For every 5 US bank failures,2 Indian banks collapsed in FY'09

When banks were falling like ninepins in the US, India too was not far behind with two Indian lenders going belly up.

As many 19 Indian co-operative banks collapsed for the 12 months ended March 2009 against 44 American entities failing during the same period.

Consequently, the Reserve Bank's credit insurance arm had to pay over Rs 142 crore to depositors to cover the liabilities of 19 banks.

Under the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, insurance norms, a maximum of Rs one lakh is paid to a depositor in case the bank goes insolvent.

From April 2008 till March 2009, a whopping 44 lenders in America were shut down by the authorities as the country continued to grapple with worsening financial meltdown.

Most of the bank failures happened after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15 last year, with 35 entities going bust.

Meanwhile, this year, seven US banks are collapsing on an average every month, taking the total to 21 entities so far.

As far as India was concerned, the 19 co-operative banks, including six from Karnataka, have failed to repay deposits to customers during the last fiscal.

The DICGC paid the maximum amount of Rs 45.4 crore to District Cooperative Bank Ltd of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. This was followed by The Maratha Co-operative Bank of Karnataka (Rs 17.7 crore), Parivartan Co-operative Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 16.7 crore), Ravi Co-operative Bank (Rs 16.2 crore) and Indira Priyadarshini Mahila Nagrik Sahakari Bank of Chhattishgarh (Rs 13.1 crore).

The other five lenders from Karnataka are Varda Co-operative Bank (Rs 2.4 crore), Harugeri Urban Co-operative Bank (Rs 3.1 crore), Kittur Rani Channamma Mahila Pattana Sahakari Bank (Rs 2.2 crore), Challakere Urban Co-operative Bank (Rs 3.2 crore) and Basavakalyan Pattana Sahakari Bank (Rs 0.24 crore).

Four banks each in Maharashtra and Gujarat went bankrupt, while two cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh.

During 2007-08, as many as 22 cooperative banks closed operations.

Spoof FT hits London ahead of G20

A group of anti-capitalism protesters have distributed a mock copy of London's famous Financial Times newspaper.
Anti-capitalism protesters are vowing to make their voices heard when world leaders gather in London next week for the G20 summit.
A group of them have distributed a mock newspaper to commuters urging them to join their protest against the great and the good.
Jim Drury reports.

How Twitter plans to make Money

The social networking system says it's finally ready to sell an upgraded version of Twitter to businesses.
Outside developers continue to create new applications for free usage with Twitter's blessing. Manoush Zomorodi, Reuters, NY SOUNDBITE: Seamus Condron, Mediabistro.com

Hollywood movies escape recession

Despite the recession, the US box office is booming, thanks in part to a strong movie lineup.
Hollywood is hanging on despite the recession. Box office admissions are up so far in 2009, and a slate of big budget summer releases could help continue the trend. Bobbi Rebell reports. SOUNDBITES:
Carole Lieberman, media psychologist
Brandon Gray, President, Box Office Mojo

Soros sees recovery in 2010

Investor George Soros sees the economy possibly recovering in 2010, he tells Reuters Financial Television.
Fred Katayama, Reuters, New York.

Beer still recession proof?

The recession has caused a dip in beer volumes in the U.S., but analysts say beer is regaining market share as consumers shift to lower-cost drinking options.
Domestic shipments are down so far this year, but with consumers spending more time at the supermarket and less time dining out, analysts expect beer to fare better in the economic downturn. Speaker:
Peter Swinburn, chief executive,
Molson Coors;
Ann Gilpin, research analyst, Morningstar
Conway Gittens reports from New York.

Investors pause after surge

Wall Street struggled to build on the 7 percent rally seen in the prior session as investors paused to reflect on government efforts to stabilize the economy.
The execution of the Treasury's toxic asset relief program is sure to be a determining factor on whether the recent two-week rally holds, one investor outside of the New York Stock Exchange said ahead of the market open. Conway Gittens reports from New York.

Can the bulls hold on?

Since March 9 the S&P 500 has advanced about 20 percent, and after a big bounce Monday, Wall Street takes pause.
The question at hand: was it a classic bear market rally or the beginning of a bull market advance? Some analysts say it was not just a blip. Diane King reports from New York. SOUNDBITE: Philip Roth, Chief Technical Market Analyst, Miller Tabak.

Spotify seeks profit from free music

The Swedish digital music site has enjoyed a huge boost after opening its free, ad-supported music streaming service to all users in Britain.
The free service is available on an invitation basis in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Listeners also have the option to pay a monthly fee to use the service without hearing or seeing advertisements.
Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.

Dr. Subbarao optimistic on India growth

Although it is uncertain as to when India will recover from the global financial crisis RBI's Governor Dr. Duvvuri Subbarao said that it will be sharper and quicker than other economies in the world.

Montenegro tourism slump

The Prime Minister says the country's tourism industry is facing its worst crisis in years.
With more than a million visitors every year, tourism makes up a quarter of Montenegro's Gross Domestic Product.
But with hoteliers and landlords reporting a sharp fall in summer bookings, analysts say the economy could go into recession by the end of the year.

Farmers happy over loan waiver

Farmers in Ganoeri village of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra have expressed happiness after their farm loans were waived off recently.

Gold fever in California

California's soaring unemployment has led some residents to pursue elusive golden nuggets along the riverbanks of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The new gold rush has been a boon for companies like Keene Engineering, a maker of mining equipment which has seen there business double over the past year. Jon Decker reports.

Amul group profits despite slowdown

Despite the global financial slowdown the Amul cooperative has recorded a turnover of over rs. 67 billion for the fiscal 2008-2009.

Indian spice exports cross $1bln

Indian spices exports for the first eleven months of the current financial year has crossed the $1 billion-mark despite the slowdown in global trade.

eBay sees 'shopping neutral' rise

The online auction site eBay says a growing number of people on its site are 'offsetting' their spend by selling goods online.
The ecommerce site analysed millions of transactions involving casual home-sellers and says it has found that 200,000 British shoppers are making as much as five pounds per day by selling goods on the site.
Matt Cowan reports.

eBay sees 'shopping neutral' rise

The online auction site eBay says a growing number of people on its site are 'offsetting' their spend by selling goods online.
The ecommerce site analysed millions of transactions involving casual home-sellers and says it has found that 200,000 British shoppers are making as much as five pounds per day by selling goods on the site.
Matt Cowan reports.

IPO market sees signs of life

Chinese online gaming company Changyou soared in its U.S. debut, marking the best initial public offering in nearly a year.
Shares jumped 25 percent, fueling hopes a drought in the IPO market may be near an end. Conway Gittens reports from New York.SOUNDBITE: Charles Zhang, chairman, Changyou.com

BSE holidays

	List of Holidays
	The Exchange will observe the following Trading Holidays during the Calendar Year January to December, 2009.
	Holidays Date Day 1 Moharram 8th January 2009 Thursday 2 Republic Day 26th January 2009 Monday 3 Mahashivratri 23rd February 2009 Monday 4 Id-E-Milad 10th March 2009 Tuesday 5 Holi 11th March 2009 Wednesday 6 Ram Navmi 3rd April 2009 Friday 7 Mahavir Jayanti 7th April 2009 Tuesday 8 Good Friday 10th April 2009 Friday 9 Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti 14th April 2009 Tuesday 10 Maharashtra Day 1st May 2009 Friday 11 Ramzan Id 21st September 2009 Monday 12 Dasera 28th September 2009 Monday 13 Gandhi Jayanti 2nd October 2009 Friday 14 Diwali ( Bhaubeez) 19th October 2009 Monday 15 Gurunanak Jayanti 2nd November 2009 Monday 16 Christmas 25th December 2009 Friday 17 Moharram 28th December 2009 Monday

Suzlon to provide infra support to AGL Energy

Wind power major Suzlon Energy on Tuesday said its Australian subsidiary has entered into an agreement with AGL Energy for providing infrastructure support to the latter (AGL Energy).

Suzlon Energy Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has entered into an agreement with AGL Energy Ltd for turnkey delivery, which includes engineering, procurement and construction of the entire wind farm, Suzlon said in a filing t o the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The wind farm would consist of 63 units of Suzlon's wind turbine generators, translating to 132.30 MW of capacity, it added.

Last month, both the firms had entered into an agreement for supplying 54 units of Suzlon's wind turbine generators, translating to 113.4 MW of capacity.

Shares of Suzlon Energy were trading at Rs 42.15, up 1.93 per cent on the BSE

Slowdown bites retail sector, sales fall to 11 per cent

Hit by the economic slowdown, the country's retail sales growth sharply fell to 11 per cent in December 2008 from 34 per cent in the like period of 2007, according to a study by global consultancy KPMG.

"Falling footfalls and poor conversion ratio have led to a decline in sales growth to 11 per cent in December 2008 compared to 34 per cent in December 2007," said the KPMG report, 'Indian Retail: Time to change lanes', released on Tuesday.

Factors like store rationalisation, working capital management, regionalisation, cost optimisation and manpower resizing are some of the key "top of mind" issues for the retailers in the current context, KPMG said.

The study added that the the slowdown was likely to last 12-18 months, but dependent on the government policies.

It urged the government to increase spending on infrastructure and other development initiatives.

"We believe that players which take immediate strategic measures will be the dark horses. Be it store rationalisation, change of supply chain, consolidation of operations, improvement in IT infrastructure, retailers need to think quick to protect their margins,” KPMG global head of markets Neil Austin said.

The retail sector is also bearing the brunt of the liquidity crunch, the study said.

"Slowing sales resulting in lower inventory turnover and increasing working capital requirements to fuel growth have resulted in liquidity pressures for many domestic retailers,” KPMG (consumer markets) national industry director Ramesh Srinivas said.

Mindtree to undertake organisational restructuring

IT solutions company Mindtree on Tuesday said it will undertake an organisational restructuring and also rejig the senior management from April 1, with the objective of becoming a one billion dollar entity.

The restructuring would include entering new market segments, setting up new business units, and new roles for senior management, the company said in a statement.

Post the restructuring, the current Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Ashok Soota would assume the role of MindTree's executive chairman.

In his new role, Mr Soota would focus on strategic initiatives and long-term development. However, Mr Soota would continue to be the chairman of the board.

Mr Krishnakumar Natarajan, currently MindTree's CEO, would take over the position of CEO and MD. He would be responsible for MindTree's day-to-day operations.

The company further added that it would focus on five business areas - IT services, product engineering services, infrastructure management and technical support, independent testing and the newly formed knowledge services.

“Being focussed on the five business units will not only enable faster growth in our chosen areas, but will also help MindTree build greater capacity. This is significant milestone in Mindtree's journey towards becoming a one billion dollar organisation, ” Mr Soota said

Rupee ends at 50.73 against dollar

The rupee on Tuesday rose 44 paise against the dollar to close at 50.73. This is after it posted its worst performance in a month on Monday.

Dealers said weakening of the dollar against global currencies and upswing in stocks brought the spring in the rupee. However the dollar demand from importers capped a sharper rise, they pointed out.

The dollar was weaker against some of the major currencies. The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 1.5% on Tuesday, joining a rally across Asian bourses.

"All fundamentals indicate that rupee would continue to be under pressure in the coming weeks," says Rugved Dhumale, associate vice president, Mecklai Financial. "Its unfair to expect the RBI to support India's worsening trade deficit by drawing on its forex reserves," he said.

The focus is now turning to the summit of Group of 20 leaders in London this week, with investors hoping that they may reach agreement on measures to help revive the global economy. Dealers say that statements made by global leaders here will determine the short term trend for the dollar and Asian currencies.

Bonds gained, snapping a seven-day loss, as rising yields encouraged fresh set of investors to enter the market. Banks and primary dealerships may have increased bond purchases after benchmark yields rose 64 basis points since March 18 to 7.08%. The yield on the 6.05% benchmark note due February 2019 fell 8 basis points to 7% at the end of the session.

India has little room for more fiscal measures to stimulate a slowing economy, but low inflation has created space for further monetary easing, a senior official of the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.

RBI announced on Tuesday that it has permitted trading in the power bonds maturing on October 1, 2013 and April 1, 2014, issued by various States to Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs).

Banks parked close to Rs 17,000 crore with the central bank in its money market operations on Monday, while select banks also borrowed Rs 10,000 crore showing pressure on the cash situation in the system. The call money rate closed at 4.75%, off an early high of 5.75%, and above Monday's close of 3.75%.

45 percent of world's wealth destroyed: Blackstone CEO

Private equity company Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis.

"Between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half," Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. "This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime."

But the U.S. government is committed to the preservation of financial institutions, he said, and will do whatever it takes to restart the economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to unfreeze credit markets through a new program that will combine public and private capital in a fund that would buy bank toxic assets of up to $1 trillion.

"In all likelihood, that will have the private sector buy troubled assets to clean the banks out in terms of providing leverage ... so that we can get more money back into the banking system," Schwarzman said.

He expects the private sector to end up making "some good money doing that," but added there were complex issues on how to price toxic assets.

He put part of the blame for the financial crisis to credit rating agencies.

"What's pretty clear is that, if you were looking for one culprit out of the many, many, many culprits, you have to point your finger at the rating agencies," he said.

Rating companies have been the focus of intense criticism for their role in granting top "AAA" ratings for complex bonds that later plummeted in value, resulting in subsequent rating cuts, in many cases to junk status.

"Once you bought into ... the Triple A paper and it turned out to be paper that was in many situations going to end up defaulting, then you really had the makings of a global problem," he said.

Schwarzman said problems were then exacerbated by mark-to- market accounting rules. Those rules ask banks and other financial institutions to price assets at a value related to how they would be sold in the open market.

Blackstone reported a quarterly loss in February after writing down the value of its portfolio and eliminated its fourth-quarter dividend.

Asked where was a good place to invest, Schwarzman said it made sense to buy cyclical names, which are less exposed to the economic cycles.

He said investors also may find value in debt products, including "senior layers of certain securitizations," where investors can see 15 percent to 20 percent returns, he said.

Geographically, he said there were "pockets of strength" in China, which is committed to getting to an 8 percent growth level, and in India, where the economy is slowing but banks are in good shape.

SpiceJet, GoAir in talks for consolidation

Budget airline SpiceJet Ltd is in talks with the Wadia group-ownded GoAir for either a merger or to acquire a controlling stake, the Business Standard reported on Monday.
SpiceJet chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal met GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia to discuss a deal late last month, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
In February, Aggarwal had said SpiceJet would look at buying opportunities and expects consolidation in the Indian airline industry over the next two years.
GoAir currently flies to smaller cities such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Kochi and has applied for slots to several more.
SpiceJet reportedly plans to set up a regional airline to connect smaller cities, the paper said.
GoAir was looking at increasing its fleet to 20 aircraft by 2011 from five at present, the report added.
SpiceJet’s Aggarwal on Monday told Business Standard he could not “comment on anything relating to a deal at the moment”. GoAir’s Wadia also refused to comment, the paper said.
SpiceJet’s Aggarwal could not be reached immediately for comment by Reuters.
SpiceJet and GoAir spokespersons declined to comment immediately.