ET Stories

Tier-II cities set for realty juggernaut: Report
NTPC signs $380 mn loan agreement with JBIC
PepsiCo to triple beverage business in next five years
India opens doors to Singapore
Network Group to open 14 Swiss Junction outlets

Ford icon winner in New Year
SABMiller wins US case, may bring Miller brand to India
UB acquires distributions rights for Dalmore Single Malt
'20 cities to be covered under CNG fuel by 2010'
JCT to foray into wind power, inks JV with US co

US firm promises more Bollywood fare in 2008
List of documents during sale of property
Indian tax authorities get kudos from MNCs on transfer pricing
Google scoops Campaign's Medium of the Year
Home loan: Review finances & repayment
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The World's Top Microfinance Institutions : Forbes

Top 50 Microfinance Institutions


Microfinance has become a buzzword of the decade, raising the provocative notion that even philanthropy aimed at alleviating poverty can be profitable to institutional and individual investors. Instead of merely writing a check (then writing it off), why not make a tidy profit from a short-term, high-interest loan, most for under $200, so that a Mexican seamstress may buy a new sewing machine? Or so a Moroccan farmer can buy chickens so he may sell more eggs? Billionaires, global leaders and Nobel Prize recipients are hailing these direct loans to uncollateralized would-be entrepreneurs as a way to lift them out of poverty while creating self-sustaining businesses. That promise has had a magnetic effect on private capital sources. Microfinance funding from private investors more than tripled to $2 billion in 2006.

The field has attracted sterling banks and fund managers, including Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ), blue-chip venture capitalists like Sequoia Capital, tycoons like eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) founder Pierre Omidyar and Oscar-winning screen stars such as Robert Duvall--they've all joined the chase for returns in microfinance. Today, there are upward of 12,000 microfinance institutions issuing loans.

http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/12/20/top-microfinance-philanthropy-biz-cz_ms_1220intro.html



Top 50 Microfinance Institutions

Overall Rank

Superstars Of Microfinance


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Source: http://www.forbes.com. We thank (will be grateful to) the owners of the above articles/sites/sources/Govts for allowing/referring this. We are just providing the link/information of business updates from the leading sources for the benefit of readers. Viewers are strictly advised to take own decision in Stock buying and make verification about the information. Blog is not responsible for any faulty information.

VC, PE updates from VCCircle.com, Indiape.com

VCCircle.com

Reliance Technology Ventures, Sequoia And Others Invest In Stoke
DQ Entertainment Raises $56M From AIM; M-Cap On Listing $97M
Nexus India Capital Buys Out eVenture’s Remaining Portfolio At Cost Price

Naukri Board Meets Today To Discuss Capital Raising; Puts In $500K In Education Portal
SBI, Coface Shortlisted For 52.5% Stake In Global Trade Finance
Latest Jobs On DealJobs.net

IFCI Plans To Sell Stake In 100 Companies; Invites Merchant Bankers
IDFC Private Equity Invests $65 Million In Goodearth Maritime
Germany’s Hypo May Be Investing In Shriram Properties’ Projects

Kingfisher-Deccan Combine To Raise $250 Million; Post-Merger, Investor Interest To Go Up
Reliance Brands To Offer Private Equity To Apparel, Footwear, Lifestyle Companies
Tata Tea Eyeing $300-Million Buy In Europe

Ambit, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking To Partner For Cross-Border M&A
Kerala’s Manappuram Group Raises Rs 70 Crore From Sequoia, India Equity Partners
Share Transfer Agents Too Hot; SharePro In Talks With Australia’s Link Market

Swiss Firm EFG International Enters India With A 75% Stake In Stratcap Securities
Kingfisher, Deccan To Merge To Form The Largest Domestic Carrier
“Jasubhai Acquisition Was Self-funded; More Buys On The Anvil”

IFCI Shelves Strategic Sale; Consortium Wanted Management Control

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IndiaPE.com


Kingfisher merger to create domestic giant
IDFC invests Rs 260 cr in Goodearth Maritime
Online portal Travelguru buys Desiya.com for $25 mn

California Software to acquire 49% of Inatech Infosolutions
Citi, GIC buy into Indian realty venture
Merrill Lynch picks up 12.74% in Resurgere Mines

CVCI Buys Stake in JBF Global Pte Ltd for USD125 Million
3D Solid Compression gets venture funding
Private equity firms invest $17 bn in India

Sequoia Capital IEP to invest in Manappuram
Australian co may buy controlling stake in Sharepro
EFG to acquire 75% of Stratcap Securities

UK’s 3i to invest $100 m in Soma Enterprise
Welspun India buys 76 pc stake in Portuguese bath rug major



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Putin - Times Person of the Year : AOL India

Time's 'Person of the Year'

Washington, December 19: Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday for bringing his country "roaring back to the table of world power."

Putin, a former KGB official who was picked from obscurity in 1999 by then-president Boris Yeltsin, will appear on the cover of Time as the person the editors believe had the greatest impact on events this year, for better or worse.

"He's not a good guy, but he's done extraordinary things," said Time managing editor Richard Stengel, who announced Putin's selection on NBC's "Today Show."

"He's a new star of Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties; he doesn't care about free speech; he cares about stability. But stability is what Russia needed and that's why Russians adore him."

The choice came days after Putin announced a plan to hold onto power after his term ends. Putin said on Monday that if his close ally, Dmitry Medvedev, wins next year's presidential vote, he would serve as Medvedev's prime minister.

The Russian president beat out several rivals for the Time distinction, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, British author J.K. Rowling, Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. Commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus.


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Businessworld Magazine (Dec 24, 2007)

http://www.businessworld.in
Released on 24 December 2007



COVER STORY
International Business
Pride & Prejudice
Interview: R.K. Krishna, V Chairman, Indian Hotels
Column: Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom


Steel Securing Supplies
Narain Karthikeyan In The Fast Lane
IFCI Past, And Future, Tense

Civil Aviation
Rental Blues
Media Room

Hospitality Hampshire’s India Foray
SMEs Missing It, Again

Hindustan Latex Sex, Latex And A PSU
UK Visa No Long Visits Here

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BW Opinion
PSUs Go Abroad

Internet
Feisty: CEO, Mozilla Corporation

Telecom
Don’t Show Me The Money

Stockmarket
The Overreacher

Aviation
Trying Hard To Take Off

Cotton
Cotton Country

Pharma
Ayurveda Remix

Stockmarket
Getting It, Flaunting It

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Source: http://www.businessworld.in . We thank (will be grateful to) the owners of the above articles/sites/sources/Govts for allowing/referring this. We are just providing the link/information of business updates from the leading sources for the benefit of readers. Viewers are strictly advised to take own decision in Stock buying and make verification about the information. Blog is not responsible for any faulty information.

Weekly Wrap-up: Sensex tanks 868 points in the week

Weekly Wrap-up: Sensex tanks 868 points in the week

The market plunged into the negative for the first time in 3 weeks after some highly volatile sessions of trading. As the US subprime lending problems continued to swell, Asian markets reacted accordingly and big bouts of profit booking were seen in the pivotal stocks at the BSE and NSE. Also, in December, historically not being a very good month for the markets, traders chose to book profits and cut down their long positions before entering into the fresh week. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 868.26 points to 19,162.57 in the week ended Dec. 21 2007 while the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 281.70 points to 5,766.50 in the week.

On Monday (December 17), the Sensex opened weak at 20,032.67 on back of negative global cues. It continued to trade weak throughout the day due to heavy selling pressure in pivotal stocks. Intense profit booking was witnessed across board. The Sensex fell to an intraday low of 19,177.19, its second biggest single day fall. The Sensex ended down 769.48 points, or 3.84%, at 19,261.35, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,777.00, down 270.7 points, or 4.48%. It was the biggest single day fall for the Nifty.

On Tuesday (December 18), the market opened on a quiet note. It continued to trade in the positive for sometime and after touching an intraday high of 19,375.07, slipped into the negative terrain on weak cues from global counterparts. The benchmark, Sensex continued to trade in a volatile manner initially; however in the last lap of trade the market witnessed huge fall on back of strong selling pressure across the board. The market lost around 252 points to touch the day`s low of 19,009.35 but made some recovery in the last minutes of trade.BSE Sensex declined 181.71 points, or 0.94%, to close at 19,079.64, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,742.30.00, down 34.7 points, or 0.60%.

On Wednesday (December 19), the 30-share index, opened on a strong note. The opening was backed by positive global cues with most of the Asian markets opening in the positive. Within moments of the opening bell, the Sensex proceeded to a 300 points gain. Until mid day the index seemed to be in a consolidation mood. However, in the later half of the day the index slipped into the negative backed by heavy selling interest in the pivotal stocks. The index came off 453 points from its day`s high. The last hour saw some relief rally, the index managed to regain some ground and ended the day on a flat note. The BSE Sensex ended at 19,091.96, up 12.23 points while the NSE Nifty closed at 5,751.15, up 7.85 points.

On Thursday (December 20), the Sensex opened on a strong note with a positive gap of 109 points from the previous close of 19,091.96. BSE Benchmark Index continued to trade in positive terrain and soon after opening it touched intraday high of 19,291.14 (up nearly 200 points) due to the strong buying in all the sectors especially in IT, Auto and Metal space. However Sensex was not able to maintain the same level and in the following sessions it traded in a range bound manner and finally ended with a gain of 70.61 points.BSE Sensex gained 70.61 points, or 0.37%, to close at 19,162.57, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,766.00, up 15.35 points, or 0.27%.

On Friday (December 21), the market remained closed on account of Bakrra Eid.

Companies In News

Reliance Communications (RCom) completed the Rs 12 billion-worth acquisition of US-based Yipes Holdings. The acquisition will give the company access to Rs 4,000 billion global enterprise data market. RCom received all necessary approvals from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the transfer of control of Yipes.

The board of directors of Deccan Aviation, which met on Dec. 19, 2007, decided to merge the scheduled airline business undertaking of Kingfisher Airlines with itself. The merged entity will be known as Kingfisher Airlines. Vijay Mallya will be the chairman and CEO, while Captain Gopinath will be the vice-chairman of the merged entity. The charter business of the company will be spun off into a separate entity to be jointly owned by Captain Gopinath and the UB Group.

Welspun India, a part of the USD 1.5 billion Welspun Group and amongst the top 4 terry towel manufacturing companies in the world, has acquired 76% interest in bath rug major in Portugal, Sorema - Tapates e Cortinas de Banho, SA (Sorema) for Rs 456 million.

The Tata Group will be soon declared as the winner of Ford`s, Jaguar and Land Rover brands. However, a final decision may come in the first week of the New Year, as per international media reports. It is said that the deal is valued at USD 2.05 billion. Mahindra & Mahindra and private equity firms One Equity Partners were the other bidders for the two luxury brands.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) inked a joint venture agreement with NTPC on Dec. 17, 2007 for establishment and operation of joint venture company for taking up engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) business.

Sector Round-up

Four GSM mobile operators, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice will approach the Delhi High Court against the Telecom tribunal TDSAT`s interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process. GSM lobby Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a statement, that the department of telecom`s (DoT) decision is an attempt to pass off second and new GSM licences to CDMA operators in the garb of dual technology allocation. The centre, on Thursday (December 20) said that it would look into cartelisation of the cement industry after the anti-monopoly watchdog MRTPC pronouncing 44 manufacturers guilty of unfair trade practices. MRTPC held cement manufacturers including L&T Cement, Birla Cement, Grasim and ACC guilty of cartelisation under the aegis of Cement Manufacturers` Association. The Commission said that they had found direct as well as indirect evidence of concert.

Economic Developments

The National Development Council (NDC) approved the 11th Five-Year Plan that aims at sustaining a 9% economic growth. The five-year plan (2007-12) was approved by the NDC, the highest policy making body comprising the centre and the states, amid demands by the chief ministers for greater flow of funds to states for tackling the regional imbalances. Prime minister Manmohan Singh cautioned against the price pressures on food items and the adverse impact of global financial crisis on the economy. Attaching highest priority to agriculture, education and health, the Plan earmarks more than half of the budgetary support toward these areas. The total outlay for the plan is Rs 36,447.18 billion, of which budgetary support would be Rs 14,217.11 billion.India`s wholesale price index (WPI) based Inflation moved to 3.65% for the week ended December 08, as against 3.75% in the previous week. Lower prices of food articles like fruits and vegetables, pulses and some manufactured items led the inflation to slowdown. The annual rate of inflation stood at 5.63% as on Dec. 09, 2006.

New Listing

Shares of leading FMCG player, Jyothy Laboratories after listing on bourses, settled with 13.04% premium on the NSE. The shares opened at a premium of Rs 205, or 29.71%, at Rs 895 as compared with the issue price of Rs 690 a share. It touched a high of Rs 895 and a low of Rs 741.15. It finally closed with a premium of Rs 90, or 13.04% at Rs 780. Total volume of shares traded was 5,136,540, while the total turnover was Rs 4,061.62 million.

The week ahead

Giving his outlook for the coming week, technical analyst Vishwas Agarwal said, ``If Sensex maintains 18,888, then the market looks good and in trading zone; above 19,350 more profitable trading is possible with a possible target of 19,888.`` He added, ``The course of the market will be decided by RIL and SBI, so its very important to watch these two stocks...January is a result session which will help in deciding the market move. Also the Gujarat election result is due which will also give some direction to the market. We can see some upside of 10-15% in the Gujarat based stocks if BJP wins this election.``


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