyo Stock Exchange.
6. Planning Commission has asked the government to reduce its stake in the public sector banks to 33% from the present level of around 70%. Suggestions were also made to permit foreign investors to own larger share in insurance companies.
7. Rolls-Royce CEO John Rose says that India is powerhouse of global economy.
Power deficit to hit Indian industries further and the industrial production growth is likely to come down to 3.4% between April-July this year.

Indian Business News – Selected Extracts (02/04/08)

1. The combined trading volume on BSC and NSC was down by a quarter as arbitrageurs and day traders stayed away from the market due to change in the tax treatment of the securities transaction tax being implemented from Tuesday. The sensex closed at 15,627 points and the days high was 15,761. The trend today is the sensex continues to gain since the market is opened.
2. Gold and silver process see sharp decline. Gold was at Rs.11,685/10 gm and silver at Rs.22,640/kg.
3. Videocon Group has put up an expression of interest to acquire Motorola’s mobile handset business.
4. Worst Q4 performance by Mutual Funds in seven years.
5. As one of the measures to control inflation, the RBI will allow rupee to appreciate by reducing market intervention.
6. Edible oil prices set to fall.
7. Price of aviation fuel was increased by 12-14%. Passengers will have to pay an additional surcharge of Rs.150 to 350.
8. Dr. Reddy’s is acquiring a part of US-based Dow Chemical Company’s small molecules unit.
9. DoT allows infrastructure such as transmission systems sharing among telcos. Guidelines are being provided by the department.