Date: 19 October 2009
Thought for the day
“The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts.
— William Lyon Phelps
GENERAL
1)India will soon join a select space club by launching two dedicated satellites in polar orbit to study climate change through atmospheric research and detection of greenhouse gases, Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Sunday.
Indian Express
ECONOMY
2)ALL unlisted state-owned companies will have to start working on an initial public offer with a minimum float of 10%, as the dis- investment department has taken a proposal to this affect to the Monday’s meeting of the Cabinet committee on Economic Affairs, a senior finance ministry official told ET. If the proposal goes through then unlisted public sector majors such as Coal India, BSNL, National Aviation Company India, Manganese Ore India and medium sized players like RITES, Ircon, HLL Lifecare and NBCC will have to start working on listing.
ET
3)The government is likely to clear on Monday a proposal suggesting release of inflation data on monthly basis and not every week for bulk of the items tracked by the wholesale price index(WPI).
FE
4)The 16-digit unique identification number that the government proposes to give you could become mandatory for opening a bank account, getting your passport or even your driving licence, among others.
FE
CORPORATE / INDUSTRY
5)With the domestic sales having picked up by almost 30% during the present festive season, the retailers and manufacturing companies are revising upwards their year-end targets, according to a survey conducted by industry chamber Ficci. The survey reveals that the dealers and retailers of leading automobile, consumer durable and FMCG brands have noted that September saw a substantial jump in sales for products across segments.
FE
MONEY & BANKING
6)The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) may not raise its key policy rates at the monetary policy review on October 27, but there is an outside risk of an increase in bank cash reserve requirements, or the cash reserve ratio(CRR).
BS
7)WITH all the attention focused on bank credit and any slightest pick up in demand, the sharp deceleration in deposit growth in the second quarter almost went unnoticed. According to the latest RBI data, fresh accretion to bank term deposits during the July- September 2009 quarter halved to Rs 88,604 crore, compared with the preceding quarter (Rs 168,000 crore). This is the lowest second quarter deposit growth in five years.
ET
8)Indicating a spurt in economic activities, payments made through debit cards rose over 40% to Rs 9,911 crore in the first five months of this fiscal over the year-ago period. With the global financial condition slowly stabilising, there are signs of the domestic economy recovering and growing at a faster pace now. Data available with Reserve Bank shows that debit card payments touched Rs 9,911 crore for the five months ended August, an over 40% surge compared to the corresponding period a year ago. In the comparable period, the same stood at Rs 7,017 crore.
ET
9)FOUR months into her job as CEO of the third-largest private bank, Shikha Sharma has effected a series of organisational changes in Axis Bank. The bank has now realigned its business into four strategic business units(SBU). The four new SBUs of the bank now are retail banking, SME and agriculture, corporate banking, non- banking retail subsidiaries and corporate centre. Earlier, the bank had a vertical structure with executive directors in charge of retail, corporate banking, mid-corporate and SME banking and IT and business process. Axis could probably be the first bank in the private sector which is going in for a SBUs structure.
ET
MARKETS
10)Indian benchmark indices which witnessed huge surge during the last week trading session is likely to see some pause in the next few days. However, domestic markets will be looking at quarter results of various heavyweight companies coupled with legal outcome of the row between the Ambani brothers, global cues and foreign inflows. On Saturday when market was opened for Muhurat trading for one hour ended the day on flattish note. In the last one week, the 30-share Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) added 683.35 points or 4.19%, while the broader S&P CNX Nifty of National Stock Exchange(NSE) gained 196.60 points or 3.98%. On last Friday, Sensex rose by 127.62 points or 0.74% to close the day at 17,322.82 points, while Nifty was up by 33.30 points or 0.65% to end the day at 5,142.15 points. Domestic markets will remain close on Monday on the occasion of Diwali festivities.
FE
11)The steady slide of the greenback has seen foreign institutional investors in India laughing their way to the bank. As the rupee is appreciating, FIIs have more than doubled their returns from the Indian market this festive season compared to their domestic counterparts. In the last one month Dollex-30, the dollar-denominated version of the BSE Sensex, has gained over 7.62% compared to the benchmark Sensex’s gain of 3.68%. On a yearly basis too, FIIs have earned 10% more than domestic investors since the Sensex has given a return of just 73.69% compared to the 83.35% gain in Dollex-30. The Dollex-30 reflects the change in stock prices as well as currency values, and enables foreign investors to measure their equity returns in real terms, both in respect of domestic and international currencies.
FE
12)Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) will come up with guidelines for setting up stock exchanges exclusively for small and medium firms soon. “Sebi is working on it. The norms are being finalised and would be released soon,” finance ministry sources said.
FE
COMMODITIES
13)Commodity exchange MCX has lowered the transaction fees for members, a move that is expected to bring down the cost of transaction by 50%. In a circular issued on October 17, MCX said from November 2, 2009, members would have to pay a transaction charge of Rs 2.50 per Rs 1,00,000 of turnover if their average daily business is within Rs 250 crore.
ET
14)On the eve of Diwali, two major commodities exchanges – Multi Commodity Exchange(MCX) and National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) – launched a series of futures contracts in agricutural commodities. The country biggest commodity exchanges, MCX, on Friday launched contracts for refined soy oil, crude palm oil, rubber and coriander for January 2010 delivery, while the NMCE launched 11 new futures contracts in agricultural commodities and gold for January, February and April 2010 delivery.
FE
REAL ESTATE
15)CENTURY Textiles and Industries, part of the BK Birla group, plans to start commercial real estate development at its Worli mill land and will float a separate division to control it, a senior executive told ET on Thursday. Century Textiles is fighting a legal battle with the Wadias for control of 10 acres of land on the same Worli mill property. Century Textiles has 40 acres land in Worli, including the 10 acres leased to it by the Wadias.
ET
16)Real estate firm BPTP has sold properties worth Rs 1,600 crore during the first half of the current financial year from its three housing projects in Faridabad in the national capitl region.
BS
COMMUNICATIONS
17)THE government has decided to allow full foreign ownership of firms providing tele-conferencing and Web-conferencing services, a sub-sector in the country’s booming telecom industry where foreigners are allowed to hold only up to 74%. However, to invest in this segment, foreigners will have to get permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board(FIPB) – an inter-ministerial body that clears cross-border investment into India as well as the ministry of home affairs(MHA).
ET
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
18)The government has begun random audits of IT companies across to country on possible violations of the Software Technology Parks of India(STPI) Act, even as it mulls extending the benefits of this legislation to 2015.
BS
19)With the economic downturn hitting the IT budgets, the ability to shift more staff offshore is expected to drive greater savings than the 5-10 per cent rate reduction that clients have been negotiating, according to a Forrester report.
BL
20)HEWLETT Packard (HP), the $100-billion-plus technology giant, is now focussing on Indian market with its array of software products and has set the target of maintaining a healthy double-digit growth rate over the next couple of years.
ET
21)Microsoft releases Windows 7 on Thursday to the world as the US software giant tries to regain its stride after an embarrasing stumble with the previous generation operating system Vista. “It’s a big deal for Microsoft,” analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley said of the Windows 7 launch. “Windows Vista was a train wreck.”
ET
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE BROWSE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING SITES.
Karvy Consultants Ltd www.karvy.com
www.khojhyderabad.com
www.indiacorporateadvisor.com
www.karvycomtrade.com (Commodities)
KARVY Global Services Ltd www.KARVYGlobal.com
KARVY Realty (India) Limited www.karvyrealty.com
Economic Times www.economictimes.com
The Financial Express www.financialexpress.com
Business Line www.businessline.in
Business Standard www.business-standard.com
The Times of India www.timesofindia.com
The Hindu www.hindu.com
Deccan Chronicle www.deccan.com
The New Indian Express www.newindpress.com
Pragmatic Investments 