The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Time not ripe to enter markets: Analysts Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 21 With the Sensex breaching the 20,000-mark and Nifty crossing the 6,000-mark today, the mood in the market is upbeat. Though market analysts say that the upswing in the market could remain for quite some time, it may not be the right time for retail investors to enter the market. The BSE benchmark, Sensex, today crossed the 20,000 mark, after a gap of almost 32 months. Buoyed by the interest of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in the equity market here, the analysts feel that the market could cross the 21,000-mark before Diwali. The zooming Sensex is driven by the foreign funds, which have invested Rs 12,442 crore in the Indian stock market in September alone. With strong fundamentals and a high index of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the analysts feel that it will not be long before the Sensex zooms to another high. Talking to TNS here today, Saravjit Kaur Nagra, vice-president, Angel Broking, said there is nothing wrong fundamentally as liquidity is entering the market. “Even in terms of valuation, the market is reaching a fair value zone, and these valuations do not justify very significant rise from this level. However, investors must hold on to their stocks. The correction, if any, will not be more than six per cent,” she said. However, not everyone agrees to this. Satish Gupta, an analyst, who has developed a software for strategic investment in equity, commodity and forex markets, feels that positive sentiment has been engineered to rise, till the US mid-term poll in November this year. “Once the polls are over, the markets are going to crash. So, retail investors should not enter the market at this point of time. Rather, once the markets go down, retail investors should come along,” he advises. It is expected that a lot of retail and institutional investors are waiting to park their money in the market, which means a lot of liquidity is yet to come in the market. However, brokers caution the retail investor from picking up stocks now. “Those who want to make quick gains by entering now and quitting in a few days can pick up stocks now. But we are advising retail investors to wait till the time the correction in the market comes about. It is not advisable to enter the market at such high levels and investors should be cautious before any fresh investment,” said ML Batra, a leading broker in Panchkula.
	Investors’ wealth soars by ` 1.2 lakh crore New Delhi: Investors' wealth soared by over Rs 1,20,000 crore in just six trading days, during which the benchmark index Sensex traveled from 19,000-level to the magical 20,000-mark. Boosted by strong inflows from the foreign institutional investors, the Indian stock market rallied sharply in the past few months, heaping fortunes on investors. The total investors' wealth, measured in terms of valuation of all the listed companies in the country, soared by Rs 1,20,400 crore to Rs 71,27,112.66 crore in the past six trading sessions. Exactly a week before i.e. on September 14, the combined market valuation of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 70,06,647 crore. The benchmark Sensex today regained the 20,000 level after a gap of 32-months with a gain of 95 points. The index had closed at 19,346.96 points on September 14. Both the index and investors wealth are nearing their life-time peaks, which was earlier achieved on January 10, 2008. On that date, the Sensex had touched 21,206.77 points. The first time the investors wealth had crossed Rs 70,00,000 crore level in December 2007. Toeing global trends, the stock markets here had in early January 2008 touched new peaks but thereafter went into a tailspin and the fall continued for many months before an uptrend was seen in March 2009. — PTI
	BSNL losing ground in landline arena Revenue dips; 6 lakh connections surrendered Anuja Jaiswal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 21 Faced with stiff competition from private players and the ever growing popularity of mobile phones, telecom behemoth BSNL is feeling the pinch in its landline phones business with a steady decline in revenues, owing to the steep fall in its customer base. In Punjab circle alone, revenues from landline users have fallen by Rs 67 crore in the last two fiscals (2008-10) and the number of landline connections continue to decline at a steady pace of almost two lakh a year. In the past three years, BSNL has lost six lakh landline customers and this reverse trend is not only restricted to home and office users only but the PCOs too. According to statistics, revenue collection from landline connections in the year 2008-09 was Rs 433.14 crore and it came down by 16 % in year 2009-10 to Rs 365.58 in the last fiscal. The total revenue collected by BSNL under various heads, i.e landline, broadband, GSM, CDMA in 2008-09 was Rs 1,075.11 crore and it fell to Rs 1,055.30 crore in the last fiscal. Insiders admit that BSNL broadband services have proved to be a "life saver" for the organisation as losses in revenue would have been much greater without it. Broadband services have picked up in Punjab circle considerably in the last three years as against 49,000 connections in 2008-09 and 59,000 connections in the last fiscal, 41,000 new connections have been added in the current fiscal till July.“If volume decrease, revenue would automatically go down”, says a senior official of BSNL. He informed that on an average every year 2 lakh subscribers are surrendering their landline phones. The situation is no better this year. Between April and July 53,847 persons got rid of their landline phones. The officials, however, claim that subscription rate improved this year where around 26,292 new connections were given. At the same time, the number of PCO connections has also been declined. Almost 21,000 connections have been closed in past three fiscals (2007-08 to 2009-10) against 7,426 new connections added during the same period. Talking to The Tribune, SS Sirohi, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Punjab Circle, said, “The dent in the wireline service is with the start of the mobile services as they are more personalised, handy and available at low cost.”
	VW innovation: Audio advt in print New Delhi, September 21 German carmaker Volkswagen today took advertising to a new level with an innovative audio advertisement in print to create a buzz for its entry level sedan Vento. Using a voice-recorded device pasted on two English dailies, the company sprang a surprise to many readers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Chennai on a campaign for which it is believed to have spent up to Rs 5 crore. "Twenty two lakh chips were specially sourced for the one time exercise. We have been working on this for the last six months in order to bring out the advertisement," Mediacom Managing Director Divya Gururaj told PTI. Mediacom manages the media planning operations for Volkswagen, while the creatives are being handled by advertising agency DDB Mudra. According to Gururaj, a huge workforce was deployed by the publishers of the two newspapers to bundle 22 lakh devices that played the audio version of an advertisement. "Our aim was to be able to emotionally connect to our customers with this product and what better way than being able to directly speak to them with the aid of a newspaper," Volkswagen Group Sales India, Head of Marketing for passenger cars Lutz Kothe said. VW described the campaign as "world's first talking newspaper with Volkswagen Vento". The company last month announced the launch of Vento in India priced between Rs 6.99 lakh and Rs 7.99 lakh (ex- showroom Delhi). According to branding experts it is a great idea that has been executed the carmaker. "Given the fact that people do not buy a car for one advertisement, it is a fantastic start by the company and it been able to create a buzz about the product. It is surely a bold move to spend that kind of money on one day," Madison Group Chairman Sam Balsara said. — PTI
	New takeover norms from next fiscal likely New Delhi, September 21 Market regulator Sebi is likely to usher in new norms for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) with effect from next fiscal, as the proposals have generated divergent reactions from stakeholders. The regulator is in the process of collating comments received on its public discussion paper on the new Takeover Code which, among other things, proposes to bring in minority shareholders at par with promoters in terms of price received in M&A deals. "The proposed code may be made effective from April 1, 2011. Public comments have been received and they are mostly positive," a source in the know of the development said. The source said, however, "While there has been a positive response from public on the trigger point at 25 per cent, the proposal of open offer for entire 100 per cent stake has received mixed response." The recommendations made by the Takeover Regulatory Advisory Committee include raising the public offer trigger to 25 per cent, from the existing 15 per cent. Besides, the panel has suggested that the acquirer make an open offer for the entire 100 per cent stake in case its holding crosses the 25 per cent threshold. Analysts have maintained that funding needs of acquiring companies may soar if buyers have to bid for the entire 100 per cent stake. Yesterday, C Achutan, the Chairman of the Sebi Takeover Regulatory Advisory Committee had said that proposals of the panel are expected to be approved by Sebi by December. After it approves the new norms with changes, if any, the Sebi might consider applying them on all the deals from the next fiscal onwards. The source said the new code would be effective for M&As happening in the next financial year, and will not be implemented with retrospective effect. It means that the mega billion-dollar Cairn-Vedanta deal would not come under the purview of the revised regulations. As for minority shareholders, they will benefit in terms of parity in pricing under the new rules. The new code proposes providing opportunity for complete exit to them and get the same price as a substantial shareholder. Achutan had earlier said that the code would provide a level playing field to all stakeholders, whether they are promoters or small investors. The suggestions, if implemented, will replace the archaic takeover rule that was amended 23 times in the past 13 years. Achutan, who was appointed the head of the panel in September 2009, submitted the report to Sebi Chairman CB Bhave on July 19. The suggestions of the committee would be implemented after Sebi takes into account over 600 public comments received by it till August end. — PTI
	Overwhelming response to LIC’s new plan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 21 The new ULIP-based Endowment Plus plan launched by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has got an astounding response from investors. In just two days of its launch, 18,736 policies have been sold, with a total premium collection of Rs 79.32 crore. This is the first time that a ULIP by LIC has managed to get such an overwhelming response at its launch. Endowment Plus is a unit-linked product which provides partial withdrawal after five years and also loan equal to one third of total fund value after three years. Talking to mediapersons here today, LIC (Chandigarh) senior Divisional Manager Raghupal Singh said that the maximum policies in the region were sold in Mandi Gobindgarh, followed by Mohali, Nangal and Ropar. After Chandigarh division, maximum policies have been sold by Indore division (725 policies) and Gorakhpur (519 policies).