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Infosys Q2 profit up by 51 pc at Rs 896 cr
Honda keen on new car plant in Rajasthan
Nod to 34 more SEZs
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SoI for European technology park in Haryana signed
Maharashtra tops in attracting FDI
India raises oil block issue with Sudan
Plan panel for slashing import duty on ethanol to 7.5 pc
BSNL challenges TRAI order
DoT objects to TCIL’s stake sale in Bharti Hexacom
M&M tractor enters Iran
Apollo Hospitals’ insurance JV
Rupee gains 16 paise
Gold declines, silver coins up
3 Indian women on global power list
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Infosys Q2 profit up by 51 pc at Rs 896 cr
Bangalore, October 11 Infosys CEO and Managing Director Nandan Nilekani disclosed that the company was growing at an astonishing pace despite IT spending flattening out worldwide due to the average 17 per cent growth recorded by its top 10 clients. He said there was no evidence of a slowdown in the near future and the company was hopeful of achieving $3 billion revenue in the current fiscal. During the quarter, the total income increased from Rs 2,215 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, to Rs 3,339 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, recording a growth of 50.74 per cent. It has also recorded an operating margin of 2.5 per cent in the quarter, out of which 1.1 per cent has come from reduction in visa costs and .9 per cent due to rupee depreciation. The company has posted a consolidated net profit, after tax and exceptional item and minority interest, of Rs 929 crore for the quarter as compared to Rs 606 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. Speaking on the results, Mr Nilekani said, "Our business model provides a compelling value proposition to clients in a flat world". He said their robust organic growth, coupled with investments in various strategic areas helped to grow faster. Providing the business outlook for the quarter ending December 31, 2006, the company said it expected an income to be in the range of Rs 3,602 crore and Rs 3,625 crore with a year-on-year growth of 42.3 per cent to 43.2 per cent. Earning per share is expected to be in the range of Rs 16.84 with a year-on-year growth of 42.2 per cent. For the fiscal ending March 31, 2007, the company said it expected total income to be in the range of Rs 13,853 crore and Rs 13,899 crore, with a year-on-year growth of 45.5 per cent to 46 per cent. Earnings per share are expected to be Rs 66 with a yearly growth of 46.6 per cent. The company today surpassed state-run power major NTPC to become the country's third largest corporate entity after ONGC and Reliance Industries in terms of market capitalisation. Infosys' market capitalisation rose to over Rs 1.10 lakh crore, surpassing NTPC, which had a market cap of Rs 1.07 lakh crore at the end of today's trading session. Meanwhile, the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 on each equity share (100 per cent on a par value of Rs 5 per share). An interim dividend of Rs 3.25 per share was declared for the corresponding period in the previous year. To offer 30 million shares under ADRs Infosys has notified to the BSE that its Board of Directors today approved the sponsoring of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) offering against equity shares held by the company's existing shareholders in what is seen to be an attempt to be listed among the top 100 companies on the Nadaq exchange in New York. According to company sources, the Board took a decision to offer 30 million shares under this scheme. All equity holders will be eligible to offer their shares in the offering for which they will not get any new shares in return. Equity holders divesting their shares under the scheme will be paid proportionately after meeting the expenses of the offering. This is the third ADR scheme being put into force by the company. Currently, the value of the third ADRs being initiated by the company is $1.5 billion. |
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Honda keen on new car plant in Rajasthan
Jaipur, October 11 Senior officers of the company recently met Industry Department officials and discussed their proposed investment in the state. Khuskhera, with its proximity to Delhi, emerged as their preferred choice among a host of other sites inspected by the group elsewhere in the country for the proposed project. Honda is looking for 700 acres of land for putting up the plant, which will be their second unit outside Greater Noida. They are also looking into other aspects of operation, including marketing and backup facilities. Confirming this, Rajasthan Industry Minister Narpatsingh Razvi said the Bureau of Investment Promotion (BIP), which handled investment in the state, was negotiating the deal. Japanese investors have, of late, shown interest for investment in the region around Gurgaon on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway. Earlier this year, JETRO, a quasi government organisation of Japan, also visited Neemrana for developing a cluster of industries. — PTI
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Nod to 34 more SEZs
New Delhi, October 11 The Board of Approvals for SEZs gave formal clearances to 26 proposals and in-principle nod to eight others out of the 82 proposals considered yesterday. With today’s decision, the total number of SEZs with formal approvals has risen to 212 and those with in-principle approvals have increased to 152, an official statement said. Among the proposals given the formal clearance include Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board’s SEZs for food processing and pharmaceutical units, Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd’s Sugarcane processing complex in Karnataka and Parsvnath Developers Ltd’s IT SEZ in
Kerala. — PTI |
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SoI for European technology park in Haryana signed
Chandigarh, October 11 The SoI was signed by the Managing Director, HSIIDC, Mr Rajeev Arora, and Mr Oedith Jaharia, Managing Director, Spyker Cars N.V., on behalf of the consortium. The proposed project is expected to catalyse an investment of about euros 2 billion over 10 years and will generate employment opportunities for a large number of people. Another memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Spyker Cars N.V. and the Manav Rachna Education Society, Haryana, for the upgradation of education level of engineers and other professionals in India to international standards. The official and CII delegation led by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda also interacted with investors based in Netherlands at a session organised by KPMG. Mr Hooda highlighted the facilities being provided to the entrepreneurs in his state and extended an invitation to the investors to set up their units in the state. The senior officers of the state government accompanying Mr Hooda also answered the queries of the entrepreneurs. The members of the CII delegation also had one-to-one meetings with their counterparts.
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Maharashtra tops in attracting FDI
New Delhi, October 11 Out of a total FDI approvals of Rs 45,911 crore accruing to states and Union Territories, Maharashtra cornered the highest amount during the period. The next highest FDI during the period went to Karnataka with an amount of Rs 5,525.72 crore. Many MNCs are setting up shop in Karnataka, taking advantage of the skilled manpower available there. Besides, there is considerable outsourcing activity from the state to the West. The little known case is that of Delhi taking a lead now with a total FDI of Rs 4,700 crore from April 2001 to March 2006. This is followed by Gujarat, an industrially developed state, with this form of foreign investment being Rs 4,469 crore. Fifth in the row is Tamil Nadu with an FDI inflow of Rs 2995.08 crore. The figures reflect the common belief that South is catching up fast in terms of industrialisation. — UNI
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India raises oil block issue with Sudan
New Delhi, October 11 Union Minister of State Ashwani Kumar raised the issue with Sudanese Minister of Industry Ali Ahmed Osman when the latter called on him today. The minister assured Mr Kumar that the Sudanese Government would look into Indian concerns, and invited Indian companies to invest there. Allaying fears of the private sector, Sudan has invited Indian companies to liberally invest across the entire spectrum of industrial activity, particularly in the engineering, petrochemicals, textile, leather and mining sectors. He reminded that Indian public sector oil major OVL had acquired a 25 per cent equity stake in Greater Nile Oil project, besides others, investing around $ 800 million. In fact, out of the total overseas investment by OVL of around Rs 26000 crore, the company had invested about Rs 7400 crore in Sudan alone. Both countries have agreed to enhance economic cooperation. The bilateral trade between the two countries reached around $350 million in 2005-06 though it was in favour of India to the tune of $280 million.
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Plan panel for slashing import duty on ethanol to 7.5 pc
New Delhi, October 11 At present, the import duty on ethanol is levied at the rate of 65 per cent. “Import duty on ethanol should be reduced from 65 per cent to 7.5 per cent as a huge quantity will have to be imported,” Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh said. Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have estimated that 5,00,000 kilolitres of ethanol would be required to make available 5 per cent ethanol blend across the country. India has an installed capacity to produce 1,300 million litres of ethanol, a byproduct of sugar production. The Petroleum Ministry has said that ethanol-blended petrol will be available across India from November 1 to help the country reduce its dependence on imports. Initially, a 5 per cent blend would be allowed and implemented successfully and this would be increased to 10 per cent by October 2007. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has meanwhile said that the programme would not be mandatory but subject to availability of ethanol. “Oil marketing companies have been given complete freedom to protect their commercial interests in arriving at workable ethanol pricing,” the Petroleum Ministry said. Mr Parikh said the Planning Commission had never been in favour of having a mandatory ethanol blending programme. — PTI
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New Delhi, October 11 Accepting the petition a TDSAT Bench, headed by Justice Arun Kumar, issued notices to TRAI and directed it to file a reply within two weeks Meanwhile, Justice Kumar also directed TRAI not to take any coercive steps against BSNL till November 17, the next date of hearing. On September 11, TRAI passed a regulation that prohibited additional revenue share for roaming calls on applications received by some private cellular operators and said that the prevailing rate of 0.30 paise per minute would be applicable for all types of roaming calls as per the IUC Regulation. It also held that there was no need for private operators to pay any additional interconnect charge on roaming calls. “The prescribed termination charge is cost-based, independent of the network from where the call is originating/terminating and also independent of the tariff charged by the operators,” TRAI said. BSNL, a market leader in the segment, has come out with its own scheme for this additional revenue share over and above the prescribed termination charge for terminating the roaming calls in its network. — PTI
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DoT objects to TCIL’s stake sale in Bharti Hexacom
Mumbai, October 11 DoT asked TCIL to subscribe to the right issue offered by BHL to the fullest extent and fund it from internal resources. In a letter to TCIL Chairman and Managing Director G.D. Gaiha, DoT said: “TCIL should not divest its 30 per cent equity and continue to have its stake in BHL. TCIL should subscribe to the rights issue offered by BHL to the fullest extent and it should be subscribed by TCIL from its internal resources.” TCIL intended to disinvest its 30 per cent stake in BHL and had invited bids for the same as it wants to exit the cellular business. The Bharti group, which runs India’s largest cellular firm, Airtel, has a 67.5 per cent stake in BHL and has made a bid to acquire 30 per cent stake in the company. The Shyam group, the original promoters have also made a bid to acquire TCIL’s stake. — PTI
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M&M tractor enters Iran
Mumbai, October 11 |
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Apollo Hospitals’ insurance JV
Mumbai, October 11 The company said it signed the agreement today with the German medical insurance company under which Apollo Hospitals would invest 20 per cent in the equity capital of the proposed joint
venture. — PTI |
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Rupee gains 16 paise
Mumbai, October 11 After ruling virtually steady in somewhat cautious trade for the major part of day at the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market, the rupee made a positive turnaround in the last one hour of the session after losing by about 25 paise in the past two days. The rupee opened weak at Rs 45.82/84 per dollar and remained under pressure due to firmer dollar overseas, forex dealers said. Heavy dollar sales by some corporates and FIIs, which have slowed down inflows into equity markets, helped the rupee to recover by about 16 paise from overnight closing of Rs 45.80/81. Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the US currency at Rs 45.76 and Rs 57.38 per
euro. — PTI |
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Gold declines, silver coins up
New Delhi, October 11 Buying was more confined to silver coins used as gift a for Diwali festival. However, silver ready tumbled by Rs 375 at Rs 17,450 per kilo and weekly-based delivery by Rs 265 at Rs 17,810. Standard gold and ornaments lost Rs 110 each at Rs 8,669 and Rs 8,510 per 10 gm,
respectively. — PTI |
RJ Corp plan to invest Rs 100 cr HSBC sells stake Mega steel plant Madura Garments Satyam awarded MD of SBI |
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