The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Gold demand rises 27% in Q1
In terms of value, it jumped from Rs 55,148 cr last year to Rs 72,899 cr
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 16
The demand for gold in India grew by 27 per cent to 256.5 tonne in the first quarter of 2013, the World Gold Council (WGC) said today. The demand for the precious metal stood at 202.1 tonne in the same quarter last year, it said.

"Gold demand in India for both jewellery and investment continues to remain strong. The price fluctuations in gold recently have only reinforced the Indian consumers' appetite for purchasing physical gold," WGC India managing director Somasundaram PR said.

Gold prices have been volatile in the past one month or so and the fall in prices has led to increase in demand for physical gold. This was reflected in the trade deficit numbers for April, which showed that gold imports almost doubled as compared to the same period last year. Somasundaram said gold is a time-tested asset class that has helped preserve the wealth of Indian families for generations.

"With the ongoing wedding and festive season, we believe that the demand for gold will continue to remain robust," he said.

In terms of value, the WGC said in its latest report that gold demand in India during the January-March period this year increased by 32 per cent to Rs 72,899.4 crore as against Rs 55,148.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Total jewellery demand rose by 15 per cent to 159.5 tonne from 138.3 tonne, while investment demand increased by 52 per cent to 97 tonne from 63.8 tonne in the review period. The government has been trying to lower the demand for gold by various measures.

Speaking at an Assocham event yesterday, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said taming inflation and increasing the rate of return on financial products is the best way to contain demand for gold in India thereby reducing the adverse impact on current account deficit. He added that it is imperative to contain gold imports and bring down the demand for gold from current level of 1,000 tonne per year to a level of 700 tonne.

Yellow metal down Rs 500

Rolling down gold prices dropped to one-month low by losing Rs 500 to Rs 26,800 per 10 gram in Delhi today on heavy selling by stockists driven by weak global trend.

This fall was in continuation to a steep fall of Rs 600 yesterday to hit a level last seen on April 17, after the metal tumbled in overseas markets driven by reports investors cutting their holdings. Gold in Singapore, which normally sets the price trend on the domestic front, dropped by 0.4 per cent to $1,387.30 an ounce, the cheapest since April 19. — PTI

Mercedes rolls out new SUV to gain top slot
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 16
Getting aggressive in its sales strategy after slipping down to third spot in the Indian luxury car market, Mercedes-Benz India today launched the second generation of the all new GL-Class, reiterating its product portfolio.

It has been priced at Rs 77.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and is among the first of the slew of offerings which the company has planned this year to improve its position in the Indian market.

The car was launched by tennis legend Boris Becker, who is Mercedes’ global brand ambassador.

Although Mercedes Benz India CEO Eberhard Kern maintained that the company was not in the number game, but was categorical in stating that the company had launched an offensive this year to regain the top spot after initially losing it to BMW and then being pushed to the third spot by Audi.

Mercedes is due to launch its A-class series later this month to attract the youth and some other models later in the year.

Kern said the initial 100 units of the GL-Class vehicles will be imported and from September onwards the company will start assembling it at its plant at Chakan, near Pune. The new SUV is powered by a 2,987 cc, V6 diesel engine and will take on Audi’s top end SUV model Q7.

Hike in penalty amount on the anvil

Mumbai, May 16
In the wake of alleged violation of Know Your Customer KYC norms by a large number of banks, the government and Reserve Band of India are looking at the possibility of hiking the penalty which can be imposed on the erring banks.

"The maximum penalty under the law is Rs 1 crore now and that is very less. There is active discussion now on increasing limit of penalty. So that is something which is under consideration," Banking Secretary Rajiv Takru told reporters here today on the sidelines of LIC Board meeting.

"As a matter of fact, this (hike of penalty) was discussed at the RBI Board and a point was made that the penalty amount is probably less," he added.

The regulator has sent show-cause notices to the erring banks and is awaiting their replies to take appropriate corrective measures, Takru said.

However, he did not specify how much should be the quantum of increase.

Referring to the Cobrapost expose and the punitive actions being planned on the erring banks, Takru said the RBI had already issued show-cause notices to the banks after which it would take action.

"The RBI has clarified that they have issued show-cause notices to the banks concerned. They are probably waiting for the reply now. This is the final stage before any action is taken," Takru said.

Newsportal Cobrapost in its sting operations has alleged that major private and public sector banks have been flouting money laundering as well as KYC norms. — PTI

ONGC reclaims most-valued spot

Mumbai, May 16
State-owned energy major ONGC today reclaimed the spot as the country's most-valued company, pushing IT giant TCS to the second slot. At the end of trade, ONGC commanded a market value of Rs 2,89,047 crore. This is about Rs 4,428 crore more than TCS's m-cap of Rs 2,84,619 crore.

ONGC scrip ended 0.82 per cent higher, while TCS lost 1.02 per cent on the BSE.

Reliance Industries with a market capitalisation of Rs 2,71,904 crore was at third place, followed by ITC (Rs 2,66,133 crore) and Coal India (Rs 1,88,543 crore).

Market capitalisation or the value of a listed company is arrived at by multiplying the total number of its shares with its stock price on a particular day or time. — PTI

Bajaj Auto Q4 profit dips marginally

New Delhi, May 16
Bajaj Auto today reported a marginal decline in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 31 at Rs 765.77 crore. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 772 crore in the corresponding period last year, Bajaj Auto Ltd said in a statement.

The standalone net income during the fourth quarter, however, went up by 2.04 per cent to Rs 4,746.48 crore from Rs 4,651.44 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

During the last quarter, the company's total vehicle sales stood at 9,81,242 units compared to 10,17,167 units in the same quarter last year, down 3.53 per cent.

The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 45 per share, which is 450 per cent, resulting in a total outgo of Rs 1,523 crore on dividend and tax.

Reliance Capital net down 19%

Reliance Capital today reported over 19 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 265 crore for the quarter ending March 2013, mainly due to drop in income from operations.

However, on annual basis its net profit rose by 77 per cent to Rs 812 crore during 2012-13, according to the BSE filing by the Anil Ambani led company.

In 2012-13, company's total income increased by 13 per cent to Rs 7,519 crore from Rs 6,627 crore in the previous period.

Mahindra Satyam net down 15%

Software services provider Mahindra Satyam's net profit declined by 15 per cent to Rs 454.12 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013.

The company has declared 30 per cent dividend. — PTI

Coal Ministry steps in to get CIL dues cleared
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 16
The Coal Ministry has stepped in to solve the standoff between Coal India Ltd (CIL) and the public sector coal utilities and written to the Power Ministry to get the country’s largest coal manufacturer’s dues cleared.

CIL and some of the public sector power utilities, including NTPC and DVC, have been at loggerheads for some months now over the quality of coal being supplied by the former resulting in blocking of payments by the latter.

The power utilities, Coal Ministry officials said, owe around Rs 9,000 crore to CIL.

NTPC has apparently withheld payments of about Rs 1,000 crore to CIL subsidiary ECL saying the fuel supplied was of poor quality.

The Coal Ministry officials here said now Coal Secretary S K Srivastava has written a letter to Power Secretary P Uma Shankar, asking him to expedite the payments of about Rs 9,000 crore by power utilities, including about Rs 3,000 crore by NTPC to CIL.

As a result of the standoff, CIL had stopped the supply of coal to NTPC resulting in its coal stocks reaching critical level and then Power Ministry stepping in to coax coal ministry to ensure the start of supply. CIL had recently agreed to resume supplies to NTPC even though the latter had refused to honour the bills of its subsidiary ECL. In his letter Srivastava has said it was unfortunate that NTPC was resorting to unilateral deductions from the coal bills and making only part payments.

He asked the Power Secretary to ensure that disputes were settled within the ambit of fuel supply agreement.

Google launches smartphone

New Delhi, May 16
Google today launched its high-end smartphone with Quad core processors Nexus 4 with LG in India priced at Rs 25,999. "LG Electronics is pleased to partner Google on the release of the Nexus 4 in India," LG Electronics India managing director Soon Kwon said in a statement.

LG has started selling phones across select stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Thane, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Ahmedabad.

Nexus 4 has Qualcomm's quad core processor which is like having four processor on a single chipset. — PTI

Vedanta net up 21% at $4.88 bn

London/New Delhi, May 16
Buoyed by earnings from subsidiary Cairn India and higher metals production, Vedanta Resources today reported a 21 per cent increase in its core profits at $4.888 billion for the year ended March 2013.

The natural resources giant, whose most of the operations are in India, had reported $4.026 billion core profit or EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in 2011-12.

Its revenues rose by 7 per cent to $14.989 billion in the last fiscal vis-a-vis $14.005 billion of FY'12, it said in a statement. — PTI