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Corporate news
Inflation falls to 7.2 pc
ADB fund inflow to continue
Exports rise 24.39 pc in first half of fiscal
Nabard disburses Rs 987 crore
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NTPC share price fixed at Rs 62
Frankfinn group plans expansion
Special aid for J&K sought
Malayala Manorama TV channel soon
BSNL directory on CD
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Wipro profit jumps 79 pc
Sridhar K. Chari Tribune News Service
Bangalore October 15 Global IT services and product revenue increased by 46 per cent to Rs 1502 crore. “Key wins” during the period included a five year contract for $17 million with AXA of Australia to provide application maintenance and development services to support wealth management and financial protection products. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji stressed on continued growth and stable pricing, in line with views expressed by Infosys and TCS, which also posted strong profits for the quarter. “We continue to benefit from the investments made over the last few years, and we have good business momentum across out businesses,” Premji stated. Vice-Chairman Vivek Paul stated: “In terms of service lines, after a couple of subdued quarters, our BPO business rebounded strongly with a sequential revenue growth of nearly 20 percent.” Operating margins had improved to 28 per cent for global IT services, and while salary hikes may squeeze margins in the next quarter a little, revenues from global IT services were still expected to be in the region of $347 million, he stated. Wipro is also adding to its employee strength, with 5,546 employees recruited in the quarter, including 2264 in its BPO division, Spectramind. Thirty four clients were added during the quarter. With the new employee additions, Spectramind’s strength stands at over 13,000. Ranbaxy gain
Ranbaxy today reported a 7 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 200.1 crore for the third quarter ended September 30, as against Rs 186.3 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company also declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share. Consolidated sales of the company went up by 19 per cent to Rs 1,343.9 crore during the review period, compared to Rs 1,127 crore in 2003, a Ranbaxy press note said here. For the nine months ended September 30, the net profit grew by a modest 4 per cent to Rs 586.5 crore, while it was Rs 564.5 crore during January-September last year. Total revenue also spurted in the last nine months to Rs 3,909.8 crore, recording a 16 per cent growth over Rs 3,372.1 crore registered in the corresponding period in 2003.
Gillette sales up
Gillette India today announced that its net sales for the third quarter stood at Rs.107.35 crore, up by 16 per cent from Rs. 92.53 crore, over the same period last year. For the nine months ending September 30, the company recorded a net profit after tax of Rs. 54.39 crore, a growth of 24 per cent from Rs. 43.96 crore clocked over the same period last year. The company recorded profit before tax of Rs. 25.51 crore and net profit of Rs. 15.60 crore in the third quarter of this year, despite a substantial increase in the marketing spend by Rs 11.5 crore, as compared to the corresponding period last year.
— TNS, PTI
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Inflation falls to 7.2 pc
New Delhi, October 15 The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index
(WPI) inflation fell from the previous week’s level of 7.38 per cent mainly due to a fall in prices of fuel products and some of the manufactured items, notably edible oils. Inflation stood at 5.32 per cent in the year ago period. After touching 8.33 per cent in late August, it dropped to 7.81 per cent in the first week of September. It saw a marginal increase in the following week to 7.87 per cent, but later declined to 7.8 per cent and 7.38 to stand at 7.2 per cent in the latest reported week. On the fiscal side, government cut customs and excise duty on price-sensitive items, including petroleum products, steel and polymers, while on the monetary side, the RBI hiked the CRR rate by 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent in two tranches to suck out Rs 8,000 crore of excess liquidity from the market. Interestingly, fuel prices declined marginally by 0.2 per cent during the week under review, even as global crude oil prices had broken many a psychological barriers to cross $ 50 a barrel. Amidst this fall in inflation, prices of essential commodities like vegetables shot up by 14 per cent and there was a marginal to substantial hike in the prices of other food items like eggs.
— PTI
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ADB fund inflow to continue
New Delhi, October 15 Mr Chino, who arrived here on a three-day official visit, assured the Prime Minister that the Manila-based institution would continue to assist India’s programmes for infrastructure, agriculture, water resources and rural development. A focus on these areas, he said, was essential for job creation and poverty reduction. The ADB president also met Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The bank has planned to lend $1.8 billion to India in 2004 and take the level of annual exposure to over $ 2 billion over the next two
years.— IANS
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Exports rise 24.39 pc in first half of fiscal
New Delhi, October 15 In rupee terms, the exports were Rs 1,53,771.24 crore, during April-September, 2004-2005 which is 21.88 per cent higher than the value of exports during April-September, 2003-2004. Exports during September, 2004 are valued at $ 6,198.38 million which is 17.39 per cent higher than the level of $ 5,280.13 million during September, 2003. In rupee terms, the exports were Rs 28,571.45 crore, which is 18.03 per cent higher than the value of exports during September, 2003. India’s imports during April-September, 2004-2005 is valued at $ 46,404.29 million representing an increase of 34.29 per cent over the level of imports valued at 34554.76 million per cent in April-September, 2003-2004. Oil imports during April-September, 2004-05 are valued at $ 14,539.29 million which is 57.78 per cent higher than oil imports valued at $ 9,214.98 million in the corresponding period last year. Non-oil imports during April-September, 2004-05 are estimated at $ 31,865.00 million which is 25.75 per cent higher than the level of such imports valued at $ 25,339.78 million in April-September, 2003-04. Imports during September, 2004 are valued at $ 8,585.22 million representing an increase of 41.20 per cent over the level of imports valued at $ 6,080.32 million in September, 2003. In rupee terms, the imports increased by 41.96 per cent. The trade deficit for April-September, 2004-05 is estimated at $ 12,654.28 million which is higher than the deficit at $ 7,422.15 million during April-September, 2003-04.
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Nabard disburses Rs 987 crore
Chandigarh, October 15 The projects range from irrigation, horticulture to animal husbandry. This was disclosed by Chief General Manager, Chandigarh, Mr A. Ramanathan here today. Addressing mediapersons here today, he said the regional office here has disbursed Rs 987.80 crore as refinance under investment credit by September 30, 2004, thereby achieving 84.6 per cent of the target of the current year. The position as on October 8 was Rs 1,030 crore and this refinance has been provided to all banks in Punjab and Haryana. The target of Chandigarh has already been achieved, that of Punjab stands at 98 per cent (already achieved as on date) and Haryana at 67 per cent. The achievement was likely to be Rs 1,325 crore against the allocated target of Rs 1,167.58 crore. Nabard has sanctioned number of schemes covering diversified purposes, including high density horticulture crops, extension of edible oil refinery, minor irrigation projects, medicinal plants.
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NTPC share price fixed at Rs 62
New Delhi, October 15 The price, fixed by the company’s IPO Committee, is the upper limit of the price band, Rs 52-62, of the IPO offered by the company through the book-building route. This means that the IPO, comprising 86,58,30,000 shares, would enable the company to mop up Rs 5,386 crore. As such, the issue is the second largest after the country’s top IT services firm TCS concluded the country’s biggest IPO in August by raising Rs 5,420 crore. The NTPC IPO, oversubscribed by over 12 times, closed yesterday and the company’s shares would be listed on stock exchanges on November 5.
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Frankfinn group plans expansion
Chandigarh, October 15 This was stated here today by Mr M.S. Kohli, Chairman of the Frankfinn group, in a talk with TNS. He said, in Punjab, the group already had centres in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The third centre would be opened shortly in Amritsar. The aviation industry, which had gone into a trough following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, was booming once again. In India, too, the aviation sector was poised for a big growth. Eight new airlines were expected to come into being from the New Year. Therefore, the demand for trained personnel would grow. He said 80 per cent of the vacancies in airlines were not advertised. They were filled only through word of mouth.
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Special aid for J&K sought
New Delhi, October 15 Mr Dar told Mrs Gandhi that the ban on shahtoos had affected the people attached with this trade. “Lakhs of persons were involved in the trade,” he said and sought her intervention in getting the ban lifted. Mrs Gandhi, who was given a memorandum of demands by Mr Dar, assured him that all possible help would be provided to the J&K handicrafts. Earlier, Mr Dar met Union Textile Minister S.S. Vaghela and requested opening of new sales outlets for J&K handicrafts throughout the country.
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Malayala Manorama TV channel soon
Thiruvananthapuram, October 15 “What has delayed the launch are reports of a few existing Malayalam channels failing to break even. But we are confident that it would not be a problem with our image,” he
said.— IANS
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BSNL directory on CD
Chandigarh, October 15 According to Mr Salesh Sharma of Indore Infoline, local fanchisee of BSNL, data will be stored in a CD (compact disc) costing just Rs 50 and will be made available like a prepaid card at different locations, including all BSNL centres. Mr Sharma told TNS here today that there are about two lakh landline subscribers in Chandigarh.
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Edge in Ludhiana NCR Corpn GM call centre Cheque given
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Chandigarh, October 15
