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?

Read on. . .

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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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• 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

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• Images: The PC mouse's history • Book bus tickets on rediff.com

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• Become a physiotherapist• TAPMI's PG prog in mgmt

• IRMA's PGP in Rural Mgmt• IIM-A's PGP in Agri-business

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• BSc Ed for OBC students• XLRI's distance edu courses

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Source: Rediff

RBI panel suggests interest rate futures :UTVi

RBI panel suggests interest rate futures

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

Stocks jump as oil prices fall sharply
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

DJIA 11,734.32 +302.89 +2.65%

S&P500 1,296.32 +30.25 +2.39%

Oil Hits intraday low of $114.61 and settled at $115.15

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

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

World's 10 top management gurus

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

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

Sensex ends marginally higher at 15,117; Inflation at 12.01%

Sensex ends marginally higher at 15,117
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.

---------------------------------------------
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

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

Tata Steel makes it to Fortune Global 500 list for first time

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