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Bharti Q2 net surges 79 pc; adds 41.1 lakh customers NEW DELHI, Oct 27: On the back of highest ever customer additions in a quarter, leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel Ltd today posted a 79 ..........more BHEL
plans to set up NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, the country’s largest power equipment supplier, today said it plans to set up a.........more FDI
outflow due to NEW DELHI, Oct 27: The Government today said the FDI outflow, due to growing foreign acquisitions by Indian .........more India
can attain sustained NEW YORK, Oct 27: Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that India can attain a sustained economic growth of nine to 10 per cent over the next seven . .....more |
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Inflation over three NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Inflation rose to over three months high of 5.26 per cent for the week ended October 14, from 5.16 per cent in the previous week mainly due to increase in the prices of food and ..........more Inflation
at four-month NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Ahead of the Reserve Bank’s busy season credit policy review on October 31, inflation shot up to four month high of 5.26 per cent for ............more Mumbai poised to become global financial centre: FM NEW YORK, Oct 27: India today said it plans to turn Mumbai into a global financial centre to provide a host of services to clients across the world. . ......more Indo-US
CEOs forum NEW YORK, Oct 27: The Indo-US CEOs forum has offered to set up a five billion dollar fund for infrastructure development projects ...........more |
Bharti Q2 net surges 79 pc; adds 41.1 lakh customers NEW DELHI, Oct 27: On the back of highest ever customer additions in a quarter, leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel Ltd today posted a 79 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended September 30. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 934 crore for the second quarter during 2006-07 as compared to Rs 521 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal. The company has added 41.1 lakh customers in the second quarter this year, the highest ever, and reported a growth of 90 per cent year-on-year in customer additions. The company said its total subscriber base was 2.86 crore and it had a 21.4 per cent share of the mobile market. "This quarter for the first time ever India’s mobile net additions surpassed those of China. Wireless services continue to drive the growth of telecom services across the country with over 126 million subscribers," company’s chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal said. Consolidated total revenue rose to Rs 4357 crore during the second quarter in 2006-07, registering a growth of 61 per cent as compared to Rs 2709 crore for the same quarter last year, the company said. "Bharti Airtel has delivered a strong performance in terms of revenue growth and market share driven by constant innovation and world class services," Mittal added. For the half year ended September 30 the company reported a consolidated total revenue of Rs 8214 crore, up 57 per cent from Rs 5226 crore for the same period last year. Consolidated net profit for the half year grew 64 per cent to Rs 1689 crore as compared to Rs 1031 crore during the year-ago period. (PTI) |
BHEL plans to set up 400 mw IGCC project NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, the country’s largest power equipment supplier, today said it plans to set up a 400 mw power plant on coal-to-gas conversion technology as part of efforts to commercialise eco-friendly and low carbon emission generation projects in the country. The state-run engineering giant has also submitted an action plan to the Government for its 125 mw integrated gasification combined cycle technology demonstration power project, which it would set up in joint venture with public sector generation major NTPC Ltd. "We have submitted a feasibility report and are awaiting approvals for the 125 mw IGCC project. Simultaneously, we are also preparing a blueprint for a 400 mw IGCC plant that would be run on commercial basis," BHEL chairman and managing director A K Puri told PTI. The IGCC technology converts coal into gas, which is fed into gas turbines for generating electricity. The exhaust gases that come out of the turbines are used to generate steam, which is again used to produce power. IGCC is one of the most promising new clean coal technologies in power generation that uses low-quality solid or liquid fuels. It reduces air pollution and also gives higher thermal efficiency (more electricity per tonne of coal) than conventional plants. The Navratna PSU is already running a 6.2 mw igcc demonstration plant at its Trichy unit in Tamil Nadu. The 125 mw project would be set up near NTPC’s Auraiya gas-fired power plant in Uttar Pradesh and would require about Rs 900 crore. While BHEL would commission the project, NTPC Although BHEL had tied up with NTPC for 125 mw project, it is open to work with other utilities for the 400 mw plant, which could entail an estimated investment of between Rs 2,500-3,000 crore. Setting up a IGCC project near an existing gas-fired plant like the one in Auraiya offers certain advantages such as those related to logistics, but such projects can later be set up at other locations also when the technology is established and gas supply and transport is assured. "Once the 125 mw project is cleared and funding is in place, we would be able to commission the project within three years," he said, adding the project would require budgetory support from the Government. Puri said although the 125 mw research project entailed a higher cost of about Rs 7 crore per megawatt as against Rs 4-4.5 crore for conventional thermal stations, but it was still the cheapest compared to similar projects in other countries such as the US, EU and Japan. "Once the technology is established and commercialised, the cost would come down in subsequent projects," he said, adding such projects also give other benefits in terms of low pollution and cleaner environment. (PTI) |
FDI outflow due to acquisitions no cause for concern: Govt NEW DELHI, Oct 27: The Government today said the FDI outflow, due to growing foreign acquisitions by Indian companies, is not a cause for concern as the country has comfortable foreign exchange reserves. "FDI inflow is every day phenomenon, outflow is occasional... This phenomenon (FDI outflow) has to be viewed in totality. Don’t be worried. It is not a cause for concern," Finance Secretary Adarsh Kishore told PTI. With mega acquisitions this year, including largest ever by Indian industrial house Tatas, there is a possibility that the country may see less FDI inflow than outflow this year. If opportunity comes for acquisitions abroad, it should not be lost, Kishore said. He said outflow and inflow of FDI should not be looked from short term perspective. The country has substantial forex reserves, he said adding that if some FDI is coming in, some will go out. India has 165.27 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves as on october 13 this year. National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council also said yesterday that it was not disturbed by the increasing number of acquisitions abroad by corporate India, but feels the trend would accrue economic gains for the country. "I do not see any warning signals (in overseas acquisitions). It is a positive sign and displays managerial and entrepreneurial abilities of Indians who can takeover under managed companies abroad and run them profitably," NMCC chairman V Krishnamurthy said. Though, as per data available with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, FDI inflows have doubled during January-July 2006 touching 4.74 billion dollars as compared to the same period in 2005, FDI outflows have also been on an upward climb and are set to overtake the inflows by the year end. Overseas acquisitions by few major domestic companies this year alone amounted to over 10 billion dollars with tatas takeover of corus alone standing at 8.04 billion dollars. Analysts say Indian firms are now driven by the need to seek the cheapest resource mix and locate operations, where these are available. The acquisitions by domestic firms abroad is part of a strategy to establish brand India across the globe and are not limited to a few sectors but spread across a wide array of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals, telecom, automobiles and ancillaries to it. The Tata group has been a front-runner in other global acquisitions as well with Tata tea’s acquisition of US-based energy brands Inc for 677 million dollars, Tata Steel’s buyout of Singapore’s Natsteel for 486 million dollars and Tata coffee’s buyout of eight o’clock coffee for 220 million dollars this year. Country’s largest electronics firm videocon also inked a deal to acquire South Korean Daewoo Electronics for over 700 million dollars highlight corporate India’s increasing global foothold. Romanian pharma firm Terapia had also been acquired by Ranbaxy for 324 million dollars earlier this year. (PTI) |
India can attain sustained growth of 9 to 10% : Chidambaram NEW YORK, Oct 27: Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that India can attain a sustained economic growth of nine to 10 per cent over the next seven to 10 years with right fiscal discipline. Observing that there was need for expansion and reform of banking, insurance and pension sectors to mop up additional resources for long-term investment, he said the growth rate could even cross 10 per cent with good monsoon coupled with "right policies, new initiatives and better governance." But that would require a mix of right policies, new initiatives and better governance, Chidambaram told a select audience of investors and analysts here yesterday. He said Government plans to bring a bill in Parliament to lift the voting cap of 10 per cent on foreign investors in the banking sector and reiterated government’s view that the percentage of foreign investment in insurance sector should be raised from 26 to 49 per cent. Chidambaram, however, did not specify the limit to which the cap on voting rights is proposed to be scaled up, saying the Government is having consultations with its political partners and final figures would depend on the consensus achieved. Talking about investment opportunities in India, Chidambaram said the country needs 320 billion dollars to upgrade its infrastructure over next five years. The country would be able to find 200 billion dollars from its own resources but a foreign investment of 120 billion dollars would be needed, he said. Agreeing that in 2005-06, exports stood at USD 100 billion against imports of USD 140 billion, the Finance Minister said, "the apparently huge deficit does not worry us in view of large foreign remittances from (Indians) abroad and flows from other sources." That, he said, is clear from the fact that despite trade deficit, the country’s foreign exchange reserves are rising and now stand at 165 billion dollars. Speaking about vast scope of expansion in the banking sector, he said currently, it contributes only 50 per cent to the GDP and the rest of the 50 per cent comes from informal sector. Hence, there is the need for banks to develop innovative schemes to attract capital which could be used for long term investment, he said. Chidambaram said the public sector banks will "remain public sector" and he saw a trend towards consolidations among banks over next few years. India, he said, also has an advantage of having growing working age population. In fact, "India is the only large country in the world where working age population is increasing and is expected to continue to grow until 2050 when it starts declining. Giving an example, he said indian top four it companies plan to recruit 100,000 highly qualified personnel this year which would go up to 150,000 in subsequent years. (PTI) |
Inflation over three months high at 5.26 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Inflation rose to over three months high of 5.26 per cent for the week ended October 14, from 5.16 per cent in the previous week mainly due to increase in the prices of food and manufactured items. The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 4.77 per cent during the corresponding week in the previous year. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities was up by 0.1 per cent to 208.2 points and it was 197.8 points a year ago. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said recently that inflation will be contained and the Government would not hesitate to take more steps if required to stem prices. The Government revised the final inflation figure to 5.12 per cent for the week ended August 19 from the provisional 4.91 per cent, while the WPI stood corrected at 205.5 points as compared to the earlier estimate of 205.1 points. (PTI) |
Inflation at four-month high of 5.26 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Ahead of the Reserve Bank’s busy season credit policy review on October 31, inflation shot up to four month high of 5.26 per cent for the week ended October 14 mainly due to increase in prices of food and manufactured items. The recent upward inflation trend is likely to put pressure on interest rates as RBI had raised its two key short term interest rates by 0.25 per cent in July, the fifth such increase since October 2005 to manage inflation. The wholesale price based inflation at 5.26 per cent, was higher than 5.16 per cent in the previous week and 4.77 per cent in the corresponding week last year. This was the highest inflation in 17 weeks after it touched 5.44 per cent during the week ended June 17. Prices rose for vegetables, condiments and spices, eggs, ragi, maize, some edible oils, cement, zinc, computer, raw rubber and silk, fodder, soyabean, bidi, polyster staple fibre, methanol, carbon black and oxygen. The prices eased for jowar, bajra and barley, oil cakes and hessian and sacking bags while there was no change in the prices of fuel group during the week under review. The Government has time and again said it would not hesitate to take further steps to contain price rise, which is due to supply crunch of essential items. Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said Government wants to keep inflation below five per cent and more fiscal and monetary steps can be taken if required. In July, the Government had removed restriction on imports of pulses and wheat while banning export of sugar to ensure adequate supply for consumption. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities was up by 0.1 per cent at 208.2 points and it was 197.8 points a year ago. Primary articles group index rose by 0.2 per cent to 212.4 points due to increase in prices of food and non food items. The index was 197.9 points in the year ago period. Food articles group index increased by 0.2 per cent to 216.1 points due to higher prices of ragi and maize (2 per cent each), eggs, condiments and spices (1 per cent each). But, there was one per cent decline in prices of jowar, bajra and barley. Non-food articles group index rose by 0.4 per cent to 186.3 points due to higher prices of raw rubber and raw silk (3 per cent each), rape and mustard seed (2 per cent), fodder, raw jute, groundnut seed and soyabean (1 per cent each), but prices of gingelly seed declined by six per cent. Fuel, power, light and lubricants group index remained unchanged at the previous week’s level of 329.5 points and it was 313.1 points a year ago. Manufactured products group index rose by 0.2 per cent to 179.7 points as prices rose for beverages tobacco, paper, textiles, rubber, chemicals, non-metallic mineral, metals and machinery. The index was 172.1 points in the year ago period. Food products group index declined by 0.1 per cent to 182.3 points due to lower prices of oil cakes and khandsari (one per cent each). However, prices moved up for gingelly oil (5 per cent), groundnut oil (2 per cent) and ghee (1 per cent). (PTI) |
Mumbai poised to become global financial centre: FM NEW YORK, Oct 27: India today said it plans to turn Mumbai into a global financial centre to provide a host of services to clients across the world. A committee is looking into this aspect and expected to submit its report by November end, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at the annual conference on Indian financial market, organised by CII and the Asia society here. Mumbai, he said, is geographically an ideal location for establishment of such a centre. Pointing out that long term funds are the key issue in developing infrastructure, Chidambaram said pension and insurance reforms are overdue. There is a need for changes in the insurance laws and insurance penetration also needs to increase, he said, adding that pension reforms is another key area. But the Government’s left allies have, however, opposed a bill to amend the Insurance Act to increase FDI cap in the sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent and a bill to set up a regulator in pension sector. The Finance Minister had earlier sought political space to pass these legislations. Chidambaram said he had absolute confidence that India could rank in the top three global manufacturing hubs for industries linked to steel, refining, textiles, automobiles, automobile parts, light engineering goods and leather and food products. He said the capital markets in india was one of the best regulated in the world but stressed on the need for developing the debt markets, which are at a very nascent stage. Chidambaram said it is possible for India to attain an annual growth of 9-10 per cent during the 11th five-year plan with rise in the domestic savings, investment rate and fiscal prudence. He said the economy was growing at over eight per cent with the services sector contributing more than 54 per cent. The industry is also growing by double digits at 22 per cent. "The india growth story shall continue to do well for years to come," he said. He said India was an emerging global player with its gross national income growing at a fast rate. The Finance Minister said India would continue to receive demographic dividend with its working age population likely to increase till 2050. "This would be of great advantage to India over the rest of the world," he said. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said infrastructure development would be the key to sustain high growth rate for which public-private partnership projects are needed. He said liberal policies of removing several restrictions in the industrial policy, lowering of tariffs and increase in FDI are key growth areas in India. US Ambassador to India David Mulford listed energy, infrastructure and agriculture as the three main challenges for India. (PTI) |
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Indo-US CEOs forum agree to launch five billion dollar fund NEW YORK, Oct 27: The Indo-US CEOs forum has offered to set up a five billion dollar fund for infrastructure development projects in India provided it is run with "minimum government participation," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said. "The Government is expected to receive the proposal for structure of the fund in the next few weeks," the minister said adding he expects "little Government participation in the neighbourhood of 10 per cent." The agreement to devise a mechanism to set up the fund was discussed at a closed door meeting of the forum held here yesterday which was attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Albuwalia besides Nath. On the retail market in agriculture, nath told PTI that though the field is not yet open to foreign companies, they could invest in cold storage and logistics. Several American companies, including Walmart, have shown interest, he said adding some major announcements could to be made within the next few weeks. Indian farmers, he said, lose a lot of their produce because cold storage facilities are not available and facilities for taking produce to the market are limited. Hence, huge amount of fruits and vegetable are lost or sold by farmers at very low rates. It is in this field that foreign companies could invest while current retail outlets are maintained, he said. Nath said India wanted the stalled Doha round negotiations to start at the earliest but it could not open its markets to subsidized agricultural products of the United States. "Differentiation needs to be made between commercial farming in the United States and subsistence farming in India," he said. India, he said, is prepared for negotiations with the United States on the subject but its concerns have to be met. Besides, India also has other concern about tariff on its goods. American Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Allan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy were among those who participated in the forum. William Harrison, Chairman of the Board of JP Morgan chase, is the US chair of ceos forum and Ratan Tata the Indian chair. During the visit of President George W Bush to India in March 2006, the ceos forum had given its recommendations to the two Governments on strengthening bilateral economic ties. It was also decided that further meetings of the CEOs forum would be organized in the US and India to discuss measures to deepen economic ties. These meetings of CEOs forum are meant to enable CEOs from India and US to discuss further steps needed to strengthen ties with senior Government representatives from both sides. India-US bilateral trade and investment has been growing rapidly. US exports to India increased by 35 per cent to 9.5 billion dollars in 2005-06 while US imports from India increased by 26 per cent to 17.4 billion dollars. India has also been receiving high portfolio investment in its stock market of more than 10 billion dollars every year, a large portion of that comes from the US. American direct investments in India in both manufacturing and service sector are also growing rapidly. In recent years, Indian direct investments in the US has increased substantially with 1.3 billion dollar investment in last two years. (PTI) |
Royal Orchid hotels limited Q2 net profit up by 84 pc BANGALORE, Oct 27: The Royal Orchid Hotels Limited (ROHL) reported a 84 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 6.68 crore for the second quarter of current fiscal as against Rs 3.64 crore earned for the corresponding period last year. The company had recovered a revenue of Rs 26.64 crore for the quarter as against Rs 13.34 crore earned during the second quarter of fiscal 2006. For the first half the net profit earned was Rs 4.16 crore as against Rs 2.48 crore earned during the corresponding period last year. The revenue earned during the period was Rs 41.66 crore as against Rs 24.86 crore report for the corresponding period last year. ROHL chairman and managing director Chender Baljee said here in a release that "ROHL has been consistently maintaining healthy increase in profits year on end and we hope to gain momentum by the end of financial year (march 2007). Our expansion plans continue to be on track and schedule" . (UNI) |
Anant Raj industries gets hc nod for amalgamation MUMBAI, Oct 27: Ceramic tiles manufacturer Anant Raj Industries Ltd today said the High Courts at Delhi, Punjab and Haryana have sanctioned the amalgamation of five companies with itself. The High Court approval was for amalgamation of five transferor companies — Kalinga Meadows Ltd, B T Estates Pvt Ltd, Sarvodya Builders Pvt Ltd, Carnation Buildcon Pvt Ltd and Elegant Buildtech Pvt Ltd - with Anant Raj Industries, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. In pursuance to the sanctioned scheme of amalgamation, the company would allot 90.02 lakh equity shares to the shareholders of above transferor companies. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 968.30, up 2 per cent on the BSE. (PTI) Sify sets up third data centre BANGALORE, Oct 27: Leading internet and enterprise services provider Sify limited has set up a third data centre here to meet the needs of its growing clientele both at home and abroad. Sify CEO and managing director Raju Vegesna told newsmen here that the Rs 32 crore data centre was a state-of-the-art centre confirming to level four global data centre standards. Its other data centres were in Vashi Infotech Park in Mumbai and Tidel Park in Chennai. Managing data worldwide is a USD 80 billion and hardly 10 per cent of it had been tapped so far, Mr Vegesna said adding that 25 per cent of the Bangalore centre capacity would be taken up by verseon, an innovative life science company functioning out of Silicon Valley. Sify would host and manage part of verseon’s next generation computing infrastructure dedicated to discovery of new medicines. Currently the three data centres were managing over 250 clients both within the country and abroad. For the Bangalore centre negotiations were on with few more customers, Mr P K Saji, vice president-technology of Sify said. The Bangalore centre that could support complex environments to provide a robust and secure environment for business to function, confirmed to level four global data centre standards with many advanced multi level security features. It was equipped to provide services ranging from customised mailing solutions, web hosting, managed hosting of customers’ servers and collocation of services. It could also provide disaster recovery and business continuity plans with value added services. (UNI) |
Govt plans bill to lift cap on voting rights of foreign banks NEW YORK, Oct 27: The Government plans to bring a bill in Parliament soon to lift the 10 per cent cap on voting rights on foreign banks acquiring stake in Indian private banks in a bid to promote FDI in banking sector, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today. He stated this in reply to a question here after addressing a conference on India’s financial market. Chidambaram, however, did not specify the limit to which the cap on voting rights is proposed to be scaled up. He said there was scope for expansion of the banking sector as it contributes only 50 per cent to the GDP and the rest of the 50 per cent comes from informal sector. The Finance Minister said India can sustain an economic growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent per year with good fiscal discipline. Till now the growth rate has been driven by services sector but the industrial sector is fast catching up, he pointed out. India has a great advantage because of its increasing working age population which is expected to rise till 2050 before stabilising, he said. But he agreed that the advantage will depend on ensuring gainful employment to the workforce which includes the unskilled, semi-skilled and highly skilled. (PTI) |
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