Mumbai, May 7
The BSE benchmark Sensex today jumped by 215 points to close at a three-month high of 19,888.95 and the NSE Nifty regained the 6,000-mark on robust capital inflows in banking, FMCG, realty and auto stocks, amid strong global cues.

Bluechips, including ITC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, RIL and SBI shot up on heavy buying and mainly supported the Sensex's second straight day of gains.

The 30-share index rose by 215.31 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 19,888.95, a level last seen on January 31. The index had gained 98 points in the previous session. The gauge had touched the day's high of 19,917.88.

Investor wealth zoomed up by Rs 60,000 crore to end at Rs 67.6 lakh crore as all the 13 sectoral indices ended up.

Similarly, NSE index Nifty regained 6,000 points level by rising 72.50 points, or 1.21 per cent, to close at 6,043.55.

MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) flagship index SX40 today closed 0.78 per cent or 90.92 points higher at 11,731.20.

"It was a decisive breakout for the market...Global cues were also positive especially Nikkei, which opened after a gap of four days and gained 3.5 per cent in today's trade. European markets were also trading firm. At the current juncture, investors need to be watchful of valuations," said Sanjeev Zarbade, VP-Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

Brokers said the buying activity gathered momentum, tracking a strong rally in global markets on the back of lower borrowing costs after Reserve Bank of Australia cut its benchmark interest rate, lifting bluechips further higher.

After pumping in Rs 897.47 crore yesterday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) today pumped money resulting in broad-based upsurge. Investors are now eyeing cues from March IIP data to be released later this week, traders said.

The 25 gainers in Sensex were led by Hero MotoCorp which gained 3.65 per cent. However, CIL and Wipro were major losers. — PTI

New Delhi, May 7
State Road Transport Corporations (SRTCs) will have to increase fares by 18.3 per cent to break-even after the recent diesel price deregulation, according to an analysis by India Ratings.

Although the aggregate losses of SRTCs in FY11 were 0.08 per cent of the GDP, losses were significant in Delhi (0.86% of GSDP), Tamil Nadu (0.24% of GSDP), Mizoram (0.21% of GSDP) and Chandigarh (0.18% of GSDP).

Subsidy for diesel (around 60% of petroleum subsidy) is a major factor for fiscal deterioration. Diesel deregulation allows oil marketing companies to raise diesel prices monthly by a small quantum till they are able to cover under-recovery.

Simultaneously, for bulk consumers such as Defence, Railways, SRTCs, additional subsidy given over the retail selling price of diesel is withdrawn.

Fuel contributes 31.2% to the total cost of SRTCs. Price deregulation would lead to a 6.9% increase in input cost of SRTCs. Four states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh - together would incur additional fuel expenditure of Rs 1,717 crore. SRTCs are state government undertakings and provided grants and subsidies through state budgets.

In FY11, only five SRTCs — Bangalore Metropolitan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and PUNBUS, Chandigarh — were in profit. After diesel price deregulation, only Odisha SRTC will have a marginal profit. An average fare hike of Rs 2.32 per passenger km is required for SRTCs to break-even. Fare hike will be significant for SRTCs of Mizoram (Rs 108.2), Kolkata (Rs 53.3), North Bengal (Rs 34.6), Nagaland (Rs 27.2), Ahmedabad (Rs 26.6) and Punjab (Rs 22.4). SRTCs are the second largest consumers of bulk diesel in the country (2.192 million tonne per annum (mtpa) which amounts to 14% of diesel consumption in FY12).

At the aggregate level, without factoring in diesel price hikes, a fare hike of 10.8% is required for the SRTCs to break-even. Even to maintain existing losses, a fare hike of 7.5% is required. However, a fare hike of 18.3% is required for the SRTCs to break-even after a diesel price hike.

India Ratings says a staggered fare price hike along with support by the state governments is the likely option. 

New Delhi, May 7
The Finance Ministry today said the public sector banks have taken action against employees for violating banking norms as shown in the money laundering sting operation by Cobrapost.

Rajiv Takru, Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), had asked the CMDs of various banks and LIC for an immediate action in the matter. He had also sought compliance and action taken report on utmost priority. As a result, certain PSBs have already taken action and in some cases, the work is still in progress. So far, 15 employees of various public sector banks have been suspended, including one from the insurance sector. Another 10 officers of PSBs have been divested of their work and six have been asked to proceed on leave. More action taken reports are expected in near future, the statement said. 

New Delhi, May 7
Performance pressure on employees in a difficult economic environment is making way for unethical practices in India, according to Ernst & Young’s Fraud Survey.

There has been considerable debate in recent months on the corporate governance practices followed by companies in India. Findings from Ernst & Young’s 2013 Europe, Middle-East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey show that greater pressure to deliver growth and downward pressure on reward can be a risky combination. This, in some cases, can drive actions that could damage the business, such as fraud, bribery and corruption.

The survey illustrates that the tolerance level for unethical behaviour seems to be higher in India than in the developed markets. Despite the existence of compliance programmes and awareness of them, a significant and influential group still regards unethical business practices as acceptable. They are willing, for example, to make cash payments or offer personal gifts or entertainment to win or retain business. In India, over a third of respondents feel offering cash payments to win or retain business can be justified -triple that of western Europe.

At least 74 per cent of Indian respondents agree that managers at their companies will be under increased pressure to deliver good financial performance over the next 12 months.

In rapid-growth markets, where the battle for talent remains fierce, individuals are seeing more reductions in their remuneration than in developed markets. In particular, reductions in remuneration or removal of bonuses appear to be hitting businesses in rapid-growth markets more than mature markets. In India, 43% of respondents were witnessing this.

Arpinder Singh, India Leader of Ernst & Young’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services practice says, “India has robust policies but the issue is compliance. In the current challenging market condition, the incentives for unethical conduct can be strong when personal remuneration is at stake and pressure to deliver growth is being felt directly. At the same time, a focus on growth and cutting costs can weaken the systems and teams put in place to prevent and detect these actions.”

The results also serve as a warning for multinational companies with subsidiaries in India where 54% think financial performance is often exaggerated. Almost half the respondents in rapid-growth markets agree that companies in their countries often misrepresent financial performance, compared with 29% of those with headquarters in western Europe.

New Delhi, May 7
Amid rising instances of people being defrauded by ponzi schemes, the government has set up an inter-ministerial group (IMG) to suggest ways to tackle fraudulent money pooling activities and protect the interest of investors.

Representatives from the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministries, RBI and SEBI will be members of the IMG.

The IMG has been set up through the Department of Financial Services, under the Finance Ministry.

Setting up of the IMG is the latest in a slew of measures initiated by the government in the wake of Kolkata-based Saradha Group cheating many investors through fraudulent money pooling scheme.

Ponzi schemes are activities involving collection of money from a large number of public investors with a promise of huge returns, which are typically paid from the deposits taken from new investors. — PTI

New Delhi, May 7
Allahabad Bank today posted 68.5 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 126.15 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 on account of rise in bad loans.

Total income rose to Rs 4,776.90 crore in January-March quarter compared to Rs 4,523.38 crore in the same period previous fiscal. For the entire fiscal ended March 31, 2013, the bank's net profit dipped 7% at Rs 1,185.21 crore, compared to Rs 1,866.78 crore in 2011-12. — PTI

London, May 7
World shares hit their strongest in almost five years and Germany's Dax reached an all-time high on Tuesday, as signals top central banks will remain supportive of growth continued to drive markets.

MSCI's global index, which tracks stocks in 45 countries, edged past its June 2008 highs in Asian trading after Japan's Nikkei stock market, which had been closed on Monday, jumped in a delayed reaction to Friday’s US jobs data.

The momentum continued in Europe, where the DAX hit a record as strong industrial data followed some unforeseen corporate cheer after what has been a fairly mixed first quarter earnings season in Europe.

German industrial orders rose in March, confounding expectations of a drop after strong demand from the euro zone provided a boost. The economy ministry said it showed the sector was slowly coming out of a weak phase.

New Delhi, May 7
As expected, the increasing operating costs and decreasing profits has hit the revenue of telecom operators. Telecom regulator TRAI says the revenue has decreased in the quarter ended December 2012.

In the latest analysis brought out by the TRAI on the performance of telecom operators, it has emerged that there has been a decrease of 0.15% in gross revenue (GR) and a decrease of 2.67% in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom companies as compared to previous quarter.

TRAI, while pointing out that there had also been a decline in the subscriber base of the telecom operators, said the AGR of telecom operators declined by 2.67% at Rs 34,527.50 crore while the GR decreased by 0.15% at Rs 52,858.39 crore on a quarterly basis.

The year-on-year growth in GR and AGR over the same quarter in last year has been 7.08% and 1.31%, respectively. Pass-through charges accounted for 34.68% of the GR for the quarter ending December 2012.

However, TRAI pointed out that as a result of increase in the consumer spending, the Monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM service operators increased by 3.03% to Rs 98 in the quarter ended December 2012 from Rs 95 in the previous quarter.

In case of CDMA mobile users, they increased their spend by 8.84% on an annual basis and 2.8% to Rs 80 in the quarter ended December 2012 from Rs 78 in the quarter ended September 2012.

However, the revenue of sector on annual basis improved during the quarter ended December 2012.

TRAI said the number of telephone subscribers in the country declined from 937.70 million at the end of September 2012 to 895.51 million at the end of December 2012, registering a negative growth of 4.50% over the previous quarter. This reflects a y-o-y negative growth of 3.35% over the same quarter of last year.

The overall teledensity in India has declined from 77.04 as on September 30, 2012 to 73.34 as on December 31, 2012.

New Delhi, May 7
Looking to improve its market share in the compact car segment, Honda Cars India Ltd today introduced new variants of Brio with key upgrades to make it more comfortable and pleasurable to drive for its customers.

Working on the customer feedback about the car, the company has brought out the new variants with driver seat adjuster and rear windshield defogger.

The complete range of Honda Brio will now be available in six variants —EMT, EXMT, SMT, VMT, VXMT and VXAT.

Paris, May 7
French aerospace giant Airbus has shot ahead of US group Boeing in terms of net orders booked in the first four months of the year, taking almost twice as many, company data showed today.

Airbus, given a big boost by a deal last month with Turkish Airlines, said it recorded 493 orders between January and April, compared with the 255 announced on Boeing's website. The orders represent seven years of production, Airbus said.

During the period, Airbus delivered 202 aircraft, a 10-per cent increase compared with the same four months a year ago. On the other hand, Boeing delivered 183 aircraft. — AFP