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TCS clocks 34 pc jump in profit
Oil cos get Rs 12k cr to cover losses
Don’t roll back stimulus, economists tell FM
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Taxpayers, be wary of fake I-T e-mails
IMF: World economy recovering fast
More farmers join Dadri stir
Nano may come to US with $5,000 price tag
Journalists sit in Tata Nano at the Science Center, where the vehicle was displayed for the first time in the US by Tata Technologies, in Detroit on Thursday. —Reuters
3G Spectrum
MTNL rejigs management
ADB predicts solid economic recovery
Corporate Results BlackBerry, iPhone makers sued
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TCS clocks 34 pc jump in profit Mumbai, January 15 “We have posted high growth and have improved our margins for the third successive in this difficult year. Our investments are ahead-of-time in emerging markets’ multiple industries and client relationships. This is reflected in our exemplary performance,” TCS chief executive officer-cum-managing director N Chandrasekaran told reporters here. The board of directors at its meeting held today have proposed a third interim dividend of Rs 2 per share. Moving ahead, Chandrasekaran said the IT giant see flat pricing on its contracts, despite a quite healthy deal pipeline. The company’s total income from operations rose to Rs 7,648.54 crore for the third quarter ended December, against Rs 7,277.04 crore in the same quarter last year. “The deal pipeline is quite healthy, its happening at pace, but we still have to watch,” Chandrasekaran said. “We are pursuing 20 big deals deals with healthy revenues,” he added. The Tata company is seeing continued demand for outsourcing services from the United States and turnaround of the UK and European economies. TCS has added 32 new clients, which includes 7 new clients ($5-million-plus deals) during Q3 ’FY 10.
—PTI
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Oil cos get Rs 12k cr to cover losses
New Delhi, January 15 The Finance Ministry sent a letter to the Oil Ministry saying Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp will be paid Rs 12,020 crore in cash to cover for their losses on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene in 2009-10. Oil Minister Murli Deora yesterday pleaded with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for keeping his July 2009 promise of making up entire losses on the cooking fuel by way of either oil bonds or cash. It was then agreed that losses on petrol and diesel would be made up by upstream firms like ONGC. Petroleum Ministry sources said they would accept the cash offered as “part-payment” for the losses in 2009-10 fiscal and continue to press Mukherjee for more. Sources said the Finance Ministry was of the view that 2008-09 was an exceptional year when crude oil prices touched a record high of $147 per barrel, necessitating issue of Rs 71,292 crore worth of oil bonds to the three retailers. It feels that since oil prices have not caused “exceptional” burden on state-run firms, the 2006-07 formula of the government picking up one-third of the revenue loss on fuel sales should be applied. IOC, BPCL and HPCL are projected to lose Rs 29,405 crore on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. Another Rs 12,000 crore loss is projected on petrol and diesel. Sources said ONGC, Oil India Ltd and GAIL India, which were previously to meet only auto fuel losses, may be asked to pick some losses on LPG and kerosene sales. The Finance Ministry has not issued any bonds or cash for the first three quarters, leading to BPCL and HPCL to report net losses in the second quarter, while IOC barely made a profit. HPCL reported a net loss of Rs 136.68 crore, while BPCL posted a net loss of Rs 158.77 crore. IOC made a marginal Rs 284.36 crore profit. For the first nine months, oil bonds worth Rs 20,872 crore, which was the loss on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene, had been sought, they said adding another Rs 8,508 crore was lost on petrol and diesel in April-December period. The three firms currently lose Rs 3.06 a litre on petrol, Rs 1.56 per litre on diesel, Rs 17.23 a litre on kerosene and Rs 299.01 per LPG cylinder. Sources said under-recoveries or revenue loss on petrol and diesel amounting to Rs 4,003 crore in April-September had been compensated by ONGC, Oil India and GAIL India through price discounts on crude oil and products sold to retailers. — PTI
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Don’t roll back stimulus, economists tell FM
New Delhi, January 15 At the same time, the economists in a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wanted the Centre to go in for fiscal consolidation, taxing all services. “We may have to continue stimulus...At the same time we have to control fiscal deficit,” National Institute of Public Finance and Policy director Govinda Rao told reporters afterwards. He said the stimulus packages should continue until the economy firmly recovered. Asked whether there is scope for raising the excise duty, Rao, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Panel, said if it had to increase then the rate should be equal to service tax. He wanted the government to bring down service tax from 10 to 9 per cent and increase excise duty from 8 to 9 per cent. Asked how fiscal consolidation would be there when the stimulus is not rolled back, he said, tax all services. Next fiscal, arrears on account of the 6th Pay Commission report would not be there and the outgo on account of farm loan waiver would be less, Rao said, adding the government could save 0.5 per cent of GDP on the fiscal deficit account this way. “You can bring down fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent of GDP without any difficulty,” he added. Partha Sen of the Delhi School of Economics said the stimulus package should not be withdrawn hastily because the Indian economy is not out of the woods yet. Earlier last week, industry chambers had also asked the Finance Minister not to withdraw stimulus as economy is yet to be on a firm recovery. The government has given three stimulus packages, totalling Rs 1,86,000 crore, as duty cuts and other relief measures to boost the sagging Indian economy. While excise duty was cut by 6 per cent, service tax was slashed by 2 per cent and plan expenditure was stepped up. As a fallout, the government’s fiscal deficit rose starkly and is expected to be at 6.8 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year. However, the measures have spurred demand with the economy growing by a stunning 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal. This has led to speculations that stimulus now may be rolled back as the economy is on a revival mode. — PTI
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Taxpayers, be wary of fake I-T e-mails
New Delhi, January 15 Viewing with concern the spurt in fictitious and unauthorised e-mails landing in personal Internet addresses of many people, the department is adding a word of caution at the end of each mail sent by them.
“A number of taxpayers have received e-mails with subjects like ‘tax refund’ and ‘seeking refunds’ prompting us to take such measures. Such messages continue to land in big numbers in individual e-mails,” a senior I-T department official said. The department has also asked taxpayers to avoid replying to e-mail addresses like lhxbkw@accounts.net, cvhfvs@accounts.net and nvfmfi@accounts.net. These are some of the e-mail id’s which have been found to be fake. Unauthorised e-mail addresses could be more than the reported ones and hence taxpayers should avoid them. The I-T department mail is only to be read and keep oneself updated but not to be replied, the official said. “The Income Tax Department does not send e-mails regarding refunds and does not seek any taxpayer information like user name, password, details of ATM, bank accounts, credit cards, etc. Taxpayers are advised not to part with such information on the basis of e-mails,” the department has said at the end of e-mails. In case of genuine I-T e-mails, they have been appended with a note saying ‘this is a computer generated mail and calls for no signature’,” the official said. — PTI
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IMF: World economy recovering fast
Washington, January 15 The revival is led by emerging markets, especially those in Asia, whereas most of the advanced economies are witnessing sluggish recovery. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has said the global economy is recovering significantly faster than expected, but growth in most advanced economies is still dependent on government stimulus measures and remains fragile. He noted that while emerging market economies, mainly in Asia, are leading the recovery, many developed countries are still seeing weak private demand and rising job losses. Further, Strauss-Kahn urged governments not to relax stimulus measures too early and instead, suggested that the same could shift stimulus measures toward projects that would create additional jobs.
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Ghaziabad, January 15 The claims, the second such after 566 land owners moved the authorities on January 13, follows the December four Allahabad High Court order that quashed a portion of the state government's 2004 notification for purchase of land for Reliance Power's Dadri power plant. "605 applications were received today, but we are yet to quantify the size of land being reclaimed," Additional District Magistrate (Finance) Sarvajeet Ram told PTI over phone. The window for filing applications for return of land will remain open till January 18. — PTI
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Nano may come to US with $5,000 price tag
Detroit, January 15 The cheapest vehicle in North America costs about $9,000-10,000 “so one could speculate that half of that - over $5,000 - is a possible price point” for the Nano in the US and is still way cheaper than the lowest priced car, a Tata Technologies official said at the Detroit Science Centre here, where the car is on display for the US audience for the first time. The official, who did not wish to be named since the decision on price would rest with Tata Motors, said the over $5,000 price range could also take into account all necessary safety and emission requirements needed to ensure that Nano is fit for US roads. Tata Technologies, part of the Tata Group, has brought the ‘Champagne Gold Nano LX’ from Pune, India to Detroit for an event titled ‘Better Innovation’, which was attended by media and auto company officials. It may be recalled that earlier this month at the New Delhi Auto Expo, Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata had said the firm will consider launching Nano in the US in the next three years as there is a market for the car not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. Emphasising that his company “was not in a position to comment on Tata Motors’ product strategy” and price specifics, Tata Technologies president and COO Warren Harris said the cost of the Nano in the US “would obviously be more than $2,500 -that is the price in India”. “Obviously the structural changes that would need to be made, the changes required as far as emissions are concerned and some of the features that would be appropriate to add to the vehicle for the US market would drive up the price point,” he said. — PTI
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3G Spectrum
New Delhi, January 15 According to the minutes of the last EGoM meeting, few members felt that at least four blocks of 3G spectrum should be auctioned pan-Indian or at least at the very minimum in metros by moving two telecom PSUs - BSNL and MTNL - to some other frequency band to avoid oligopolistic structure which would need agreement of the Defence. This was, however, opposed by the Defence. It was suggested that the MoU between the Defence and DoT should be re-looked at before the auction or taking any such decision. The EGoM felt that of four blocks pan-Indian available for commercial use, one block would be retained for BSNL/MTNL and three blocks pan-Indian will be available for auction. With EGoM failing to reach a consensus on number of players to be accommodated, the much-awaited auction of spectrum could be further delayed, said one of the prospective bidders. The EGoM had met to finalise the notice inviting applications (NIA) prepared by the DoT. The draft NIA had allowed only three private telecom players to offer 3G services. The auction process has already been delayed three time. In its last meeting, the EGoM had agreed to allow four blocks (four private players per circle) of 3G spectrum. The Finance Ministry is expecting Rs 35,000 crore from the 3G spectrum auction. — PTI
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MTNL rejigs management
New Delhi, January 15 Singh has been given the charge for a period of three months. His appointment came after his predecessor RSP Sinha’s tenure ended on January 9, this year. When contacted, he confirmed receipt of an official communication in this regard. MTNL offers the entire gamut of telecom services - basic, mobile, Internet and long distance. It faces many big challenges in the midst of fierce competition from private telecom operators. Set up by the Government of India in 1986, MTNL is the leading telecom service provider in the metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai. The government holds 56.25 per cent stake in it. —
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ADB predicts solid economic recovery
Manila/New Delhi, January 15 Noting that India has quickly regained growth momentum, the bank said the country has emerged from the global financial crisis relatively unscathed, mainly on account of stimulus measures, past reforms, robust domestic consumption and banks’ limited exposure to the global financial system. “India’s economy is poised for a solid recovery in 2010 as the global financial crisis fades, but policymakers need to address inflation and the widening fiscal deficit to buffer it against the impact of future global shocks,” ADB said. The conclusions are part of the study ‘Impact and Policy Responses - India’, commissioned by the bank. However, the report said positive economic developments were offset by signs of increasing inflation and a worsening trade deficit in the latter part of 2009. “India was fortunate the crisis was not protracted, which would have tested the government’s ability to continue fiscal stimulus measures for a long period. Moving forward, India will have to try and improve its fiscal position through more disciplined fiscal management,” the study noted. Emphasising the need for subsidies to be streamlined or replaced by more targeted measures, the bank said a “new fiscal management framework should rectify shortcomings of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRMBA) of 2003”. “Policymakers should make the CPI the primary indicator of inflation, instead of the current two-tier measurement system,” the study noted. — PTI
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Corporate Results Mumbai, January 15 Fee-based income grew by 12.4 per cent to Rs 723.7 crore in Q3 FY'10 and emerged as a major contributor to the overall growth along with the net interest income, HDFC Bank executive director Paresh Sukthankar told reporters here today. Net interest income, during the quarter, went up by 12.4 per cent to Rs 2,223.9 crore, driven by asset growth. The net interest margin (NIM) of the lender improved to 4.3 per cent in Q3 against 4.2 per cent in the year-ago period. The lender also saw its non-performing assets declining slightly in the third quarter, enabling it to lower the NPA provisioning to Rs 437.9 crore in Q3 from Rs 465.4 crore in the year-ago period. HDFC Bank's gross advances expanded by 21 per cent in Q3 FY10 to Rs 1,21,051 crore compared to a year-back, while growth in the retail advances was at around 11 per cent. However, the bank suffered a loss of Rs 26.5 crore in its treasury portfolio against a profit of Rs 232.1 crore in the same quarter last year. IDBI Bank Boosted by a robust 48 per cent rise in fee-based income, IDBI Bank's net profit jumped by 29 per cent at Rs 287 crore in the third quarter ended December 31. "A healthy growth of 48 per cent in our fee-based income at Rs 350 crore helped us post a good net profit of Rs 287 crore in Q3 FY 10," IDBI Bank CFO R K Bansal told PTI here today. The bank's NPAs, however, rose marginally due to the economic downturn with its gross NPAs up from 1.7 per cent to 2 per cent and net NPAs up from 1.19 per cent to 1.4 per cent. The lender restructured only five cases during the third quarter amounting to Rs 80 crore. The deposits increased by 77 per cent to Rs 1,42,798 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 80,803 crore in the year-ago period, while advances grew 21 per cent to Rs 1,11,262 crore from Rs 92,192 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Its total assets expanded 40 per cent to Rs 2,03,311 crore from Rs 1,45,623 crore in the year-ago period. Axis Bank Buoyed by healthy growth in its net interest income (NII) and fee-based revenue, Axis Bank today announced 31 per cent jump in its net profit in third quarter of this fiscal at Rs 656 crore. The net profit last year in the corresponding quarter stood at Rs 500 crore. Its fee income rose to Rs 799.74 crore in the quarter compared to Rs 618.91 crore in the year-ago period, while NII grew by 45.12 per cent to Rs 1,349.11 crore, a press release said here. Axis Bank's gross advances during the quarter grew by 4.6 per cent primarily in key segments such as SME, retail and home loan, banks' Chief Financial Officer Somnath Sengupta told PTI here. “Moving ahead, I see growth coming from large corporates as well on the back of improving economic activity. Given the current signals our loan growth in FY'10 is likely to be above 15 per cent," Sengupta said. The total income of the lender rose to Rs 3,871.74 crore during the quarter against Rs 3,716.9 crore a year ago. The total advances increased to Rs 84,770 crore, up 13 per cent from a year-ago period. NIIT Tech NIIT Technologies today said its net profit more than doubled at Rs 35.3 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2009, on the back of an improving business environment. The net profit surged by 111 per cent during the October-December quarter, despite the company incurring hedging loss of Rs 12.8 crore. Last year, during the same period NIIT Tech had a hedging loss of around Rs 13 crore. The net profit was Rs 16.8 crore in the same quarter last year. The consolidated revenue for the October-December period fell 7 per cent to Rs 230.1 crore from Rs 248.5 crore a year earlier, the Delhi-based IT company said. Escorts Escorts Ltd today reported a first quarter net profit of Rs 23.40 crore. The company had a net loss of Rs 0.34 crore during the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Escorts Ltd said in a statement. The company also reported an increase of 21.19 per cent in its net sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, at Rs 600.22 crore against Rs 495.26 crore in the year-ago period. "Escorts has turned in a robust performance this quarter. — PTI
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ATF prices up by 6.5% Orra eyes PE route to raise Rs 70 cr Intel posts Q4 net at $2.28 bn HP’s 13th ICICI Bank branch
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Detroit, January 15
