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Ranbaxy hits out at rivals for rigging its share price
No immediate relief from inflation, says RBI
Another ‘Plus’ from Aviva
Anil Ambani’s aircraft lands in Customs net
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‘Rising market can stem corruption rot’
Blood still runs thick in India Inc: Newsweek
Yahoo-Google deal comes under fire from MS
Tax sops, land bank on anvil
Corporate Results
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Ranbaxy hits out at rivals for rigging its share price
New Delhi, July 16 “There has been speculation in the market due to lack of understanding and we have information that a multinational and a leading Indian company are working in concert to bring our share price down,” Ranbaxy Laboratories chairman and managing director Malvinder Mohan Singh told reporters. He accused the rivals of “trying to enter” when the company’s share price is down by spreading confusion and speculation. “I have a clear sense of what is happening. People are trying to create confusion and obviously somebody is trying to bring our price down so that they can come at a lower price,” he said. He, however, refused to name the rivals. It may be recalled that Daichii Sankyo is making an open offer starting August 8 and closing on August 27 for acquiring 20 per cent of the Gurgaon-based company after agreeing to acquire promoters’ 34.8 per cent stake in Ranbaxy. Singh said the company was “collecting data from the market” on the alleged bringing down of share prices by the rival so that it could be furnished to the concerned authorities. The company’s shares were trading at Rs 452.45, up 10.56 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE. It had plunged 14.01 per cent to Rs 409.25 yesterday. Singh said the current motion filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was “just a motion” seeking additional information and clarification, while asserting its deal with Daiichi Sankyo stands. “We have been cooperating with them (DoJ) and will continue to do so. In the meantime, our business in the US continues as normal,” he said. Dispelling doubts about the deal with Daichii Sankyo after the motion filed by the DoJ, he said: “They were aware of these issues while conducting due diligence. There is no change in the deal and there is no exit clause in it.” He also clarified that the company’s plant at Poanta Sahib, the genesis of probe by the USFDA, continued to supply existing drugs to the US market, while new drugs were being supplied from other manufacturing locations. —
PTI |
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No immediate relief from inflation, says RBI
New Delhi, July 16 The government, sources say, in an election year is concerned about the inflationary situation as despite taking various measures there is no let up in the situation. Now, with the monsoon situation getting a bit critical in states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, there are concerns in the government circles that a drought like situation will make matters worse and stoke the inflationary pressure further. Some more monetary measures may be taken to contain the aggregate demand to counter inflation, RBI governor Y. V. Reddy told members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the finance ministry earlier this week, sources said. They stated that Reddy had admitted that there would be no easing of inflation in the next six months. Rather it will now go over 12 per cent, the governor is understood to have said. Last month, the central bank had raised short-term lending rates for banks repo rate by 0.75 per cent in two instalments, while also increasing mandatory cash deposits of banks by 0.50 per cent in two phases to suck out excess liquidity. The RBI is now slated to announce quarterly review of credit policy on July 29, when it may announce further measures to absorb money supply. |
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Another ‘Plus’ from Aviva
Madrid, July 16 The company also launched two ‘secure pension and money back’ traditional pension plans in a bid to strengthen its traditional product portfolio. It also launched two new unit-linked plans on the occasion. Paterson said: “It is a comprehensive plan encompassing the benefits that would help policyholders to be prepared for contingencies at any point during the policy term. It is a unique product with guaranteed maturity benefits and the same premium for all age-groups.” The policy that has the same premium — Rs 35,000 per annum — for all age groups has a guaranteed maturity benefit and return of more than 100 per cent premium for individuals up to 45 years, irrespective of any claims. The company is targeting people from high-income groups for the policy. ‘Secure pension’ has been designed to encourage regular savings for policyholders and ensure pension during retired life, explained Paterson. Aviva is targeting the age group of 18-60 for it. Positive about the voluntary health insurance market that exceeded Rs 32 billion in 2006-07, recording a 100-per cent rise, he said the increase in the number of elderly and the rising life expectancy were among the growth drivers and as per IRDA estimates, the market would grow by 600 per cent in the next four years. “We would aim at a 50:50 balance between bancassurance and direct sales force,” he added. The 26 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) cap was a clear impediment to the capital-intensive insurance industry. Private insurance companies need over Rs 10,000 crore to maintain a 70 per cent growth and an increase to 49 per cent in the FDI limit was a must for sustained growth of this sector, said Peterson. |
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Anil Ambani’s aircraft lands in Customs net
Mumbai, July 16 The department has claimed duties to the tune of Rs 37 crore, according to sources here. RTTPL has joined several companies, including Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, GMR and others, that are being investigated for importing aircraft ostensibly for the purposes of charters but were actually deployed for use of senior company officials. Aircraft imported for purpose of charter enjoy lower rates of duty as compared to those deployed for personal use. According to reports, the Customs Department has sent seizure notices for 10 aircraft imported by corporate houses. In all some 250 corporate jets are reportedly under scrutiny. All of these have been released after the concerned corporate houses submitted bank guarantees and bonds towards payment of duties, officials say. The company, however, claimed it has complied with all government rules and regulations as regards taxes and other formalities. Responding to The Tribune query on the issue, a spokesperson for the company said RTTPL had offered a voluntary bank guarantee-cum-indemnity bond. “However, due to procedural formalities, the firm was informed that bonds could not be accepted unless seizure notice was issued.” Early this month, Neeta Ambani’s Rs 240-crore birthday gift, an Airbus 319 corporate jet from husband Mukesh Ambani, hit an air pocket after it was seized by the Customs Department’s Air Intelligence Unit. The department also seized a Global Express aircraft registered in the name of Mukesh Ambani owned IPCL.` Reliance later said that notice had been sent as a matter of routine procedure to several non-scheduled operators. |
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‘Rising market can stem corruption rot’
Bangalore, July 16 Delivering a lecture at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) office, the management guru illustrated his point on corruption saying about 20 years ago Indians could not think of getting a telephone connection or buying a scooter easily. “For telephone connection one was needed to wait for a number of years and probably needed to bribe some officials to eventually get a connection. Now-a-days telephone companies offer discounts to net more and more consumers,” he said. The theme of Prahalad’s lecture was ‘India at 75’ (75 years of Independence), which is also the futuristic vision laid down by the CII here as part of its roadmap for Karnataka. Prahalad said though India was plagued by many problems, the good thing was that Indians knew what exactly the problems were and more often than not knew the solutions also. He said even within the country some states were achieving 15 per cent growth while some other states were having a very low growth rate. Similarly, some of the states were recording a negative growth of population while some were reeling under the problem of excessive population growth, Prahalad said. He added that efforts should be made to replicate the good trends and eliminate the bad ones. He said India has the potential to become a leading light among the nations in the next 14 years. By 2022 India would have 16 per cent (200 million) of the world’s college graduates and 500 million trained and skilled workforce (40 per cent of the world’s workforce). They would make India the world’s largest pool of trained manpower, he said. The culture of diversity and tolerance found in India would also give it the power to emerge as the new moral voice to listen to by people around the world, he said. |
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Blood still runs thick in India Inc: Newsweek
New York, July 16 Commenting on the bitter battle between Ambani siblings, the publication said in its latest issue that the feud further underscored the need for the businesses to outgrow from their mostly family-run setups. “Nor are such tantrums limited to the Ambanis - many family-owned Indian monoliths still favour insider, hire relatives over better-qualified outsiders, squabble unproductively, and ignore independent director’s advice,” the magazine said attributing the views to a managing partner at a private equity firm which invests in such companies. Pointing out that Indian firms have been growing in competitiveness globally, the magazine said: “Conventional wisdom has also been that sub continental powerhouses are getting sophisticated.” Newsweek cited the recent merger of country’s largest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories with Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo as an example. “Management is becoming more professional, too. Bullish analysts point to the recent merger of Ranbaxy with Japan’s Daiichi as a sign of a new willingness among India’s CEO scions to move beyond the walled garden of family firms and team up with smart outside companies.” Apart from Reliance, other family-run businesses in the country include diversified conglomerate Tata Group and Aditya Birla Group companies. “Now a very public fight between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group underscores how much work remains,” the Newsweek report said. Elder brother Mukesh has “effectively stymied the deal by invoking his right of first refusal on any sale or transfer of Anil’s shares in the company,” it added. The feud between the two brothers broke out again over younger sibling Anil’s efforts to merge his flagship company Reliance Communications with South Africa-based MTN. Still, there have been quite some instances of family-run businesses growing into professionally managed entities in the countries. In June, Ranbaxy announced that Japan’s Daiichi has agreed to acquire 34.8 per cent stake held by the promoters - Singh family in the company. The deal estimated to be worth $4.6 billion, once completed, would make Ranbaxy a subsidiary of the Japanese firm. However, the industry observers believe there are not too many such examples and the family issues still matter a lot when running a
company. — PTI |
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Yahoo-Google deal comes under fire from MS
Silicon Valley, July 16 Speaking before the Senate’s judiciary committee, Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith recounted a June 8 meeting at San Jose airport involving Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and other company executives during which Yang allegedly said a Google-Yahoo deal would be anti-competitive. “Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang looked at us across the table and said: “Look, the search market today is a bipolar market,” said Smith. He further added: “On one pole is Google and on the other pole are Microsoft and Yahoo competing with Google. If we do this deal with Google, Yahoo will become part of Google’s pole and Microsoft will not be strong enough in this market to remain a pole of its own.” Senator Herb Kohl, the subcommittee’s chairman, said. Google announced had a non-exclusive agreement with Yahoo last month that would allow the Internet company access to Google’s AdSense for search and content advertising programs in the US and Canada. Microsoft argued that the agreement would give Google an unprecedented level of control over advertising for search on the Internet, up to 90 per cent potentially of all search ads. Google and Yahoo, however, defended the alliance as positive for consumers and businesses. “Never before in the history of advertising has one company been in the position to control prices on up to 90 per cent of advertising in a single medium. Not in television, not in radio, not in publishing,” Smith said. “It should not happen on the Internet. When Yahoo talks about this deal generating up to $800 million in additional revenue, that’s money out of the pockets of American businesses, big and small, who will pay higher prices for the very same ads they buy from Yahoo today,” he said. Google maintained that the deal would actually help Yahoo compete.—
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Industrial Policy
Chandigarh, July 16 Concerned over the industry ignoring Punjab for setting up green field projects in favour of the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, besides the third tax exempt state of Uttarakhand, the new industrial policy will pave the way for attracting industrial investment by offering tax sops to all new investment, including investment by small and medium enterprises. The focus of the new policy will be on attracting investment in manufacturing and services sectors rather than in the real estate sector. The new industrial policy, framed by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has now been submitted to the state government. The draft, once approved by the state industries department and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, will be discussed with the stakeholders - representatives from small, medium and large industries. Senior officials in the Punjab government said with prohibitive land prices in major towns, the policy would give additional incentives to projects that come up in the border areas. “Already, all industrial projects that will come up in the border areas with an investment of Rs 25 crore are granted the status of mega projects. Elsewhere in the state only those projects that have an investment of over Rs 100 crore are granted concessions under the mega projects scheme,” said the officer. He added that the draft policy not only suggests measures for investing fresh investment in the state, but also measures for upgradation and revival of the existing industry in the state. It is learnt that the new industrial policy would also dwell on the cluster approach. There is already a demand for a cluster in Mandi Gobindgarh (for steel) and in Ludhiana and Dera Bassi (for textile industry). A cluster for foundry and hand tool industry has already been approved for Batala. The government is also of the view that being an agrarian economy, agro- based industry should be encouraged in the state.
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Corporate Results
Mumbai, July 16 Bank of India dividend
Bank of India (BoI) has declared a dividend of 40 per cent to its shareholders for the year ended March 31. In a release, BoI said it has also paid a dividend of Rs 135.43 crore to the Centre for its share. The bank has made an operating profit of Rs 3,701 crore and net profit of Rs 2,009 crore in the financial year 2007-08, the release added. Power Finance Corp
Power Finance Corp has announced a net profit of Rs 296.30 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, a 4 per cent decline over the corresponding period a year-ago. The firm had a net profit of Rs 308.65 crore in the first quarter of FY 2008, PFC said. HDFC net up
HDFC has reported a net profit of Rs 468.11 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, a 25.56 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year-ago. The firm had a net profit of Rs 372.81 crore in the first quarter of FY 2008, HDFC said. The total income rose to Rs 2,318.62 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 1,830.39 crore in the same period a year-ago. Tata Teleservices
Tata Teleservices Maharashtra has announced a net loss of Rs 34.72 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, against a net loss of Rs 28.42 crore in the corresponding period last year. The total income rose to Rs 504.89 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 409.60 crore in the same quarter in the year-ago period, the company said. —
UNI, PTI |
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