Rupee drops to 3-week low

The Indian rupee extended losses in afternoon trade on Tuesday dropping to three-week lows as banks bought the U.S. unit to arbitrage in the offshore non-deliverable forwards, while lower stocks also weighed.

* At 12:55 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 49.29/30 per dollar, its lowest since Jan. 23 and weaker than Monday's close of 48.84/85.

* One-month non-deliverable forward contracts PNDF were quoting at 49.52/62 per dollar, weaker than the onshore spot rate, providing a good arbitrage opportunity to banks.

* Indian shares fell more than 2.5 percent on Tuesday, with banks among major losers after a higher-than-expected government borrowing plan was seen as denting their outlook in the near term. See [.BO].

* A stronger dollar overseas also dampened sentiment for the rupee.

Budget hopes, firm global stocks aid rally

Profit booking in late trade cut sharp early gains in key benchmark indices. The BSE 30-share Sensex provisionally rose 151.24 points or 1.60%, off 78.52 points from the day`s high. Expectations of further rate cuts by the central bank and hopes of stimulus package for the economy in the interim general budget on Monday, 16 February 2009, lifted the bourses. Strong global cues further bolstered the sentiment

There expectations of a government stimulus for the economy in the interim general budget. The stock market expects the acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to offer tax sops and sector-specific stimulus package to revive growth when he presents the interim budget on Monday, 16 February 2009. The government has so far announced two stimulus packages including tax cuts and the capital injections for banks.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Thursday, 12 February 2009, it will continue to closely monitor the developments in the global and domestic financial markets and will take swift and effective action, as appropriate. Marketmen expect the RBI to cut policy rates further after the interim general budget

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad presenting the interim railway budget 2009- 10 in the parliament today said the Railways will invest Rs 2.3 lakh crore in the year ending March 2010. Indian Railways generated a cash surplus of Rs 90,000 crore in the last five years. The Railway Minister announced fare cut in AC and mail express trains by 2% while keeping freight rates unchanged.

The railways posted a 13.17% increase in its total earning in April-January 2009 at Rs 64,876.34 crore, compared to Rs 57,327 crore in the corresponding period last year. While its freight revenue during this period jumped by 13.64% to Rs 44,016.26 crore, passenger revenue went up by 11.82% to Rs 18,042.82 crore.

Firm global markets aided gains in domestic stocks. European markets surged led by financials on news of a US plan to subsidise mortgage payments for troubled homeowners. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were up by between 1.57% and 2.46%.

Asia-Pacific stocks surged on hopes that government efforts worldwide, including talks of a US subsidy for mortgage payments, would soften the blow of the global downturn. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and China rose by between 0.96% and 3.23%.

The All Ordinaries index in Australia surged 1.1% on approval of a A$42 billion ($27.4 billion) economic stimulus package.

US stocks rebounded nearly 3% from day`s low in last one hour of trade to end mixed on Thursday, 12 February 2009, on reports the Obama administration was working on a new program to subsidize mortgage payments for troubled homeowners.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.77 points, or 0.09% at 7,932.76. However the Standard & Poor`s 500 Index rose 1.45 points, or 0.17% at 835.19 and the Nasdaq Composite index gained 11.21 points, or 0.73% to 1,541.71.

According to reports, the housing plan will use government money to help reduce interest rates for struggling borrowers, while asking lawmakers to approve more ways to modify mortgages. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner intends to announce the plan in coming days.

Meanwhile, US retail sales rose 1% in January 2009, for the first time in 7 months, beating economist`s expectation of a decline. Another data showed, US Initial Jobless claims for the week ending 7 February 2009 fell 8,000 at 623,000, though they still remain near 26-year high.

The BSE 30-share Sensex rose 151.24 points, or 1.60%, to 9,617.07, as per provisional closing. The Sensex opened points 74.77 higher at 9,540.60, also its day`s low. At the day`s high of 9,695.59, the Sensex gained 229.76 points in mid-afternoon trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 47.25 points, or 1.63%, to 2,940.30 as per provisional closing

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong on BSE with 1456 shares advancing as compared with 985 that declined. A total of 102 shares remained unchanged.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3088 crore as compared to Rs 2228 crore by 14:25 IST

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 24 advanced while the rest slipped. ACC (up 6.06%), Grasim (up 1.25%), and NTPC (up 1.11%), edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Ranbaxy (down 0.59%), Tata Power (down 0.47%), and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.02%), edged lower from the Sensex pack.

India`s largest private sector company by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) jumped 2.69% to Rs 1388.10 on reports the company is lining up further $6 billion to develop nine satellite discoveries in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin.

India`s largest oil exploration firm by sales Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rose 0.24% to Rs 696.50 on reports the company may offer a 15-20% stake in its planned petrochemical project in western India to GAIL (India). The stock came off day`s high of Rs 714.35

Metal shares gained following rise in key base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange. India`s largest private sector steel maker by sales Tata Steel jumped 4.88% to Rs 194.50 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Tata Steel`s managing director today said the company is not looking at new acquisitions as of now. He forecasts February 2009 sales to rise 10-15% over January 2009.

Hindalco (up 0.89%), Nalco (up 5.69%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 4.02%), Sesa Goa (up 2.03%), gained from the steel pack.

Sterlite Industries India gained 2.66% to Rs 276.10 after a block deal of 2.01 lakh shares constituting 0.03% of the company`s equity was executed on NSE at Rs 276 per share.

Most IT pivotals gained on hopes that government efforts worldwide, including talk of a US subsidy for mortgage payments, would soften the blow of the global downturn. However, a firm rupee caped gained. TCS, India`s largest software services exporter by sales rose 0.28%. India`s third largest software services exporter, Wipro gained 0.31% after its ADR rose 2.55% on Thursday, 12 February 2009. However, India`s second largest software services exporter Infosys Technologies fell 0.19%.

IT firms derive a lion`s share of revenue from exports. The rupee rose to 48.73/74 per dollar, from its previous close of 48.85/86, as gains in Asian stocks raised hopes of capital inflows to the domestic shares. A stronger rupe affects operating margin of IT firms negatively as they earn most of their revenues from exports.

India`s top power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) jumped 3.02% to Rs 1455 after its chairman said that the company expects to get a contract worth Rs 1000 crore from NTPC for a 500 megawatt power plant.

Investors were bullish on bank stocks, betting on a rate cut next week that would boost treasury income and boost demand. India`s second largest private sector bank by net profit HDFC Bank rose 1.66% to Rs 947.25 as its ADR rose 2.68% on Thursday, 12 February 2009. India`s largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank gained 3.16% to Rs 434.60 on a 0.23% gain in its ADR on Thursday, 12 February 2009.

India`s largest bank in terms of assets and branch network State Bank of India advanced 2.30% to Rs 1186.20.

Realty shares advanced on hopes the forthcoming interim budget may include sops to the housing sector. India`s largest real estate firm by market capitalisation DLF rose 3.84% to Rs 162.25 despite reports the company has pulled out of its Rs 2800 crore satellite township project in West Bengal.

Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.17%), Anant Raj Industries (up 5%), and HDIL (up 2.15%), advanced.

As per reports, the government may announce tax sops aimed at boosting the housing sector, which has been identified as a potential driver for the economy and job creation during a slowdown. As things stand, taxpayers are allowed to deduct up to Rs 1.5 lakh of interest paid on home loans from their taxable income. This limit could be raised to Rs 2 lakh. This, if it happens, will enable those who have bought a house for self-use to save up to Rs 68,000 in tax. At present, the maximum anyone can save through this deduction is Rs 51,000.

Another possible sop for the housing sector could be reintroduction of Sec 80IA, under which corporates building dwelling units of less than 1,000 square feet area were exempted from tax on the profits from these units. This move may prompt developers towards constructing smaller houses, making houses more affordable for the lower segment of the market.

Auto stocks gained on hopes the government may announce some tax sops to the automobile sector in the forthcoming interim budget on Monday, 16 February 2009.

India`s top tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra jumped 7.05% to Rs 321 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

Tata Motors (up 1.43%), Hero Honda Motors (up 1.75%), Maruti Suzuki (up 3.32%), gained.

While an across-the-board 4% cut in excise in December 2008 makes any drastic concessions difficult, excise duty on big cars with engine capacities of 1200 cubic centimeter (cc) or more in petrol is likely to get reduced to 16% from the existing 20%.

Reliance Power’s Plants Face Delay as Credit Crunch Slows Loans

Reliance Power Ltd., the utility that sold shares in India’s biggest initial public offering last year, may face delays in building its largest coal-fired plants as the global credit crunch holds up loan approvals.

“The lead time for getting loans has increased,” Chief Executive Officer Jayarama Chalasani said by telephone in Mumbai.

The Mumbai-based company is 25 billion rupees short of the 145 billion rupees ($3 billion) it needs to borrow for its first 4,000 megawatt plant at Sasan in central India, Chalasani said in an interview. Reliance Power expects to raise funds for a similar plant at Krishnapatnam in the south by June, he said.

Reliance Power, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, sought to borrow $4 billion overseas for the projects by December and was forced to seek rupee loans instead after banks led by Standard Chartered Plc asked for more time to study proposals. A dispute over the supply of natural gas has stalled the utility’s largest plant in northern India and contributed to the 56 percent slump in its shares since they started trading a year earlier.

“The delay in raising funds may hurt Sasan’s completion schedule,” said Abhineet Anand, Mumbai-based analyst at Antique Broking Ltd. “The timing of raising funds is key to Sasan and other large Indian power projects.”

The company, which is yet to start producing power, has borrowed 120 billion rupees for Sasan from a group of 12 banks led by the State Bank of India and expects to get the rest by the end of this month, Chalasani said. Work on the plant in Madhya Pradesh state has already started to ensure that loan delays don’t affect the completion schedule, he said.

Overseas Loans

The rupee debt will be repaid when the company secures dollar-denominated loans from overseas banks, the CEO said. Reliance Power has appointed Standard Chartered as lead banker and China Development Bank Corp. for the overseas borrowings.

The overseas loan for Sasan was delayed because it is “the largest to be raised on a project-finance basis,” Chalasani said yesterday. “Banks, therefore, need more time to examine the expense side of the business including mining technology and capital and operating expenses. This is much more complicated and is completely different from financing any other power project.”

He declined to give a timeline for obtaining overseas loans.

The first phase of the Sasan project is scheduled to be completed by December 2011 and the second by March 2013. The Krishnapatnam plant in Andhra Pradesh is due to start in 2013.

The company was the lowest bidder for a similar-sized project at Tilaiya in the eastern state of Jharkhand, which is yet to be awarded by the federal Power Ministry. Each project may cost as much as 200 billion rupees, Chairman Ambani said Sept. 23.

Ultra Mega Projects

The three coal-fired plants are among the 12 so-called ultra mega power projects that the government is auctioning to help increase India’s generation capacity by 33 percent.

Reliance Power spent 26.86 billion rupees from the proceeds of last year’s share sale on the Sasan and Krishnapatnam plants and on other smaller projects as of Dec. 31, the company said in a Jan. 22 statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“They will have to ensure that fund raising shouldn’t disturb project schedules,” said Mahesh Patil, who helps manage an equivalent of $8.8 billion at Birla Sunlife Asset Management in Mumbai.

Reliance Power’s 7,480-megawatt, gas-fired station at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh has been stalled because of a gas-supply dispute with Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s biggest company by market value, controlled by Anil Ambani’s estranged brother, Mukesh.

Gas Dispute

The dispute arose after the brothers split the Reliance group in 2005 following a family feud. Reliance Industries, an energy explorer and oil refiner, sought prices higher than contracted levels for gas to be sold to Reliance Natural Resources Ltd., which is controlled by Anil Ambani and procures fuel for his group’s power projects.

The Bombay High Court, which banned gas sales from Reliance Industries’ field in June 2007, temporarily lifted the restriction on Jan. 30. The fuel can now be supplied to customers other than Reliance Natural and state-owned NTPC Ltd.

Reliance Power raised $3 billion in India’s biggest share sale in February last year to help fund its $28 billion plan to build power plants. The company will install 28,200 megawatts, or 19 percent of India’s current capacity, in five years, according to proposals announced during the share sale.

The IPO attracted $189 billion of bids and shares were sold at as much as 450 rupees apiece. The stock fell as much as 21 percent on its Feb. 11 trading debut, prompting Reliance Power to give investors free shares to compensate them for the loss.

Investors got three free shares for every five held on May 30. The bonus issue reduced the cost of acquiring Reliance Power shares to 269 rupees for individual investors, 40 percent lower than the IPO price of 430 rupees. For large shareholders, who paid 450 rupees a share, the rate fell to 281 rupees a share.

No free shares were given to Ambani or the founder group. The stock closed at 103.25 rupees in Mumbai yesterday.

Currency futures to clock $1 bn/day in '09: MCX-SX

India’s trading volume in currency futures is expected to cross the $1-billion (Rs 4,800 crore) mark in the current year, a top industry official said.

“I would expect 2009 should see us through the $1-billion volume (per day) in currency futures,” MCX-SX’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) U Venkataraman said on the sidelines of a Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI) summit here on Tuesday.

The average combined daily trading volume in currency futures on NSE, MCX-SX and BSE is estimated at around Rs 2,000 crore.

“I would reckon the $1-billion volume per day could be an ideal thing that the market can boast of,” Venkataraman said.

“On Tuesday, we have scaled up to $800 million. Big corporate houses are still not looking at currency futures. Every business exposed to foreign exchange risk needs to have a facility to hedge against such risk,” he said.

Globally, the average volume of currency futures was around $80 billion, but it was much less compared to the $3.2-trillion spot market trades every day, Venkataraman said, adding that futures trading was close to 4-4.5 per cent of the OTC market.

In the first phase of operations, only the dollar-rupee pair is traded in the currency futures market.

Asked on launching of other currency futures, Venkataraman said, “We will be looking at introducing other currency pairs as and when allowed by regulatory authorities like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)… We expect further reforms to come in.”

Globalisation, integration of markets and progressive increase of cross-border flow of capital have transformed the dynamics of Indian financial markets. This has increased the need for dynamic currency risk management.

The steady rise in India’s foreign trade along with liberalisation in the foreign exchange regime has led to a large inflow of foreign currency into the system in the form of FDI and FII investments.

Railways earnings up 13.17%

The railways have earned Rs 64,876.34 cr between April 2008 and 2009 compared to Rs 57,327 cr in the same period last fiscal, registering an increase of 13.17 per cent. The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs 38,734.12 cr during April t o January last fiscal to Rs 44,016.26 cr for the same period this fiscal, showing an increase of 13.64 per cent.

The total passenger earnings during the first ten months of the financial year 2008-09 were Rs 18,042.82 cr as compared to Rs 16,134.94 cr during the same period last fiscal, registering an increase of 11.82 per cent. The earnings from other coaching amo unted to Rs 1639.42 cr during April-January 2009 compared to Rs 1539.31 cr during the same period last fiscal, an increase of 6.50 per cent. The total sundry earnings have gone up from Rs 918.63 cr during April-January 2008 to Rs 1,177.84 cr during Apri l-January 2009, showing an increase of 28.22 per cent. 

US Senate approves stimulus plan

The US Senate has passed an economic stimulus plan expected to cost some $838bn (£573bn).

The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 61-37 to approve the measure, with few Republicans opting to back it.

Tough negotiations are now expected in order to reconcile the Senate bill with the House of Representatives's version.

President Barack Obama welcomed the vote as a good start. It came as the US Treasury Secretary unveiled a bank bail-out plan worth some $1.5 trillion

Bank plan skepticism sinks Wall Street

Stocks tumbled on Tuesday with the Dow and the S&P 500 down more than 4 percent, as bank shares slid on concerns that a plan to shore up the financial sector may not be enough to loosen up credit and contain the deepening recession.

Indexes slumped immediately following Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement of a plan to mop up $500 billion in spoiled assets from the beleaguered banking system.

Financial stocks, which had spearheaded a rise in the market in recent sessions in anticipation of the plan, skidded as the lack of details in Treasury's announcement raised questions about whether the plan will be enough to rein in the financial crisis.

The KBW Banks index tumbled 12.2 percent and the S&P financial index slid 8.9 percent.

R. Branson - "Life at 30k Feet"

India set to beat China in growth rate

All it the brighter side of the current downturn. India may pip export-dependent China in the last quarter of FY09 and emerge as the fastest growing nation among all large economies.

As China’s GDP growth rate dropped to 6.8% during the October-December quarter and is expected to go down further, the Indian government has become hyper-active to achieve at least a 6.5% growth in Q4 to register a win over China.

If India achieves a better growth rate than China even for one quarter, the message will go across to the world and help India in wooing foreign capital, waiting to chase growth stories. Already, government officials in India have been highlighting reports of a few investment analysts who doubted China’s official GDP numbers and claimed that it could just be in the positive territory in the last quarter.

A secretary in the government of India confirmed to SundayET that India has a brighter chance of overtaking China in the last quarter of FY09, or Q1 in case of China which follows the calendar year.

“China is heavily dependent on exports and the way things are unfolding China’s GDP for January-March quarter would be quite low. We have so far achieved 7.9% and 7.6% growth in the first two quarters, according to the provisional numbers. Though our Q3 number, to be announced by month end, is expected to be less than the comparable number in China (6.8% in Oct-Dec, 08), the softening of interest rates will stimulate demand and ensure a faster growth rate than China in Q4,” he said.

Though the Chinese economy grew at 9% during 2008, down from the revised 13% growth rate in 2007, the last quarter number (6.8%) has made the Indian authorities hopeful that India might be able to pip China in GDP growth. As China’s export constitutes 37% of its economy against 13% in the case of India, the recession in the developed world will make China suffer the most.

PM’s economic advisory council (EAC) member Satish C Jha said he won’t be surprised if India grew faster than China. “The situation in China is worse than us. Exports are drastically coming down and China is hit hard. Our economy is driven more by domestic demand and our rural economy is much more resilient than that of China. If our stimulus packages are implemented properly, I won’t be surprised if India pips China in GDP growth,” Mr Jha said.

Impact of economic meltdown less severe in India: ILO

The impact of the global economic meltdown would be less severe in India and other south Asian countries since they are less exposed to the US economy and the financial market, a top ILO official has said.

Director of ILO's Department of Economics and Labour market analysis, Duncan Campbell has also said that India should focus on imparting education to continue its growth in future.

"The effect of the economic downturn in India and south Asian countries would be less severe as they are less exposed to the US economy and the financial market," Campbell said.

The official said, "Progress could be halted if suitable education is not imparted now. In fact in India, only education can ensure equal distribution, access to economic opportunities and brisk growth path for everyone."

The ILO in its recent report on Global Employment Trend had predicted a global job loss to the tune of 1.5 million in 2009 as a direct impact of the global financial meltdown.

Lauding India's rural employment guarantee scheme, he said that the NREGA programme was helping in reducing poverty in the rural areas.

Stating that the level of social security in India is still "weak", the official said that more than 75 per cent of India's working population earns less than two dollars per day.

"The time for India is to look inwards. Though it has achieved considerable reduction in the level of acute poverty, the economic crisis can result in increase in levels of working poverty in India," he said.

Campbell was recently on a visit to India to form an inter-ministerial task force for promoting the concept of "green jobs" in the country.

"Recession is an opportunity for India to rethink the structure for future and the future for India is in green jobs. We are in consultation with ministries of Environment and Forest, Medium and Small Industries, Labour and Employment, Agriculture and others to arrive at certain common policy platforms on this," Campbell said.

The official said that the observations about India are based on the fact that the level of stimulus package in the Indian economy had been much less when compared to other South Asian economies like China.

India’s budget deficit may be three times the targeted figure

India’s budget deficit may be three times the targeted figure, as the government steps up spending to arrest an economic slowdown, Suresh Tendulkar, the top economic adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said.

It may widen to 7.5 percent of gross domestic product in the year ending March 31 against a target of 2.5 percent, Tendulkar said in a telephone interview in New Delhi Thursday. The government would announce its revised borrowing plan in an interim budget on February 16, he said. Singh’s government wrote off 717 billion rupees (US$14.7 billion) in farm loans and raised salaries of five million government employees by 21 percent in the past nine months ahead of general elections in April. Since December, it has cut taxes and announced an extra 200 billion rupees of spending to protect the economy from the global recession. “India’s fiscal woes are multiplying,” Rajeev Malik, an economist at Macquarie Capital Securities in Singapore, said. “The populist spending initiatives were announced well before the fiscal boost became fashionable. Whatever the original motivation, the spending will be useful in cushioning the hit to growth.” India’s rupee pared earlier gains after Tendulkar’s comments. The currency traded at 48.7925 per dollar as of 10:27 a.m. in Mumbai, compared with 48.81 on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It rose as high as 48.775 earlier. Slower growth The central bank last week cut its economic growth forecast for the year ending March 31 to 7 percent from between 7.5 and 8 percent. Slowing growth is putting the brake on tax collections, further impairing government finances. India’s personal and corporate tax collections rose 12.5 percent to 2.47 trillion rupees between April 1 and January 31, S.S.N. Moorthy, chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, said Wednesday. That compares with a target of 3.65 trillion rupees by March 31. Tendulkar said the current global recession is an “extraordinary situation” that requires higher public spending. “The usual concern about the budget deficit is that it crowds out private investment,” Tendulkar, who is the chairman of Singh’s Economic Advisory Council, said. “But when the economy is on the downturn and investment is sluggish, it will not crowd out private investments.” ‘Fiscal consolidation’ He said the combined budget deficit of the federal government and the states will be close to 10 percent of GDP. “When the economy recovers, we need to get back to fiscal consolidation,” Tendulkar said. “There will be pressure on the rating companies to downgrade India’s credit rating,” D. H. Pai Panandiker, president at RPG Foundation, an economic policy group in New Delhi, said. “So far they have resisted, probably on optimism of India’s growth prospects.” India’s investment-grade credit ratings were maintained by Standard & Poor’s on October 31 on expectations the nation’s economic expansion will not be hurt by a global slowdown. S&P said it affirmed India’s BBB-long-term credit rating, the lowest investment category. S&P had raised India’s long-term rating by one notch in January 2007. Still, Tendulkar said the onus of boosting India’s growth falls on monetary policy, because “there are limitations in the fiscal space.” India’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged last week after lowering them to a record on January 2 to help shield Asia’s third-largest economy from a global slump. The Reserve Bank of India’s reverse repurchase rate is at 4 percent and the repurchase rate at 5.5 percent. “The central bank must see the implications of the borrowing program before it next sets rates,” Tendulkar said. “They have to figure out how to maintain liquidity supply. My guess is they would cut rates after seeing the interim budget.” Inflation slows Inflation slowed to near a one-year low, giving the central bank more room to cut interest rates to stimulate economic growth. Wholesale prices climbed 5.07 percent in the week to January 24 from a year earlier after gaining 5.64 percent the previous week, the commerce ministry said Thursday. Economists expected an increase of 5.25 percent. Central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao said last week inflation would slow to below 3 percent by March 31 and indicated rates would be cut to help the economy weather the global recession. A top aide of Singh said Thursday that rate cuts may come after the government’s interim budget on February 16. “Interest rates are bound to fall as prices ease and the economy slows,” N. R. Bhanumurthy, an economist at the Institute of Economic Growth in New Delhi, said. “The central bank will have to assess the government’s borrowing program before it set interest rates.” The central bank would “have to figure out” the liquidity needed in the banking system after seeing the government’s borrowing program for the financial year starting April 1, Tendulkar said. Singh’s government will announce an interim budget on February 16 because its five-year term ends in May this year. Thursday’s inflation rate may be revised in two months, after the government receives additional price data. The commerce ministry cut the inflation rate for the week ended November 29 to 7.86 percent from 8 percent.

Rupee ends higher by another 9 paise at 48.68/69

The Indian rupee on Friday ended higher by another nine paise to close at nearly a four-week high of 48.68/69 against the greenback on

the back of a smart rise in equity markets amid narrow movements in the dollar overseas.

In range-bound trade at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency resumed higher at 48.70/71 from the previous close of 48.77/79 a dollar.

It later moved in a range of 48.66 and 48.77 before settling the day at 48.68/69 a dollar.

Forex dealers attributed the rise in the rupee to smart recovery in the Indian benchmark Sensex, which ended up by nearly 210 points or 2.31 per cent on firm global cues and expectations of more sops in the forthcoming interim budget.

Asian indices also ended stronger following a good rally on Wall Street last night on expectations of a massive US stimulus package later in the day.

The dollar was trading in a narrow range against its major rivals in Asian trade today as attention was focused on the fate of the US stimulus package and the announcement of jobs data.

According to analysts, the rise in the rupee was restricted by sustained capital outflows.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices were trading above USD 40 a barrel in Asian trade today.

You can pay Rs 70,000, book a Nano by Feb-end

Tata Motors’ Nano, the small car seen as a symbol of India’s expertise in frugal engineering, is likely to be launched on March 3. Billed as the world’s cheapest, the small car’s first recipients may be celebrities, including political leaders, social workers, sports stars and film stars.

Government officials said the company had chosen March 3 as the launch date because it is the birth anniversary of Tata Group founder, Jamsetji Tata. However, the details had not yet been firmed up.

Bookings for the Rs 1 lakh Nano will begin by February end. The booking amount for the world’s cheapest car will be around Rs 70,000.

But, even after paying 70% of the car’s total cost, the wait could be quite long.

Sources familiar with development said that all dealers of Tata Motors and branches of the State Bank of India (SBI) will accept bookings simultaneously across the country in the next three weeks. SBI will initially engaged 100 branches and take the number eventually to 1,000.

Tata Motors and SBI have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the Nano car. SBI will not only act as sole lender to buyers but also offer its branches for bookings.

As Tata Motors is eyeing initial bookings of over one lakh cars, the company hopes to collect around Rs 700 crore in just a few weeks. Allotment will be made through a draw and, going by projections even during this recession, those at the top of the draw would have the choice of becoming proud owners of the first Nanos, or getting a premium in the black market.

Nano would be launched in March 2009 with cars rolling out from the Pantnagar plant in Uttranchal. This plant can produce only 3,000 cars per month — just a fraction of the demand.

Things will ease only after the cars roll out of Sanand plant near Ahmedabad which will have an initial capacity of producing 2,50,000 cars per annum. But the Gujarat plant will take at least one year to start production.

Nano’s launch had been scheduled for 2008 but plans got derailed when Tatas were forced out of Singur in West Bengal.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Tata Motors said, "We have not announced an official date or any marketing plans so far."

Sources in the government, however, said: “The Tatas are planning to give Nano to celebrities initially. Senior Tata officials had discussed this at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit recently.”

Those likely to figure in the list include President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Opposition Leader LK Advani.

The company may also reserve a Nano for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, where it was to be made initially. Others likely to get it are sports stars like Sania Mirza, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Still others may be those who endorse Tata brands, like actors Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgan and Kajol.

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, who was instrumental in attracting the Nano plant to Gujarat after it failed to take off in West Bengal owing to political controversy over land acquisition, may also be given the car.

"This marketing strategy will help the Tatas brand the common man's car as people's car. It will be a car for the masses," sources said.

However, the masses may have to brave a waiting period as Tata Motors dealers will start taking bookings for the car before the Sanand factory reaches full production. The booking amount is likely to be Rs 70,000 a car.

The standard model will be available for Rs 1 lakh and there will two other models priced at Rs 1.24 lakh and Rs 1.34 lakh.

Tata Motors had touched an intraday high of Rs 136.75 and an intraday low of Rs 132. At 10:14 am, the share was quoting at Rs 136.30, up Rs 5.20, or 3.97% on the NSE.

The company may roll out Nano on March 3, reports Business Line.
 
It was trading with volumes of 318,474 shares. Yesterday the share closed down 3.21% or Rs 4.35 at Rs 131.10.

Share Price Movement During The Last 12 Months
Period	Price	Latest Price	Gain/Loss (Rs.)	% Gain/Loss
3-Days	133.20	136.30	3.10	2.33
5-Days	149.65	136.30	-13.35	-8.92
7-Days	152.05	136.30	-15.75	-10.36
15-Days	139.90	136.30	-3.60	-2.57
1-Month	178.45	136.30	-42.15	-23.62
3-Month	182.20	136.30	-45.90	-25.19
6-Month	381.98	136.30	-245.68	-64.32
9-Month	641.22	136.30	-504.92	-78.74
1-Year	704.79	136.30	-568.49	-80.66

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China's Economy Shows Signs of Recovery

The latest manufacturing data in China suggest that the world's third-largest economy is showing some signs of recovery. 

Government economists announced Wednesday that manufacturing shrank again in January, but not as much as in the previous months.  

The state-sanctioned China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing says the country's purchasing managers index rose to 45.3, up from 41.2 in December. A PMI reading above 50 indicates growth, while a number below 50 indicates contraction.

The data also show that demand for Chinese products declined at a slower rate in January than in December. 

China's state media also reported Wednesday that Chinese banks loaned a monthly record of $175 billion in January.

The global economic slump has hit Chinese manufacturers as international demand for Chinese textiles, toys and other goods declined and real estate, auto sales and other sectors declined domestically.  

The government said earlier this week that an estimated 20 million domestic migrant workers have lost their jobs.

The government in November unveiled a $600 billion stimulus package aimed at boosting demand through bigger spending and easier credit.  

Karnik may be named Satyam chairman

Kiran Karnik, former president of Nasscom and a government appointee to the board of Satyam Computer Services, may be named the company’s chairman, according to people familiar with the matter.

The government has sounded Mr Karnik out on its plans to appoint him as Satyam’s chairman, said a government official, who asked not to be named. Mr Karnik’s colleagues on the board have told the government that they have no objection to his appointment, the official said.

When contacted by ET, Mr Karnik said, “I can neither confirm nor deny it.” Mr Karnik, who headed Nasscom from 2001 to 2008, is a respected figure in the IT industry. His appointment as chairman at Satyam could help control the damage done to the firm’s image and reassure its major clients, the government official said.

The government had dissolved the original board of Satyam on January 9, two days after a sensational confession by its now-disgraced founder B Ramalinga Raju that he had fudged the company’s accounts for years. The government initially appointed a three-member board with Mr Karnik, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and former Securities Appellate Tribunal chief C Achuthan as members.

It was expanded later with the induction of three more members, CII chief mentor Tarun Das, former ICAI president TN Manoharan and LIC’s S Balakrishnan.

No chairman has been appointed as yet, and the directors have been taking turns at chairing the board meetings. The government now feels that it would be better to appoint a permanent chairman who could be identified as the public face of the company and speak on board-related issues.

Mr Karnik also serves on the board of other firms, including BPO firm EXLService Holdings. His appointment to the Satyam board had earlier led to concerns over potential conflicts of interest, but it was later clarified that EXL and Satyam don’t compete with each other.

Apart from EXL, he also serves on the advisory board of venture capital firm IDG Ventures India.

Scam-hit Satyam unlikely to exist: Gartner

The scam-stricken Satyam Computer
is unlikely to exist in its current form, according to a study by research firm Gartner.

It is expected to discontinue some of its businesses, service lines or cease to exist in certain geographies by 2010. The study indicated that even the name Satyam may not be around by that time, as the company is expected to undergo a complete change, in ownership and organizationally.

Satyam’s ability to sign on new clients during 2009 has significantly diminished, says the study. ‘‘In addition, it will be challenged to invest in client engagements, staff developments or R&D, all critical elements for IT services,’’ said Gartner’s V-P for research, Frances Karamouzis.

For the study, Gartner interviewed representatives of over 30 top Fortune 500 clients of Satyam, 20 top non-Satyam clients, the board of Satyam and CEOs of six tier-I Indian IT firms including TCS, Wipro, Infosys Technologies, Cognizant and HCL.


Many respondents felt that the job of a new chief executive officer or COO or CFO of Satyam will be extremely demanding as holding the existing clients is going to be a tough task. Also, with a monthly payroll of more than $125 million and dire cash flow issues, the future does not bode well for the company.

Four big clients likely to desert Satyam

Troubles keep mounting for Satyam Computer Services. Four of its large clients, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline(GSK), are in talks to move their business from the Hyderabad-based company to other Indian IT firms. These clients contribute over $200 million to Satyam’s topline.

In response to queries about the contribution of Citi, Merrill, Novartis, and GSK’s contracts to Satyam’s revenues and the impact on the company if they were to move out, a Satyam spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on individual contracts. However, we believe that none of these are material.”

It is learnt that Citigroup, the second-largest client of Satyam contributing to over $60 million in revenue, is in the process of moving away part of its contract to other IT vendors like Wipro and TCS. A senior Citi official confirmed this, on condition of anonymity.
It is understood that small parts of the application, maintenance and development (AMD
) work is being moved away. However, when contacted by ET, a Citigroup spokesperson said: “Satyam is among several vendors providing IT Services to Citi. We are unable to share any more details regarding the nature of this relationship due to reasons of confidentiality.” TCS and Wipro too declined to comment on individual clients.

Wipro is likely to benefit the most from this as it had recently acquired Citi Technology Services (CTS), Citi’s captive providing critical technology infrastructure support, development and deployment of strategic software applications.

It is also learnt that Merrill Lynch, which contributes close to $50 million in revenues to Satyam, is sending in its own team of experts to the company’s headquarters. This team will meet senior officials next week to assess the situation. A Merrill spokesperson declined to comment.

State Farm Insurance, Satyam’s oldest and among its top 10 clients contributing around $50 million per year, had announced in January 2009 that it had terminated its contract with Satyam. A person familiar with the deal said TCS and Patni were the front-runners to acquire this contract.

Satyam provided AMD services as well package implementation to the US-based insurance company. When contacted, Patni declined to comment on the development.

Novartis and GSK are also believed to be shifting some of their business away from Satyam. Industry sources told ET that Novartis was likely to move its business to its back office in Hyderabad.

GSK contributes around $30-40 million per year to Satyam and is one of the top 25 clients of the company. A Satyam employee, on conditions of anonymity, said that should Novartis and GSK shift their business, it would deal a big blow to the company.

Govt is likely to cut petrol and diesel prices today

The Government is likely to cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 4 and Re 1 a litre, respectively, on Wednesday.

The Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs is expected to meet Wednesday evening to take this decision, given the cheap crude prices in the global market.

The Government had last cut petrol prices on December 5 by Rs 5, and diesel rates by Rs 2 a litre.

Crude oil had climbed to a record high of $147 a barrel in July, but has since come to $40 a barrel level.

Sesa Goa Q3 net dips 22.53% to Rs471 cr

Mining firm Sesa Goa on Tuesday said its standalone net profit for the third quarter (Q3) ended 31 December, declined by 22.53% to Rs470.69 crore.
The company had a net profit of Rs607.60 crore for the same quarter FY 08, the mining firm said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
On a standalone basis, the income from operations rose to Rs1,497.33 crore for the quarter under review, against Rs1,215.43 crore for the same quarter corresponding year.
However, for the nine months ended 31 December, the company has posted a net profit of Rs1,446.53 crore, against Rs739.33 crore for the same period last year.
Shares of Sesa Goa were trading at Rs73.25, up 7.33% on the BSE

Indiabulls Securities up 15% on buyback news

Shares of Indiabulls Securities rallied over 15 per cent to Rs 20 in early trade Tuesday, on the announcement that the company would consider buyback when their board meets on Feb 2.

The company was the highest gainer on the BSE with volumes of 510,507 shares as against two week average of 31,8200 shares.

Amongst the broking firms, it would be the second firm to consider buy back of shares after Indiainfoline announced their buy back plans in December.

Satyam's Rs 5,000cr cash disappeared in a quarter

Bank statements show that Satyam had funds of over Rs 5,000 crore as of September 2008, but by January 2009 when company founder
Ramalinga Raju admitted to fudging accounts the IT firm could have been left with just Rs 200 crore of maturable fixed deposits.

The scam-tainted firm had short-term or long-term fixed deposits of over Rs 3,300 crore, and another Rs 300 crore of accrued interest, in addition to current account deposits of over Rs 1,800 crore, as per the last auditing done by Price WaterHouse for the quarter ending September 2008.

The company is believed not to have made any term deposit after mid-February 2007, though it did make a few short-term or margin money deposits, amounting to about Rs 10 crore till September 2008.

The auditing was done on the basis of statements sent by a host of banks detailing the fixed long-term deposits, along with maturity, ranging between October 2008 and February 2009.

With such a cash and deposits position, the IT company should not have had any worry on the cash front and a concern to mobilise resources for the payment of salaries to staff.

In his statement on January 7, Raju had said that he was disclosing the manipulation of accounts after failing in his last-ditch effort to salvage Satyam through acquisition of the two Maytas firms on December 16.

However, the bank statements, on which PWC relied for the auditing, reveal that more than 90% of the total deposits had matured by January 7.

Price WaterHouse, whose two top officials were arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police yesterday, is understood to have prepared its defence on the basis of these documents, besides foreign exchange earnings and receivables of Satyam, as per the export clearance documents of Software Technology Parks of India.

According to the available information pertaining to deposits of the company, Satyam had a total long-term deposits of over Rs 3,300 crore for maturity during the October- February period, while its short-term deposits to mature till October 2011 were about Rs 10 crore.

According to the statements, deposits were largely held with HDFC Bank, HSBC, ICICI Bank, BNP Paribas and Citibank, while the current accounts were mostly with Bank of Baroda.

PW officials are understood to have given these documents to probing agencies to make clear their role while maintaining that they had gone by the book for the purpose of auditing.

While no comments could be obtained from PW on the details of the bank deposits and cash position with the company, sources in the know said that it would be impossible to forge all the bank statements that were addressed to the auditor but procured by the Satyam management for auditing.

After arrest of its two partners yesterday, the auditing firm said it has fully cooperated over the last fortnight in all inquiries and "has provided all the documents called for by the Indian authorities" and promised continued cooperation.

"We greatly regret that two Price WaterHouse partners have been detained today for further questioning. We do not know the basis for them being detained," said a statement from Price Waterhouse, the statutory auditors of Satyam Computer.

PW's Chief Relationship Partner S Gopalakrishnan and Engagement Leader Srinivas Talluri are now in judicial custody pending investigation.

Raju routed cash via Mauritius

Mauritius, which has over the years been a conduit for investments into India, has come under spotlight in the Satyam.Investigating agencies probing the scam at Satyam Computer Services are examining whether the software firm’s founder B Ramalinga Raju brought back laundered money into the country through Mauritius to buy shares or property here.

The practice, popularly known as round-tripping of investments, was rampant in the early 1990s, where many domestic firms used the Mauritius route to open shell companies and bring back money to evade taxes. These investors could escape tax, since Mauritius does not tax capital gains on profits from sale of shares.

Investigating agencies now suspect that Raju may have siphoned off thousands of crores overseas through irregular or fictitious foreign exchange transactions to launder money. “The (laundered) money could have found its way into India from Mauritius through sub-accounts of FIIs and then invested in assets here.

We are sounding out the foreign tax division, as round-tripping of investments through Mauritius is illegal if the source of funds are questionable,” said an official with an investigating agency who did not wish to be named.

After Dubai began attracting investments, some Indians have also opened shell companies in Dubai’s free-trade zone.

Money is remitted from India to these entities and brought back as investments in shares and properties after a year or two.

While these transactions look like disconnected genuine inbound investments, they are a camouflage for laundering money.

The Enforcement Directorate is understood to have been roped in to look at possible violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. “Investigating agencies may also ask details from banks which were collecting export receivables from Satyam,” the official said. Any evidence of money laundering by Raju will come under the purview of the anti-money laundering legislation as well.

Raju had confessed on January 7 that the firm’s books were fudged to inflate sales, profits and cash balances in a scam estimated at Rs 7,000 crore. Later, the firm’s former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas claimed that there were only 40,000 employees (as against the claimed 53,000) and that Rs 20 crore had been siphoned off into several fictitious salary accounts for over four years.

The shocking revelations have created a huge uproar and raised questions about corporate governance at some of India’s top-performing companies. It comes at a time when the Indian IT sector - the poster boy of the country’s stunning economic success in the past few years - is struggling to cope with slowing demand in some of its biggest markets.

Agencies are looking at whether the money was remitted overseas under the garb of onsite salary payments. The new six-member board of Satyam, however, said last week that there was no prima facie evidence to doubt the employee count.

EAS Sarma, former secretary of the department of economic affairs (DAE), had earlier asked the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) if it had investigated specific cases of major ventures such as SEZs, IT projects and the Gangavaram Port near Visakhapatnam, where investments were made through Mauritius-based agencies.

“I have asked both RBI and Sebi under the Right To Information Act about Mauritius-based companies that are reported to have links with Satyam and other companies operating from Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
In a letter to the prime minister earlier this month, he said: “Satyam and Maytas represent only the tip of the iceberg. There is perhaps large-scale cross-border money laundering that needs to be traced and the culprits be brought to book.”

L&T stake hike in Satyam raises eyebrows

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) literally set the cat among the pigeons on Friday when it decided to increase its stake in Satyam Computer Services to 12 per cent. The move surprised India Inc and rattled other interested suitors.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Friday announced that it bought 7.56 per cent (5.09 crore shares) of Satyam Computer Services shares through open market, taking L&T’s stake in Satyam to 12.4 per cent (8.11 crore shares) of the total shares.L&T bought 1.18 crore shares at a price of Rs. 35.07 per share through a bulk deal, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With L&T’s holding having increased three fold to 12%, there has been some curiosity about the company’s decision to make the investment in Satyam. While the earlier 4% was acquired for about Rs 400 crore, the later 8% was acquired for Rs176.42 crore, taking L&T’s total investment in the company to about Rs 575 crore. Importantly, after Raju’s confession, some of Satyam’s shareholders like Lazard and Aberdeen have sold their holding albeit at a loss. The value of L&T’s holding too has dropped substantially in the process .

Why did L&T decide to make this investment or how will it make a difference to its subsidiary, L&T Infotech are just some of the issues that are being raised.The move has been described as “audacious” and “desperate” within corporate circles, with sources maintaining that L&T is merely keen to make good the hefty outgo for the initial four per cent which had caught its top management off guard.

It needs to be stated that L&T Infotech was set up in 1996 and has about 10,000 employees. In terms of revenues it grossed Rs 1,574 crore for March 2008 and has clients like Chevron, Hitachi, Sanyo and Lafarge.

L&T Infotech, which started off by catering to the demands of its parent company, is today a name in the infotech business. It is known for its integration of ERP with areas like plant maintenance, production, materials management, logistics and quality management systems.

Partners of (PwC) were arrested for their alleged role in the Satyam scandal

In an incident thought to be the first of its kind in India,two partners of Price Waterhouse, statutory auditors of Satyam Computers, were arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday on charges of conspiracy, failure to scrutinise records and connivance.

S. Gopalakrishnan and his deputy, Talluri Srinivas, had signed Satyam’s annual statements of accounts without performing their statutory duties as external auditors, a senior CID official told The Hindu.

Citing a specific charge, he said they had accepted the forged fixed deposit receipts and particulars of balances furnished to them by the company without verifying them with bankers.

Prosecutors informed the court in the last few days that BNP Paribas had denied holding fixed deposits of Satyam Computers that were reflected in the company’s accounts. Earlier, HDFC, Basheerbagh branch, said it had no documents which were on the auditors’ files.

The official said the audit firm was paid an annual fee of Rs. 5 crore as compared to a maximum of Rs. 2 crore incurred for the same job by other IT majors. With the arrest of the two auditors, the number of persons held in the Satyam fraud has gone up to six.

During the arrest of the two auditors, the CID recovered several documents from the office of Price Waterhouse at the Madhapur Hi-Tech City here. It also summoned several middle-level managers of Satyam Computers to the office of the Director-General of Police for questioning. The investigating agency is sharing information with the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) which has seized documents of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties — companies run by the sons of the former Satyam chief, Ramalinga Raju.

In its investigations, the SFIO found a mismatch between the trial balance (the balance in the account after a transaction) and what was claimed by Satyam in the current account number 00120559 New York branch of the Bank of Baroda. The difference was Rs. 1,733 crore.

A conviction for fraud, if proven, carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and that for criminal conspiracy can range from a few years to life imprisonment.

They were remanded in judicial custody till February 6.

A lawyer to represent the PwC partners was flown in from Chennai. The functioning of auditors has come in for sharp scrutiny since the Satyam scam broke, with comparisons being made between PwC and Arthur Andersen, the auditing company than went down with Enron.

PwC initially claimed client confidentiality. But later, sought to absolve itself of all responsibility. Those sympathetic to the company are insisting that collusive fraud is extremely difficult to detect but others say that the auditing company cannot be absolved of charges of not revealing the true financial position of the company especially since they were its auditors from 2000 to 2008.

ICICI Bank Q3 net profit at Rs 1,272-cr

India's second largest lender, ICICI Bank has posted a Rs 1,272-crore net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 1,230-crore in the year-ago period.
Total income of the bank, during the quarter, grew to Rs 10,351-crore from Rs 10,338-crore in the same period in last year.

Ramalinga Raju admits to diverting Satyam money

Disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju has confessed that he diverted funds of the IT
company to the two real estate firms promoted by his family, state police sources said here on Wednesday.

Raju, who was grilled Wednesday for the fourth day by officials of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh police, also reportedly admitted using the Satyam money to buy prime land in and around Hyderabad.

CID sources said Raju told interrogators funds were diverted during the past four to five years. This means Raju's Jan 7 statement that he inflated company accounts was a red herring.

While resigning as company chairman, Raju had admitted to a Rs.70 billion (Rs.7,000 crore/$1.43 billion) accounting fraud, saying the company had cooked its books over several years resulting in inflated (non-existent) cash and bank
balances.

He reiterated this during CID interrogation soon after his arrest January 9. But investigations have now revealed that a big chunk of this money existed but was diverted to other firms.

CID, which took Raju, his brother and former managing director B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas in custody for four days following a court order, grilled the former Satyam boss on the basis of his confession.

After prolonged interrogation, Raju finally admitted to diverting Satyam funds to his family firms — Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra. He told CID sleuths that this was going on since 2004.

Raju not only diverted funds out of Satyam but is also believed to have misled company auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) by submitting fake bank documents. CID and some regulatory agencies have already seized some documents from PwC.

Raju also reportedly swindled money through 6,000 fake salary accounts for last few years. Sources said he had created these accounts in four banks to divert the funds from fixed deposits. Some of these funds were flowed through his accounts in foreign banks.

The company's claims that it had 53,000 employees came under scrutiny after Raju's January 7 confession. The government-appointed board is also trying to ascertain these figures.

With Raju confessing to diversion of funds, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and Registrar of Companies (RoC) are now trying to trace a Mauritius-based company used for channelising the money to Maytas. ( Watch )

The central government has already asked SFIO to extend the ambit of investigations of Satyam fraud to cover both Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra. A team of SFIO is checking the accounts and records of the two firms.

However, both the firms have denied that they received any funds from Satyam.

L&T, Essar keen on Satyam

The beleaguered Satyam Computer Services Ltd seems to be finding some suitors. While infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T)
has shown interest in taking management control of the company, Essar's BPO arm, Aegis, is reportedly keen on acquiring Satyam's BPO business.

The news triggered a rally in Satyam's shares which rose by 5.5% to Rs 26.85 on a day when sensex fell by 2.45%.

L&T CMD A M Naik on Tuesday discussed the Satyam issue with corporate affairs minister P C Gupta. Naik said he was worried about protecting L&T's interest in the company, which currently stands at 4%. Though the stake was acquired as a portfolio investment, Naik, responding to questions, didn't deny that L&T was keen to acquire the company. It's believed that the acquisition bid would be made through L&T's software arm.

Though P C Gupta is believed to have told Naik that Satyam's board would decide the matter, it's learned that the government isn't keen on either L&T or Essar buying Satyam at the moment. Instead, it wants the company to consolidate its finances before allowing any acquisition to take place.

Tarun Das, a government nominee on the Satyam board, said that a number of foreign and domestic companies had expressed interest in acquiring the scam-tainted company. The company's board had not taken any view on the issue so far.

Another board member, Deepak Parekh, had earlier said that the option of merger and acquisition was always open for the company. It is learned that the board is likely to soon appoint a merchant banker to zero in on a suitor. Earlier, B Ramalinga Raju's board in late December had appointed DSP Merrill Lynch to find a strategic investor in the company. But later, Raju's sensational disclosure that he had fudged company accounts ended the company's relationship with DSP Merrill Lynch.

Meanwhile, Essar's Aegis has also submitted an expression of interest in buying out Satyam's 3,500-seat BPO business. CEO of Aegis, Apporva Sengupta, confirmed that he had submitted an EOI for the business but refused to disclose the amount he would be willing to pay. He said he would study details of the company's revenue and verticals before putting a price tag on it.

According to Satyam's second quarter result, its BPO's revenue for the quarter ending September 2008 was at Rs 55.6 crore, down 8.65% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. Its BPO business has not broken even so far. In the second quarter, BPO business had made a loss of Rs 20.05 crore.

The acquisition of Satyam's BPO business will accelerate the expansion of Aegis's internet enabled businesses. Aegis currently has 32,000 employees and has recently acquired the Philippines-based PeopleSupport Inc for $ 250 million.

An IT expert said Aegis and Satyam's BPO arm are likely to have good synergy. Satyam BPO operates from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and some on-site centres. It has clients such as BellSouth and Verizon in telecom, Caterpillar in construction and GlaxoSmithKline in health care.

It is learned that the issue of roping in a strategic partner has acquired urgency as the company found that most of its receivables for next couple of months are already mortgaged to ICICI Bank. Therefore, the company needs immediate cash to continue operations. An acquisition would help the company tide over the crisis and protect shareholders' interest.

Satyam gets buyout offers

Troubled software exporter Satyam on Tuesday said it has been approached for takeover by domestic and foreign companies, the IT
company's board member Tarun Das said.

The board will meet for two days starting January 22 in Hyderabad and would discuss issues such as search for CEO and CFO, legal matters and immediate cash requirements to run the company, he told reporters.

The board would also discuss whether it needs to ask the government to stand as a guarantor for raising loans.

Das said the company has been approached for buyouts by both international and Indian IT firms. There have been unconfirmed reports that the company might soon appoint investment bankers to advise on a merger or sale.

Earlier, another board member Deepak Parekh had said that option of merger was always open for the company.

The board meeting would deliberate on class action lawsuits filed against the company in the US.

The six-member board, appointed by the government to run the firm after a shocking Rs 7,800 crore fraud disclosure by founder Ramalinga Raju on January 7, last met on January 17.

Satyam's bank deposits at Rs 150cr

Finance Ministry sources have told CNBC-TV18 that Satyam does not have more than Rs 150 crore worth deposits with banks.

According to Finance Ministry sources, Satyam does not have deposits of more than Rs 150 crore with banks. These deposits could include both fixed deposits and current accounts and these deposits are distributed among PSU banks, private sector banks and foreign banks.

PSU banks, Finance Ministry sources tell us, have an exposure of Rs 2000 crore to all Satyam subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures. However, they say that this exposure is secure and the security is worth Rs 2,800 crore against this exposure.

These securities are in the form of receivables, property and shares. Also, Finance Ministry sources reported that PSU banks have zero exposure to Satyam.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Satyam continues to have deposits of Rs 150 crore with banks in India.

Pantaloon Retail Q3 net seen up 21% at Rs 38.4 cr

Pantaloon Retail is to announce its third quarter numbers. According to CNBC-TV18 estimates, its Q3 net profit is seen going up 21% at Rs 38.4 crore versus Rs 31.7 crore.

Its net sales are expected to go up 37% at Rs 1,688 crore versus Rs 1,226.8 crore. OPM is seen going up by 80 bps at 9.7% versus 8.9%.

Factors to watch

Pantaloon continues retail roll out at brisk pace – total retail space now upwards of 12m sq. ft.

Standalone retail space up 33.5% YoY to 8.6mnsqft

3 Big Bazaars (including cut-in Food Bazaars) and 1 Pantaloons department store were opened in Q3

Sales growth to be driven by these new store openings and the discount sales during the quarter

Efforts to manage operating costs, especially renegotiation of peak rentals and easing cost pressures will mean an expansion in margins

PAT growth lower – To be impacted by steep increase in interest cost and depreciation

Need to watch out for: Sales and same store sales growth in December, and increase in inventory during the quarter

Satyam may have inflated employee count

Satyam Computer Services Ltd may have up to a fifth fewer staff than the Indian outsourcing company has said it has, the Economic Times said on Tuesday, citing an unnamed source familiar with a fraud probe.

The newspaper said the Serious Frauds Investigation Office believes Satyam's headcount could have been inflated by 15-20 percent to siphon off money as salary payments to non-existent employees.

"Since a major chunk of the costs were actually salaries, a minor distortion in the number of employees could change the personnel expenses significantly," the paper quoted the source as saying.

Asked to comment on the report, a Satyam spokeswoman told Reuters: "We believe the numbers are accurate at this point of time."

The Economic Times also said engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro had appointed Japan's Nomura to advise it on a possible deal with Satyam, in which it already has a stake of about 4 percent.

A spokesman for Larsen said the company does not comment on market speculation.

The newspaper also said unlisted Aegis, part of India's Essar Group, was interested in buying Satyam's business process outsourcing (BPO) business.

"As a group, we constantly look at opportunities in sectors where we are. We would not like to comment on specific proposals," an Essar spokesman said.

Manpower expenses constitute more than 60 percent of total costs at Satyam, and investigators say the ratio of manpower cost to revenue has remained constant over the past three years despite an increase in the number of employees, the Economic Times said.

The company's website says it had close to 53,000 staff, including those in subsidiaries and joint ventures as at end-September, and it has since said that around 2,000 staff have left.

Satyam, India's No.4 software services exporter, was plunged into crisis after founder Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman earlier this month, revealing profits had been falsified for years and $1 billion of cash on the books did not exist.

L&T worried about stake in Satyam

Larsen & Toubro, currently the single largest shareholder in scam-ridden Satyam Computer, today said it is concerned about its stake in the IT firm whose valuation has dropped nearly 90 per cent since the disclosure of a Rs 7,800 crore fraud by Ramalinga Raju.
"I am concerned about my stake in Satyam," L&T Chairman A M Naik said after meeting Corporate Affairs Ministry officials.
The meeting of Naik with the MCA official comes amid reports that the company is in the race to buyout Satyam and that it has appointed Japanese financial services firm Nomura to advise on a possible deal with Satyam.
The engineering major currently holds about four per cent stake in Satyam, to run which the government has appointed a new six-member board. One of the board members, S Balakrishna Mainak, is from LIC - another Satyam shareholder.
On January 7, Satyam founder Chairman B Ramalinga Raju had disclosed a Rs 7,800-crore fraud in the company's accounts. Following this, Satyam's scrip had plunged nearly 80 per cent on a single day. Multiple probes are on to unravel the fraud.
Only yesterday, the government expanded the scope of a 'serious fraud' probe to cover two other Raju family-promoted companies -- Maytas Properties and Maytas Infrastructure.
Besides, the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in its report has said that the ex-promoters and top officials of the Hyderabad-based IT firm may have indulged in insider trading.

Mindtree Q3 net profit declines

The impact of economic recession and exchange rate volatility is clearly visible in case of Mindtree’s quarterly result. The company reported a
decline of 4.7% in dollar-denominated revenue on a standalone basis. On a consolidated
basis, it registered a growth rate of 3.6% in dollar revenue, thanks to its Aztecsoft acquisition. The India growth story is clearly visible in case of Mindtree. The dollar revenue from India grew at around 28% quarter-on-quarter, far higher than any other geography.

The dollar revenue from US, from where the company gets around 60% of its revenue and also independent of cross-currency impact declined by 4% on a standalone basis. But the good growth contribution from Aztecsost pushed consolidated dollar revenue from US up by 7.8% (Q-o-Q). Another interesting trend visible was the sharp decline of around 28% in dollar revenue from Asia Pacific Region which can’t be justified by currency depreciation alone. Contrary to the many IT companies, Mindtree reported a superb growth rate of around 34% (Q-o-Q) from automotive and industrial system industry.

However, to offset the impact of lower revenue growth, like many other IT companies, it reduced its operational expenses drastically. The personnel cost and travel expenses declined by 18.3% and 14.5% respectively compared to the preceding quarter. This resulted in around 300 basis points expansion in consolidated operating margin.

But the real mayhem came in terms of foreign exchange loss which wiped out almost all of the operating profit. Mindtree alone suffered a foreign exchange loss of Rs66.6 crore. More than two-third of this is in the form of mark-to-market losses. Considering the huge exchange losses in last three quarters, the company has decided to change its hedging policy. Going forward, the company will hedge only those contract revenues which are classified as hedge under accounting rules and second, it will only hedge for 12 months of revenue in contrast to 48 months seen in March, 2008.

As a result of such huge foreign exchange loss, the net profit became less than one-fourth of what it was in the Sep ’08 quarter.

Corporate news

Corporate Announcements:
· Bajaj Auto reported Q3’09 results, total revenue went down
16% yoy to Rs. 21.03 bn, and net profit declined 23% yoy to
Rs. 1.64 bn. (ET)
· Jindal Steel & Power’s subsidiary Jindal Petroleum has
signed four production sharing contracts with the government
of the Democratic Republic of Georgia for exploration and
production of four blocks of oil and gas and will invest
USD 150 mn in phases in these blocks. (ET)
· Gail India may get exclusive marketing rights for the
distribution of the natural gas produced by Reliance
Industries from its D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin.
(ET)
· L&T is in an advanced stage of talks with Nuclear Power
Corporation of India for setting up a joint venture company for
producing forging materials. (ET)
· HPCL has signed an agreement with the Bihar government to
buy two sick sugar mills, in a move that will revive and
expand the agro-based industries in the state. (ET)
· MMTC will not be investing in a special purpose vehicle
created by Maytas group for setting up a SEZ. (ET)
Economic and Political Headlines:
· Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India's woes due to
the global meltdown will continue during the next fiscal, and
predicted a lower growth of 6.5-7% for the country's economy
this year. (ET)
· The government will stick to its borrowing schedule to raise
Rs. 500 bn instead of Rs. 350 bn. (ET)
International News Headlines:
· The US President-elect Barack Obama is likely to back a
financial-rescue effort to provide capital to banks and deal
with troubled assets clogging balance sheets. (Bloomberg)
· According to Federal Reserve, the consumer prices and
industrial production tumbled in the US with the cost of living
falling 0.7%, Industrial output shrinking 2%, and the capacityutilization
rate sliding to 73.6% in December 2008.
(Bloomberg)

Corporate Announcements:

Infosys reported Q3’09 results, total revenue rose 35.5% yoy
to Rs. 57.86 bn, and net profit increased 33.3% yoy to
Rs. 16.41 bn. (BS)
· SBI entered into an agreement with the Gujarat government
to create a Rs. 50 bn fund for investing in equity of
infrastructure projects. (ET)
· BPCL was negotiating with Reliance Industries for allocation
of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the Andhra
Pradesh coast. (ET)
· Gujarat NRE Coke is planning to invest about Rs. 30 bn over
the next 4-5 years in expansion projects across Gujarat. (ET)
· GAIL India is planning to invest Rs. 50 bn over the next 3-4
years to set up a CNG corridor across the country. (BS)
· IDFC signed two MoUs with Gujarat State Energy Company
and BHEL to establish a 1600 MW thermal power plant at
Sarkhadi based on supercritical technology. (BS)
· ONGC is planning to invest USD 5.3 bn in developing gas
finds in two of its eastern offshore Krishna Godavari basin
blocks by 2013. (BS)
· Hindustan Construction signed two agreements with the
Gujarat government with total investment of Rs. 415 bn. (BS)
· NTPC is planning to invest Rs. 60 bn in super thermal power
projects in MP, UP, and Chattisgarh. (BS)

Now, hit Raju with rotten eggs, virtually!

The objective of the game is to "hit Ramalinga Raju in the face with rotten eggs."and win an iPod!
Within days of its launch, the game has already been played more than 100,000 times, with a few playing it over and over again, as per the information on the website of the game.

In the game, available on the website, NailTheThief.Com, a player is given a chance to hit Raju's face with rotten eggs as many times possible within 30 seconds.


visit http://nailthethief.com/

Satyam plot thickens

After the multi-thousand crore Satyam scam rocked the country two weeks ago, more skeletons are expected to tumble out of the cupboard. The government has decided to widen its net and go after real-estate firms Matyas Infra and Maytas Properties — also promoted by the family of Satyam’s erstwhile chief B Ramalinga Raju.

As the multi-pronged probe against the Raju brothers — and others who were possibly guilty — continues, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which is spearheading the investigation against Satyam, has been asked to probe books of the two Maytas companies. “There seems to be a nexus between Satyam, Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra,” PC Gupta, Minister of Corporate Affairs, said.

In an abortive deal, Satyam had earlier attempted to buy out the two companies. The overnight move, however, met with investor outrage and prompted the board to go back on its decision. Ramalinga Raju later in his confession letter admitted that the move was aimed at getting real assets on the company’s balance sheet in lieu of inflated ones.

A report by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) has said that falsification of books and over statement of Satyam’s financial position is to the tune of Rs 5,000-6,000 crore.

Headlines for the day

    Corporate News Headline
    • Bajaj Auto reported Q3’09 results, total revenue went down 16% yoy to Rs. 21.03 bn, and net profit declined 23% yoy to Rs. 1.64 bn. (ET)
    • Jindal Steel & Power’s subsidiary Jindal Petroleum has signed four production sharing contracts with the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia for exploration and production of four blocks of oil and gas and will invest USD 150 mn in phases in these blocks. (ET)
    • Gail India may get exclusive marketing rights for the distribution of the natural gas produced by Reliance Industries from its D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin. (ET)

    Economic and Political Headline
    • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India´s woes due to the global meltdown will continue during the next fiscal, and predicted a lower growth of 6.5-7% for the country´s economy this year. (ET)
    • The US President-elect Barack Obama is likely to back a financial-rescue effort to provide capital to banks and deal with troubled assets clogging balance sheets. (Bloomberg)
    • According to Federal Reserve, the consumer prices and industrial production tumbled in the US with the cost of living falling 0.7%, Industrial output shrinking 2%, and the capacity-utilization rate sliding to 73.6% in December 2008. (Bloomberg)