Indian Railways to help modernise Iranian rail network.......

Fixed maturity plans support mutual funds in March: Crisil.......

Edible oil prices in futures mkt up by 3 pc on global cues.......

Car sales motor on, bikes skid ..........

Wheat dara price slips further

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: Wheat dara prices fell further by Rs 5 a quintal on the wholesale grain market here today on steady inflow of new stocks against reduced buying by flour mills.

Elsewhere, other grains ruled flat as prices moved in a restricted range on small bouts of trade.

Marketmen said lack of buying interest from rolling flour mills and atta chakkies largely pulled down wheat dara prices.

Wheat dara eased further by Rs 5 to settle at Rs 1,125-1,130 from Rs 1,130-1,135 a quintal, It had lost Rs 5 in previous day's trading. Wheat (M.P.) deshi remained flat at Rs 1,325-1,575 a quintal on some support.

However, its related chakki atta and rolling flour mills price remained unaltered at Rs 1,125-1,130 and Rs 1,120-1,125 a 90 kilo bag respectively.

Following were today's quotations per quintal: wheat MP (deshi) 1325-1575, wheat dara (for mills) 1125-1130, chakki atta (delivery) 1125-1130, Chakki atta Rajdhani (10 kgs) 150, shakti bhog (10 kgs) 160, roller flour mill 1120-1125, maida 1200-1215 (90 kilos) and sooji 1225-1240 (90 kgs).

Rice basmati (lal quila) 7000, Shri Lal Mahal 7000, Basmati common 6500-6700, Permal raw 1400-1500, permal wand 1600-1700, sela 2100-2250 and rice IR-8 1200-1300, Bajra 675-680, Jowar yellow 700-750, white 1250-1300, Maize 775-815 Barley (UP) 1140-1150 and Rajasthan 1150-1160. (PTI)

Germany seeks India’s help in
constructing freight rail routes

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: Germany has sought India’s assistance for developing its fast-track rail freight route and, at the same time, beckoned Indian investments for developing its eastern region.

The two countries have also decided to consider setting up a Joint Working Group (JWG) to work out modalities for the fast-track railway freight route covering 1,600 km, including 900 km from North to South and 700 km from West to East.

A high-powered delegation of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and urban Affairs, led by the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry, Dr Engelbert Lutke Daldrup, currently in India, met Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and senior officials and held discussions on various aspects.

Federal Ministry spokesman Rainer Lingenthal told a select group of journalists here that India had vast experience in development of railways and tracks and Germany would immesnely benefit from Indian experience.

In return, Germany was looking for Indian investments in Eastern Germany which can provide Indian entrepreneurs a window for Europe.

He said freight transport in Germany was expected to triple in the next 10-15 years and Indian experience and expertise will be of immense help.

"We could learn from your experience of dedicated freight corridors," he said.

Later, releasing a report on ‘Eastern Germany as a Location for Indian Direct Investment’, Dr Daldrup said, India is developing into a global economic power with its businesses displaying great dynamism.

"As they head to Europe, they will find that Federal States of Eastern Germany present attractive arguments for selecting a location at the heart of European Union," he added.(UNI)

Egypt beckons Indian investment in oil, gas sectors

NEW DELHI Apr 10: Noting that Africa has "limitless" resources, Hydrocarbon-rich Egypt has invited Indian investments in oil and gas sectors for mutual benefit.

Visiting Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abou El Naga also disagreed that India and China were competing in Africa, saying the two countries were complementing each other which was beneficial for all sides.

"Egypt provides unique advantage. It is among the 10 countries having the largest resources of natural gas," she told reporters here last evening after her meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

ONGC and Essar already have presence in Egypt but there are more opportunities, she said, asking the Indian companies to explore the possibilities.

Egypt is committed to extend maximum facilities and cooperation to Indian companies to work in oil and natural gas sector in that country.

A high-level team of Egyptian Investment Authority will be visiting New Delhi on April 18 to give detailed presentation on the opportunities existing in that country, said Naga, who was here to attend the first India-Africa Forum Summit as personal representative of President Hosni Mobarak.

The Egyptian minister sought greater cooperation between the two countries in all other sectors, particularly agriculture, textiles, IT and pharmaceuticals.

"There is no sector not available for India," she said.

Citing the "unique" geographical position of Egypt, she said Indian companies can set up businesses in that country which could cater to bigger markets of Europe and Arab.

Naga said the Egyptian President, who has not visited India for the last 23 years, is likely to come here shortly. (PTI)

Indian Railways to help modernise Iranian rail network

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: Even as the gas pipeline project with Iran hangs in balance, India is likely to help the country in modernisation and expansion of its rail network.

Iran, facing UN sanctions, has sought India’s expertise in upgrading its train operations, signalling system and electrical work besides training its personnel as part of its plans to modernise the railway system.

Responding to a request from the Iran Government, Railway Board Chairman K C Jena along with two senior officers will travel to Tehran tomorrow to hold discussions with the Iranian railway officials.

"Indian Railway is likely to extend its expertise to Iran for modernising Iranian railway network," said a senior railway ministry official.

The Indian team would inspect the Iranian railway system and meet senior railway officials, including Hassan Ziari, Deputy Minister for Roads and transportation and President of Islamic Republic of Iranian Railway, during its three-day visit from April 12.

The high-level delegation headed by Jena is also slated to visit the railway system at Esfahan in Iran.

"Iran wants to expand its rail network with Indian Railway’s help. RITES has already done a few feasibility studies for Iranian Railway," said the official.

Though Indian Railway has signed MoU with many overseas railways there is no such agreement with Iranian Railway.

"An MoU with Iranian Railway may be signed at a later stage but at the moment there is no such proposal, said the official.

"Iran is also keen to seek Indian Railway’s assistance in its port connectivity plan," the official said, adding it will accept the offer after examining the financial viability of the proposed projects in Iran.

Iran has about 6,000 km long rail route.

Besides Jena, other members of the team are RITES managing director V K Agarwal and general manager A K M Sharma.

The growth in economy and business prospects of Indian Railway is fast attracting the attention of foreign railways for investments and new technologies.

Over the past few years, Railways has signed MoUs with Italy, Germany, Russia, South Africa and most recently with China.

Indian Railway has carried over 6,000 million passengers in 2007-08 and the target for 2008-09 is over 7,000 million which is among the highest in the world for rail travel.

Railways also witnessed a record growth in freight business. It carried 794 million tonnes of freight in the fiscal 2007-08. (PTI)

Fixed maturity plans support mutual funds in March: Crisil

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: The mutual fund industry, which witnessed an over six per cent decline in its assets in March, received some support from inflows through the fixed maturity plans, a latest report says.

According to Crisil FundServices, a fund evaluation and risk solutions provider for mutual funds, falling equity markets, corporate advance tax outflows and redemptions from short term debt plans by institutional investors ahead of the financial year ended on March 31, took a toll on mutual funds’ assets in the month.

The mutual fund industry’s average assets under management (AUM) declined by 6.6 per cent to Rs 5.31 trillion in March from Rs 5.69 trillion in February.

Inflows through fixed maturity plans (FMPs) offering double indexation benefits helped lower the affect of the equity meltdown and debt fund redemptions on mutual fund AUMs, the report said.

"FMPs provided the silver lining to the industry, as their 13 and 14-month schemes used the tax advantage platform offered by double indexation to source inflows. These offered avenues to a large number of investors looking forward to completing their investments from a tax planning perspective," the Crisil report said.

Fixed maturity plans are essentially close-ended income schemes with a fixed maturity date that is, run for a fixed period of time. This period could range from 15 days to as long as two years or more.

The benchmark S&P CNX Nifty index was down almost 10 per cent during the month, while a substantial amount is estimated to have gone towards corporate advance tax payments.

There was also demand for funds by banks to meet their statutory requirements of the financial year end, which impacted the fixed income funds, the report said.

Barring Birla Mutual Fund with an AUM of Rs 35,906 crore, all fund houses registered a dip in their AUMs in March. Backed by recently-launched schemes, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund debuted on the AUM chart with an AUM of Rs 1,107.13 crore.

Reliance Mutual Fund retained its top position in the asset tally, with assets of Rs 90,937.94 crore, while ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund stood at the second and third spots with AUMs of Rs 54,321.87 crore and Rs 48,982.81 crore respectively.

Among Crisil’s mutual fund indices, the short-term debt indices managed to end with positive returns during March 2008. The liquid fund index, CrisilL-LX, which was up by 0.68 per cent, gave the highest returns. This was closely followed by the Crisil STBEX, (which serves as a benchmark for short-term bond funds), which returned 0.67 per cent absolute monthly returns.

All other Crisil mutual fund indices ended in negative territory. Crisil Fund-dX, the long-term bond funds index, posted negative returns of 0.15 per cent, while Crisil MF-Gilt index, the gilt funds index, ended 1.46 per cent in the red.

Among indices with equity components, Crisil MIPEX, the index used as a benchmark for monthly income plans, showed the least decline, with negative returns of 1.37 per cent in March. It was followed by Crisil Fund-bX, the index for balanced funds, which dropped almost 10 per cent in March.

Crisil Fund-eX, the index for diversified equity funds, saw the maximum fall, of 12.36 per cent, during the month under review. (PTI)

Edible oil prices in futures mkt up by 3 pc on global cues

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: Prices of edible oil and oilseeds in the futures market today surged by around 3 per cent taking cues from the strong international market.

"Soy oil and mustard seed prices hit three per cent upper circuit in the domestic market responding positively to the global price movement," Karvy Comtrade Analyst Veeresh Hiremath said.

At 1300 hrs, prices of the active May contract of soyabean at NCDEX counter was up by 1.84 per cent to Rs 2,156 per tonne. Soy oil prices were up by 2.71 per cent to Rs 565 per 10 kg, while mustard seed prices increased by 2.41 per cent to Rs 528.15 per 20 kg.

Prices of edible oil as well as oilseeds in the futures market had fallen after the Government announced cut in duties on all edible oils last month. Downward trend continued for a few days after the announcement, but now it has started inching up taking global cues, market experts said.

"Increasing demand from China coupled with reports of farmers strike in Argentina against export tax triggered prices of soyabean and soy oil in the global market," Veeresh said.

Malaysian crude palm oil on Malaysian Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) went up by 2.13 per cent to 3,400 ringgit per tonne. Soybean on Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) traded up by one per cent to 1,325 cents per bushel and soy oil remained flat at 58.70 cents per pound. (PTI)

Car sales motor on, bikes skid

NEW DELHI, Apr 10: Car sales for the month of March 2008 increased to 12,8074 units compared to 11,4145 units in the corresponding month last year, while motorcycle sales continued to decline, clocking 50,6884 units as compared to 50,7124 units in the same month previous year.

Total passenger car sales for the fiscal 2008 is at 12,03531 units as compared to 10,76,582 units last fiscal.

Total two-wheeler sales for the year continued to face tough times due to tighter vehicle financing norms as sales continued to slip to 72,48,600 units being sold in the year 2008 as compared to 78,72,334 units last year.

In March, however, the sales of Scooter/Scooterettee declined to 83,022 units as compared to 87,459 units in the same month last year.

Total three-wheeler sales for the month of March 2008 dipped to 29,654 units as compared to 34,901 units in the corresponding month last year.

Sales of Commercial vehicles in March reported an increase to 56,262 units from 49,281 units.

Medium and Heavy Commercial vehicles saw sales units in March 2008 increasing to 33,716 as compared to 28,761 units in the same month last year.

Light Commercial Vehicles sales in March 2008 is at 22,546 units compared to 20,520 units last year.

(UNI)