|
|
|
|
|
Investment in Gold ETFs rise 176%
UK to promote education, skill development in Haryana
Govt to probe low gas output from RIL fields |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Nokia to cut 300 jobs in India
Obama seeks to end tax subsidies for oil cos
Corporate Results
Service tax on healthcare to go from May 1
ONGC strikes oil, gas
|
|
Investment in Gold ETFs rise 176%
New Delhi, April 27 Trends show that when markets are volatile or crash, investors run for cover and start building position in gold to hedge market losses. While markets have been uncertain in the last few years, gold has been an ideal investment and has provided consistent returns to the investors. Gold prices have risen more than 22% CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) since April 2007; 10 gm of gold that cost Rs 9,357 in April 2007 is now priced at an all-time high of Rs 22,060 for 10 grams, NSE data shows. India is the largest consumer of gold, but investors face a lot of problems when they buy physical gold. Storage issues, doubts over purity, depreciation in re-sale of gold have often discouraged people from buying the precious yellow metal. So, gold ETFs are now gaining momentum. The World Gold Council states that India’s demand of 963 tonnes is nearly 25 per cent of international demand. Increasingly, there is a shift towards investments in gold against jewellery purchases. In 2007, there was only one AMC (asset management company) offering gold ETFs in the market, now 11 AMCs are offering the product. Their total traded value on NSE for FY07 which stood at Rs 13.95 crore grew manifold to Rs 4,074 crore for FY11, a growth of 313% CAGR. For retail investors, apart from being a good hedge against inflation, gold ETFs provide flexibility. A retail investor who is unable to buy an expensive big ticket jewellery item, can accumulate gold ETFs over time, by investing in small units at a time, even one gram or half a gram. These can be traded just like any other asset class through a registered broker. Gold ETFs have other advantages - there is no worry of storage and no fear of theft because they are in demat form. There is also no depreciation when units are sold, which be bought in units as low as one gram or even half a gram. Unlike in the case of buying physical gold where an investor is at the complete mercy of the jeweller on pricing, in an ETF the underlying gold price is the same, the only thing that differs marginally is the AMC’s charge. There is no risk in the transaction either because the exchange is doing the risk management. ETFs also provide tax advantages as anyone who has assets including gold worth more than Rs 30 lakh has to pay a 1 per cent wealth tax. On the other hand, if an investor buys units of gold ETFs, there is no wealth tax. Additionally, on physical gold an investor has to pay 1 per cent VAT, but there is no VAT on gold
ETFs. |
||
|
UK to promote education, skill development in Haryana
Chandigarh, April 27 The finer details of the framework are being worked out between the UK Trade and Investment and the Industries Department of Haryana. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed between the two sides later this year. Talking to The Tribune here today, Barry Lowen, Director, UK Trade and Investment, India, said recently a team of educationists under the aegis of Scotland Colleges International, had visited the state. “They were here to explore partnerships in the field of imparting education in life sciences. When the MoU is signed between the two sides, we foresee collaborations between the two sides in promoting education and skill development,” he said. Lowen, who also met the Chief Secretary, Punjab, here today, said they were at advanced stages of closing a deal for supply of bovine genetics to dairy farmers in Punjab. “Other than this, we are looking at industry collaboration in the field of agriculture, agri logistics, supply chain management and retail, with entrepreneurs in Punjab,” he added. It may be mentioned that the bilateral trade between India and UK (in goods and services) has seen a 20 per cent growth in the year 2010. The trade between the two countries has crossed £13 billion last year, with total trade in goods estimated at £9.8 billion and the trade in services at £3.5 billion. Interestingly, the balance in trade is now in favour of India, with Indian exports to the UK growing rapidly. Lowen said the rapidly developing services sector in India provides opportunity for collaboration, as does the development of green technology and infrastructure development. “UK can also benefit from the innovation in services sector, health care and manufacturing sector in India. UK has the best technology to offer to Indian companies, and with joint ventures, the businesses can then access the third markets,” he added. |
||
|
Govt to probe low gas output from RIL fields
Goldman Sachs
downgrades RIL Investment banker and securities firm Goldman Sachs on Wednesday downgraded Reliance Industries and Cairn India to 'Neutral', from 'Buy', on shrinking refining margins and regulatory issues. It, however, upgraded the state-owned HPCL, ONGC and IOC to 'buy' list and retained the 'Neutral' outlook on GAIL, GSPL, BPCL and Oil India.
New Delhi, April 27 A meeting of the Management Committee, that overseas the operations of the KG-D6 fields, has been called next week to "ascertain reasons" for RIL not meeting its drilling commitment and the drop in production, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan told reporters here. Reliance had in 2006 won government nod to invest $8.836 billion in Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in KG-D6 block after promising an output of 61.88 million cubic meters a day from 22 wells by April 2011 and 80 mmscmd from 31 wells by 2012. But situation on ground has been markedly different with Reliance only producing about 42 mmscmd from 18 wells drilled so far on D1 and D3 field in the Bay of Bengal block. Another 8 mmscmd is produced from MA oilfield in the same block. "A formal meeting has been called next week in which representatives of the oil ministry, the DGH and the contractor (Reliance) will be present," he said. "After ascertaining the reasons, we will take appropriate measures." "These are fields which have come into production after monumental effort... we do not come to abrupt judgements on these matters," he said when asked if the government was contemplating levying any penalty.
— PTI |
||
|
Nokia to cut 300 jobs in India
New Delhi, April 27 The Finnish phone maker said as part of the latest revamp it would be be laying off 4,000 people globally, while 3,000 jobs would be moved to US major Accenture that would take care of Nokia's Symbian software activities. In India, up to 300 jobs in the R&D segment will be cut. However, reports suggest that up to 900 jobs could be affected in India. Most people working on Symbian would also be transferred to Accenture. Nokia's India operations have a total workforce of about 10,000. Out of them, around 1,500 employees are in the R&D section, where the job cuts are expected. The company today announced plans to align its global workforce and consolidate site operations, which would result in cost reductions of 1 billion euro. "Transitioning employees, located in China, Finland, India, United Kingdom and the United States, will initially work on Symbian software activities for Nokia," it said. Over time, Accenture and Nokia would seek opportunities to retrain and redeploy transitioned employees. "In addition, Nokia also plans to reduce its global workforce by about 4,000 employees by the end of 2012, with the majority of reductions in Denmark, Finland and the UK," the statement said. |
||
|
Obama seeks to end tax subsidies for oil cos
Washington, April 27 Obama shot off a letter to the Congressional leadership in this regard after the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John
Boehner, expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. High oil and gasoline prices are weighing on the minds and pocketbooks of every American family, Obama said adding that while the economy has begun to recover, with 1.8 million private sector jobs created over the last 13 months, too many Americans are still struggling to find a job or simply just to pay the bills. "The recent steep increase in gas prices, driven by increased global demand and compounded by unrest and supply disruptions in the Middle East, has only added to those struggles. "If sustained,these high prices have the potential to slow down the pace of our economy's growth at precisely the moment when we need to be accelerating it," Obama said. "While there is no silver bullet to address rising gas prices in the short term, there are steps that could be taken to ensure the American people don't fall victim to skyrocketing gas prices" over the long term, he said. The outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter, Obama said. "In fact, in the past, CEOs of the major oil companies made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic exploration and production without special tax breaks. "As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can't afford these wasteful subsidies and that is why I proposed to eliminate them in my FY'11 and FY'12 Budgets," he said.
— PTI |
||
|
Corporate Results
New Delhi, April 27 Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4, up 18.33 per cent. To hike wages
Meanwhile, the company said it would hike salaries for its employees in India 12-15 per cent as it looks to counter high attrition. The wage hike, effective June 1, will be to the tune of 2-4 per cent for onsite staff (at the customer site). “We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins... It will be 12-15 per cent for offshore and 2-4 per cent for onsite employees,” Wipro Executive Director and CFO Suresh Senapaty said. Dabur net up 8.5 pc
Dabur India today reported 8.5 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 147.04 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net sales during the fourth quarter of the fiscal grew by 30.6 per cent to Rs 1108.22 crore from Rs 848.58 crore, the company said. Castrol India
Automobile lubricant maker Castrol India Ltd today reported a jump of 16.55 per cent in its net profit at Rs 136.6 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net sales of the company also increased to Rs 750.7 crore in the January-March quarter as against Rs 654 crore in the same period last year, it added. SBI Life
SBI Life Insurance today reported a 33 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 366 crore for the financial year ended March 2011 on the back of increase in renewal premium income. Patni net up 3.33 pc
Patni Computer Systems today reported a growth of 3.33 per cent in consolidated net profit to Rs 162.28 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Total income rose to Rs 891.69 crore during the January-March quarter, against Rs 812.10 crore in the same period year-ago.
— TNS/PTI |
||
|
Service tax on healthcare to go from May 1
New Delhi, April 27 Service tax was imposed on health services from July, 2010 for health check-up or treatment where the payment was made by the business entity or the insurance company to the hospital or medical establishment. The tax is currently levied at a rate of 10 per cent of the value of health services. Besides, the employer or the insurer has to pay education cess of three per cent of the service tax. The withdrawal was made following a large scale protest by the medical fraternity.
— PTI |
||
|
ONGC strikes oil, gas
New Delhi, April 27 The state-owned firm has 50 per cent interest in the block that it had won along with Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (40 per cent) and Sunterra (10 per cent) in the seventh round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Exploratory well Vadtal-3 produced oil at a rate of 22.5 cubic meter per day and gas at a rate of 3758 cubic meter per day on testing, it said. "The oil produced is of very good quality with a gravity of 41.10 API." This is the second discovery in block CB-ONN-2001/1. ONGC said it made an oil discovery in a nomination block Linch Extn-1 in the western offshore.
— PTI |
Rupee gains 8 paise M&M launches
Mini Van Awarded
|
|||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Assets under management (AUM) for Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) was worth Rs 4,400 crore at the end of March 2011, a rise of 176 per cent over March 2010.
Gold prices, which have been hitting all-time highs, has given 22 per cent annual return since 2007, findings by the National Stock Exchange
(NSE) show.
Chandigarh, April 27
