India to overtake China in 2020

India to overtake China in 2020: Swaminathan Aiyar



In the past decades, India has been world number one in starvation deaths, foreign aid and bribery. In the 2000s, it was transformed from a

What is IIP? Know what is monetary policy India's road to economic reform India a safe bet

chronic under-performer to a potential superpower. Here are eight predictions of what it will look like in 2020:

India will overtake China as the fastest-growing economy in the world. China will start ageing and suffering from a declining workforce, and will be forced to revalue its currency. So its growth will decelerate, just as Japan decelerated in the 1990s after looking unstoppable in the 1980s. Having become the world’s second-biggest economy, China’s export-oriented model will erode sharply — the world will no longer be able to absorb its exports at the earlier pace. Meanwhile, India will gain demographically with a growing workforce that is more literate than ever before. The poorer Indian states will start catching up with the richer ones. This will take India’s GDP growth to 10% by 2020, while China’s growth will dip to 7-8%.

India will become the largest English-speaking nation in the world, overtaking the US. So, the global publishing industry will shift in a big way to India. Rupert Murdoch’s heirs will sell his collapsing media empire to Indian buyers. The New York Times will become a subsidiary of an Indian publishing giant.

In the 2000s, India finally gained entry into the nuclear club, and sanctions against it were lifted. By 2020, Indian companies will be major exporters of nuclear equipment, a vital link in the global supply chain. So, India will be in a position to impose nuclear sanctions on others.

India, along with the US and Canada, will develop new technology to extract natural gas from gas hydrates — a solidified form of gas lying on ocean floors. India has the largest gas hydrate deposits in the world, and so will become the biggest global producer. This will enable India to substitute gas for coal in power generation, hugely reducing carbon emissions and making Jairam Ramesh look saintly.

India will also discover enormous deposits of shale gas in its vast shale formations running through the Gangetic plain, Assam, Rajasthan and Gujarat. New technology has made the extraction of shale gas economic, so India will become a major gas producer and exporter. Meanwhile, Iran’s mullahs will be overthrown, and a new democratic regime will usher in rapid economic growth that creates a shortage of gas in Iran by 2020. So, the Iran-India pipeline will be recast, but in reverse form: India will now export gas to Iran.

More and more regions of India will demand separate statehood. By 2020, India will have 50 states instead of the current 28. The new states will not exactly be small. With 50 states and a population of almost 1.5 billion, India will average 30 million people per state, far higher than the current US average of 6 million per state.

China, alarmed at India’s rise, will raise tensions along the Himalayan border. China will threaten to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra from Tibet to water-scarce northern China. India will threaten to bomb any such project. The issue will go to the Security Council.

Islamic fundamentalists will take over in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US will withdraw from the region, leaving India to bear the brunt of consequences. Terrorism will rise in India, but the economy will still keep growing. How so? Well, 3000 people die every year falling off Mumbai’s suburban trains, and that does not stop Mumbai’s growth. Terrorism will bruise India, but not halt its growth.


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Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Last updated on: December 31, 2009 21:18 IST

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Bhupesh Bhandari

India Inc entered the 21st Century more confident and more competitive. Many of the previous decade's top ten were not even around a decade earlier. In this era of change few thought in year 2000 that by 2010 Ratan Tata would continue to head any list of high performers. He did!

Life began for Ratan Tata in 2000. That year, Tata Tea acquired Tetley of the United Kingdom. This was the first major acquisition of a global brand by an Indian company.

Four years later, it was Tata Motors' turn -- it bought the heavy vehicles business of bankrupt Daewoo Motors in South Korea. Next year, Tata Steel acquired NatSteel in Singapore. All of this paled into insignificance in 2007 when Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for $12 billion. It made Tata Steel the fifth largest steel company in the world.

A year later, Tata Motors became the new owner of marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover after it paid Ford $2.3 billion. The crowning glory came in 2009 when he launched an ultra-low-cost car, the Nano. Not bad at all.

The decade that draws to an end will go down in history as the one in which Indian business spread its footprint across the globe. Strong economic growth till 2008, which was driven by domestic consumption, had filled the coffers of most companies.

The flow of global capital had taken the stock markets to new heights, which made Indian businessmen rich beyond compare. The list of Indian billionaires had become long. They had the money to buy assets that were on the block. Click NEXT to read on further. . .

Image: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata.
Photographs: Reuters

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Last updated on: December 31, 2009 21:18 IST

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Bhupesh Bhandari

India Inc entered the 21st Century more confident and more competitive. Many of the previous decade's top ten were not even around a decade earlier. In this era of change few thought in year 2000 that by 2010 Ratan Tata would continue to head any list of high performers. He did!

Life began for Ratan Tata in 2000. That year, Tata Tea acquired Tetley of the United Kingdom. This was the first major acquisition of a global brand by an Indian company.

Four years later, it was Tata Motors' turn -- it bought the heavy vehicles business of bankrupt Daewoo Motors in South Korea. Next year, Tata Steel acquired NatSteel in Singapore. All of this paled into insignificance in 2007 when Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for $12 billion. It made Tata Steel the fifth largest steel company in the world.

A year later, Tata Motors became the new owner of marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover after it paid Ford $2.3 billion. The crowning glory came in 2009 when he launched an ultra-low-cost car, the Nano. Not bad at all.

The decade that draws to an end will go down in history as the one in which Indian business spread its footprint across the globe. Strong economic growth till 2008, which was driven by domestic consumption, had filled the coffers of most companies.

The flow of global capital had taken the stock markets to new heights, which made Indian businessmen rich beyond compare. The list of Indian billionaires had become long. They had the money to buy assets that were on the block. Click NEXT to read on further. . .

Image: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata.
Photographs: Reuters

Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Reliance Industries got even bigger in 2002 when it announced India's biggest gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

That year it acquired Indian Petrochemicals Corporation and merged Reliance Petroleum to become the country's largest company in the private sector. RIL entered the Fortune 500 list two years later.

In 2000, Reliance Industries' assets were worth Rs 50,000 crore -- not small by any standard. Today, the assets are worth Rs 2,45,706 crore. The revenue of the unified Reliance Group stood at Rs 21,541 crore in 2000. In 2008-09, in contrast, Reliance Industries clocked a turnover of Rs 1,39,269 crore.

Image: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

But the decade's big story for the Ambani family was sibling rivalry. Anil, the younger of the two Ambani brothers, accused Mukesh of usurping the family stake after the death of patriarch Dhirubhai in July 2002.

It turned out to be a no holds barred fight, which should come to a head early in the New Year in the nation's Supreme Court. In the settlement of 2005, Mukesh retained control of the oil & gas and petrochemicals business, while Anil got power and telecom.

Mukesh has since then diversified into retail, while Anil has taken strides in entertainment -- he acquired Adlabs and Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio. The Reliance business empire thus looks very different from ten years ago.

Image: Reliance founder late Dhirubhai Ambani (seated), with his sons Mukesh and Anil (right).
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Hindalco, of the Aditya Birla Group, bought Canadian aluminum maker Novelis for $6.4 billion.

Suzlon, set up in 1995 by Tulsi Tanti and now the world's third-largest wind energy company, shelled out $525 million for Hansen Transmissions of the Netherlands and $1.6 billion for REpower of Germany.

Vijay Mallya downed Scottish whiskey maker Whyte & Mackay for close to $1 billion. Dr Reddy's paid over $500 million for Betapharm of Germany, Ranbaxy $324 million for Terapia of Romania.

There were numerous other buys across the world in telecom, engineering, financial services, FMCG, information technology et al. In addition, Indians began to get plum projects. GMR bagged a $2.57 billion project to modernise an Istanbul airport. Indian business, in short, acquired a global spread.

Image: Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumaramangalam Birla.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Almost 530 million Indians own a phone now and Bharti Airtel has grown to cater to a 110 million of them. It has a 24 per cent share of the GSM mobile phone market, though its share of revenue is 31.8 per cent.

This clearly shows that the company has moved up the value chain -- it has managed to acquire better customers than rivals. Airtel, surveys have shown, is the second most-admired Indian brand after state-owned Life Insurance Corporation.

The company wants to take it to the top slot as quickly as possible.

Growth of homespun information technology companies has been no less spectacular.

Image: Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

The big three -- TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Infosys and Wipro --all earn over a billion dollars in revenue every quarter.

From a few thousand at the turn of the last decade, TCS has on its rolls 143,000 men and women in 42 countries. Infosys employs 105,000 people in its 50 centres spread across India, China, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Wipro has 95,000 people in its 50 centres across the globe -- it is the world's largest independent provider of research and development services. These companies have used the organic as well as inorganic route to growth.

Image: Former TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

It was a paradigm shift. Businessmen were no longer ashamed of selling off their businesses. It came to be known as unlocking value.

Apart from Ranbaxy, quite a few other Indian pharmaceutical companies changed hands during the decade -- Matrix Labs, Panacea Biotech and Dabur Pharma.

In other sectors, Gujarat Ambuja was sold to Holcim, Shaw Wallace breweries to SABMiller and distilleries to Mallya, and Maruti Suzuki became a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. It became a long list. Investment bankers say more iconic names will be sold in the years to come.

Image: Malvinder Mohan Singh who sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi of Japan.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

This was also the time Indians began to innovate their business model. Take ITC, for example. It was in the 1990s a largely cigarette company. But YC Deveshwar, who took over as the company's chairman in 1996, was quick to realise the need to spread the risks.

Tobacco was hardly a sunrise business. As it was not a "public good", the government was always ready to increase the taxes. So, the company expanded its hotel and paper business, and, more important, made a big splash in FMCG -- from personal care to snack food, stationery, lifestyle retail, matches and even incense sticks.

This part of the business has grown from Rs 109 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 3,014 crore in 2008-09. It was the first to seize the opportunity in the rural markets when it set up e-choupals which dispensed market-related information to farmers.

Image: ITC chairman Yogi Deveshwar.

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

The decade will always be remembered for the way Indians bought, shopped and banked. There was a virtual credit explosion -- people bought everything from automobiles to homes and even a pair of jeans on installments. Credit card numbers recorded a huge jump. Banks automated rapidly and sold more than just deposits and lockers.

Such a strategy helped ICICI Bank race past all banks in the sweepstakes, except State Bank of India. In the early parts of the decade, it brought its wholesale and personal banking operations under one roof.

This gave it added muscle. It was at the forefront of installing ATMs (automated teller machines) across the country, which cut the queues in its branches and therefore improved service standards. It went aggressive on credit cards, personal loans and cross-sold products to depositors -- life insurance, automobile finance, housing loans, advisory services etc.

It made Indian banks rethink their business model, including SBI. Its assets stood at $77 billion in June 2009, up from around $3 billion ten years ago.

Image: ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochchar.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev More

ICICI Bank's counterpart in retail was Kishore Biyani. The unassuming Marwari from Mumbai first got into organised retail with the Pantaloons family store in 1997. This was followed in 2001 with the launch of Big Bazaar, a hypermarket format that democratised shopping in India.

It blended the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality. Supply chain expertise did not exist in India.

Biyani built it from scratch. When commodity prices shot up to unheard of levels in 2007 and 2008, he held on to his prices. His people in the store wore T-shirts that said "Garv se kaho hum kanjoos hain" (Say with pride we are misers).

When large FMCG companies didn't agree for higher margins, he stopped stocking their merchandise -- such was his clout. With his large scale of operations, he always paid the lowest rent in the industry. He introduced the concept of store brands or private labels in the country.

Big Bazaar was followed by a number of other formats including Food Bazaar, Central and Home Town. He also diversified into finance, logistics and media. In between, he even wrote a book which was aptly titled "It happened in India".

Image: Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev More

Source:

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Last updated on: December 31, 2009 21:18 IST

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Comment

350)this.width=350;">

Next

Bhupesh Bhandari

India Inc entered the 21st Century more confident and more competitive. Many of the previous decade's top ten were not even around a decade earlier. In this era of change few thought in year 2000 that by 2010 Ratan Tata would continue to head any list of high performers. He did!

Life began for Ratan Tata in 2000. That year, Tata Tea acquired Tetley of the United Kingdom. This was the first major acquisition of a global brand by an Indian company.

Four years later, it was Tata Motors' turn -- it bought the heavy vehicles business of bankrupt Daewoo Motors in South Korea. Next year, Tata Steel acquired NatSteel in Singapore. All of this paled into insignificance in 2007 when Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for $12 billion. It made Tata Steel the fifth largest steel company in the world.

A year later, Tata Motors became the new owner of marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover after it paid Ford $2.3 billion. The crowning glory came in 2009 when he launched an ultra-low-cost car, the Nano. Not bad at all.

The decade that draws to an end will go down in history as the one in which Indian business spread its footprint across the globe. Strong economic growth till 2008, which was driven by domestic consumption, had filled the coffers of most companies.

The flow of global capital had taken the stock markets to new heights, which made Indian businessmen rich beyond compare. The list of Indian billionaires had become long. They had the money to buy assets that were on the block. Click NEXT to read on further. . .

Image: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata.
Photographs: Reuters

Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Reliance Industries got even bigger in 2002 when it announced India's biggest gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

That year it acquired Indian Petrochemicals Corporation and merged Reliance Petroleum to become the country's largest company in the private sector. RIL entered the Fortune 500 list two years later.

In 2000, Reliance Industries' assets were worth Rs 50,000 crore -- not small by any standard. Today, the assets are worth Rs 2,45,706 crore. The revenue of the unified Reliance Group stood at Rs 21,541 crore in 2000. In 2008-09, in contrast, Reliance Industries clocked a turnover of Rs 1,39,269 crore.

Image: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

But the decade's big story for the Ambani family was sibling rivalry. Anil, the younger of the two Ambani brothers, accused Mukesh of usurping the family stake after the death of patriarch Dhirubhai in July 2002.

It turned out to be a no holds barred fight, which should come to a head early in the New Year in the nation's Supreme Court. In the settlement of 2005, Mukesh retained control of the oil & gas and petrochemicals business, while Anil got power and telecom.

Mukesh has since then diversified into retail, while Anil has taken strides in entertainment -- he acquired Adlabs and Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio. The Reliance business empire thus looks very different from ten years ago.

Image: Reliance founder late Dhirubhai Ambani (seated), with his sons Mukesh and Anil (right).
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Hindalco, of the Aditya Birla Group, bought Canadian aluminum maker Novelis for $6.4 billion.

Suzlon, set up in 1995 by Tulsi Tanti and now the world's third-largest wind energy company, shelled out $525 million for Hansen Transmissions of the Netherlands and $1.6 billion for REpower of Germany.

Vijay Mallya downed Scottish whiskey maker Whyte & Mackay for close to $1 billion. Dr Reddy's paid over $500 million for Betapharm of Germany, Ranbaxy $324 million for Terapia of Romania.

There were numerous other buys across the world in telecom, engineering, financial services, FMCG, information technology et al. In addition, Indians began to get plum projects. GMR bagged a $2.57 billion project to modernise an Istanbul airport. Indian business, in short, acquired a global spread.

Image: Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumaramangalam Birla.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Almost 530 million Indians own a phone now and Bharti Airtel has grown to cater to a 110 million of them. It has a 24 per cent share of the GSM mobile phone market, though its share of revenue is 31.8 per cent.

This clearly shows that the company has moved up the value chain -- it has managed to acquire better customers than rivals. Airtel, surveys have shown, is the second most-admired Indian brand after state-owned Life Insurance Corporation.

The company wants to take it to the top slot as quickly as possible.

Growth of homespun information technology companies has been no less spectacular.

Image: Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

The big three -- TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Infosys and Wipro --all earn over a billion dollars in revenue every quarter.

From a few thousand at the turn of the last decade, TCS has on its rolls 143,000 men and women in 42 countries. Infosys employs 105,000 people in its 50 centres spread across India, China, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Wipro has 95,000 people in its 50 centres across the globe -- it is the world's largest independent provider of research and development services. These companies have used the organic as well as inorganic route to growth.

Image: Former TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

It was a paradigm shift. Businessmen were no longer ashamed of selling off their businesses. It came to be known as unlocking value.

Apart from Ranbaxy, quite a few other Indian pharmaceutical companies changed hands during the decade -- Matrix Labs, Panacea Biotech and Dabur Pharma.

In other sectors, Gujarat Ambuja was sold to Holcim, Shaw Wallace breweries to SABMiller and distilleries to Mallya, and Maruti Suzuki became a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. It became a long list. Investment bankers say more iconic names will be sold in the years to come.

Image: Malvinder Mohan Singh who sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi of Japan.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

This was also the time Indians began to innovate their business model. Take ITC, for example. It was in the 1990s a largely cigarette company. But YC Deveshwar, who took over as the company's chairman in 1996, was quick to realise the need to spread the risks.

Tobacco was hardly a sunrise business. As it was not a "public good", the government was always ready to increase the taxes. So, the company expanded its hotel and paper business, and, more important, made a big splash in FMCG -- from personal care to snack food, stationery, lifestyle retail, matches and even incense sticks.

This part of the business has grown from Rs 109 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 3,014 crore in 2008-09. It was the first to seize the opportunity in the rural markets when it set up e-choupals which dispensed market-related information to farmers.

Image: ITC chairman Yogi Deveshwar.

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

The decade will always be remembered for the way Indians bought, shopped and banked. There was a virtual credit explosion -- people bought everything from automobiles to homes and even a pair of jeans on installments. Credit card numbers recorded a huge jump. Banks automated rapidly and sold more than just deposits and lockers.

Such a strategy helped ICICI Bank race past all banks in the sweepstakes, except State Bank of India. In the early parts of the decade, it brought its wholesale and personal banking operations under one roof.

This gave it added muscle. It was at the forefront of installing ATMs (automated teller machines) across the country, which cut the queues in its branches and therefore improved service standards. It went aggressive on credit cards, personal loans and cross-sold products to depositors -- life insurance, automobile finance, housing loans, advisory services etc.

It made Indian banks rethink their business model, including SBI. Its assets stood at $77 billion in June 2009, up from around $3 billion ten years ago.

Image: ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochchar.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev More

ICICI Bank's counterpart in retail was Kishore Biyani. The unassuming Marwari from Mumbai first got into organised retail with the Pantaloons family store in 1997. This was followed in 2001 with the launch of Big Bazaar, a hypermarket format that democratised shopping in India.

It blended the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality. Supply chain expertise did not exist in India.

Biyani built it from scratch. When commodity prices shot up to unheard of levels in 2007 and 2008, he held on to his prices. His people in the store wore T-shirts that said "Garv se kaho hum kanjoos hain" (Say with pride we are misers).

When large FMCG companies didn't agree for higher margins, he stopped stocking their merchandise -- such was his clout. With his large scale of operations, he always paid the lowest rent in the industry. He introduced the concept of store brands or private labels in the country.

Big Bazaar was followed by a number of other formats including Food Bazaar, Central and Home Town. He also diversified into finance, logistics and media. In between, he even wrote a book which was aptly titled "It happened in India".

Image: Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev More

Source:

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Top 10 Indian companies of the decade

Last updated on: December 31, 2009 21:18 IST

Email
this

Save to
My Page

Ask
Users

Write a
Comment

350)this.width=350;">

Next

Bhupesh Bhandari

India Inc entered the 21st Century more confident and more competitive. Many of the previous decade's top ten were not even around a decade earlier. In this era of change few thought in year 2000 that by 2010 Ratan Tata would continue to head any list of high performers. He did!

Life began for Ratan Tata in 2000. That year, Tata Tea acquired Tetley of the United Kingdom. This was the first major acquisition of a global brand by an Indian company.

Four years later, it was Tata Motors' turn -- it bought the heavy vehicles business of bankrupt Daewoo Motors in South Korea. Next year, Tata Steel acquired NatSteel in Singapore. All of this paled into insignificance in 2007 when Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for $12 billion. It made Tata Steel the fifth largest steel company in the world.

A year later, Tata Motors became the new owner of marquee brands Jaguar and Land Rover after it paid Ford $2.3 billion. The crowning glory came in 2009 when he launched an ultra-low-cost car, the Nano. Not bad at all.

The decade that draws to an end will go down in history as the one in which Indian business spread its footprint across the globe. Strong economic growth till 2008, which was driven by domestic consumption, had filled the coffers of most companies.

The flow of global capital had taken the stock markets to new heights, which made Indian businessmen rich beyond compare. The list of Indian billionaires had become long. They had the money to buy assets that were on the block. Click NEXT to read on further. . .

Image: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata.
Photographs: Reuters

Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Reliance Industries got even bigger in 2002 when it announced India's biggest gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

That year it acquired Indian Petrochemicals Corporation and merged Reliance Petroleum to become the country's largest company in the private sector. RIL entered the Fortune 500 list two years later.

In 2000, Reliance Industries' assets were worth Rs 50,000 crore -- not small by any standard. Today, the assets are worth Rs 2,45,706 crore. The revenue of the unified Reliance Group stood at Rs 21,541 crore in 2000. In 2008-09, in contrast, Reliance Industries clocked a turnover of Rs 1,39,269 crore.

Image: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

But the decade's big story for the Ambani family was sibling rivalry. Anil, the younger of the two Ambani brothers, accused Mukesh of usurping the family stake after the death of patriarch Dhirubhai in July 2002.

It turned out to be a no holds barred fight, which should come to a head early in the New Year in the nation's Supreme Court. In the settlement of 2005, Mukesh retained control of the oil & gas and petrochemicals business, while Anil got power and telecom.

Mukesh has since then diversified into retail, while Anil has taken strides in entertainment -- he acquired Adlabs and Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio. The Reliance business empire thus looks very different from ten years ago.

Image: Reliance founder late Dhirubhai Ambani (seated), with his sons Mukesh and Anil (right).
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Hindalco, of the Aditya Birla Group, bought Canadian aluminum maker Novelis for $6.4 billion.

Suzlon, set up in 1995 by Tulsi Tanti and now the world's third-largest wind energy company, shelled out $525 million for Hansen Transmissions of the Netherlands and $1.6 billion for REpower of Germany.

Vijay Mallya downed Scottish whiskey maker Whyte & Mackay for close to $1 billion. Dr Reddy's paid over $500 million for Betapharm of Germany, Ranbaxy $324 million for Terapia of Romania.

There were numerous other buys across the world in telecom, engineering, financial services, FMCG, information technology et al. In addition, Indians began to get plum projects. GMR bagged a $2.57 billion project to modernise an Istanbul airport. Indian business, in short, acquired a global spread.

Image: Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumaramangalam Birla.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

Almost 530 million Indians own a phone now and Bharti Airtel has grown to cater to a 110 million of them. It has a 24 per cent share of the GSM mobile phone market, though its share of revenue is 31.8 per cent.

This clearly shows that the company has moved up the value chain -- it has managed to acquire better customers than rivals. Airtel, surveys have shown, is the second most-admired Indian brand after state-owned Life Insurance Corporation.

The company wants to take it to the top slot as quickly as possible.

Growth of homespun information technology companies has been no less spectacular.

Image: Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

The big three -- TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Infosys and Wipro --all earn over a billion dollars in revenue every quarter.

From a few thousand at the turn of the last decade, TCS has on its rolls 143,000 men and women in 42 countries. Infosys employs 105,000 people in its 50 centres spread across India, China, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, Poland, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Wipro has 95,000 people in its 50 centres across the globe -- it is the world's largest independent provider of research and development services. These companies have used the organic as well as inorganic route to growth.

Image: Former TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai.
Photographs: Reuters

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

It was a paradigm shift. Businessmen were no longer ashamed of selling off their businesses. It came to be known as unlocking value.

Apart from Ranbaxy, quite a few other Indian pharmaceutical companies changed hands during the decade -- Matrix Labs, Panacea Biotech and Dabur Pharma.

In other sectors, Gujarat Ambuja was sold to Holcim, Shaw Wallace breweries to SABMiller and distilleries to Mallya, and Maruti Suzuki became a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. It became a long list. Investment bankers say more iconic names will be sold in the years to come.

Image: Malvinder Mohan Singh who sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi of Japan.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

Prev Next

350)this.width=350;">

Prev Next

This was also the time Indians began to innovate their business model. Take ITC, for example. It was in the 1990s a largely cigarette company. But YC Deveshwar, who took over as the company's chairman in 1996, was quick to realise the need to spread the risks.

Tobacco was hardly a sunrise business. As it was not a "public good", the government was always ready to increase the taxes. So, the company expanded its hotel and paper business, and, more important, made a big splash in FMCG -- from personal care to snack food, stationery, lifestyle retail, matches and even incense sticks.

This part of the business has grown from Rs 109 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 3,014 crore in 2008-09. It was the first to seize the opportunity in the rural markets when it set up e-choupals which dispensed market-related information to farmers.

Image: ITC chairman Yogi Deveshwar.

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The decade will always be remembered for the way Indians bought, shopped and banked. There was a virtual credit explosion -- people bought everything from automobiles to homes and even a pair of jeans on installments. Credit card numbers recorded a huge jump. Banks automated rapidly and sold more than just deposits and lockers.

Such a strategy helped ICICI Bank race past all banks in the sweepstakes, except State Bank of India. In the early parts of the decade, it brought its wholesale and personal banking operations under one roof.

This gave it added muscle. It was at the forefront of installing ATMs (automated teller machines) across the country, which cut the queues in its branches and therefore improved service standards. It went aggressive on credit cards, personal loans and cross-sold products to depositors -- life insurance, automobile finance, housing loans, advisory services etc.

It made Indian banks rethink their business model, including SBI. Its assets stood at $77 billion in June 2009, up from around $3 billion ten years ago.

Image: ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochchar.
Photographs: Reuters

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ICICI Bank's counterpart in retail was Kishore Biyani. The unassuming Marwari from Mumbai first got into organised retail with the Pantaloons family store in 1997. This was followed in 2001 with the launch of Big Bazaar, a hypermarket format that democratised shopping in India.

It blended the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality. Supply chain expertise did not exist in India.

Biyani built it from scratch. When commodity prices shot up to unheard of levels in 2007 and 2008, he held on to his prices. His people in the store wore T-shirts that said "Garv se kaho hum kanjoos hain" (Say with pride we are misers).

When large FMCG companies didn't agree for higher margins, he stopped stocking their merchandise -- such was his clout. With his large scale of operations, he always paid the lowest rent in the industry. He introduced the concept of store brands or private labels in the country.

Big Bazaar was followed by a number of other formats including Food Bazaar, Central and Home Town. He also diversified into finance, logistics and media. In between, he even wrote a book which was aptly titled "It happened in India".

Image: Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani.
Photographs: Rediff Archive

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Source:




More @ http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/dec/31/slide-show-1-top-10-indian-companies-of-the-decade.htm#contentTop

Src: ET, Rediff

Top 10 picks on Dalal Street for 2010

Wishing ALL a VERY HAPPY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2010



Top 10 picks on Dalal Street for 2010

Experts take on best stock bets for 2010 29 Dec 2009, 0557 hrs IST

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ET Bureau It was a year when sentiment swung from despair to euphoria. Investment gurus believe the worst is behind us. But the big question is, who will call the shots in 2010 — the bulls or the bears? And if it is going to be a sideways market, where do the big opportunities lie? ET spoke to some of the savviest players to feel their pulse . Here are some of their picks...

Honda Siel Power 29 Dec 2009, 0556 hrs IST

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Latest Quotes | Charts | News/Announcements | Quarterly Results | P&L | Price History By: CJ George, MD, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services CMP: 263 1Yr Return: 75% P/E: -45.0 Market Cap: Rs 267 crore Production is on in full swing at Honda Siel Power’s Greater Noida plant, as part of its parent company’s bigger game plans for India. Consolidation of component making and assembly operations at one place is expected to save costs considerably, thereby boosting profitability margins. Current market price of Rs 250 is backed by Rs 160 cash surplus per share and Rs 45 cash earnings per share for FY11.

TTK Healthcare 29 Dec 2009, 0556 hrs IST

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Latest Quotes | Charts | News/Announcements | Quarterly Results | P&L | Price History By: CJ George, MD, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services CMP: Rs 237 1Yr Return: 235% P/E: 20.7 Market Cap: Rs 192 crore TTK Healthcare is into niche businesses in pharma, FMCG, foods, medical devices etc. It is also working on development of coronary stent, vascular graft and stent graft for thoracic aortic aneurysm and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. In the coming years, medical devices business will grow at a faster rate with an operating profit margin of 45%.

Wipro 29 Dec 2009, 0556 hrs IST

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Latest Quotes | Charts | News/Announcements | Quarterly Results | P&L | Price History By: Nirmal Jain, CMD, India Infoline CMP: Rs 694 1Yr Return:v 199% P/E: 25.4 Market Cap: Rs 1,01,841 crore Wipro’s focus on cost control has helped it improve its operating margins. The company has diversified its pricing model the most over the past one year. Contribution from fixed price projects is up almost 10 percentage points YoY. In fact, its onsite realisations are around 5% better than Infosys. Also, better integration among its diversified service offerings are enabling it to win large multi-service deals.

More on this @

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowpics/5390102.cms


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Alternative investment therapy	Ten fastest growing companies	Ten worst performing companies	Experts take on sectoral bets for 2010

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Browse

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/yearender.cms



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Other Articles:

Asian stocks set for 70% gain this year

Govt to split NALCO in three; stock surges


2009: Best year post 1993 & 1999 for India ( 2009)

• Bejan Daruwala's zodiac-wise financial predictions for 2010
• What your portfolio should consist of in 2010
• Deven Choksey's midcap picks for 2010

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Wishing ALL a VERY HAPPY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2010

Heard on the Street and Few Market Websites

Heard on the Street


Ashapura hits circuit filter on creeping acquisition buzz

Small-, and mid-cap stocks seem to be the flavour of the season. Trading in one such stock, Ashapura Minechem, was frozen at the upper end of the intra-day circuit filter on talks of a creeping acquisition by the company’s promoters. The shares closed 5%, up at Rs 72.5 on large volumes of 13.5 lakh shares, in a sluggish market on Wednesday.

Interestingly, the spurt in the stock was recorded on a healthy delivery ratio (percentage of shares delivered to total volumes) of 82% on BSE. The trigger, according to market sources, was fresh open market acquisitions by one of the company’s promoters whose combined holding stood at 43% as on September 30, 2009.

In a block deal transacted on Wednesday, the promoter bought 9.5 lakh shares at Rs 69.7, the intra-day low for the stock. Around 1.2% stake was acquired from the company’s foreign JV partner Volclay International Corporation, which held a 21.1% stake as on September-end.

Dec F&O series expiry comes as relief to option traders

Some option traders are heaving a sigh of relief, with the December futures and options series expiring on Thursday. These traders had aggressively sold or written Nifty 5200 December Calls, hoping that the index would not cross this level anytime this expiry. Brokers said Call writers aggressively sold these contracts, when the premium was at Rs 70-80.

As the Nifty hovered under the 5200-mark in many of the past sessions, these traders were jittery that any sharp upmove could result in premium also rising sharply. Such concerns were especially around the past prolonged weekend, when a section of the market predicted a breakout at 5200, led by global market strength. But that did not happen. With the contracts expiring on Thursday, these option writers hope to pocket the entire premium.

(Contributed by Vijay Gurav & Nishanth Vasudevan)

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Top 5 picks of the day I Mid-term picks of the day

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Here I have given Few Website address which gives Stocks Reports, ANalysis...



http://www.jumpingstocks.com/



http://www.marketbhavishya.com/stock.htm




Browse These websites daily for Market and Stock Analysis....

Heard on the Street

Heard on the Street

TIL is back on HNIs’ radar as co lines up infrastructure projects

Touted as a fundamental play, TIL shares are back on the radar of some high net worth individuals, who have been accumulating the stock. The scrip, which has gained 18% over the past month, jumped 4% on BSE on Tuesday to close at Rs 348.60.

The company has clocked an earning per share of Rs 12.53 for the half year-ended September. With many infrastructure projects on the anvil for 2010, companies in this segment are expected to gain traction, say analysts. TIL’s principal activities are manufacturing and market heavy engineering equipment used in the infrastructure sector. The firm operates in three segments: construction and mining solutions, power system solutions and material handling solutions.

Bull on a value hunt laps up NHPC despite its poor show

Most investors burnt their fingers subscribing to the initial public offering of state-owned NHPC. After briefly topping its issue price on listing, the stock has been languishing below that mark ever since. Of late, a Rar(e)ing Bull appears to have taken a fancy for the stock.

In the past couple of trading sessions, the Bull is said to have accumulated over 25 lakh shares. It is not clear if he is merely scouting for value, or whether he is anticipating some favourable policy announcement that could benefit the company.

Talk of agro-chem joint venture with MNC lifts Astec Lifesciences

Astec Lifesciences has come on the radar of operators yet again. The buzz in the market is that Astec is planning to enter into a joint venture with a multinational company to expand its agro-chemical product profile. The joint venture, if it materialises, is expected to give a booster shot to the profit and turnover margins of Astec Lifesciences.

According to analysts tracking the company, Astec has been looking for technology support partners to grow its R&D and pharmaceuticals business. “The company could tie up with some research agency or a foreign company to grow its business verticals. A full-fledged JV for product development looks very unlikely at the moment,” said an analyst tracking the company. Shares of Astec Lifesciences ended 0.3% higher at Rs 82.35 on BSE on Tuesday.

(Contributed by Deeptha Rajkumar, Santosh Nair & Shailesh Menon)



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op 5 picks of the day I Mid-term picks

• Are we in for another bull run?
• Nifty support may come at 5120-5080
• Small companies reward their followers in 2009

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Src: ET

Stock Reports - 29.12.09

10 fastest growing cos


10 worst performing cos

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	Aditya Birla Chemicals: A Value Buy Rathin Shah
	Solvay Pharma: Buy at CMP Rs1760 Abhishek Jain
	Technical calls: Buy Aban Offshore & Ashok Leyland HDFC Sec Nifty spot: No significant upside above 5200 level Angel Broking Technical calls: Buy Akruti City, Escorts, Hindustan Zinc HDFC Sec Uptrend intact as Nifty makes new highs HDFC Sec

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Two Attractive Mid Cap Stocks

Sanjay Chhabria
Dec 24, 2009

Gruh Finance Ltd (Rs 205)
(BSE Code - 511288, NSE Code - GRUH)
(P/E - 12, Equity - Rs34.65 cr, HDFC’s stake - 61.5%, Market Cap - Rs710 cr)

Gruh Finance (GFL) was set up in 1986 by HDFC to replicate its ‘home financing’ business model in semi urban and rural areas. Presently, the parent’s ownership stands at 61.85% and it has three representatives in the board of Gruh Finance (out of the total board’s strength of eight). Gruh has maintained the standards of services, quality of assets and management of cost of funds comparable to its parent. HDFC is the largest shareholder in the company with a stake of 61.49%. Gruh Finance has been a major player in the non-metro markets of Gujarat and Maharashtra where semi-urban and rural areas are witnessing growing prosperity. With the exception of a few PSU and co-operative banks, none of the aggressive private sector entities cater to the latent demand in these regions. Gruh has entered this relatively under-banked market with a unique marketing strategy. GFL is primarily engaged in the business of providing long-term finance to individuals for construction, purchase, extension, repair and renovation of homes. Gruh has launched innovative products and flexible repayment options to suit consumers in various segments. Besides home loans, Gruh offers loans for purchase of non-residential properties like office premises and shops. One of the major strength of the company is its strong and visionary Parent & management. HDFC, the major stakeholder is the pioneer in the housing finance and strong credibility as well as investor confidence.

Gruh Finance presently operates out of 65 offices and majority of these offices are in locations where HDFC does not have a presence. Going forward, Gruh would like to be in places that would not be on the radar of large housing finance companies. The company’s strategy has been to establish its presence at the district headquarters and then gradually penetrate adjoining areas, after garnering adequate knowledge about the local markets. This model of expanding into contiguous geographies helps in minimizing risks associated with venturing into uncharted territories. Gruh has maintained quality of service comparable to its parent although it operates in different geographies. Hence, in distant future, if the parent decides to merge the operations of Gruh with itself, it would not be very difficult.

GFL’s financials are in sound shape. The capital adequacy ratio(CAR) of about 16% allows the company considerable flexibility in managing both business growth and dividend disbursals. The proportion of bad loans at less than 2% is also impressive. The profitability of the operations has improved considerably in recent years, with spreads rising above 2%. The asset quality is comparable to HDFC. The housing finance sector continues to be one of the fastest growing sector in the finance sector. As growth prospects are bright in the home loan business, there is a strong likelihood of GRUH Finance sustaining its healthy profitability levels.

For the half year ended Sept. 2009, GFL has posted a net profit of Rs 20.64 cr.(up 29%) on total income of 150 cr.(up 20%). For the year ended March 31, 2009 GFL had posted a net profit of Rs 50.28 cr.(up 19%) cr. on total income of Rs 295 cr.(up 46%). On a equity of 34.65 cr. the EPS stood at Rs 14.53 and the dividend declared was 48%. The Gross NPAs of the GFL stood at Rs 19.68 cr. (0.94% of the Loan Assets). The NPAs are fully provided for and as a result the Net NPAs of the Company are Nil. Going forward, the company plans to target interior areas of Maharashtra and expand its presence into the adjoining states of Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The foray to new geographies should enable the company to maintain an average disbursement growth between 18-20%.

The stock trades at 11.7x FY10E earnings (Rs 17.5) and at 9.7 x FY11E earnings (Rs 21). Gruh Finance offers long-term investors an excellent exposure to rapid semi-urban and rural socio-economic development in India in the next few years in the area of home loans and personal finance. Its strong pedigree and balance sheet attributes, high quality of loan book, low rate of delinquencies and superior to peer group RoEs makes it a premium play inspite of its rather small size. Gruh Finance is like HDFC being available in small caps. Investors can start accumulating the stock at current levels and add more on declines for decent returns of 40%-45% over the next 6-8 months.

Autoline Industries Ltd (Rs 119)
(BSE Code – 532797, NSE Code- AUTOIND)
(P/E - 9, Market Cap - Rs145 cr, Equity - Rs12.2 cr)

Autoline Industries (AIL) supplies complex sheet metal assemblies and sub-assemblies to Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Kinetic Engineering, Mahindra & Mahindra, Walker Exhaust and Fiat India. Tata Motors, which buys components for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, is Autoline's largest customer. AIL, which has five facilities in Pune, is a design engineering and manufacturing solutions provider focused on sheet metal assemblies and formed tubular products. AIL had come with an IPO in January 2007 at Rs 225 per share. Funds raised through the IPO have been used to upgrade and expand Autoline's Chakan facility in Pune; set up another manufacturing facility at the same location; relocate and consolidate a couple of smaller units; establish a corporate office; fund acquisitions, and provide long-term working-capital resources. The equity capital of the company is Rs 12.22 cr. of which promoters’ hold 26.62%, FII/Mutual funds hold 1.82%, corporate bodies hold 16.65% and the public holds 54.91%

The Indian automobile ancillary sector is transforming itself from a low -volume, highly fragmented one into a competitive industry, and backed by competitive strengths, technology and transition up the value chain. Despite a relatively small share of Asia in the global pie, India is now amongst one of the most preferred destinations and has come to occupy the image of an exporting hub for most of the major global OEM players. Almost all the big auto manufacturers of the world are either already or are in the process of outsourcing from India. AIL has realized the potential of component manufacture business. It owns in-house design engineering, rapid prototyping and mass manufacturing capabilities. AIL had an in-house CAD/CAE/CAM facility and decided to scale up the capabilities of this facility by acquiring a design engineering software company (a majority stake 51%) in Autoline Dimensions Software Pvt. Ltd. (Formerly known as Dimensions Engineering Software Services Pvt. Ltd.), which has expertise in design engineering services. Further it plans to expand capacities by setting up another plant at Chakan (Unit –II). AIL has taken efforts to shift from low margin products to high margin products. Autoline Dimension would be one of the future growth driver providing a boost to AIL’s revenue.

For FY09, AIL has reported net profit of Rs 4.68 cr. on net sales of Rs 350 cr. on consolidated basis.. On a equity of 12.2 cr., the EPS stood at Rs 3.84 and the dividend declared was 10%. From a turnover of Rs 51 cr. in FY-2004, Autoline's revenues scaled up to Rs 350 cr. in FY09. For the half year ended September 2009, the figures are net sales of Rs 198.23 cr. and net profit of Rs 6.67 cr. (up 68%) on consolidated basis. The EPS for first half stands at Rs 5.5. On Oct. 28, 2009, Autoline Industries USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Autoline Industries announced that it has received orders to manufacture brake and clutch pedal assemblies from 2 US automakers. The new business will bolster the sales of US unit by US$ 40 Million over the next 4 year period

AIL, should be able to post a top-line of around Rs.400 cr., and PAT of Rs. 16-17 cr., giving an EPS of Rs.13-14 for FY10. The share is presently trading at Rs. 119, which discounts FY10E earnings by 8.8 times. In view of the improved results and good medium term prospects, Investors can start accumulating the stock at current levels and add more on declines for decent returns of 40%-50% over the next 6-8 months.

Latest Developments- Autoline Industries has drawn up a Rs 255 cr. brownfield expansion. This will be funded through internal accruals and term loans. The expansion will add another 1,000 employees to its 2,000-strong workforce. It will involve an additional 40 acres to the existing 100 and is expected to be over by 2011. The company has sought mega status (which translates into concessions in stamp duty and electricity tariff) for the project from the Maharashtra Government. Approval could be granted by January. The project is also eligible for industry promotion subsidy. The expansion plan involves ramping up the production line, creating a tool room and adding prototyping/designing facilities at three sites in Pune district. Autoline wants to become a complete designing, engineering and manufacturing entity for mechanical assembly systems in automobiles. The idea is to make components based on designs provided by carmakers. At present, the company has orders for designing and manufacturing pedal assemblies for Volkswagen whose facility is also at Chakan. It supplies the same part to Tata Motors for its Indica and Ace models.

valueinv@sify.com
9893200307

Sanjay Chhabria is an equity analyst and investment consultant based at Raipur (Chhattisgarh). At the time of writing this, he doesn’t have any position in the stocks mentioned above. He is bringing a weekly Investment newsletter “Market-View” since April 2001 to help small (retail) investors take an informed investment decision. He invites Readers to send him email to get free 1 week trial offer of “Market –View”. He also appears on CNBC TV 18(Mid cap radar). He welcomes comments, feedback & investor queries at valueinv@sify.com.

Under no circumstances does the information in this report represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. This report has been prepared solely for information purposes and does not constitute a solicitation to any person to buy or sell a security. While the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, no responsibility (or liability) is accepted for the accuracy of its contents. Readers using the information contained herein are solely responsible for their actions and are advised to satisfy themselves before making any investments.

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ICICI Bank

Hindustan Zinc

India Economy

Ranbaxy Labs

Weekly Review - Dec 29 2009

Weekly Newsletter - Dec 29 2009

Src: Valuenotes, Economictimes, DP Blog and etc.

Technicals and Stock Reports

Positive closing for 2009

he market bounced with a strong volume expansion to establish a new 52-week high on X-mas Eve. The Nifty closed at 5,178.4 points for a week-on-week gain of 3.82 per cent. The Sensex closed at 17,360 points for exactly the same gains. The Defty was up 4.15 per cent as the rupee rose.

Volumes expanded and breadth improved dramatically in the last two sessions. At the end of the week, every major market segment had established gains. The Bank Nifty outran the pivotal indices and the BSE 500 was up by 3.4 per cent. Both FIIs and domestic institutions were net buyers. Operator buying was also in evidence.

Outlook: The market could test 5,300 on the upside, going into the December settlement. On the downside, reactions will find support at 4,950-5,050. Volatility is likely to be up. There could be a couple of action-packed sessions since next week is also truncated. Most signals are positive.

Rationale: The market penetrated key resistance at 5,180, hitting a new high of 5,198. Although this could not be sustained, it confirms all three trends – short-term, intermediate and long, - are up. Breadth and volume expansion on the breakout are positives. There is a target of around 5,300. However, there may be a narrowing in trading with a focus on the larger F&O stocks.

Counter-view: It is possible that this week saw a lot of short-covering and exits. In that case, settlement week could see net losses and lower volumes than normal. However, there is solid support at 5,050-5,075 and again, between 4,950 and 5,050. Since all three trends are in bullish phase, a big correction is unlikely.

Bulls & Bears: The week ended with net gains across most indices and industry sectors. The Bank Nifty outperformed after several weeks. Other financials and the realty segment also saw net gains. Though this up move in interest-sensitive stocks looks like a technical correction, it could continue. Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Yes Bank, IDFC and HDIL may outperform.

The auto industry received a lot of bullish investment calls. Tata Motors has looked strong for weeks but in the past two or three sessions, we also saw money coming into Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda and Mahindra. While IT and pharma also delivered net gains, there was a pattern of profit booking towards the end of the week. The rupee hardening also suggests that IT may ease down or at least, underperform next week. However, big guns like TCS and Educomp still look bullish.

Pharma-healthcare saw Dr Reddy’s, Fortis and Glenmark delivering good returns last week, but money seems to be moving out of here into more aggressively traded counters. Apart from these, a host of movers attracted attention for stock specific reasons. These included Great Offshore, Nilkamal, Maytas Infra, Nagarjuna Construction, etc.

MICRO TECHNICALS

TCS
Current Price: Rs 749 Target Price: Rs 765

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Since March 2009, TCS has risen along a 45 degree trendline (split-adjusted prices) and this pattern holds at a new high. Keep a stop at Rs 740 and go long. A long-term target cannot be calculated. But, if the trendline is maintained, TCS should hit Rs 765 by settlement (December 31).

NTPC
Current Price: Rs 229.95 Target Price: Rs 250

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The stock has made a breakout on strong volumes and is testing resistance at the current levels. If it can close above Rs 232, it could have a target of around Rs 250. Keep a stop at Rs 225 and go long. Add to the position above Rs 232.

HCC
Current Price: Rs 151 Target Price: Rs 157

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HCC has hit a new 2009 high on strong volumes. The chart pattern suggests a target in the range of Rs 157-160. Keep a stop at Rs 145 and go long. Start booking profits above Rs 157. If you wish to hold a position beyond Rs 160, reset the stop loss to Rs 155.

GUJARAT NRE COKE
Current Price: Rs 78 Target Price: Rs 90

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The stock has jumped on a strong volume expansion. It has resistance between current levels and Rs 80. If it closes above Rs 80, it will have a target of around Rs 90. Keep a stop at Rs 74 and go long. Increase the position above Rs 80 and reset the stop to Rs 79.

STERLITE INDUSTRIES
Current Price: Rs 860.45 Target Price: Rs 895

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The stock has finished a reaction and is consolidating. There is serious resistance at current levels but if it crosses Rs 870, it will test Rs 900. Keep a stop loss at Rs 850 and go long. Add to the position above Rs 870 and reset the stop to Rs 865. Book profits beyond Rs 895

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Expect moderate returns in 28-DEC-09 After the astonishing performance in 2009, which has helped Indian stock markets emerge among the best performing markets globally with year-to-date returns of almost 80 per cent, the year 2010 could prove to be a disappointment.

Smart Portfolios shine in holiday week 28-DEC-09 The Smart Portfolios registered healthy gains last week in line with a pull back in the broader markets.

Markets at a glance 28-DEC-09 The markets began on a weak note with the BSE Sensex closing at its six-week low on Monday.

The probability myth 28-DEC-09 Do you know how many times you use “Probably” in a day?

Bullish sentiment with rising volatility 28-DEC-09 The market made a breakout that propelled it to new highs.

Positive closing for 2009 28-DEC-09 The market bounced with a strong volume expansion to establish a new 52-week high on X-mas Eve.

What analysts expect in 2010 28-DEC-09 After a stellar performance in 2009, the Indian stock market is set to move higher in 2010 believe most research houses and brokerages.

'Commodities are pricey at this point in time' 28-DEC-09 After last year’s sharp run up in commodity prices, Jim Rogers, the legendary commodities investor, is not bullish on most of the commodities at this point in time.

'Focus on few stocks' 28-DEC-09 Given the near 80 per cent returns the BSE Sensex has delivered since the beginning of 2009, it is quite likely that the current year’s performance would turn out to be the third best in almost three decades.

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Analysts picks: Infosys, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel, Jet Airways, Adani Enterprises

Derivatives Diary: Nifty appears to be following DJIA again

Experts debate on how mkts will pan out in 2010

Src: Economictimes, Business-Standard and etc