BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 2009

Friday, January 02nd 2009
Goldman Sachs Investments buys shares in Indiabulls Real Estate
Foreign fund Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius (India) bought shares worth Rs 30.84 crore in Indiabulls Real Estate through open market transactions. Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius bought 20.89 lakh shares at Rs 147.64 per piece aggregating to Rs 30.84 crore.

Friday, January 02nd 2009
Toyota to develop solar powered green car: Report
According to reports, Toyota Motor Corp is developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car. The automaker is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes.

Saturday, January 03rd 2009
Future Capital acquires 100% stake in Black Diamond Finance 
Future Capital Holdings Ltd has acquired 100% of the Fully Paid up Equity Share Capital of Black Diamond Finance Ltd, a Non Banking Finance Company registered with the Reserve Bank of India. Black Diamond Finance Ltd has become a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Company. 

Saturday, January 03rd 2009
American car maker Chrysler gets $ 4 bn loan 
American carmaker Chrysler has received a $4bn (£2.75bn) loan from the US government in a deal to help it from collapsing. It is part of a $13.4bn rescue package approved last month by Washington for Chrysler and its rival General Motors. The US Treasury has also provided a rescue package for GMAC - General Motors' troubled car loan arm, which is co-owned by Chrysler's owner, Cerberus Capital Management.

Monday, January 05th 2009
India to be fourth strongest economy post-global crisis: Assocham
According to a study by Assocham, India's premier apex chamber, India would emerge as the fourth strongest economy among the G-20 countries after China, Russia and S Korea from the global crisis, given its strong forex reserves, high GDP growth rate and various fiscal and monetary measures taken to tackle the downturn. The study considered seven economic indicators relating to size of the economy, spending power, tax structure, interest rate policy, budget balances, debt burden and foreign exchange reserves.

Monday, January 05th 2009
Exports likely to fall further: FICCI
According to a survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the country's exports are likely to further dip in the next six months as customers from the US and UK are looking for Indian goods with prices at par with those of Chinese players. The country's exports posted a 30.9% growth in the first half of 2008-09, and contracted by 12.1% in October, for the first time in the last five years. The negative trend continued in November, when exports fell to USD 11.5 billion, from USD 12.7 billion a year ago. 

Tuesday, January 06th 2009
Satyam now considering a merger with another software company
According to reports, Satyam Computer Services is now considering a merger with another software company, HCL Technologies and MindTree being among the strong possibilities. Of the two, HCL, which closed its last financial year in June 2008 with an operating income of Rs 4, 615.39 crore and operating profit of Rs1, 226.96 crore, is said to have been identified as the forerunner. MindTree Consulting, on the other hand denied any interest in the IT company. 

Tuesday, January 06th 2009
Sun Pharma to buy Taro at premium 
Sun Pharma has agreed to offer a premium price over the current market rates for shares of Israel's Taro and has also agreed to resolve the issue with Taro, as recommended by the Israeli Supreme Court. Sun Pharma has sent two proposals to Taro and its first proposal includes an option to increase consideration to $9.50 per share, while asking Taro to withdraw its termination of the merger agreement; the second proposal includes increasing the offer price to $9 per share and the open offer will close at the earliest.

Wednesday, January 07th 2009
RBI may cut interest rates further to boost growth
RBI may cut interest rates by another 150 basis points by mid-2009 to boost economic growth. The Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates for the fourth time since the global financial crisis blew up in September, taking the total reduction in its key lending rate or the repo rate to 350 points. It now stands at 5.50 percent. Other central banks have also slashed rates heavily too to fight off the deepest global financial crisis. 

Wednesday, January 07th 2009
Switzerland's second largest bank invests $164m in India unit
Switzerland's second largest bank; Credit Suisse Group has invested $ 164 million (Rs 794 crore) into Credit Suisse India Finance, its Indian non-banking financial unit, expanding its capital base to Rs 827 crore that would help scale up its business operations. This additional money would be used for lending to corporates and for investments in stocks a time when money has become scarce. 

Thursday, January 08th 2009
NSE removes Satyam from Nifty
The National Stock Exchange removed Satyam from its benchmark index Nifty following the revelation of manipulation in the company's accounts. The IT firm will be replaced by Reliance Capital Satyam's with effect from January 12. Satyam would also be removed from various other indices like CNX 100, S&P CNX 500,CNX IT and the CNX Services sector index.

Thursday, January 08th 2009
Bharati Airtel ties up with Virtela
Airtel has tied up with Virtela, a leading global managed service provider to enhance its international connectivity outside of India to more than 5,000 PoPs (Point of Presence) across 190 countries. Under the agreement, Bharti Airtel and Virtela have integrated their networks through connection points in Southeast Asia and Europe in order to expand Bharti's MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) based IP-VPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network) capabilities around the world. 

Friday, January 09th 2009
Petrol pumps go dry, talks fail
Petrol pumps in the country started to run dry the second day, as talks failed between the government and the employees of public sector oil companies on getting an immediate hike in their wages. The oil sector officers' association, an umbrella organisation of 45,000 employees in the public oil sector companies, called for an indefinite strike from Wednesday to coerce the government to give them wage hikes.

Friday, January 09th 2009
Sensex down by 749 points as Satyam sinks 
The benchmark Sensex came down by a whopping 749 points after India's fourth-largest IT company Satyam Computer Services admitted that its accounts were manipulated. The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share Sensex initially touched a high of 10,469.72, up by nearly 134 points, but it collapsed after news of Satyam Computer filtered in.

Sunday, January 11th 2009
Fuel price cut in 10-15 days: Deora
The government is keen to go for a second round of reduction in fuel and gas prices as global crude prices have come down to $40 a barrel from $147 in June last year. Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said it is possible to cut prices of petrol by Rs 5, diesel by Rs 3 and cooking gas by Rs 25 per cylinder. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had reduced prices of petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 2 per litre on December 6 last year.

Monday, January 12th 2009
3 Indian IT companies banned by World Bank 
Wipro, Satyam and US- based IT service provider Megasoft have all been debarred from receiving direct contracts from Bank under its corporate procurement program. This change was professedly made in the interest of fairness and transparency. Wipro Technologies has been barred for four years (2007-20011) for providing improper benefits to Bank staff, Megasoft Consultants Ltd. for 4 years (2007-2011) for participating in a joint venture with bank staff while also conducting business with the Bank and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. for 8 years (2008-2016) for giving improper benefits to bank staff and failing to maintain documentation to support fees charged for its subcontractors. 

Monday, January 12th 2009
Indian stocks lose $ 2 billion 
Indian stocks listed on the American bourses suffered a loss of $2 billion following India's biggest accounting fraud by Satyam Computers. The other Indian stocks on bourses witnessed a fall of USD 1.94 billion in their combined market capitalization. 

Tuesday, January 13th 2009
Citi close to Morgan Stanley brokerage deal-Sources
According to sources, Citi is closer to signing a deal to join its Smith Barney business with Morgan Stanley's brokerage operation to create the world's largest retail brokerage. The creation of the joint venture will lead to Morgan Stanley making a cash payment to Citi of about $2.5- 3 billion if the deal goes through. Under the deal, which is being discussed, Morgan and Stanley would take a 51 per cent stake in the venture and would also have options to increase that amount at a period of 3-6 years in the future.

Tuesday, January 13th 2009
IMF approves $2.46 billion loan for Belarus
The International Monetary Fund has approved a $2.46 billion loan to Belarus to help it deal with the effects of the global financial crisis. The decision is made by the IMF executive board and means that Belarus will get access immediately to $787.9 million and is likely to open the door to funding from other bilateral lenders. IMF's deputy managing director and acting chairman Takatoshi said Belarus is facing serious economic problems and added that the country's economy is likely to slow down in 2009. Several countries, including Pakistan, Iceland and Hungary, have sought help from the IMF to fight the global financial credit crunch.

Wednesday, January 14th 2009
Yahoo names new CEO
Yahoo named Carol Bartz, former chief executive of software company Autodesk, as the company's next CEO. Bartz was chairman, president and CEO of Autodesk for 14 years and stepped-down in April, 2006. Bartz previously held positions at Sun Microsystems, most recently serving as vice president of worldwide field operations and an executive officer of the company. Prior to joining Sun, she held product line and sales management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M Corporation 

Wednesday, January 14th 2009
AIG sells Canadian unit for $308 million
American International Group Inc., which received a cash infusion last year from the US government, is selling AIG Life Insurance Company of Canada to the parent of the Bank of Montreal (BOM) for about $308 million in cash. AIG Life Insurance Company of Canada, based in Toronto, sells insurance and retirement savings products, including universal and term life plans, critical illness plans and annuities. The U.S. government gave AIG a $150 billion rescue package to help the company pull through the credit crisis in November 2008. 

Thursday, January 15th 2009
Japan's Toshiba in talks to buy Fujitsu's HDD business: Report
According to reports, Japan's Toshiba Corp. is in talks to buy Fujitsu's hard-disk drive business for 30 to 40 billion yen ($333 to $444 million). If the deal comes though, it would make Toshiba the world's biggest supplier of small drives. Fujitsu, meanwhile, is considering selling its remaining hard-drive operations to other companies and may withdraw from the business altogether, the report said. 

Thursday, January 15th 2009
Chrysler to sell key units
Chrysler is in talks to sell key assets to Renault-Nissan and auto supplier Magna, though the French automaker denied such talks were under way. Chrysler is under pressure to restructure after taking $4 billion in U.S. government loans. Renault and Japan's Nissan, in which the French firm owns a stake, had a discussion with Chrysler about a sale of all or parts of the U.S. automaker before the U.S. government stepped in to bail out Chrysler and General Motors Corp in December 2008. According to sources, discussions on a deal to sell Chrysler's iconic jeep have been going on for quite some time. 

Thursday, January 15th 2009
KPMG and Deloitte to audit Satyam
According to sources, the new board of Satyam Computer has asked KPMG and Deloitte to audit the accounts and re-state the financial statements of the tainted firm. The new board, including Deepak Parekh, C Achutan and Kiran Karnik, had announced earlier that the statements would have to be re-stated to know the true worth of the company and also said that the company is looking to hire a new CEO and CFO to run the operations. 

Thursday, January 15th 2009
Indian IT companies feel the pinch as Nortel files for bankruptcy
North America's biggest telephone equipment maker, Nortel Networks, filed for bankruptcy. The move will impact Indian information technology (IT) companies, as Nortel was one of their key clients. Some of the firms which may feel the pinch are Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Sasken Communication. Nortel is among the top 15 clients of Infosys, Wipro and Sasken, which make software for the firm. Nortel also holds a 9.51 per cent stake in Sasken. Wipro has been working with Nortel for over 15 years as a product-engineering vendor.

Friday, January 16th 2009
Private equity investments suffer loss of around $1 billion: Analysis
An analysis of private equity investments in listed firms have lost nearly one billion dollars so far this year largely due to the ongoing downturn in the capital market. The private investment in public equity of 2008 have lost about 53.29 per cent from their investment of $ 1.67 billion to current mark to market value of $ 0.78 billion, showing a loss of $ 0.89 billion.

Friday, January 16th 2009
Essar's Aegis may bid for Satyam BPO: Sources
According to sources, Aegis BPO, Essar group's outsourcing arm may be set to make a bid to acquire the outsourcing arm of troubled Satyam Computer Services. This comes at a time when various suitors are sizing up parts of the company after its chairman Raju Ramalinga admitted to a 7,000 crore fraud. 

Friday, January 16th 2009
ECB cuts Eurozone interest rate
In an effort to bolster the economy of Eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) has cut the interest rates by half a percentage point to 2%. The ECB has reduced its rates by four times since September last year. Official figures state that the eurozone has been in the state of recession since September of last year. The new rate cut would also affect Slovakia which has become the 16th country to adopt the euro this month.

Saturday, January 17th 2009
Zimbabwe unveils 100 trillion dollar banknote
According to reports, Zimbabwe has launched a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth around $33 (£22) on the black market. The country's central bank, which is struggling to keep up with hyper-inflation, also plans to introduce Z$10tn, Z$20tn and Z$50tn notes. With fuel and food in short supply, prices are mounting each day in Zimbabwe to incredible levels. 

Saturday, January 17th 2009
Citigroup reports loss of $8.29 billion, splits into two
Citigroup is all set to shed weaker businesses and troubled assets, and also reported an $8.29-billion fourth-quarter loss, its fifth straight quarterly loss. Citigroup's fourth-quarter loss equalled $8.29 billion, or $1.72 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $9.8 billion, or $1.99 a share. The bank said it was splitting into two operating units, one of which will focus on universal banking, the other on brokerage and retail asset management, local consumer finance, and a pool of assets that require special management. In the wake of these developments, it is expected that Citi Financial, one of the largest finance companies operating in India, will soon be up for sale. The firm posted a net loss of Rs. 268.6 crore during the first three quarters of 2008. 

Monday, January 19th 2009
America's 15th largest newspaper files for bankruptcy
The 15th largest newspaper in the US, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has filed for bankruptcy due to economic slowdown and a huge decline in advertising revenue. With this filing, the paper joins the Tribune Co, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and The Sun of Baltimore, in bankruptcy protection. Also several metro dailies are likely to face closure, if no buyer is found including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. 

Monday, January 19th 2009
Batelco to buy 49% in S-Tel for $225 million
Batelco, a firm in the world's second largest telecom market Bahrain, has signed a deal to buy 49% in Chennai-based S-Tel, a GSM service provider, for $225 million. This deal would enable his company to partner with an experienced operator for GSM rollout, Santosh Robert, Director of S-Tel said. Batelco has partnered with Millennium Private Equity (MPE), a Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)-regulated entity to form Batelco Millennium India Company Ltd (BMICL) a special purpose vehicle to purchase the shares in S Tel. 

Tuesday, January 20th 2009
Fiat, Chrysler in talks over a possible stake: Report
According to reports, Italian manufacturer of automobiles, Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) is in talks with U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC over a possible stake. Between the two groups, there is talk about Chrysler possibly using Fiat technology in exchange for a stake. The talks between Fiat and Chrysler were reported by auto industry publication Automotive News Europe. The publication cited unnamed sources as saying Fiat might take a stake of up to 35 percent in Chrysler and give the U.S. automaker access to platforms, engines and transmissions.

Tuesday, January 20th 2009
Japanese drug major launches open offer for Zenotech laboratories
Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo has launched an open offer to acquire a 20 per cent additional stake in Hyderabad-based Pharmaceutical firm Zenotech Laboratories, an affiliate of Ranbaxy. In October 2007, Ranbaxy Laboratories picked up a 38 per cent additional stake in the company, taking its shareholding in the Hyderabad-based firm to 45 per cent and had made it clear that it is not interested in taking over the company. In June 2008, Daiichi Sankyo entered into a share-purchase agreement with Ranbaxy to acquire a majority stake in the Indian drug firm. Through the acquisition, Ranbaxy's stake in Zenotech was also transferred to Daiichi Sankyo. 

Wednesday, January 21st 2009
India Inc's capital productivity up 36% in 2002-08
Corporate India's capital productivity went up by 36% between 2001-02 and 2007-08. Capital productivity captures revenue generated per unit of capital employed and indicates the productivity churned out of the fixed assets of a company. Capital productivity of the industrial sector rose from 1.13 in 2002 to 1.54 in 2008. Companies which have seen maximum improvement in capital productivity over the last six years include Rajesh Exports, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, Sterlite Industries, Haldia Petrochemicals, Jindal Saw, L&T, Siemens, Hindalco and NMDC. 

Wednesday, January 21st 2009
India's No 1 software company bags a multi million dollar deal from Ducati
Tata Consultancy Services, India's No 1 software exporter, has signed a multi million dollar, multi-year agreement with Italy-based Ducati Motor Holdings to deliver technology-based services to the company. As per the deal TCS will deliver its technology-based services to Ducati that would improve customer responsiveness and business efficiency.

Thursday, January 22nd 2009
Citi top management declines bonus
A few days after Citigroup announced its fourth quarter loss of $8.29 billion, several top executives in the organization expressed their decision to reject consideration for any recently approved incentive or retention awards. CEO Vikram Pandit, Chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff and CFO Gary Crittenden have all declined the awards according to a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Close on the heels of the announcement, stocks of the Company rose from $0.27 to $3.07.

Thursday, January 22nd 2009
Wipro predicts gloomy times ahead
Azim Premji, Chairman of India's third largest IT company, has predicted a gloomy future in the short run for the IT services sector, largely due to negative consumer confidence in the face of the global economic downturn. According to him, the present conditions would adversely impact all stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, employees, investors and partners. The CEO of the Company, Suresh Senapaty, has also revealed that certain clients worldwide were demanding a cut in prices in view of the recession and this could impact the bottomline. Problems have been compounded following the write-off of $15 million from Nortel, which declared bankruptcy last week. Wipro posted 18% growth in net profits in the quarter ended December, which did not meet the expectations of some analysts. In the present quarter, revenue in dollar terms is forecasted to dip by 7% against the preceding quarter.

Thursday, January 22nd 2009
Promoters must disclose pledged shares
In the wake of the huge financial fraud at Satyam, it had come to light that the company's promoters had pledged all their shares at inflated prices, which were subsequently sold by the lenders when the company failed to repay the money raised. In view of this episode, stock market regulator SEBI has now said that promoters of all listed companies must mandatorily disclose the amount of shares they may have pledged with lenders to raise money. Such disclosure would result in more information to shareholders and investors and thus help them take more informed decisions. The disclosure would be at two stages: event based, which makes it mandatory for promoters to inform authorities every time a share is pledged, and periodical, whereby they would have to inform at the end of each quarter the details of the entire equity pledged with lenders.

Friday, January 23rd 2009
Drop in RIL's third quarter profits
Faced with what Chairman Mukesh Ambani touts as "one of the most challenging" periods ever faced by Reliance Industries Ltd., the company registered a drop of 8.75% in net sales to Rs.31563 crore for the three months ending December 2008. Its net profit also dropped to Rs 3501 crore – a drop of 9.8% -- during the same period. According to company sources, as global producers and consumers are battling to come to terms with slower global trade and economic outlook, Reliance has been grappling with volatility in prices and margins. Incidentally, this is RIL's first ever quarterly sales decline in around six years, and the first drop in profits in three years.

Friday, January 23rd 2009
Telecommunications sector sees significant jump in profits
That the global slowdown has not in any way impacted subscriber growth in the telecommunications sector was illustrated by the quarterly results of Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecommunications company, which beat all street forecasts to reveal a 25% increase in net profits for the quarter ended December 2008. Profits of the company rose to Rs 2159 crore despite a forex loss of Rs. 245 crore. The quarter saw Bharti acquiring 8.3 million new subscribers, the highest by a telecommunications company on any quarter. The fortunes of the overall sector have been upbeat as yet another operator in the sector, Idea Cellular (the telecom arm of the Aditya Birla Group) reported a whopping 71% rise in net profits during the same quarter to Rs. 256 crore on the back of an addition of 4 million new subscribers. 

Saturday, January 24th 2009
Mallya calls off Epic deal
Business baron Vijay Mallya has stepped back from his announced acquisition of 50% stake in Epic Aircraft, an US-based manufacturer of very light jets. In 2007, Mallya had announced his intentions of acquiring stake in Epic for $120 million, but in his personal capacity and not in the name of any of the UB Group companies. After months of due diligence procedures, he has now declared that the deal has been abandoned, though reasons for the same have not been made clear.

Saturday, January 24th 2009
Corporate Scorecards in recessionary times
Q4 results for Internet search leader Google Inc. indicates that the global downturn has had an effect on the firm as it shows a decline in profits for the first time in the quarter ending December. The firm has been forced to write down $1.1 billion of the combined $1.5 billion that it has invested in two troubled companies, AOL and Clearwire Corp. However, analysts still say that Google is weathering the recession better than most competitors and has been successful, to a significant extent, in cutting spending to offset the slowdown in the online ad market, which accounts for most of Google's revenue. Another US conglomerate General Electric reported a 44% drop in quarterly profits and a 4.8% decline in revenue. 

Saturday, January 24th 2009
Corporate Scorecards – India
Among Indian firms, which have generally weathered the economic crisis better than most Western counterparts, Reliance Communications, the country's largest CDMA operator, posted 2.7% rise in net profit at Rs 1,410 crore in the quarter ended December; revenue in the same period rose 20% to Rs 5,850 crore in the period with an addition of 5.3 million subscribers. One of India's top IT exporters, HCL Technologies, also posted a growth in net profits by 12.1% although it warned that the bottomline of many of its clients were in fact shrinking. HCL's boost in profits was primarily due to new deals, and increased businesses from hitech, manufacturing and life science customers. 

Monday, January 26th 2009
HUL posts decline in net profits
Consumer goods giant Hindusthan Unilever Ltd. posted a decline in its net profits by 2% to Rs 616 crore for the quarter ended December as compared to the same period a year earlier, after taking into account exceptional items primarily concerning a provision made for a drop in the value of investments and write-down of loans made to a subsidiary. In the absence of these exceptional items however, the FMCG major posted a 12.7% rise in underlying net profits for the quarter. Although its sales rose by 16.8% to close to Rs 4310 crore, this was largely attributable to price increases and the slowdown in terms of volumes continues to be a matter of concern for the company. However, softening global commodity prices is being viewed as a positive for the days to come.

Tuesday, January 27th 2009
RBI warns of prolonged slump
In a periodic review of macroeconomic and monetary developments, the Reserve Bank of India has placed median growth forecasts for 2008-09 at 6.8% according to its December survey, which is lower than its September survey forecast of 7.7%. The Central Bank has also warned of second round effects of the global financial crisis which means that the downturn may in fact be sharper and more protracted than what was expected till now. On the positive side, given the dip in international commodity and crude prices, softening of domestic prices is expected to continue which gives the Bank room to implement another rate cut and initiate steps to stimulate demand and push growth. 

Tuesday, January 27th 2009
India-ASEAN FTA likely by February
The proposed Free Trade Agreement, or FTA, between India and the 10 ASEAN member nations is likely to be signed by the end of February before the commencement of the 14th ASEAN summit at Thailand. The FTA, if signed, would result in elimination of tariffs on a wide variety of manufactured products, farm products, metals and chemicals. 80% of tariff lines would be phased out by 2015, while 10% of additional tariff lines (on items said to be on the sensitive track) would not be fully eliminated, though rates on the items will be brought down to 5%. Indo-Asean trade has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 27% and is slated to reach $48 billion in 2008-09. ASEAN and India propose to eventually convert the FTA into a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement that will extend to services and investment.

Tuesday, January 27th 2009
Pfizer set to acquire Wyeth for $68 billion
Drugmaker Pfizer is all set to acquire its US rival Wyeth for $68 billion in a move that is expected to help Pfizer move into the vaccines and injectable biologic medicines segment and thus broaden its revenue base. The deal would also result in significant cost savings for Pfizer as overlap areas between the two majors are streamlined. The resultant advantages might stand Pfizer in good stead and help it cope with a gap in revenue that it is likely to face when its Lipitor cholesterol treatment loses patent protection and begins to face US generic competition in 2011. The 50.19 dollar per share valuation ($33 in cash and 0.985 of a share of its total stock) marks a 15% premium over Wyeth's closing stock price as on January 23.

Wednesday, January 28th 2009
RBI keeps rates unchanged
In its third quarter review of monetary policy for 2008-09, the Reserve Bank of India has kept the primary interest rates as well as the cash reserve ratio for banks unchanged, although its allusions to intensifying effects of the downturn and softening inflation just a day earlier had raised hopes of a rate cut. The Bank has however promised that it will keep up its efforts to ensure ample liquidity in the market through conventional and unconventional measures. In its statement, the Bank has also drawn attention to the significant slowing down of activities in the services sector and revised its estimates for real GDP growth in 2008-09 to 7% primarily "because of slowdown of industrial activity and weakening of external demand as reflected in decline in exports.''

Thursday, January 29th 2009
Tata Steel profits dip on the back of demand slump
Weak demand leading to lower sales volume and 80% increase in raw material costs resulted in a decline in quarterly profit for Tata Steel, India's largest steel manufacturer, for the first time in three years. Standalone net profit for the period October to December 2008 (excluding business of Corus) was reported at Rs. 466.24 crore – a 56% drop from profits for the same period a year ago. The quarter's earnings for the Company also suffered largely due to a foreign exchange loss of Rs.126.8 crore and total revenue stood at roughly Rs.4735 crore as against Rs.4928 crore last year. Steel makers across the globe have taken a major hit as the automobile and construction industries teeter on the brink. Tata Steel COO has predicted an equally, if not more, gloomy quarter ahead and has expressed plans of focusing on exports and newer local sectors.

Thursday, January 29th 2009
ILO warns of 51 m job losses due to slump
The International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency, has predicted that the global economic slowdown could see over 51 million jobs worldwide being cut by the end of 2009, creating a 7.1% global unemployment rate. While this is the worst-case scenario outlined in the ILO Global Employment Trends report, a more realistic picture presented is that of 30 million people losing their jobs during the year, if the economic crisis persists. Even for many of those who do manage to keep their jobs, remuneration and other employment conditions are expected to deteriorate. The ILO has pointed out that governments worldwide should focus on labour-based approaches in public works projects, such as construction and rehabilitation of public infrastructure, as they could help create and sustain jobs till the private sector recovers. It also urged governments to extend unemployment and health insurance programmes to help people go through this crisis.

Thursday, January 29th 2009
TCS bags $100-million contract
Even as gloomy news pours in from most quarters in the midst of the raging global economic crisis, the Indian software industry has some reason for cheer. In the latest manifestation, Tata Consultancy Services has signed a $100-million contract with 4UGroup, the holding company behind Phones 4U and other organisations in the UK telecommunication and financial services marketplaces, and will be providing an entire range of managed IT services to the Group under this contract. 

Thursday, January 29th 2009
Reliance Power wins Tilaiya project
Beating rivals like NTPC, Jindal Steel & Power and Sterlite Industries, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has acquired the contract for the 4000-MW Tilaiya ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Jharkhand, which is to be erected at an estimated cost of Rs.16000 to 18000 crore. Reliance Power emerged the lowest bidder with a financial bid of Rs 1.77 per unit and is expected to raise funds for the project through debt and equity routes. Incidentally Reliance Power holds two other UMPPs at Sasan (MP) and Krishnapatnam (AP).

Thursday, January 29th 2009
WEF begins in sombre mood
Around 2500 business, political and social luminaries from across continents converged at the Swiss mountain resort of Davos as the five-day annual meet of the World Economic Forum got underway. The mood on the opening day was considerably muted and gloomy, reflecting the bleak outlook of the world economy reeling under a financial crisis. The theme for this year's meet is "Shaping the Post Crisis World" and ahead of the formal opening, founder-head of the Forum, Klaus Schwab expressed hope that the experts from all walks gathered at the meet could work unitedly to steer a path out of the current crisis.

Friday, January 30th 2009
Inflation creeps up marginally
Dictated primarily by an increase in the prices of food items and marginal rise in decontrolled fuel prices, inflation in the country inched up to 5.64% for the week ended January 17 (as against 5.6% in the immediately preceding week). Economists however predict the rate to continue on a declining path in the weeks following that with the truckers' strike having been called off and the more recent cut in fuel prices. In fact, analysts expect inflation to be near zero by the middle of the current calendar year.

Friday, January 30th 2009
Maruti India reports drop in quarterly profits
Maruti Suzuki India has recorded its smallest quarterly profit in more than four years on the back of decline in sales volumes, high steel prices and and adverse currency movements. Net profits for the company in the quarter ended December 2008 stood at Rs. 213.57 crore – a 54% drop from figures in the corresponding quarter last year.