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11 August 2008
Sensex up 336 pts, Nifty up 90 pts at 4620
Fresh bout of buying towards close of trade Monday helped benchmark indices close over 2 per cent higher. Banks, real estate were gained while IT stocks ended in the red.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 15,497.05, up 329.23 points or 2.17 per cent. It touched a high of 15,520.71 and low of 15,367.97. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4620.15, up 90.65 points or 2 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 4625.20 and low of 4529.35 in the day.
BSE Midcap index ended 1.58 per cent up at 5980.22 and BSE Smallcap Index closed 1.22 per cent up at 7,269.65.
BSE Realty Index closed 5.31 per cent up at 5,801.34 and BSE Bankex ended 3.76 per cent higher at 7,673.25. BSE IT Index ended flat-to-negative at 3,882.07. Biggest Sensex gainers were Jaiprakash Associates (8.17%), Reliance Infrastructure (7.76%), Maruti Suzuki (5.16%), ICICI Bank (4.93%), State Bank of India (4.92%) and ONGC (4.31%). Losers comprised Sterlite Industries (-2.24%), Tata Consultancy Services (-1.06%), Tata Steel (-0.98%) and Infosys Technologies (-0.58%). Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1723 advances and 985 declines. In Europe, FTSE was up 0.70 per cent, DAX gained 0.33 per cent and CAC 40 was up 0.46 per cent.
(above figures are provisional)
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Sensex ends up 336pts; realty, banking stocks shine
The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 262 points at 15,430 on the back of positive cues from the global markets. The index, thereafter, displayed firm trend throughout the day on the back of smart gains in banking, realty and oil & gas stocks.
The index touched a high of 15,521, and finally settled with a gain of 336 points at 15,504.
The BSE Realty index surged 5.3% to 5,799. The Bankex advanced over 4% to 7,702, and the Oil & Gas index surged 3% to 10,437.
The market breadth was fairly bullish - out of 2,776 stocks traded, 1,736 moved up, 971 declined and the rest were unchanged today.The NSE Nifty moved up 91 points to end at 4,620.
INDEX MOVERS
Jaiprakash Associates soared 7.7% to Rs 198. Reliance Infrastructure surged 6.7% to Rs 1,102. DLF added 3.5% to Rs 568.
ICICI Bank rallied 5.7% to Rs 771. SBI moved up 4.7% to Rs 1,593. HDFC and HDFC Bank added 2.2% each to Rs 2,570 and Rs 1,309, respectively.
Maruti surged over 5% to Rs 716. ONGC and Reliance Communications gained 3.7% each at Rs 1,103 and Rs 454, respectively. Reliance advanced 3.3% to Rs 2,326. Mahindra & Mahindra added 2.8% to Rs 590, and BHEL was up 2.5% at Rs 1,827.
...AND THE SHAKERS
Sterlite slipped over 2% to Rs 625. TCS and Tata Steel were down 1% each at Rs 834 and Rs 645, respectively.
VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS
Reliance Communications topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 239.50 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 232.50 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 220.70 crore), debutant Vishal Info (Rs 216.25 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 181.20 crore).Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 1.73 crore shares followed by Vishal Info (1.17 crore), Kashyap Technologies (1.05 crore), IFCI (99 lakh) and Cals (73 lakh).
Source:ET, BS
India's Abinav wins Gold.... India's First Individual Gold in Olympic History
India wins Gold
Abhinav Bindra [Images] won India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10 metres air rifle event.
Congratulate Abhinav Bindra!
Bindra was fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and even hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last visit to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who dropped to bronze with a poor final shot of 9.7.
How Abhinav clinched gold
That allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to pass him on his final shot and win the silver medal.
"It's just great," Bindra said just before climbing on to the podium.
Zhu suffered a late lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier on Monday morning when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, thus dropping to second place behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.
He was close to tears and said: "I was under tremendous pressure and at times I felt really agitated. But I tried my best."
India's last Olympic gold medal was from hockey (8th gold) at the 1980 Moscow [Images] Olympics [Images]. Bindra's feat betters the silver medal effort of double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore [Images] at the Athens Games in 2004.
Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken with nerves as the competition reached its climax.
"I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he said.
Bindra won the 2006 World championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.
Earlier, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event as he finished ninth with a score of 595/600. He shot a series of 97,100,100,100,98,100, while Bindra, a Khel Ratna winner, finished the qualifying event joint-fourth with Romania's George Alin Moldoveanu. The duo had a score of 596/600.
The bespectacled shooter scoring sequence was 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99.
Finland's Henri Hakkinen qualified first for the event with a score of 598/600 after shooting a series of 100, 100, 99, 100, 100 and 99.
China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98.
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Abhinav Bindra: Grit and determination personified
Olympics: Abhinav Bindra wins men's 10m air rifle gold
Congratulate Abhinav Bindra / Greet Abhinav
India must give Abhinav respect GOLD-en words / Images
Goldfinger Bindra makes history
Not bothered about history: Bindra
• Victory of nation: Abhinav’s parents
• President, PM congratulate Bindra
• 'Abhinav has made India proud'
• Happiest moment of my life: Milkha• India's Olympic medal winners
Source:ET, Rediff
IPO analysis: Austral coke, Resurgere Mines Minerals
COMPANY : AUSTRAL COKE & PROJ ISSUE
SIZE : Rs 119.1-142 .3 CRORE PRICE BAND : Rs 164-196
DATE : AUGUST 7-13 , ’08 RATING: ***
Austral Coke looks attractive at the current offer price. Investors are advised to subscribe to this issue Austral Coke & Projects, a metallurgical coke manufacturer and provider of construction equipment on lease, has come out with a public issue of 7.26 million equity shares and another 1.09 million shares will be available under a greenshoe option. It plans to use the funds mainly to set up a metallurgical coke plant of 1.5 lakh tonne capacity and an 8-mw captive power plant. Post-issue , the promoters’ holding in the company will decline from 87.41 per cent to 63.18 per cent.
BUSINESS:
Austral manufactures coke and refractory, and provides construction equipment on lease to medium/large construction companies. Around 55 per cent of the company’s topline comes from the coke division and 25 per cent from equipment. But the coke business accounts for 80 per cent of its operating profit, compared to 15 per cent contributed by equipment. Austral has a current met coke capacity of 3.75 lakh tones, which will rise to 5.25 lakh tonnes by the end of FY09. Its captive power plant will also come up at the same time. The company’s customer base is welldiversified and is thus, insulated from any slowdown in a particular industry. Its customers include Jindal Saw, Essar Steel, DCW and Nirma. The company plans to get away from its leasing business and focus on acquiring coking coal mines and manufacturing coke. It also plans to start mining from its mine in Mozambique.
FINANCIALS :
Austral’s revenue from manufacturing has almost quadrupled in the past three years. Its focus on coke manufacturing and use of advanced technology (stamp charging) has improved its operating margin by five times in the past three years to 35 per cent. In fact, this is higher than 27 per cent for its closest competitor, Gujarat NRE Coke (GNCL). Though the company has made many investments in recent years, the average RoCE for the past three years works out to a modest 17 per cent. Traditionally, Austral’s debt-equity ratio (DER) has remained slightly below 1, while the interest coverage ratio is well above 5. Post-issue , the company’s DER will further fall to around 0.5.
GROWTH POTENTIAL :
Huge demand for coke from steelmakers has pushed up price to $700-800 a tonne. Given huge expansion plans by steel companies, demand is set to stay robust, as there’s not enough supply of this commodity globally.
VALUATIONS :
The company’s closest listed peer is GNCL, which was originally promoted by the current promoters of Austral. By end-FY 09, Austral will have a met coke manufacturing capacity equal to 42 per cent of that of GNCL. The latter has an m-cap of Rs 3,500 crore. So, Austral should have a market value of around Rs 1,500 crore . Though both companies have mining assets abroad, in case of Austral, mining from these assets has not yet started. Even after discounting this value by 50 per cent, the fair value per equity share of Austral is almost double that of the offer price. At the upper price band, Austral’s trailing P/E is close to 15.4, which is at par with its peers. We have assumed full exercise of the greenshoe option and its diluting effect on shares for these estimates . Considering its attractive valuations , investors can subscribe to this issue.
RISKS:
Austral sells in the spot market; hence, it is subject to spot price fluctuations. Further, any downturn in the commodity cycle will hit the company’s profitability.
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COMPANY :
RESURGERE MINES & MINERALS
ISSUE SIZE : Rs 117-121 CRORE PRICE BAND : Rs 263-272
DATE : AUGUST 11-13 , ’08 RATING : ** 1/2
Negative cash flow from operations is a major concern for Resurgere Mines. Only investors with high risk appetite should consider the IPO Resurgere Mines & Minerals, an iron-ore miner , has come out with a public issue of 4.45 million shares, which includes 0.25 million shares reserved for its employees. The company plans to use the IPO proceeds to purchase mining equipment to set up extraction and crushing facilities at mines. It will also invest in six railway rakes to set up transportation logistics facilities for captive purposes. Post-issue , the promoters’ holding will decline to 56.12 per cent from 66.5 per cent.
BUSINESS:
The company produces iron ore of different sizes and trades iron ore fines. Currently, it operates in three mines - two in Orissa and one in Jharkhand. But it carries out mining activities in the area of third parties, who have the original mining lease. Resurgere has also got a bauxite mining lease through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. The total amount of iron ore and bauxite reserves in the current mining area of these mines is estimated at 74.82 and 4.92 million tonnes (mt), respectively.
FINANCIALS:
Resurgere’s revenue from mining and trading activities has more than quadrupled in the past three years, while operating profit has risen by more than seven times. The company’s operating margin (currently 26.7 per cent) has remained volatile due to the variation in trading amounts. Once export of iron-ore fines commences , margins are set to improve further. One major concern for the company is the negative operating cash flow in the past five years. The company has tried to maintain a low debt-equity ratio (currently 0.24). With the IPO, this ratio will fall further.
VALUATIONS:
The company’s enterprise value (EV) is close to Rs 820 crore at the upper price band. A discounted cash flow approach reveals that even at 30 per cent of capital cost and 20% growth rate, it will take only 5-6 years to recover the EV from operating cash flow . Further, an estimated inventory of iron-ore fines worth Rs 34 crore is lying idle, which can be used once the company obtains railway rakes from next year. The bauxite mine, with estimated reserves of 4.9 mt in 43 acres out of a total 661 acres will add further value. All these facts indicate reasonably good valuations at current offer price. But the main concern lies in the company’s ability to convert its revenue into cash flow, since it has failed to generate cash from operations in each of the past five years. We believe the issue is risky and only investors with above-average risk appetite should subscribe to it.
RISKS: Any downturn in the commodity cycle will majorly impact the company’s profitability.
Source:ET
Investor's Guide (ET Mutual Fund Tracker), Deadpresident reports
Here's How We Keep Score11 Aug, 2008, 0538 hrs IST
The ET Quarterly MF Tracker lists MF schemes on the basis of their risk-adjusted performance, based on a detailed number-crunching exercise.
The Best Place To Be In 11 Aug, 2008, 0529 hrs IST, Gaurav Pai
Around this time last year, mutual fund (MF) houses were busy launching equity schemes like there was no tomorrow.
The New Turks 11 Aug, 2008, 0515 hrs IST, Bakul Chugan & Preeti Kulkarni
The June ’08 quarter has seen quite a few upsets in top rankings.The new leaders do not boast of outstanding performances on an individual basis.
(Common) Sense And Simplicity 11 Aug, 2008, 0500 hrs IST, Preeti Kulkarni
Follow these simple strategies by renowned investment gurus to reap the rewards of your equity investments.
Challenges and Opportunities before MF industry 11 Aug, 2008, 0457 hrs IST
The domestic mutual fund industry has undergone significant transformation in past few years. Two experts share their views on the possible avenues for the industry in near future, so as to sustain its momentum and make inroads into consumers' lives.
Nifty's future direction 11 Aug, 2008, 0454 hrs IST, Shakti Shankar Patra
This is a clear sign that market participants are now unsure about the Nifty’s future direction. As a result, the focus has shifted to individual stocks.
Mining for more? 11 Aug, 2008, 0359 hrs IST, Santanu Mishra
Two mining firms as investment options.
Yeh Dil Maange More 11 Aug, 2008, 0358 hrs IST
The domestic mutual fund industry has undergone significant transformation in past few years. Two experts shared their views over the key challenges and triggers for the industry to sustain this growth.
The domestic MF industry 11 Aug, 2008, 0353 hrs IST, Gaurav Pai and Bakul Chugan
It’s been a momentous journey, which started 15 years ago with the privatisation of the Indian mutual fund industry. But this is just the beginning... things are only set to get better from here on
The best Mutual Funds 11 Aug, 2008, 0348 hrs IST, preeti kulkarni and bakul chugan
It’s almost impossible to predict the course of the market. So, long-term investment in a well-managed fund with a good track record is the ideal tool to wade through murky waters.
Pages:
The Busy Bees11 Aug, 2008, 0347 hrs IST, Gaurav Pai
SEBI and Amfi had their hands full in the June quarter. We give you a ringside view of all the action on the policy front…
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Deadpresident blog
India's first bio-fuel pump to start soon
Biocon - Annual Report - 2007-2008
Indian Hotels - Annual Report - 2007-2008
UTV Software - 2007/2008 - Annual Report
IPCA Labs
Hindustan Unilever
India Strategy, Reliance Industries, Reliance Petr...
Market Outlook - Aug 10 2008
Crude Oil
Commodities - Aug 9 2008
ENIL
Parsvnath Developers
Austral Coke & Projects - IPO
Olym-Picks
DOW Jones India Titans List
Most Popular Pages - Aug 10 2008
HT Media
Weekly Watch - Aug 10 2008
Weekly Stock Picks - Aug 8 2008
Industrial production data may set direction
Sensex garners 511 points as oil slumps
Source: ET,deadpresident blog
India's first bio-diesel pump to start in September
In winter 2005, Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at the Gujarat Agriculture University campus in Navsari, riding a tractor with a difference - it ran on bio-diesel. Come September, that bio-diesel will be available at a pump for the first time in India. The bio-diesel production, from Jatropha plants, is the brainchild of 40-year-old Dharmendra Parekh, chairman and managing director of Aditya Aromedic and Bio-Energy. Since April, the firm has been producing bio-diesel from the jatropha plant. Registered in 2005 and set up with a capital outlay of Rs 5 crore, the company produces 17,000 litres of bio-diesel per day at its 140,000-sq ft plant located in Tarsadi village on the Navsari-Bardoli highway in Navsari district. The bio-diesel is sold at Rs 38.90 per litre while the price of regular diesel is Rs 39.20 per litre and that of premium diesel Rs 40.40.
The firm has been pre-selling its entire output every day since April. "We don't have to do any marketing. On the contrary I take a deposit of Rs 5,00,000 from all my customers and everyone irrespective of the quantity purchased has to pay the full amount in advance. And the delivery is done only after 20 days," says Parekh. "I have at least five customers waiting in the queue, each of whom has a daily requirement of over 500 tonnes of bio-diesel." Right now, the fuel is supplied from two depots - one at Navsari and other at Mehsana in north Gujarat. The clientele is spread over Ahmedabad, Nadiad, Vadodara and north Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi. Importantly, diesel vehicles do not need to modify their engines to use bio-diesel. "I have been using my own bio-diesel in my Tata Indica diesel car for the past nine months and it runs very smoothly and also gives me a mileage of 21 to 22 km on the highway," says Parekh, a graduate in computer science and master in bio-informatics. "There is no problem at all even if you keep on changing the fuel from regular diesel to bio-diesel." Parekh also claims that his bio-diesel was much better in quality than most of the premium diesel brands being hawked by the oil majors.
The hardy jatropha plant is resistant to drought and pests. It produces seeds containing up to 40 percent oil. When the seeds are crushed and processed, the resulting oil can be used in a standard diesel engine, while the residue can also be processed into biomass to generate electricity. To ensure a steady supply of jatropha, Parekh has entered into a contract with 1,500 farmers of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. These farmers plant jatropha in the periphery of their fields so that the normal food chain is not disturbed. Over 300 hectares of land have been brought under jatropha cultivation. "In a jatropha plantation you get your break-even within three years and the plant makes money for you for the next 40 years," says Parekh. He has prepared a plantation manual for jatropha farmers. The most important aspect of jatropha is that it can grow on soil otherwise considered a wasteland. Parekh has a huge first-mover advantage in this field. But it's not a smooth ride all the way. "It is a very hard and complicated thing, especially the procurement of raw materials," he says. "You have to plan out each and everything in such a manner that the fuel you produce becomes commercially viable." The company has staff strength of 200. Crude, glycerine and de-oiled cakes are the by-products. The company is now preparing a blueprint to extract biogas from the de-oiled cakes, leaving manure as the last residue. The company plans to use this biogas for power generation.
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Metros, SUVs may have to shell out more for fuel
'Biofuel can ensure India's energy security'
Source: ET
10 August 2008
Mgmt Guru C.K.Prahalad's Dream for India 2022, India's most investor friendly companies
Cover Story
Prahalad’s plan
An India that's home to 30 of Fortune 100 companies, the world’s largest pool of technically-trained manpower, and Nobel Prize winners in arts, science and literature? That’s management guru C.K. Prahalad’s dream for India@75, and he’s got a plan how to get there. A Business Today exclusive.
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How to build 30 of the Fortune 100 companies out of India
How to create a trained workforce of 700 million people
How to get a 10% share of global trade
As the celebrations of India @60 wind down and as the national attention is consumed with problems of the moment—price of energy, inflation, debt relief to farmers, political realignment in the states—it is hard to focus attention on the future of India. The urgent is likely to drive out the important. Moreover, it is easy to get carried away by growth statistics of the past five years and feel “we have arrived”.
C.K. Prahalad Leadership, however, is about the future, about hope and change. Leaders must elevate the national debate and focus on the potential of India. A shared view of India@75, for example, can provide a framework for building a multi-stakeholder consensus and making choices that are directionally consistent with that goal. Unless we are clear about the potential, it is very difficult to undertake an arduous journey.
I believe that India has the potential to actively participate in shaping the emerging world order. This demands that India must acquire enough economic strength, technological vitality and moral leadership to do so. Just economic strength and technological maturity is not enough. We know that the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had economic and technological muscle. They failed. Morality is an integral part of leadership. We should emphasise all three dimensions, in equal measure, in India’s march to Her destiny.
For more : Prahalad’s plan
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India's most investor friendly companies
Until early this year, it didn’t take much to make you happy if you were an equity investor. India seemed like the flavour of the decade, India Inc.’s flagbearers were snapping up big rivals elsewhere in the world, and Sensex at 25,000 was where we were all headed (gosh, all that seems so awfully long ago now). Cut to today, investors are licking their burnt fingers and swearing never to touch equity again. Not surprising at all. In a stock market that has plunged from 21,000-something to less than 15,000 now, there’s hardly anyone—small or big investor—who hasn’t lost money.
But it’s equally true that equity provides the best returns over the long term. So, if you are in for the long haul, who should you be investing with? Which are the companies that treat their shareholders like kings? Which companies announce their results on time, hold their annual general meetings every year and, most importantly, have a history of paying dividends consistently? As you can probably imagine, there aren’t too many of them. What makes it harder still for companies is our methodology, which makes them jump through some tough hoops (see How We Did It on page 154). For example, to make the cut, a company must have had extraordinary appreciation in its stock price for three years in a row, among others.
The list on the left, then, represents companies that have delivered on our methodology’s demands. You’ll find the Top 10 featured on the pages that follow. As you can tell, these aren’t (minus a handful) the biggest companies in corporate India, but they are—well, in some sense—like Gautam Gambhir: they won’t give you sixes every over, but they score steadily over the long haul. So, if you are betting on stocks for the long term, this is a good list to start with.
More @ India's most investor friendly companies
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Source: Business Today
Numbers of Note: BT
$9 trillion (Rs 387 lakh crore): Oil revenues Gulf countries will earn by 2020 if the prices remain at $100 per barrel
4.8 million: Vehicles Toyota Motor Company sold worldwide during the first half of this year. General Motors said it sold 4.5 million vehicles in the same period. Toyota came a narrow second to GM in the race to be the largest auto company in the world in 2007
$2 billion (Rs 8,600 crore): Direct revenues likely to be generated by the Beijing Olympics for the host city from sponsorships, licensing, advertisements, ticket sales and broadcasting rights, according to the Beijing Olympic Economy Research Association
€630 million (Rs 4,300 crore): Price at which Unilever sold its Bertolli olive oil business to Spain’s Grupo SOS. Bertolli is one of the best-selling brands of olive oils in the world. People are consuming more olive oil because of health benefits, such as lower cholesterol
325.78 million: Number of telephone connections in India at the end of June 2008, of which the total wireless subscriber (GSM, CDMA & WLL) base stood at 286.86 million
$7.3 billion (Rs 31,390 crore): The projected increase in spending on security biometrics worldwide by 2013, up from around $3 billion (Rs 12,900 crore) in 2008
73,050 million units: Power deficit faced by India between April 2007 and March 2008, led largely by states like Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh
$90 billion (Rs 3,87,000 crore): The estimated cost of the first phase of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project
$30.6 billion: Is the notional value of the portfolio of risky mortgage debt that Merrill Lynch sold recently for a sum of $6.7 billion to Lone Star Funds
Rs 8,000 crore: Size of the biscuit market in the country
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Other BT articles
Editorial
Dreams for India
The potential to become a far more powerful and prosperous nation existed back then, and it exists now. What it requires, as management guru C.K. Prahalad writes so eloquently in our cover story, is not analysis but imagination.
Deal Watch
Wilbur L. Ross outbid Kingfisher Airlines to acquire SpiceJet
Every month, we bring you a listing of the biggest deals struck by Indian companies in India and abroad. Our partner: global professional services firm Ernst & Young. Here are the deals that were struck in July 2008.
Leadership Spotlight
Risk taker
Cricket has always been his passion. Though N. Srinivasan has been involved with the sport for many years in various administrative capacities, he had kept it away from his business. But this year, he decided to bid for, and bagged, the Indian Premier League’s Chennai franchise for $91 million (Rs 391 crore).
Jobs
Goodbye, appeasement
Rahul Sachitanand
As the reality of a slowdown bites the hitherto fast-growing IT industry, employees and employers need to realign their goals.
It pays to have a career in taxation
Trends
Monsoon worries
Rishi Joshi
Inflation is a bugbear that continues to give mandarins in the economic ministries sleepless nights. The latest figures show it at 11.98 per cent for the week ended July 19. Sub-normal rainfall in large parts of India can push inflation to 14 per cent.
Instant tip / BPOs are getting commoditised: Dougherty
Olympics? What’s that? / Time for fiscal worries
Dip,dip,dip / Doha Round: Dialogue of the deaf
Mumbai expensive? You must be joking / Loan defaults to rise
Geeks get reality ‘cheque’ / Air turbulence continues
At last, some good news on crude prices / Beautiful women decoded
Economy watch / The BT 50 index
Talebearer / Black, white and grey /
To be precise Noted
Just wondering ... / Power, too, now goes green
Money
The mortgage crush
K.R. Balasubramanyam
When interest rates were low, many homeowners overborrowed. But, they are now finding it difficult to cope with the increased monthly instalments. How to survive the interest rate hikes.
A few good stocks
The flexible fund manager
“Follow an asset allocation strategy”
Seniors first
MF Scoreboard
Policy Watch
Renewed thrust on divestment
The government is gearing up to radically alter its approach to disinvestment. With the Left out of the equation, moves are afoot to offload equity in some big PSUs. OIL (Oil India) and hydro-power generator NHPC are on top of the list.
Columns
My lunch with Warren Buffett
Mohnish Pabrai and his friend Guy Spier paid $650,100 to dine with the world’s best-known investor. This is what they took out from their three-hour lunch. A Business Today exclusive.
Features
Did they miss a trick or two?
Rachna Monga
Not since the technology crash of 2000 have an equity fund manager's investment strategy been tested—and the perils of running a concentrated portfolio exposed.
Shadow of a bull / Radioactive opportunity
Meet India’s biotech giant / The great Indian oil rush
Indian companies are waking up to corporate frauds
The last mile chase / The FCCB quandary
Current
On rough terrain
Suman Layak
Even as the world waits expectantly for the Nano, farmers who sold their land for the project now want it back. Will the world’s cheapest car be late coming?
The herald speaks / Eye of the Asian Tiger
Is the red for real? / Spectrum dole-out
Footloose fortune hunter / Bimmer is beaming
Something’s rotten in realty / A good deal for everyone
Still hot on start-ups / How green is My IT?
Same goal, different paths / Playing catch-up
Not Reddy, yet / Too much of a good thing
Beijing and beyond / Mutual benefit
Source: http://businesstoday.digitaltoday.in
Stock,Market Analysis from BusinessLine
STOCKS: Ipca Labs: Buy
Strong performance in branded finished dosages, growth momentum in exports and a strong position in anti-malarial drugs makes Ipca Labs, a medium sized pharma company with Rs 1,100 crore revenues, a good investment option. ...
STOCKS: Parsvnath Developers: Sell
The recent hikes in interest rates and the continuing scenario of unaffordable housing may prove to be an intimidating combination for the real-estate sector and realty developers. While rising cost of home loans can affect demand, higher ...
STOCKS: Praj Industries: Hold
Shareholders with a long-term perspective can continue to hold the stock of Praj Industries, a leading engineering solutions provider to ethanol plants worldwide. The company, whose growth prospects are largely intertwined with the increasing ...
STOCKS: 3i Infotech: Hold
Lowered IT spends by clients on the back of credit crisis-related write-downs and slowing economic growth in the US have created a turbulent environment for Indian software developers. In this context, a very select band of IT companies may be ...
IPOS: Austral Coke: AvoidInvestors can avoid investment in the initial public offering (IPO) of Austral Coke and Projects Ltd., considering the high execution risks and cyclical nature of the business, though prospects for volume growth are bright. ...
INSIGHT: FII activity in 2008 — Still some glimmer of hope
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: Index OutlookVolatility was conspicuous by its absence in the equity markets last week. Trading was almost dull without the wild gyrations. Investors were treading water, buying selectively in beaten down sectors. The sea of red migrated from the trading ...
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: Query Corner: What the charts sayI am holding shares of Idea Cellular purchased at Rs 128. Should I hold these shares at current prices or sell? ...
PETROLEUM: If crude falls further, equities may follow suitStocks, bonds, gold and every other financial asset have been dancing to global gyrations in crude oil prices. In 2008, Indian stocks have moved exactly in the opposite direction to crude prices. The BSE Sensex dropped to its low of 12576 points ...
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS:
Reliance Infra (August 10, 2008)
Unitech (August 10, 2008)
Infosys (August 10, 2008)
Tata Steel (August 10, 2008)
SBI (August 10, 2008)
Reliance (August 10, 2008)
Nifty may cool off after a strong opening (August 10, 2008)
DERIVATIVES MARKETS: Covered calls – here is how to use it
STOCK MARKETS: Baskets of X
E-mail your response before Tuesday to:
STOCK MARKETS: Bull's Eye
E-mail your response by Tuesday to
Source: BusinessLine
For Entrepreneurs, Innovators Benefit...
All of you knew about Venture Capital/Angel Investor.
If dont know about that, Pls read Venture capital - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia / Angel investor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In India, there are numerous VC funds.I have listed few from the site of SEBI.
Entrepreneurs interested to make new ideas into action may visit the following link.
List of Registered Foreign Venture Capital Investors
List of Registered Venture Capital Funds
Other VC websites:
Global Network of Entrepreneurs
US - India Venture Capital Association
India Venture Capital Association
Welcome to Indian Venture Capital Journal
Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund
Angel Investors, Venture Capital- Angel Group Network
Source: from SEBI website, own collection.
09 August 2008
Garuda, the car that runs 180 km per litre: Rediff
Garuda, the car that runs 180 km per litre!
A car that offers a mileage of 180 kilometers to a litre of petrol? Yes!
It's neither a pipedream nor a gadget out of a science fiction flick. Garuda, is a car that has been developed by a group of mechanical engineering students from the Rashtriya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore.
The super fuel-efficient, aerodynamic car, say the brains behind the project, will address raging issues like oil crisis, rising fuel costs, environmental pollution, and the desperate need for green technologies.
The car is the result of 'Project Garuda-RVCE Supermileage Car,' which was conceptualised by Nishant Sarawagi, the team leader, and seven of his mates: Bharat, Kayaan, Darshan, Jacob, Gautham, Krishna, and Rakshit.
So what are the distinctive features of this fantastic car?
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Indian CEOs heading Fortune cos
Indian-origin CEOs are establishing their prowess across the globe. It may be raining gold for these globe trotting executives as they head more Fortune-listed American firms but, weak dollar, sub-prime crisis and the looming US recession have taken their toll, as total profit of such entities has more than halved in a year's time.
But they are not the only ones. According to the latest Fortune 500 list of America's biggest corporations, which has been topped by retailer Wal-Mart Stores (six times in the past seven years), cumulative net profit of all these firms fell about 18 per cent to $645.2 billion in 2007.
However, the total turnover of America's Fortune 500 firms rose by about seven per cent to $10.6 trillion.
In the main list, Wal-Mart (revenue of $378.8 billion) is followed by energy giant ExxonMobil (372.8 billion dollars). Others in the top 10 include Chevron, General Motors, ConocoPhillips, GE, Ford, Citigroup, Bank of America and AT&T.
The US business magazine Fortune ranks America's biggest firms based on their full-year revenues in this annual list. Compared to six last year, as many as 10 Fortune firms are now headed by CEOs of Indian origin.
More @ http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/aug/08slid1.htm
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Other Rediff stories:
• Murthy’s advice to youngsters• Learn English, FM tells techies
• RBI Policy: It's just pain, no gain• Problems are far from over for BSE
• Tatas to invest $2 bn in GSM• Big TV bags IPL rights for Rs 137 cr
• BSE calls off NMCE deal• Indian CEOs heading Fortune cos
• Images: The Jaguar XK is 60! • A 'clothes bank' that helps millions
• Images: The PC mouse's history • Book bus tickets on rediff.com
• Calcutta Univ's mgmt courses• IIAS research Fellowships
• Associateship in Nuke Physics• Want to study engg abroad?
• Become a physiotherapist• TAPMI's PG prog in mgmt
• IRMA's PGP in Rural Mgmt• IIM-A's PGP in Agri-business
• IIFT's consultancy symposium• Degree in homoeopathy
• Want a career in banking?• Interested in pharmacology?
• BSc Ed for OBC students• XLRI's distance edu courses
Source: Rediff
RBI panel suggests interest rate futures :UTVi
To enable banks, FIIs and other players manage interest rate risks, an RBI-appointed technical panel today recommended introduction of futures contracts, initially based on 10-years government bond yield, which should be settled by physical delivery.
RBI's Technical Advisory Committee suggested that as market evolves, exchanges may consider introducing contracts on various other government securities.The group also recommended that these products be exempted from securities transactions tax to ensure symmetry between cash market in government and other securities and interest rate futures.
These proposals are put on RBI's website and the central bank would view feedback on these suggestions from the public before coming out with finale guidelines on IRF.
The RBI had recently issued guidelines on currency futures, which is to be put in place by the month end.
The need for interest rate futures arose because of failure of exchange traded interest rate futures contracts introduced by NSE in 2003.
Earlier, in 1999, the RBI also took initiative to introduce over-the-counter interest rate futures. Taking lessons from experiences of these products, the RBI panel recommended that futures contract initially be based on the 10-year government security yield.
It observed that banks, insurance companies, primary dealer and provident funds who among them carry almost 88% of interest rate risk on account of exposure to government securities need a credible institutional hedging mechanism.
The group also recommended that banks be allowed to be able to trade in interest rate futures against the current practices of permitting them only to hedge their interest rate risks inherent in the balance sheet.
The group also recommended participation by FIIs and NRIs in the interest rate futures. However, FIIs may be allowed to take long position in the IRF market, which should not exceed maximum permissible cash market limit, currently pegged at $4.7 billion.
FIIs may also be allowed to take short positions in the market but only to hedge actual exposure in the cash market.
On the accounting treatment of IRF, the committee has suggested that till accounting standard prescribed by the institute of chartered accountants becomes mandatory, which is to be done by 2011, RBI should excercise its powers and mandate uniform accounting treatment for Interest rate swaps and interest rate futures.
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Dreamworks-ADAG deal nearly complete
We may scrap sugar levy system: Pawar
Wkly Mkt Review: Sensex gains 511 pts
Oil falls to $115 on economic worries
Gold ends near three-month low
Source:UTVi
US mkts end higher (303 pts up) on strong Dollar, Oil drop
Oil sinks on stronger dollar to $115 a barrel
Fannie Mae loses $2.3B in quarter as defaults rise
UBS settles $18.6B auction-rate securities case
Insurance weighs on Berkshire Hathaway's 2Q
The precipitous slide, fueled in part by a recovery in the U.S. dollar, has now taken oil prices to around $115 a barrel -- or more than 20 percent below a record set July 11.
A slide in energy prices is a welcome boost in an economy hamstrung by the housing slump and mounting mortgage losses in the financial services sector.
In the near term, consumers and business should feel some respite as energy costs recede, boosting prospects for a range of market constituents, including airlines, retail, industrial and technology sectors.
Financials are also a major beneficiary as investors shift money out of energy stocks in search for bargains elsewhere.
"I think the trend in stocks is up. I do feel that July 15 represented the bottom for stocks and we are going to move higher," said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Advisors in Boston.
"I really feel that what investors are looking for right here is signs that the economy is starting to pick up right now."
And as the latest earnings reporting season is fast winding down, investors will have plenty of economic reports to watch next week. Continued...
Source: Reuters, Yahoo Finance.
ET Top stories
Indices off lows; Sensex regains 15k
Sebi board meet on August 13 /Markets to post moderate gains, players eye SEBI meet
Banks cut rates to pump up car loans
India all set to rule software testing market
Airtel, Vodafone have 3G edge over other players
China strides onto Olympic stage 10 Olympics '08 mega stars
Top 10 Beijing Olympics Sponsors Olympic Protest
IRDA plays peacemaker in LIC stir
Max New York Life gets on track
LIC cap base may swell to Rs 100 cr
HSBC goes slow on retail loans
Bharti AXA plans infusing Rs 645 cr
Forex reserves decline by $1.2 bn
Wall Street ends sharply higher
Gold below Rs 12k, may lose more
India’s tea exports jump 13.5%
Suzlon's Belgian unit eyeing Indian firm: Report
BHEL bags Rs 400 cr contract to set up hydro project in Africa
India world's second-largest wireless market: Study
Raja pulls up BSNL on slow growth of value added service biz
GSM cos hampering entry of Rcom, Tatas in GSM telephony: AUSPI
Top 20 cities hold keys to urban growth
Oil falls below $116 on stronger dollar
Buy UTV for target Rs 1,068: Religare
Subscribe to Austral Coke IPO: Keynote
Emkay assigns buy to Jindal Saw; target Rs 941
Macquarie maintains boutperformb on Bank of India
Edelweiss Capital's bbuyb rating on Mahindra & Mahindra
Religare puts buy on EMCO; target Rs 215
Citigroup downgrades Reliance Communications to bholdb
KR Choksey Shares & Securities assigns bbuyb on Aegis Logistics
IDBI Capital maintains bbuyb rating on YES Bank
Ranbaxy offer open to conspiracy theories
Source:ET
08 August 2008
World's 10 top management gurus
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World's 10 top management gurus
August 6, 2008
"Deregulation, emerging markets, new forms of globalisation, convergence of technologies and industries, and ubiquitous connectivity, these have changed many aspects of business," said management guru C K Prahalad in an interview.
Prahalad is the world's topmost management guru and the first Indian-born thinker to claim the title.
The Thinkers 50 2007 list, produced by Suntop Media in association with Skillsoft, is a definitive guide to who is the most influential living management thinker.
Although the list is still dominated by North Americans (37 of the 50 gurus are from the United States), three more Indian management experts have made it to the Top 50. As yet, no Chinese guru has emerged.
To find out about the other nine who completed the top 10, read on. . .
1. C K PRAHALAD
Coimbatore Krishnao Prahalad was born in the town of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. He studied physics at the University of Madras (now Chennai); worked as a manager in a branch of the Union Carbide battery company, then went to the Harvard University and earned a PhD.
Prahalad, is now the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, specializes in corporate strategy.
His books include:
Multinational Mission: Balancing Local Demands and Global Vision (1987), coauthored with Yves Doz,
Competing for the Future (1994), co-authored with Gary Hamel. Printed in fourteen languages, the book was named the Best Selling Business Book of the Year in 1994, and
The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers (2004) (coauthored with Venkatram Ramaswamy).
On his vision about India, Prahalad says: "As a country, India must have high and shared aspirations like it had in 1929 when the leaders of the then Congress party declared their ambition as Poorna Swaraj. Since then, India has never had a national aspiration which every Indian could share."
For more: http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/aug/06slide1.htm
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Chaturvedi Panel for 'Super Profit Tax'
The Prime Minister-appointed B K Chaturvedi panel is believed to have suggested reviewing fuel prices every month to bring them at par with production cost and has sought imposition of a 'Super Profit Tax' on oil fields awarded before 1999.
The Committee, which submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, is believed to have suggested raising petrol and diesel prices by a small amount every month till they are at par with production cost, sources who had seen the report said.Besides freeing pricing of petrol and diesel from administrative control, it also favoured subsidising cooking fuels LPG and kerosene through a new tax on oil produced from fields awarded prior to the advent of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) in 1999.
At present, only state-run producers like ONGC shell out a part of their revenues from high oil prices towards fuel subsidies. If the recommendations are accepted, it would mean oil producers like Cairn (in Ravva field) and BG-Reliance (in Panna/Mukta fields would also have to pay for subsidies.
Sources said the Chaturvedi Committee, that went into the financial health of oil PSUs, has also suggested pricing fuel at export-parity rates that a company may get if the fuel was to be exported.These rates would be 10-15% lower than the trade parity pricing followed now, thereby bringing down the projected revenue losses. Domestic retail price is currently determined in a 80:20 mix of import-parity and export-parity prices.Besides, the panel has also recommended squeezing the marketing margins but has not favoured any tax on windfall gains some refiners particularly in the private sector have made in recent times.
Source:UTVI
Govt eyes $10bn from BSNL public offer
The government on Thursday broached plans for the public listing of telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd with its workers, but neither the proposal nor an offer of ESOPs found any takers.
Communications Minister A Raja, who attempted to win the consent of employees union for diluting 10 per cent of BSNL's stake, said that the listing could be in the band of Rs 300-400 a share by the end of this fiscal.
BSNL, India's top telecom firm by subscriber numbers, has a paid up equity capital of around Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) and could achieve a revenue of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) at the end of this fiscal. As of end-June, BSNL had nearly 73 million wireless and fixed-line subscribers.
"This is the first time I am talking to the BSNL union on the issue of listing after its board took a decision on the same last week. We have explained to the union on how the IPO will benefit the company," Raja said after meeting the workers.
To win the consensus of the three lakh BSNL employees, the company's board offered workers 500 shares each at Rs 10 a share, while the IPO would be in a range of Rs 300-400 per share, the minister said.
The union, however, rejected the ESOP package. "This Esop is a bait.. we will not fall for it," BSNL Employees Union General Secretary V A N Namboodiri said. The union fears for jobs of workers after the IPO, as also about the growth of the company.
BSNL finance director S D Saxena said the conservative valuation was roughly $100 billion. "Vodafone got Hutchison Essar a valuation of $21 billion and this company is 5-6 times bigger," he said.
Merchant bankers have not yet been appointed for the IPO, Saxena said, adding that the process would start now.He said the IPO could happen in six months. "We will not rush into it. We will try to convince everyone. If there is a delay in the issue it is better. The valuation may go up."
But union leader Namboodiri told reporters after meeting Raja that "we are not interested in the ESOP package given by the board. We don't want any IPO in BSNL. We are not convinced with their argument that the IPO is beneficial for BSNL's growth."
BSNL chairman Kuldeep Goyal, however, said there is no timeframe as to when the IPO will happen. "There is no immediate need for it but we are preparing the ground work. . . (and claimed) we are seeing some positive reaction from the union on the issue," although the union rejected the plan outright.Appealing to the workers keep the negotiations on, Raja in a statement said that the IPO will reveal the real value of the company as also help it get Navratna status -- which would give greater financial autonomy to the telecom firm.
At Thursday's price Bharti is valued at Rs 1.61 lakh crore (Rs 1.61 trillion) and RCom at Rs 90,517 crore (Rs 905.17 billion).
SOurce: Rediff
07 August 2008
Sensex ends marginally higher at 15,117; Inflation at 12.01%
Stocks end flat after choppy session
Markets rangebound; Sterlite, HDFC gain
Markets choppy; Nifty holds 4500
Stocks ended with modest gains on Thursday, marked by alternate bouts of profit booking and buying across the sectors. Investors traded with caution ahead of inflation data, expected after market hours. India’s annual inflation is seen at 12.02 per cent in the week ended July 26, marginally higher than the previous week's 11.98 per cent.
Unsupportive global cues saw the market start off on a negative note. But the indices picked up steam later on gains in the consumer durables space which drove the sectoral index up 2.86 per cent. It was the biggest sectoral gainer. However, profit booking in capital goods and power stocks capped the upside.
Meanwhile, crude oil traded above $119 a barrel after dipping to three-month low to under $118 the previous day, which added to the jittery sentiment. “For the first time in six months, domestic institutional investors offloaded Rs 804.36 crore in the cash segment on Wednesday. The sharp sell-off by DIIs suggested the lack of confidence in the market. We expect a short term reversal in trend on the downside from the high of 4615 seen on Wednesday.As for today, the market is expecting an adverse number on the inflation front, which led to the downside, especially after 2 pm,” said Satish Kannav, technical analyst at Arihant Capital.
Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex settled at 15,117.25, up 0.29 per cent or 43.71 points after swinging between a high of 15,280.06 and low of 14,992.97 during the day. National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended 0.14 per cent, or just 6.3 points, higher at 4523.85. The index oscillated between 4580.15 and 4493.70.
Second rung stocks outperformed the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.45 per cent and 0.32 per cent respectively. Among frontline stocks, Sterlite Industries (4.43%), Tata Motors (4.1%), HDFC (3.37%), HDFC Bank (3.03%) and Grasim Industries (2.49%) chalked up decent gains. BHEL (-2.88%), Bharti Airtel (-2.25%), Reliance Communications (-1.78%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-1.68%) and Hindustan Unilever (1.47%) were the losers in the 30-share index. Market breadth on BSE showed 1,406 advances and 1,284 declines.
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Other Stories:
Inflation just over 12%
FDI in sensitive sectors may go off auto route
Hero Honda hikes 100cc bike prices by up to Rs 850
GDP growth may fall to 7.5-8%: Rangarajan
Raja talks to BSNL workers on IPO, union unrelenting
SEBI plans review of PN rules at its board meet
Pair trading may help you tide over market fluctuations
Source:ET
RBI issues norms for currency futures
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today issued guidelines on currency futures, and limited the participation to person resident in India as defined in section 2 (v) of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
According to a release issued by the central bank today, the norms will be effective August 6.
"Currency futures means a standardised foreign exchange derivative contract traded on a recognised stock exchange to buy or sell one currency against another on a specified future date, at a price specified on the date of contract, but does not include a forward contract," the release said.
The standardised currency futures shall have the following features:
a. Only USD-INR contracts are allowed to be traded.
b. The size of each contract shall be $1000.
c. The contracts shall be quoted and settled in Indian Rupees.
d. The maturity of the contracts shall not exceed 12 months.
e. The settlement price shall be the Reserve Bank’s Reference Rate on the last trading day.
The release added that the membership of the currency futures market of a recognised stock exchange shall be separate from the membership of the equity derivative segment or the cash segment. Membership for both trading and clearing in the currency futures market shall be subject to guidelines issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
"Banks authorised by the Reserve Bank of India under section 10 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 as ‘AD Category - I bank’ are permitted to become trading and clearing members of the currency futures market of the recognised stock exchanges, on their own account and on behalf of their clients, subject to fulfilling the following minimum prudential requirements:
a) Minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore.
b) Minimum CRAR of 10 per cent.
c) Net NPA should not exceed 3 per cent.
d) Made net profit for last 3 years.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) also issued a notification on currency futures, and said gross open position of a trading member across all contracts shall not exceed 15% of the total open interest or $25 million, whichever is higher.
"Gross open position of a trading member, which is a bank, across all contracts, shall not exceed 15% of the total open interest or $100 million, whichever is higher," an official release said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE RBI REPORT
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SEBI REPORT
RBI allows exchanges to offer FX futures
Rs 500-cr net worth must for currency futures play
Source: UTVi, ET
Tata Steel in Fortune Global 500 list for first time, Mkts end off highs
Steel major Tata Steel has for the first time made it to the prestigious Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations, a company statement said on Wednesday. The company ranks 231 in terms of revenue, the statement said. Interestingly, Fortune magazine in its July 21, 2008 issue, had for the first time included Tata Steel in its Global 500 list but the company was ranked 315th in terms of revenue. This ranking was, however, based on the company's total revenues in the first three quarters of the current fiscal and the last quarter of the previous fiscal. Following the announcement of the company's annual results, Fortune has re-ranked Tata Steel. In a clarification on its website, Fortune has said: "Tata Steel's revenue for fiscal year end March 31, 2008 -- released by the company after the Global 500 publication deadline -- was $32.8 billion. Had the information been available, the company would have placed 231 on the list. The company ranked 315th in the listing, based on revenue for the four quarters ended Dec. 31, 2007, of $25.7 billion."
The Tata Steel registered the biggest year-on-year increase in revenues - a 353.2 percent change - among all the companies on the list. Tata Steel, flagship of the Tata Group's 98 operating companies in seven business sectors, was set up in 1907 as Asia's first and India's largest integrated private sector steel producer. It is now the world's 5th largest steelmaker in terms of revenues. With the recent acquisition of Corus, the combined enterprise has a total crude steel production capacity of around 30 million tonnes with over 82,000 employees working in 27 countries on four continents. Fortune Global 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine owned by the world's largest media group the United States-based AOL Time Warner. The list ranks the world's largest companies in terms of gross revenues. Global retail giant Wal-Mart Stores heads the 2008 list maintaining its number one rank that it had earned last year as well. Seven Indian companies, including Tata Steel, presently figure on the list. They are: public sector oil major Indian Oil ranked 116th, private sector conglomerate Reliance India Ltd ranked 207th, public sector oil major Bharat Petroleum ranked 287th, public sector oil major Hindustan Petroleum ranked 290th, public sector oil and gas major ONGC ranked 335th and public sector bank State Bank of India ranked 380th. Interestingly, except for public sector Oil India which has the highest rank among Indian companies, both the private sector companies finding a place in the list - Reliance Industries and Tata Steel - are ranked above the other four Indian companies in the list who are all public sector entities. This reflects the kind of change that has been taking place in the Indian corporate sector over the last 17 years ever since economic reforms were introduced. Before 1991, no Indian private sector company had ever been included in the prestigious Fortune Global 500 list.
Other stories:
Rally fizzles as investors take to profit booking
It was a case of an intra-day reversal on Wednesday as stocks erased almost all gains after a spectacular rally gave way to profit booking. Overnight, the US Federal Reserve kept key interest rates unchanged and signaled at no further rate hikes in the near term, which sparked a rally across global markets, and India was no exception. Indices got off to a firm start and clocked handsome gains across the board. Expectations that retreating crude prices would ease inflationary concerns and take the pressure off rising interest rates saw investors flocking to interest rate sensitive stocks. Oil prices slid to a three-month low of around $118 a barrel from a record high above $147 in mid-July. However, the rally took a U-turn as sellers stepped in and did damage as they chose to book profits across the board, especially in the recent gainers - banking, auto and realty pack. But market analysts feel profit booking was anticipated given the sharp run-up over the last few days. "Indices have risen nearly 22 per cent from the lows and profit booking was expected at these levels since it had neared key resistance levels of 15500 and 4650. This is likely to continue for a couple of days," said Hitesh Sheth, head of research at Prabhudas Lilladher.
Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex settled 112.47 points or 0.75 per cent higher at 15,073.54. The index slid from a high of 15,422.82 to low of 15,263.65 intra day. National Stock Exchange's Nifty was up 0.33 per cent or 14.70 points to 4517.55 after touching a high of 4615.90. The low was 4506.25.
"A gap-up opening on the Nifty left an unfilled bearish gap between 4524 and 4557, which was filled on its way down. On Thursday, if 4465 on the Nifty sustains, then it can be concluded that the fall witnessed today was just to fill that bearish gap. In that case, the market will continue its upmove," said Bharat Dalal, fund manager at Dawnay Day AV Financial Services. Investors dumped shares in the midcap and smallcap space with BSE Midcap Index ending just 0.02 per cent higher while the BSE Smallcap Index sagged 0.68 per cent. Biggest Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki (6.25%), Tata Motors (4.31%), Bharati Airtel (3.59%), ACC (3.48%), Tata Consulting Services (3.32%) and BHEL (3.21%). Tata Steel (-4.48%), Tata Power (-3.65%), State Bank of India (-3.49%), Reliance Infrastructure (-3.11%) and HDFC (-2.82%) were the losers in the 30-share index. Steel counters declined for a second straight session on fears the steel ministry would not allow them to raise prices after an agreed 3-month freeze lapse on August 8. As the day progressed, market breadth weakened and finally turned negative with 1,444 declines and 1,266 advances on BSE.
RIL to complete family MoU argument on Thursday
Bharti Airtel to launch iPhone on Aug 22
3G movies still some time away
Equities end off highs; BSE Auto Index up 2.51%
Oil off the boil, falls below $118
Annual inflation seen at 12.02 pc on July 26
HCC consortium bags Rs 1,398 cr project
Direct tax collections jump 47% in April-July
Reliance Power to raise $2.5 bn loan: Sources
Overseas venture capitalists invest Rs 17,000 crore in Indian assets in Q1
Source: ET