Indian economy poised to take off – a guest post

The stock market has been in a down trend for almost 9 months. FIIs have turned sellers. Already some experts are predicting a long bear market.

The economy seems to be in doldrums. Corporate revenues and profits are sliding. Investments are yet to pick up.

Amidst the doom and gloom, Nishit has identified several signs of an economic revival. He enumerates them in this month’s guest post.

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The Indian economy is showing signs of ‘green shoots’ and we are in the take off stage right now. Let us see the leading indicators to see if we are about to see good growth:

1. Fuel consumption has increased which is always a sign of pick up in industrial activity. Goods transport has increased.
2. The Automobile industry is showing signs of revival. When people have money to spend, they buy cars.
3. The Capital Goods space is showing good traction at the moment. Capital goods space always does well when industrial activity increases.
4. The IT industry is showing good results. It has been the sector employing maximum people in last 15 years. Affluence of the new IT middle class will lead to increase in consumption.
5. Low fuel prices mean that a major inflationary pressure is off. I see at least 100 basis points (1%) cut in interest rate over the next one year.
6. Low Interest regime is conducive to growth. Borrowings increase, industrial activity increases. It is a self-feeding economic cycle. The interest cycle has yet to bottom. The bottom of the rate cut cycle often coincides with a bull run taking place. In March 2009, the rates bottomed and the markets picked up.
7. The building blocks are in place for a super bull run for the next 5-8 years. This correction is the last buying. opportunity. I see a scenario similar to the one in 2002-2003. The rest is history.
8. History often is a roadmap for the future. With good governance, favourable economic conditions globally and conducive domestic growth factors, this is a Black Swan event.
9. Tax collection has increased. This means there is uniform tax collection. I would say increase the Service Tax t o 16% so all bear the burden and reduce Income Tax slabs, do away with exemptions, simplify the tax structure.

We all know what happens when a Black Swan event happens. Nifty may go down to 6800 to 7200, but eventually we are headed to 10500 minimum on the Nifty and over the next 10 years we may even touch 18000 to 20000 - which will be the end of the super cycle as per Elliot wave analysis. Nations take birth, grow, mature and fail. This is true for everything in life, the time span differs. India’s time is now. The next 10 years will be India’s golden age and the party is just about to begin.

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(Nishit Vadhavkar is a Quality Manager working at an IT MNC. Deciphering economics, equity markets and piercing the jargon to make it understandable to all is his passion. "We work hard for our money, our money should work even harder for us" is his motto.

Nishit blogs at Money Manthan. You can reach him at nish.stockid@gmail.com)

Evolving IT Services Market Warrants Attention

The global IT services market may be worth $1 Trillion, but it is highly fragmented. The top three players – IBM, HP, Accenture – account for 12.5% global market share. Other top players – like CAP Gemini, Computer Sciences Corp., Cognizant – account for around 1% share each.

The bulk of the market is shared by hundreds of smaller companies that do low margin but regular work like Business Process Outsourcing, software maintenance, data centre operations, application hosting. Most Indian companies get their bread and butter from such ‘outsourced’ work.

Some of the larger outfits – like TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech – have moved up the value chain through higher margin but more discretionary systems integration projects. But they are well behind the big boys in the top end, high margin consulting business.

In a recent article, Andrew Lange of Morningstar has provided an overview of the current global IT services market and its prospects. Those already invested in the sector, and particularly those planning an investment in some of the smaller Indian players, may find the article useful.

Modi effect on stock market – a guest post

After all the debate, discussion and anticipation, the Modi government has been sworn in and the council of ministers announced. The suspense of what will happen and who will get which ministry is over. Now it is time for getting down to business.

The first salvos have been fired by the PM – by first inviting heads of SAARC governments to the swearing-in ceremony and holding one-on-one discussions with them about bilateral issues and then, by setting up a SIT for unearthing black money in the economy. The first was an unexpected courtesy to our neighbours. The second is typical no-nonsense ‘walking the talk’.

What will Modi’s effect be on the stock market? In this month’s guest post, Nishit takes a look at the sectors that are likely to lead the next up moves in the stock indices if Modi continues to deliver on his poll promises.

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My previous month’s guest post began this way: “The market is going up as if there is no ceiling. Every day one sees their portfolios increase in value and everyone seems to be getting swept up by the Modi wave. Now, let us try and see what can derail this rally.”

Now, Modi has won the elections with a huge mandate. What next?

The first 6 months to 1 year are the honeymoon period for any Government. This is the period when they are given a degree of latitude. This is the time when the markets have hope in the new Government.

The new Government has promised jobs, growth and progress. How will they do this?

Firstly, they have to tackle the infrastructure mess by clearing road projects and making coal available to the power plants. Stocks of Infrastructure and power companies would start moving once these road blocks are cleared.

Next, finance has to be provided for these projects. Banking and infrastructure lenders will be the next to move up. As provider of materials for infrastructure to be built, steel and cement companies will be the next ones to rise.

In the midst of all this, IT and Pharma stocks, which are seen as defensives and export oriented, will lag behind. This is because the rupee has strengthened which may lead to their profits being curtailed.

PSU stocks should be another category which needs to be watched closely. Gujarat government stocks have done well under Modi.

Also, company stocks of a few industrialists perceived to be close to Modi, like the Adanis and the Ambanis, need to be closely watched.

These are interesting times we live in. For the first 6 months and especially during the time till the Union Budget in mid-July, the markets may rise on hope. After Diwali, emphasis will shift to the performance and results delivered by the new Government.

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(Nishit Vadhavkar is a Quality Manager working at an IT MNC. Deciphering economics, equity markets and piercing the jargon to make it understandable to all is his passion. "We work hard for our money, our money should work even harder for us" is his motto.

Nishit blogs at Money Manthan.)

Will a poor monsoon affect your portfolio? – a guest post

This year, monsoon rains have been conspicuous by their absence. While a few parts of the country have received excess rainfall, that has been the exception than the rule. Drought-like conditions are prevailing in many parts. In other parts, rainfall has been scanty to mediocre.

By all accounts, rainfall will be below average this year. What will be the effect of a poor monsoon on your investment portfolio? In this month’s guest post, Nishit looks at a few sectors that may get negatively affected by a poor monsoon and a few that may not do too badly.

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The monsoon this year is likely to be deficient. Which sectors and stocks will feel the impact? This is a burning question in the minds of investors. Let us try and analyse the impact of a poor monsoon.

The rainfall deficit has shrunk to about 15% from 22% a couple of weeks earlier. Also, the reservoirs are filling up. They are now 96% filled as compared to the last 10 years’ average and 80% filled as compared to last year at this point of time.

With steady rains falling across the country, there should not be any drinking water problem. Agriculture output will be hit, but there will not be food shortages - thanks to the surplus food grains of the previous years.

Having said all this, what will be the impact? The hardest hit will be the farmer. He will have less produce to sell in the markets and consequently less money to spend. All the rural focused sectors will be hit. The hit will not be immediate but come during the harvest season, a few months down the line.

The farmers will not be celebrating the festive season by buying new motorbikes. Thus, the 2 wheeler segment may face the biggest hit. When the times are down, farmers will also not invest in new tractors and farm equipment. This also means tractor manufacturers will face lean times.

In recent times, FMCG majors like HUL and ITC have risen to new all time highs based on uncertainty in the markets. They may take a major hit if the rural population cuts down on spending. Less colas and chips will be consumed. Sectors like IT (Information Technology) will be neutral to a poor monsoon. The banks may take a hit in the form of NPAs in case loans to farmers turn bad.

Amidst all this gloom, the sugar sector - especially the sugar mills having previous stock - will flourish. The farmers may not get much, but the sugar mills will benefit from higher realisations thanks to surplus inventory.

Overall, Indian GDP may come down by 0.6% or so. Surprisingly, in previous years of scanty rainfall, the stock markets have actually done well. The fiscal deficit may increase if the government comes up with any populist schemes. Higher food grain prices may lead to higher inflation forcing the RBI to go slow on interest rate cuts.

In the current scenario, it pays to focus on sectors like sugar and also sectors which may not get impacted much by a poor monsoon. PSU banks with their good dividend yields offer one area where folks with expectations of moderate returns may park their funds.

Cyclical sectors like steel and infrastructure, which are currently beaten down, can be nibbled at. Also, this may be the last chance to lock in at relatively high rate of interests. Bank FDs (ICICI Bank is still offering 10% to Sr Citizens for a period of 4.9 years and Bank of India 9.7%), NCDs (Shriram Transport offered 11.4%), some stocks would be a good mix to be invested in right now.

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(Nishit Vadhavkar is a Quality Manager working at an IT MNC. Deciphering economics, equity markets and piercing the jargon to make it understandable to all is his passion. "We work hard for our money, our money should work even harder for us" is his motto.

Nishit blogs at Money Manthan).

Notes from the USA (Jan 2012) - a guest post

It was about 25 years back that the then head of the Department of Electronics, a dynamic government official by the name of N. Vittal, shook up the complacency in the IT industry by announcing a software export target that seemed outrageously high (by prevailing standards). The IT industry rose to the challenge, and the rest is history. Software exports mainly comprised ‘on-site body shopping’ of technically qualified software engineers.

Call center outsourcing business opened up vast employment opportunities in India for less technically savvy youth – even those located away from the major metros – and significantly expanded the size and purchasing power of the Indian middle class. In this month’s guest post, KKP points to an important trend that could potentially destroy the employment opportunities of tens of thousands of India’s educated youth.

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India Sees First Wave of Outsourcing Competition

India’s success in recent years can be attributed largely to the outsourcing trend that the Internet technologies enabled in the 1990s. Companies tripped over each other in the US to migrate their business from US and Europe to India to save on costs, while servicing customers in almost the same manner.

A recent article in the Washington Post highlights the increasingly popular trend of call center outsourcing operations moving away from India. Although India remains the preferred destination for IT support (today), the country is no longer known as the call center capital of the world since salaries and other business costs have grown significantly over the past year.

Currently, a larger number of call center outsourcing employees are working in the Philippines and Malaysia rather than in India. My team in Argentina is also telling me that there is a significant growth of this business in Argentina. For companies such as 24/7 Customer, the choice has been clear. It set up its first call center in India in 2000. Today, it has 4,500 employees in the Philippines compared with 3,000 in India.

What is so crucial about it?

It is critical to understand what US does to economies around the world. US is a Wall Street driven engine for the enterprises. This means that there will be ‘trends’ and ‘herd movements’ in one direction. And when the winds blow a different way, it will all change quite quickly. In a recent conversation, a businessman who has come from Hyderabad told me how salary cuts are going on within the call center environment, and there are plenty of people, but not enough jobs. This is Phase 1.

USA businesses will make a decision on what is good for their bottom line and change, throwing away the human component quickly and switching countries in a heart-beat. Many companies have moved their operations to the Philippines also and they are serving customers well.

But, the most important trend that I have seen is moving operations to low cost states within the US where they can hire, train and operate a US based call center at almost the same cost as those in a foreign land. Here’s proof. I open/close many credit cards and lines of credit every year, and during the month of Dec and Jan, do an inventory and clean house. In doing so, I have to make calls to open new ones, and close existing ones. Every single call I made (except for Citibank), was picked up by someone in a US call center, and they announced themselves as being in the US! Of course, they served me with a level of service that is expected in the US, and with a level of urgency that falls outside of pre-written scripts and documented processes.

So, again, why is this important for us investors?

USA did this to Japan, and today, there are more Japanese plants operating outside of Japan than in Japan. This trend might hit the shores of India, and hence India will really have to boost its ‘organic growth engine’ in a huge way to compensate for the loss of business that will come over the next 1-2 decades. It is a slow moving engine since these trends are like the Titanic making a turn, but when they turn, they turn for good.

It is also possible to offset the reduction in call center work by transitioning to the BPO type of efforts, where the margins are better. Those efforts are also underway, but the push to bring business back into the country (in US and Europe) is getting stronger as job losses in those economies begin to hurt. That is a wind of change that an investor needs to worry about (macro trend).

I am not saying that Manufacturing, Auto-parts, IT support, Software development, Tier 2/3 Support, BPO efforts etc. will all move away from India, but when the first wave is affected the other waves will slowly get affected in a small manner, if not completely get wiped out over the ensuing years.

Our investments have to reflect this since a lot of infrastructure is built around this growing middle class, and the growth of middle class is becoming dependent on the flow of business from US and Europe. With both those economies slowing, and further scaling back on outsourcing to India, we may see a much larger detrimental effect on this portion of the business. The only hope is that the local growth engine revs up in the meantime to replace this slow loss that will happen over the next decade or two.

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KKP (Kiran Patel) is a long time investor in the US, investing in US, Indian and Chinese markets for the last 25 years. Investing is a passion, and most recently he has ventured into real estate in the US and also a bit in India. Running user groups, teaching kids at local high school, moderating a group in the US and running Investment Clubs are his current hobbies. He also works full time for a Fortune 100 corporation.

Now, learn portfolio strategies from a game of stud poker

One of the best ideas for managing your portfolio on an ongoing basis is to treat each stock (or fund) in your portfolio as a hand in a game of stud poker. Not my idea. Peter Lynch mentioned it in his book: "One Up on Wall Street".

Stud poker is a 'man's game', pitting strong-willed men with nerves of steel and expressionless faces against each other across a card table. The game has been immortalised in several Hollywood films.

Two of them - my favourites - come to mind. The old pro, Edward G. Robinson playing against the new kid on the block, Steve McQueen, in "The Cincinnati Kid". And a sophisticated Robert Shaw being taken for a ride by a bumbling Paul Newman in "The Sting".

The game - for the uninitiated - is simple enough. A card is dealt face-down, which can only be seen by the player to whom it was dealt. This is immediately followed by a second card dealt face-up to each player. All players get to see the face-up cards. A round of betting follows. Each bet is for a specific amount.

A player has the option to 'fold' (i.e. take no further part, if the cards he has been dealt are not to his liking); 'call' (i.e. stay in the game by betting an equal amount) or 'raise' (i.e. increase the bet by a pre-determined amount). Every time a player raises the bet, another round of betting follows.

The process is repeated three more times, as a card is dealt face-up to each player remaining in the game. After all five cards for each hand have been dealt (one face-down and four face-up) and the betting is concluded, the players remaining in the game show their hands to the others. The player with the best five card combination wins.

I'm not a gambling man, nor do I advocate a gambling mentality in the stock market. But the analogy - that each stock (or fund) in your portfolio is akin to a hand at stud poker - seems very apt.

The face-down card is like some knowledge or information you may have about the company that may not be known to the general public. Each face-up card is some bit of financial news or company-specific information that becomes available in the market.

As each 'card' is dealt, you need to take some action as an investor. If it is pretty bad news - like the Satyam fraud, or Punj Lloyd's overseas subsidiary delaying a project and incurring a huge penalty - you should fold (i.e. sell) that particular hand.

If it is so-so or good information - like Larsen and Toubro bagging a new order, or Tata Investment declaring a marginal profit and matching last year's dividend - you may hold your stock (or fund).

If it is better news - like 3i Infotech declaring increased profits when most IT companies were struggling in the down turn - raise the bet (i.e. buy some more).

You'll need the mental and physical discipline of tracking each bit of information about each of the stocks (or funds) in your portfolio, analysing the consequences and filing it properly at a place from where it can be retrieved easily.

It is not rocket science, but it has to be followed diligently on a regular basis - at least once a week. That means not only tracking company results and announcements, but also the forex rates and macro-economic and political news to understand the implications and likely effects on your portfolio.

Many intelligent individuals never succeed in their market investments. A probable cause can be the lack of time and/or discipline in following a regular process of updating information about their portfolio holdings.

Life becomes a lot easier if you manage to limit your holdings to 10-12 stocks or 5-6 mutual funds. Keeping track of fewer companies improves your chances of being able to move quickly as the situation demands.

Weekly tracking of a smaller number of companies (or funds) means you will tend to remember the important bits of information necessary for taking buy-sell-hold decisions.

Will the H1/L1 US visa restrictions 'news' affect the IT sector?

A couple of months back, I had written a post about how to use financial news. Four categories of 'news' were discussed - good, great, bad and worse. Some suggestions about how to deal with such news were given.

What if there is a fifth category? Some item that appears in the pink papers or business channels as 'news' and causes some turmoil in the stock markets - but later turns out to be a misinterpretation? It wasn't really 'news'?

It is difficult to take any action till you receive further clarifications. Or, you may have an 'insider' in the industry or sector who can separate the wheat form the chaff and go to the core issue to advise you.

The recent 'news' about the H1/L1 visa restrictions for temporary non-immigrant workers in the USA is a case in point. The business channels went to town about it, asking leading members of the IT industry how these restrictions will affect their top lines and bottom lines.

Some retail investors dumped Infosys, TCS and other IT stocks. Some even stated that the leading IT sector stocks had become 'fundamentally weak'. The 'smart money' lapped up the stocks.

Any one who has spent a few years in the IT industry and has worked in the USA would take such 'news' in their stride. Because (s)he would know that similar 'news' keeps popping up every so often only to dissolve without a trace.

Why? Because the visa restriction 'news' was only a proposal by a couple of senators - pandering to the popular misconception that most of USA's unemployment problems have been caused by jobs being outsourced to India.

It takes a very long while - some times, forever - for such restrictive proposals to become a law. The proposal needs to be tabled and passed in the US Congress and the Senate. There will be a strong Indian-American lobby that will be working against it.

Even if the proposal gets through both houses, it is likely that there will be several amendments made to the original draft proposal. Each amendment will take its own sweet time to go through.

The US President has to sign the revised proposal to turn it into a 'law'. He has the authority to turn it down, or - you guessed it - seek more amendments. Many such proposals never get to become a law. Even if it does, most of the severe restrictions are likely to get diluted.

At the end of it all, should the visa restrictions become a law, it will not take effect retrospectively. Meaning, existing H1/L1 visa holders will not be affected. Only new visa applications made after the law comes into effect will face the restrictions.

Who might get affected the most in the IT sector? It will be the small body-shoppers whose business model is to hire out programmers to different US companies.

Also affected will be large US IT companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco who employ significant numbers of H1/L1 software personnel from India. They will face difficulty in finding new employees from the US job market. So they will probably be lobbying the US government to veto such a restrictive proposal.

Infosys, TCS, Wipro have globally dispersed businesses, with a large portion of the work done 'offshore' in India. They will be inconvenienced, but the effect on their top line and bottom line will be very little.

Stock Chart Pattern - Infosys Ltd.

For this week's stock chart pattern discussion, I could not think of a more appropriate stock than Infosys. A bellwether of the Indian stock market and a perennial favourite of foreign and domestic investors for the longest time, Infosys seemed to have lost its pride of place of late.

A quick look at the 6 months closing chart may allay some investor doubts:-

(Please right-click on the image above and open it in a new tab or window for a better view.)

Well before the global rally started in Mar '09, Infosys moved up above its 20 day and 50 day EMA in Jan '09 - though it remained well below the 200 day EMA. After a small dip, it again moved up and remained above its short and mid-term EMAs till the middle of Feb '09.

After a 3 weeks period of sideways consolidation during which the stock made a higher bottom than the one made in late Dec '09, it started to move up again along with the global rally.

After initial resistance in late Mar '09, Infosys pierced through the 200 day EMA in the beginning of April '09, but then lost its upward momentum and consolidated sideways just above the 200 day EMA - probably due to uncertainty about the forthcoming results.

The above chart is updated up to Apr 13, '09 (the previous day of trading). The Q4 '09 result, declared earlier today (Apr 15, '09) was disappointing but not really disastrous. The  challenging outlook for the near future spooked the market and the stock crashed more than 5% from its previous close.

There are a couple of interesting indications on the chart. Both the ROC and the slow stochastics had started turning down from the beginning of April '09, while the MACD was making new highs and the RSI had flattened just below the overbought zone.

This 'divergence' was partly responsible for the profit booking that happened today, due to which the stock has dipped below its 200 day EMA. However, the 20 day EMA and 50 day EMA are both rising and the 200 day EMA is flattening out.

From early Nov '08, Infosys has made a 'saucer-like' chart pattern which is quite clearly identifiable from the 50 day EMA. This 'rounding bottom' pattern is considered bullish. A strong breakout upwards should be on higher volumes. Volumes have not been significantly higher during Apr '09.

Bottomline? Wait for the selling pressure to subside before entering the stock on the dip. Be prepared for a longish wait for  profits in front-line information technology stocks. There may be other stocks that can provide better returns. Please remember that, like HDFC, Infosys has impeccable management and is a FII favourite. This one is for patient, long term investors.

Stock Market News, Financial News - Mar 18, 2009

Investment drought spells fresh energy crisis

By Barbara Lewis and Simon Webb

VIENNA (Reuters) - No sooner has the world recovered from a deep economic downturn than it could face a set-back from surging oil prices, energy leaders warned on Wednesday, citing a sharp drop in investment in the sector.

Representatives of consumers, producers, national and international oil companies agreed at an OPEC seminar that a weaker oil price had meant delayed or cancelled projects. (More ...)

Maxis commits $10 billion to Aircel

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Malaysia's Maxis Communications Bhd is investing $10 billion in its Indian unit Aircel to accelerate its expansion in the world's fastest-growing mobile market, and is interested in bidding for 3G spectrum.

Half of that has already been spent expanding Aircel's network, Maxis chief executive Sandip Das said at the launch of services in the lucrative Delhi zone on Wednesday, adding he hoped to nearly double the number of subscribers this year.  (More ...)

IBM in talks to buy Sun Microsystems

By Ritsuko Ando and Anupreeta Das

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems Inc, sources with knowledge of the matter said, a move that could bolster the technology giant against rivals in the high-end computer server market.

International Business Machines Corp is offering to pay at least $6.5 billion, or double Sun's Tuesday closing price of $4.97, The Wall Street Journal reported online earlier. Shares of Sun jumped 64 percent in pre-market trading to $8.16, while IBM shares fell 2 percent to $90.89.  (More ...)

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ADVFN World Daily Markets Bulletin (excerpts)

US Stocks at a Glance

Dow And S&P 500 Falling To New Lows For The Session

Stocks are seeing considerable weakness in mid-morning trading on Wednesday, as traders cash in on the market's recent gains. The major averages are giving back some ground after ending the previous session at their best closing levels in almost a month.

The weakness in the markets is largely due to profit taking, with traders cashing in on the strong gains seen in recent sessions. However, selling pressure has remained relatively subdued, helping the major averages to hold onto the bulk of their recent gains.

Some traders may be staying on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's announcement of its latest decision on interest rates.

European Shares - Back to square one

Leading shares are mixed after a poor set of UK unemployment figures put the kibosh on an early attempt to continue yesterday’s rally.

The number of people out of work rose to 2.03m in the November - January quarter from 1.97m in the October to December period. A record 138,400 people signed on for job seeker’s allowance in February. This was well in excess of the 90,000 new claimants that had been expected and brings the total number of claimants to 1.39m.

Asia Markets - Markets advance on Wall Street's gains

The major markets across the Asia-Pacific region advanced for the fourth day in succession, led by financials. However, the rally seems to be losing steam, with profit taking in select stocks and a slump in metals generating some selling pressure. Except Australia, all the other markets in the region ended in the green.

Crude oil ended $0.71 down in Asian trading at $48.45 a barrel in electronic trading, after having closed at $49.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. In the New York session, the commodity gained, $1.81 after hitting an intra-day low of $46.53 and a high of $49.82.

Stock Market News, Financial News - Mar 13, 2009

GLOBAL MARKETS - World stocks charge higher on better banking hope

By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks were on track on Friday for one of their largest weekly gains in 20 years, propelled by growing confidence in the recovery of the U.S. banking system.

Wall Street looked set to open with hefty gains and government bonds sold off.

The Swiss franc steadied, a day after the Swiss National Bank knocked it sharply lower by intervening to weaken the currency to make it more competitive, a move that triggered some concerns about countries embarking on a currency war. (More ...)

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ANALYSIS - Banks toughen as flimsy boom-time loan deals hurt

By Tom Freke

LONDON (Reuters) - Flimsy loan agreements drawn up in haste during the credit boom are coming back to haunt lenders as private-equity owned companies blow up without advance warning, forcing banks to rein in lending and tighten standards.

Italy's Ferretti shocked lenders when its value plummeted to little more than 100 million euros ($126.9 million) last month -- roughly the same value as just two of the luxury shipbuilder's most expensive yachts.

There had been little warning the group was in difficulty before its private equity owners walked away. (More ...)

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Homes slump, but finance upbeat

Hindustan Times

Amid a general slowdown in construction and real estate industry and poor credit offtake, the housing finance industry remains bullish about growth hoping to disburse over 10 per cent more loans in 2008-09 as compared with the previous year.

"There won't be contraction in numbers for the year and the industry will end the year with growth," said Keki M Mistry, vice chairman and managing director, HDFC. (More ..)

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TATA-owned Land Rover offered 27 million pounds to produce 'Green Car'

By ANI

London, Mar.12 (ANI): The British Government has offered a grant of up to 27 million pounds to TATA-owned Jaguar Land Rover for the production of a new 'green' car.

According to a Sky News report, the company will make a decision later this year on whether to go ahead with the 400 million pound project at its factory at Halewood on Merseyside.

The car will be based on Land Rover's LRX Concept vehicle. (More ...)

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FE Editorial : Reading data; CPI at 10.45%

By The Financial Express

Inflation at 2.43% and industrial growth at -0.5% strengthens the much-discussed narrative of depressed economic activity. But a closer look yields some interesting sub-stories. January's negative index of industrial production (IIP) figure is the second dip in two months. But note that for December, for which the original IIP was -2.6%, the revised figure, while still negative, has been revised upwards to -0.6%. This, and the fact that consumer goods and consumer durables posted positive growth in January (in December's IIP, durables had posted double-digit negative growth) leads to the question whether we are seeing early signs of an uptick in the near future. (More ...)

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Wipro Infotech wins Rs 1,182 Crore e-governance project from ESIC

By Financial Express Bureau

Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East IT business wing of Wipro Ltd, won an e-governance project, titled Panchdeep Project and worth Rs 1,182 crore, from the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

ESIC is a statutory corporation under the ministry of labour and employment, Government of India. It is the implementing agency of a pioneering social security scheme in the country. (More ...)

Stock Market News, Financial News - Mar 11, 2009

Citigroup cheers markets but economies still bleak

By Jonathan Stempel and Sachi Izumi

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Citigroup said it was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and Toshiba was reported to be set for an operating profit of $1 billion next year, two rare shards of corporate news to lift markets.

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, following a strong rally on Wall Street, but economic news remained gloomy.  (More ...)

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'US protectionism not to impact Indian IT'

By ENS Economic Bureau

At a time when US President Barack Obama's statements on curbing tax breaks for outsourcing companies in the US rang alarm bells in the Indian IT sector, Indian IT representative body National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) today said it does not expect the recent protectionist measures taken by the US government to impact the Indian IT-BPO industry.  (More ...)

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NHAI plans funding to road developers

By Gunjan Pradhan Sinha, Indian Express Finance

In a bid to prevent work on road projects from coming to a halt, the government is considering a proposal to allow the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to extend working capital loans to developers. In a meeting held on March 7, the roads secretary and NHAI officials discussed the possibility of such a move with road developers. According to developers present at the meeting, the move may help them tide over the tight credit situation they face for projects undertaken by them under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).  (More ...)

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LandT, 8 others in race for Chennai mega container terminal

By Financial Express Bureau

Nine companies have submitted their requests for qualification for the development of India's first mega container terminal at the Chennai port. Estimated to cost Rs 3,686 crore, the terminal, with a rated annual capacity of 4 million TEUs, is likely to become operational by 2012-2013.

The last date for submitting the request was on March 9, 2009. The applicants are: LandT Transco Pvt Development Project Ltd, Chennai; Navayuga Engineering Co Ltd, Chennai; DP World Pvt Ltd, Mumbai; IL andFS Maritime Infra Co Ltd, Mumbai; Vadinar Oil Terminal Ltd, Mumbai; Mundra Port and SEZ Ltd, Ahmedabad; Lanco Infratech Ltd, Hyderabad; FGI Group of companies, Malaysia and GVK-Leighton Consortium, Mumbai.  (More ...)

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Nine million GSM users added in Feb, tally rises to 277 million

By Financial Express Bureau

The country added a total of 9 million GSM subscribers in February, taking the total tally to 277 million at the end of the month. This marks an increase of 3.43% in the total number of subscribers, compared to the month of January.

The country's largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, added the highest number of GSM subscribers during the month, at 2.5 million. With this, the total number of mobile subscribers for the company went up to about 91million. Bharti continues to have the largest market share in the GSM segment with 32.88%. Bihar once again added the largest number of subscribers for the company, with 4 lakh additions. Karnataka added the second highest number of subscribers with around 3 lakh, with Rajasthan close behind with 2.9 lakh additions in the month.  (More ...)