Corporate
The Sensex is swinging between zones owing to alternate bouts of buying and selling. The index is now at 16,878, down 34 points.
Asian markets are mixed this morning. The Hang Seng has dropped 112 points to 21,702. However, the Nikkei has added 100 points (1%) to 10,184.
Upscale hotels to see occupancy rates of 40 per cent, mid-scale 25-30 per cent.
Rajesh Tandon / October 11, 2009, 0:26 IST
Rex Cano / Mumbai December 09, 2009, 9:22 IST
Nasik-based Vinsura Winery will be launching three products by mid-January priced at Rs 1,000 and above, a top company official said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced Rs 1,000 crore assistance to Karnataka to take up flood relief works after undertaking an aerial survey of the rain-ravaged areas in northern districts.
Business Standard / New Delhi October 09, 2009, 0:10 IST
The country"s largest coal producer, Coal India, today said 52 global companies have expressed interest in partnering with it for acquiring mines overseas, especially in Australia, Mozambique and Indonesia.
A court here has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Karnataka minister for tourism and mining magnate Janardhana Reddy in connection with a criminal case against him. The Sandur Judicial First Class Magistrate (JMFC) K Amarnath issued the NBW on December 30 and posted the case for hearing to February 3.
Media and entertainment firm UTV Software Communications today said it would raise $150 million (nearly Rs 750 crore) through various channels to meet its growth plans and retire debt.
Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) seem to be generating some amount of interest among mutual fund investors once again. These plans were the target of investors’ ire during the later part of 2008.
Falcon Realty today announced its plans to build eco-friendly housing projects at affordable prices starting from Rs 5.5 lakh in various cities of Bihar.
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be a complete free trade area next year and regionally integrated for its six most mature economies when duties on most of products are eliminated.
When the IIMs decided to award the contract to Prometric for conducting the Common Admission Test (CAT) online, and Pearson bringing its assessment brand to India, it must have been a wake up call for MeritTrac, a large assessment company. But, the company is not losing sleep.
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has set aside the appointment of Dr Anand Kumar who was the professor of the Department of Reproductive Biology in AIIMS, and gave the institute three months time to make a new selection for the post.
Asian markets ended on a positive note.
Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines is understood to have come down heavily on non-performing employees, even as a large number of its pilots are leaving the airline to join low-cost carrier Indigo and other rivals.
City Union Bank will raise Rs 300 crore by way of private placement of shares with qualified institutional buyers.
A Kingfisher Airlines ATR aircraft with 42 passengers and four crew onboard overshot the runway after it landed at Mumbai Airport today.
United Breweries (UBL), India"s largest brewery controlled by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, has posted a strong 57 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 35.5 crore for the first quarter of current fiscal as against the corresponding period of last fiscal. Net sales at Rs 556.4 crore was up 17 per cent, powered by a 25 per cent growth in strong beer.
Kingfisher Airlines, owned by UB Group, is planning to raise up to Rs 500 crore through issue of further share capital. Company officials indicate that this may be through a number of options including a follow-on public or rights issue.
Private sector lender Yes Bank and equity broker India Infoline (IIFL), today entered into a strategic alliance to offer premium brokerage services to the customers of Yes bank and a superior proposition of savings account for IIFL customers.
The robust growth in net profit in the second quarter seems unlikely to be repeated soon for cement companies, as prices in the south and west have been falling since October, with the increase in supply outstripping demand.
China today dismissed a British editorial accusing it of "hijacking" the UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen as baseless and politically motivated.
Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (MCF), a UB Group company and manufacturer of fertiliser, is planning to expand its specialty fertiliser business in the next couple of years. The company, which has over 50 new generation fertiliser products in its basket, plans to expand the business through its integrated nutrient management division, set up four years ago.
Kolkata-based Jai Balaji Industries has raised Rs 198.50 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.
A cartoon in a Delhi newspaper, which allegedly depicted a Victoria policeman as a member of hate group Ku Klux Klan in the wake of attacks on Indians, has sparked an outrage in Australia with acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard condemning it as "deeply offensive".
Mihir Mishra / New Delhi November 11, 2009, 0:30 IST
Vandana Gombar / New Delhi January 08, 2010, 0:45 IST
With the government having finally admitted that the current Plan period’s power capacity addition target of 78,700 Mw is likely to be missed by over 20 per cent, experts have raised concerns over the impact on the country’s economic growth.
India Inc"s hiring activity, which has been on the path of revival, slowed down a bit in August and dropped 3.6 per cent as compared to the previous month, a report by job portal Naukri.com said.
Low volumes of the "common man"s car", expected to encourage people to buy a brand new car instead of an used one, has, however, put prices in the used car market back on track.
The stock extended gains and surged to a new 52-week high of Rs 360 - up 6.5%. It finally ended at Rs 355, up 4.7%. The counter clocked comparatively heavy volumes of 15,401 shares as against its two-week daily average trade of 3,486.
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car maker, has bought 19.9 per cent stake in Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan’s third largest carmaker, for $2.5 billion. Of course, Suzuki’s strength is in small cars and Volkswagen’s stated mission is to become the world’s largest car company, ahead of Toyota and General Motors. And that’s not possible unless you have a bevy of small cars in your portfolio. A full takeover would have given Volkswagen annual volumes of 4.4 million cars — way ahead of Toyota’s 3.5 million. At the moment, Volkswagen-Suzuki is merely an alliance.
Cisco Systems Inc, the world’s largest maker of networking equipment, agreed to buy Tandberg ASA for 17.2 billion kroner ($2.97 billion), to expand its lineup of video-conferencing products.
Biofuels have a limited role in India due to land limitation and food security issues, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today, a view which differs from the official line pushing for a 20 per cent blend of such fuel in gasoline and diesel by 2017.
Trying to resolve sticking points on the India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement on the one hand, and narrow differences on their approach to climate change on the other, India and the US are likely to sign a joint Memorandum on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States this week.
Business Standard / New Delhi November 22, 2009, 0:05 IST
As he prepares to meet President Barack Obama in Washington, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said a "sustained and dynamic" Indo-US partnership is essential to meet major global challenges like international terrorism, climate change and economic slowdown.
Viceroy Hotels ended at Rs 54, higher by Rs 1 or 2.6%, on the BSE.
Buoyed by optimism, offshoots of economic revival and more stable job market vis-à-vis 2009, the people are loosening their purse strings and splurging on shopping sprees to mark the arrival of 2010.
The area under wheat rose a marginal 2 per cent this year on favourable climatic conditions. Late monsoon left adequate moisture content in the soil that suited the wheat sowing for this rabi season.
United Spirits Ltd (USL), the flagship spirits arm of the UB Group, is looking at a bond offering within the next six months in an effort to refinance Rs 3,000 crore of debt.
Rajesh Bhayani / Mumbai January 5, 2010, 0:06 IST
Surajeet Das Gupta / New Delhi August 20, 2009, 0:11 IST
Swaraj Baggonkar / Mumbai November 10, 2009, 1:10 IST
Shankar Acharya / New Delhi December 24, 2009, 0:49 IST
A day after paceman S Sreesanth was diagnosed with swine flu, comprehensive preventive measures were today put in place to ensure that other members of the Indian cricket team were not affected by the dreaded virus.
Bajaj Auto, the country’s second largest motorcycle manufacturer, has quietly discontinued two of its flagship products in the past three months to make way for more expensive models.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to talk to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, as a final effort to stop the Corus steel plants in Teesside from being shut at the month-end, thus saving 1,700 jobs.
Noted economist Suman Bery is both passionate and learned about this art form.
Dhanalakshmi Bank today said it has raised Rs 150 crore by selling bonds to investors on a private placement basis.
Huawei Technologies India, the largest overseas R&D centre of Huawei Technologies, today announced the achievement of SEI CMMi Ver 1.2 Level 5 certification.
Global rating agency Standard & Poor"s (S&P) today assigned its "BBB" corporate credit rating to Wipro Ltd, the country"s third largest software exporter, implying better financial health and cost efficiency.
The stock could see further re-rating, given that almost every segment has chipped in with better numbers.
Tata Steel has invested Rs five crore on developing the Dharani Dhar sports complex at Sankarpur in Keonjhar.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has urged the government to consult it before deciding on a uniform license fee for operators, saying it has implications on the Centre’s revenue, as well as on service providers.
On account of exhausting mobile phone numbers starting with the digit 9, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has allotted Reliance Communications (RCom) a new series beginning with the digit 8(055) for its Maharashtra and Goa circle (M&G).
In a significant development, India has banned the import of mobile handsets without International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a unique identification number.
Cross 1-million mark on surge in commercial vehicle sales.
Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) has registered 55.64 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 60.11 crore for the first quarter of the fiscal.
R Gopalan, a 1976-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the Financial Services Secretary in the Finance Ministry.
The committee set up to look into the issue of regulating investment advice would submit its report to the government by the month end.
Roads construction in the country would require an investment of about Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the next three years, Transport Minister Kamal Nath said today.
Brussels is gearing up for an Indian summer, but this has less to do with the weather than India Inc, which is all set to strut its stuff in the heart of the European Union. The largest India-related business summit ever to be held in the city will see top CEOs and political heavyweights join hands to send a clear message to Europe, of engagement and interest.
The Planning Commission today called for a "bold and clear" disinvestment programme that would help in meeting the resource gap for the plan expenditure in the next two years.
It’s now the turn of the appreciator and the collector
Producers meet agriculture minister, agree to increase supply of the commodity
Automobile manufacturers are expected to post sequential growth in sales, operating margins and profit in the first quarter of 2009-10, driven by Hero Honda, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra. But Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors are expected to show poor results in the commercial vehicle segment due to lack of demand. TVS Motors should also be showing a decline in sales on lower motorcycles’ volumes.
Consumer electronics major Philips Electronics India has decided to float an buyback offer of Rs 242 per share, to enable minority shareholders make an exit.
Bajaj Electricals with its order-book presently at Rs 960-crore, is aiming for a turnover and PAT in excess of Rs 2,000-crore and Rs 100-crore in FY 10, a top company official said.
The Sensex has slipped once again into the red and is now down 70 points at 16,780. The Nifty is down 33 points at 4,971.
Prospect of the cos continuing their excellent performance attracts investors.
Siemens closed at Rs 571, down by 2.5% or Rs 14 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 590 and touched a high of Rs 605 and a low of Rs 565 during the day. A total of 272,659 shares were traded on the BSE as against the 2-week average of 109,271 shares.
Diversified firm Siemens today said the company, in consortium with Siemens AG, has bagged an order worth Rs 403 crore from Qatar-based Ezdan Real Estate QSC for power related works.
Kolkata-based Balrampur Chini Mills profit after tax for fourth quarter ending September 30, 2009 improved 193 per cent at Rs 42.7 crore from Rs 14.58 crore in the fourth-quarter last year. Net sales dropped to Rs 379.96 versus Rs 416.73 crore in the corresponding quarter in the preceding year. Earnings per share gained 192.7 per cent at Rs 1.67 as against 57 paise in the year ago quarter.
The world"s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, today reported a 3.2 per cent rise in profit at $3.25 billion for the quarter ended October this year, with rise in productivity and improved inventory management supporting its profitability.
The Supreme Court today rejected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati"s plea for quashing a PIL filed against her in the Taj corridor scandal which had involved construction of a massive shopping mall and recreational centres near the world famous monument.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has accused V K Sibal of colluding with private parties during his term as oil regulator and has sought government permission for a thorough investigation.
The British government is planning to pump in an additional capital of up to 19 billion pound into the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and hike its stake to as much as 84 per cent, a move that would virtually nationalise the bank.
Visva-Bharati, founded by Rabindranath Tagore and now a Central university, which had been closed since September 24, reopened today. It took an appeal from the Prime Minister, who is also the chancellor of the university, to coax all the striking elements on the campus to return to work.
Trinamool Congress, Left blame each other for starting violence
Home furnishing retail chain Ebony Gautier is planning to invest Rs 100 crore over the next three years to expand its retail business and set up 20 large format speciality outlets across the country.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has opposed finance ministry directive of parking its surplus funds with only PSU banks saying it is losing Rs 360 crore of interest revenues annually as state-run banks offer lower interest rates when business is given to them on nomination.
The government today said the total service tax collected from stock broking firms reduced to almost half in the last fiscal when compared with the previous fiscal.
Gross non-performing assets up 23% in 12 months.
Public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra’s net profit for the July-September quarter rose 22.86 per cent to Rs 86.68 crore from Rs 70.55 crore in the same period a year ago.
Business Standard / New Delhi October 30, 2009, 0:45 IST
ICICI Bank today said it would reduce its stake in BPO company Firstsource in a phased manner, even as there are reports of appointment of a merchant banker for exiting from the outsourcing company.
The stock dipped further to a low of Rs 19.50 - down 7% from the day"s high. It finally ended with a 5% loss at Rs 19.75. Over 7.41 million shares were traded on the BSE today.
Ispat Industries today said its board has approved its plans to raise Rs 500 crore by selling shares to investors.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, will work with the Andhra Pradesh government to enable three public hospitals in Kurnool, Vishakhapatnam, and Warangal to offer advanced diagnostics services like dialysis to low and middle income people.
Natco Pharma net up 13%
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (Apollo Hospitals) has reported a net profit after tax of Rs 34.06 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, as against Rs 30.13 crore in the same period previous fiscal, an increase of 13 per cent.
Arnav Pandya / Mumbai September 27, 2009, 0:28 IST
However, it will file a chargesheet on company law violations
Industrial output, which grew at a 22-month high of 10.4 per cent in August, is set to accelerate further on inventory restocking and improving external factors, rating agency Moody"s said today.
Industrial production grew by a whopping 10.4 per cent in August on the back of double-digit growth in mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors.
The Indian real estate is expected to enter the recovery phase by end-this year and macro-economic and sector-specific factors will act as catalysts in this recovery, a leading real estate consultancy said.
Price may be raised to Rs 4,250 per mBtu.
Bimal Jalan / New Delhi July 26, 2009, 0:03 IST
Economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) today revised down India"s growth forecast to 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal on account of lower agricultural output and slower industrial recovery due to the poor progress of monsoon.
India"s economic expansion could exceed 7.75 per cent during the current fiscal, helped by high GDP growth numbers recorded during the July-September quarter, the government informed Parliament today.
With the Indian economy regaining its robustness, the Income Tax Department has collected an additional Rs 2,477 crore from the top 90 advance taxpayers in the third quarter (October- December) this financial year.
Close on the heels of implementing an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) scheme for beneficiaries under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Orissa government is in the process of appointing Ombudsmans for the works taken up under the scheme.
Polling for by-elections to two Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies began this morning amidst tight security.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat at 10,466 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.75% to 2,270, respectively.
The Indian rupee today depreciated by 8 paise to 46.28 against the US currency in early trade on expectations of capital outflows by foreign funds.
State-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is losing Rs 92 crore per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene as government has not allowed it to revise rates in line with firming international oil prices.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has lost an oilfield in Algeria to a consortium led by a Chinese oil firm. ONGC teamed up with Turkish Petroleum Corp (TPAO) and the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) Dana Gas to bid for the hotly-contested Hassi Bir Rekaiz acreage in Algeria’s latest licensing round, sources said. It lost to a consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Thailand’s PTTEP.
A move in the right direction but in a discriminating manner has been made by the Ministry of Finance in extending the facility of availing of advance ruling only for public sector. This has been extended to all sectors only in respect of import of projects, which are in the nature of a full plant such as power plant or paper plant. With regards to central excise and service tax the facility has not been extended to private sector at all. The real beneficiary is only the public sector. And for private sector it is only ‘a trickle down effect’!
Joe C Mathew / New Delhi September 16, 2009, 0:45 IST
After many denials and protracted bargaining with several buyers, pharma major Wockhardt sold 10 of its hospitals to Fortis last week. The hospitals sale came within two months of the company selling its German business Esparma for an undisclosed amount.
Cairn India, which began production from the world class Mangala oilfield in Rajasthan in late August, has reached 1 million barrels of oil output from the nation"s most prolofic onland field.
Domestic crude oil production in India declined by 1.2 per cent in HI of the current fiscal from the same period a year ago due to fall in output by oil exploration and production major-- ONGC, an economic think-tank said in its report.
- Bonds gain as yields near 15-month high lure investors - Rupee gains 2 paise at 45.69/$ in early trade - Rupee down 16 paise at 45.50/$ in early trade - Imports turn viable on rising domestic prices - Dollar buys, FII inflows take Re to 15-month high - Rupee at 16-month high, rises to 45.34/$">Rupee at 16-month high, rises to 45.34/$
The rupee today appreciated by 2 paise to 45.69 a dollar in early trade in line with other firming Asian currencies.
Mining, manufacturing grow in double digits.
Oil prices eased in Asian trade today as traders took note of high distillate inventories, which indicated that a global economic recovery was still sluggish, analysts said.
The Nifty closed in the red on Friday due to profit-booking at higher levels. For the last nine trading sessions, the Nifty has been making lower lows and lower highs, which is a bearish indication. According to a technical analyst at HDFC Securities, unless the index stops making new intra-day lows, the correction will continue.
P Chidambaram / New Delhi October 25, 2009, 0:58 IST
Dalal Street is likely to remain on tenterhooks this week even as positive domestic triggers like second quarter earnings by companies may give some short impetus, analysts said.
How Wills Lifestyle hopes to stand out in the crowded readymade apparel market.
Sidhartha / Mumbai December 25, 2009, 0:43 IST
Insurers are likely to take a hit of up to Rs 140 crore from the recent fire accident at the IOC marketing plant near Jaipur. The plant was insured for Rs 238 crore by ICICI Lombard as the lead insurer, while Oriental Insurance had the second-largest share, followed by Iffco Tokio and National Insurance with 10-15 per cent stake each.
Latha Jishnu / New Delhi October 31, 2009, 0:16 IST
One of the positive fallouts for India from the BASIC powwow at Copenhagen was the thaw in India-China relations after the recent chill over Dalai Lama and Arunachal Pradesh. A warm and friendly Chinese premier Wen Jiao Bao bent over backwards to reassure Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that China was a good friend of India, adding that contrary to the impression created by the China-US joint statement issued during the visit of US President Barack Obama, China had no intention to interfere in India’s disputes with Pakistan. Perhaps feeling that Manmohan Singh was not fully convinced of his good intentions, Premier Wen insisted, “I am telling the truth, I am not a liar”!
India and China have not only agreed to act to cut down emissions but are also willing to be accountable for their action, Australia"s environment minister has said.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said US banks weren’t hurting their ability to lend as they repaid the loans of the Troubled Asset Relief Programme and backed away from government assistance.
The US Treasury has suddenly shelved its plan to begin offloading stocks worth $5 billion in Citigroup after an unlively response from investors, says a media report.
Centre might come out with a clear statement on the issue of a unified Andhra Pradesh on Monday or Tuesday, Union Minister for State D Purandeswari today said.
With the demand for power in the state exceeding the supply by about 500 Mw to 600 Mw, the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) today invited public comments on the consultative staff paper on power regulation in the state.
Mukesh Ambani, who heads India"s most valuable company Reliance Industries (RIL), has been ranked among top five best performing CEOs in the world by the prestigious Harvard Business Review.
Rises only 2% from Q1, with cement, oil & gas, power, telecom all holding back.
Post Copenhagen, Indian exporters are more likely to face non-tariff barriers on the grounds of environment. The commerce ministry needs to identify potential areas of conflicts and put in place a mechanism to respond to them.
Pharma major, Wanbury"s net profit has grown 5.62 times at Rs 9.48 crore in Q1FY10 as against Rs 1.43 crore in the year-ago period.
India’s second-largest IT services firm, Infosys Technologies, has set up a separate unit within its business process outsourcing arm (Infosys BPO) to concentrate solely on the domestic BPO market.
The database will be used to find out whether a company has a desirable social diversity.
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group is expanding its private labels in various categories with plans to launch more products in new segments, such as toothpaste, as part of plans to become a Rs 25,000 crore conglomerate by 2013-14.
Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz is shifting the coffee seller’s focus from cost cutting to growth by promoting new products, including Via instant coffee and its Seattle’s Best Coffee brand.
Fortis Healthcare today said it has completed the acquisition of 10 Wockhardt hospitals in metro cities of Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata for Rs 909 crore.
Trikona Trinity Capital, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed real estate fund, has terminated the contract with its India advisers, Trikona Advisors.
Philip Healthcare today said it will set up 130 sleep labs in various hospitals and clinics in the country by the end of 2010, besides creating awareness about sleep disorders and the problems related to it.
Contract research services provider, GVK Biosciences today said it has entered into a strategic partnership with US-based Quantitative Solutions (QS) to develop and market clinical trial outcome data base.
Insulin prices are likely to fall by up to 70 per cent as drug price regulator the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has brought some more diabetes drugs under its purview.