New Delhi, April 20
HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest software services firm, on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected rise in January-March profit, clearing the concerns that clouded the outsourcing sector after Infosys' weak quarterly performance.

Shares of the company, which the market values at $7.34 billion, surged as much as 9.8 per cent to a 11-year high of Rs 522.35, in a firm Mumbai market, also boosting the BSE IT index, which rose as much as 2.09 per cent.

HCL, which follows a July-June fiscal, reported 33 per cent rise in profit to Rs 468 crore in a seasonally weak quarter, higher than the Rs 430 crore estimated by a Reuters poll of brokerages.

"Industry-wise, revenue growth was driven by BFSI, which reported growth of 12.6 per cent quarter on quarter. Energy, utilities and public sector and manufacturing also registered healthy growth, while other verticals witnessed modest growth," JP Morgan said.

“Telecom is the only soft spot for the quarter, which we believe is indicative of spending pressures in the industry,” added the brokerage, reiterating its "overweight" rating on the stock.

Last week, Infosys Technologies kicked off earnings for India's nearly $60 billion showpiece IT sector, sparking worries about the sector's growth after it forecast annual sales lower than expected on slower client spending.

"People also have it somewhere in their mind that what happened with Infosys was more of a company-specific issue with changes in the senior management," said Rohit Anand, analyst with PINC Research.

In its latest management shakeup, Infosys had said its human resources chief TV Mohandas Pai had quit. Pai, a former CFO, was widely seen by analysts as the only non-founder who could become the CEO.

"We have seen Accenture and Cognizant growing much better. It will be further substantiated from the TCS results," said PINC's Anand.

"If they also give good results, then we can take it for sure that it was a one-quarter blip at Infosys than a sectoral problem."

Last month, Accenture posted a strong quarter and raised its outlook for the full year.

"(HCL’s) results were strong on various fronts. There was margin improvement, cash flow improvement, strong revenue growth momentum, volume growth was good," said a Mumbai-based analyst, who did not wish to be named.

“All these things lead you to believe that there are no concerns in the industry per se and what happened with Infosys was a one-off case.” — Reuters

Mumbai, April 20
The Income Tax (I-T) department will soon post 10 officers in tax haven countries to collect information about alleged tax evasion by Indians from these countries, an official in the finance ministry said.

Concerns have been raised in the recent past over suspicion of round tripping or routing of Indians' illicit money back into the country through tax havens.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Member Prakash Chandra said: "The officers have been shortlisted and some approvals are necessary (before they are posted)," Chandra added.

Indian agencies are said to have increased their oversight after they noticed a significant surge in venture capital funds coming from Mauritius in sectors like telecom and real estate, which have been under close scrutiny in recent times for money laundering.

Earlier this week, CBDT Chairman Sudhir Chandra said that the Finance Ministry was in favour of re-negotiation of the tax treaty with Mauritius so that India could have access to banking details besides tax-related information vis-a-vis that country.

To trail alleged black money, India has concluded discussions on 11 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) and 13 new Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs), along with revision of provisions of 10 existing DTAAs in the last fiscal. — PTI

New Delhi, April 20
Tata Power today said it plans to raise $450 million by issuing corporate hybrid securities, revising its target upwards from $300-400 million.

The proceeds could be used for securing long-term coal supplies and repaying debt.

The decision to set higher target might have stemmed from bullish market conditions, according to analysts. The company on April 18 had announced its plan to raise $300 million to $400 million by issuing corporate hybrid securities. Tata Power's subsidiary, Bhira Investments, would raise funds $450 million and offer 8.5 rate of interest, payable every six months.

“...(Bhira) has successfully priced a 60-year non-callable for five years Reg S hybrid capital offering of $450 million guaranteed by Tata Power, at 8.5 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually,” Tata Power said in a regulatory filing.

A hybrid security has characteristics of both debt and equity and the securities allow higher flexibility for corporate financing while reducing capital costs for issuers.

The pricing was finalised on April 19. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS AG have been appointed as joint book runners, the filing said.

Tata Power's Executive Director (Finance) S Ramakrishnan had said that the long-term financing would enhance company's ability to secure sustainable supply sources for its growing power generation base.

The company has over 3,100 MW power generation capacity through thermal, hydro, solar and wind energy sources. Work on adding 5,500 MW capacity is in progress.

Tata Power's shares closed today at Rs 1,326.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 2.08 per cent from its previous close.— PTI

New Delhi, April 20
The Finance Ministry today said the assistance provided by visa facilitators to applicants does not come under the purview of service tax.

"Visa facilitators, while providing visa assistance directly to individuals do not act on behalf of the embassies as agents of the principal and hence service tax is not leviable within the meaning of business auxiliary service," Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a circular.

These facilitators help procure visas and directly assist individuals in completing immigration formalities. CBEC said they collect from applicants certain statutory charges like visa fee, certification fee, attestation fee and emigration fee, which are remitted to the authorities.

"Such a service provided by a visa facilitator, in the form of assistance to individuals directly, to obtain a visa, does not fall under any of the taxable services... Hence service tax is not attracted," the circular said.— PTI

Mumbai, April 20
Amid concerns expressed by the Reserve Bank, country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today announced withdrawal of special home loan schemes, or teaser rates, with effect from May 1.

SBI Easy Home Loan and SBI Advantage Home Loan (teaser rate products) will be replaced by floating interest rate schemes on a par with other commercial banks.

Under the teaser home loan scheme, SBI was offering lower rate of interest of 8-8.5 per cent for the first three years.

It invited severe criticism from RBI, which had said the scheme could impact the asset quality of SBI's home loan portfolio.

The withdrawl of teaser rates comes within a month of the new chairman Pratip Chaudhuri taking charge at SBI.

The home loan from SBI will now attract an interest rate of 9.5 per cent to 10.25 per cent depending upon the loan amount, SBI said.

SBI has also launched the SBI Advantage Car loan Scheme, under which credit would be provided at 10.75 per cent for a maximum period of 7 years.

The withdrawal of teaser rates follows the bank hiking its lending rate by 25 basis points making loans across segments costlier.

Under the new floating rate scheme, loans up to Rs 30 lakh would attract an interest rate of 9.50 per cent, those between Rs 31-75 lakh, 9.75 per cent and credit above Rs 75 lakh would attract 10.25 per cent rate. — PTI

Mumbai, April 20
Private sector lender YES Bank today posted 45 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 203.4 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. It also announced a capital raising programme of $500 million this fiscal for funding its growing business. Net profit for the fiscal 2010-11 jumped 52.2 per cent to Rs 727 crore from the previous year's Rs 477.7 crore.

The bank's performance is a result of healthy growth in advances at 55 per cent and a 43 per cent surge in net interest income to Rs 348.5 crore in the fourth quarter, bank's Founder, Managing Director and Chief Executive Rana Kapoor told reporters here.

The bank's core Tier-I capital has come down below the 10 per cent mark and in order to augment that, the bank's Board passed an enabling resolution today to raise up to $500 million via ADR, GDR or QIP routes. “We will complete the process by the second-half of this fiscal,” Kapoor said. — PTI

New Delhi, April 20
A week ahead of the meeting of the commerce secretaries of India and Pakistan, industry chambers today said increasing trade through third nation and lack of investment promotion pacts are impeding the economic ties between the two neighbours.

Industry body FICCI said that lack of direct trade between the nations has resulted in surge of informal trade.

"Trade through third countries is mainly conducted through agents operating in free ports like Dubai or Singapore and the Central Asian countries. The size of informal trade underlines the potential of bilateral trade between the countries," it said.

FICCI said Pakistan should also grant the status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to India. India has already granted this status to the neighbouring country.

The move will help New Delhi to push goods into its neighbour’s market and improve ties.

Echoing the view, PHD chamber said: "The major confidence building and trade enhancing measure would be Pakistan granting India the MFN status".

Ficci said lack of investment promotion and protection agreement between the two countries remains a stumbling block.

"There is a need to set up an institutional mechanism that would guarantee the safety of each other’s investments," Ficci added.

It said that India allows import from Pakistan of all but a few items in the negative list. On the contrary, Pakistan disallows exports from India in all but selected items in the positive list, thus, restricting bilateral commerce.

The chamber said Pakistan should follow the Indian model and open trade. As per Pakistan's positive list, India can export only 1,938 items.

Pakistan currently allows India to export items like meat, edible oil, cereals, tobacco, chemicals, fertilisers, leather, cotton, silk, coffee, tea and oilseeds.

Further, it said that both the countries should organise trade fairs and set up web portals to increase awareness about each other's competencies and business capabilities. On the visa issue, FICCI and PHDCCI said that both nations should ease the restrictions and work towards speeding up approval process for business visas.

The move would facilitate movement of businesses. Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar and his Pakistani counterpart Zafar Mehmood are scheduled to meet on April 27 and 28 in Islamabad. — PTI

New Delhi, April 20
South Korean two-wheeler maker S&T Motors today launched its two Hyosung branded premium bikes in India, priced between Rs 4.75 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The company has joined hands with Pune-based Garware Motors to set up an assembly line at Wai in Maharashtra and is looking to form a joint venture with the domestic firm to bring in its entire range of products in the next 3-5 years.

“India is really moving in the right direction and so we are here. It is the right time and right place or us,” S&T Motors President and CEO Taekwon Kim told reporters here.

The company will assemble the two Hyosung products at the newly built assembly facility, set up by Garware Motors, and will sell these as completely knocked down units, he added.

S&T Motors today introduced its sports bike GT650R, powered by a 650cc engine, in two options for Rs 4.75 lakh and Rs 4.90 lakh. It has also rolled out a 700cc cruise bike - ST7 - for Rs 5.69 lakh. This, however, is the second entry for the Hyosung brand in India.

In 2004, the company, then known as Hyosung, had forayed into the Indian market under a different management. In 2007, Hyosung Motors Division was acquired by the S&T Group . — Reuters

Solan, April 19
The centrally-sponsored Inland Container Depot (ICD) is reaping benefits for Himachal Pradesh with global industry venturing into the industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh due to enhanced connectivity.

The Industries Department’s sub-committee recently cleared a project worth Rs 540 crore from Sun Juices, a US-based company. Under the project, a unit each will be set up in Shimla and Baddi.

The project was awaiting clearance from the Single Window Clearance Committee, said Industries Deputy Director Tilak Sharma. The plants would provide a ready market to apple and other fruit growers of the state. The company’s entry into Baddi will be facilitated by the ICD project.