The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Bharti profit down for 10th straight quarter Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 8 Increasing competition and squeezing margins have again hit the country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel as it has reported a decline in its profit for the 10th straight quarter. Although its total revenues rose by 14 per cent, Airtel said its consolidated net profit fell to Rs 762 crore in the first quarter ended June from Rs 1,215 crore a year earlier, down 37 per cent. It reported its total revenues at Rs 19,350 crore in the quarter against Rs 16,975 crore in Q1 of the FY'12. This came on the back of its growth of 31.5 per cent in Africa and 44.2 per cent increase in mobile data revenues from India. "Telecom revenues in India have been depressed due to hyper-competition and recent regulatory and tax developments. Despite these adverse developments, Airtel has kept its focus on network expansion, market investments, superior customer experience and new product innovations," Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said. The revenues in India during the quarter were impacted by two significant changes - Trai guidelines around processing fees which restrict the sales of "combo packs" and a hike in the service tax from 10.3 per cent to 12.36 per cent, effective April 1, 2012, the company said in a statement. The hike in the service tax caused all telecom services to become dearer by over 2 per cent, with the entire additional levy being passed to the exchequer. The company's total subscriber base across mobile, telemedia and digital TV services in India, South Asia and Africa stood at 260.71 million at the end of June 2012. Firm out of top-10 m-cap list Mumbai: ICICI Bank today toppled Bharti Airtel to become the country's 10th most-valued firm in terms of market capitalisation, pushing the telecom major out of the top-10 list following a sharp fall in its share price after it posted dip in the first quarter profit. At close today, Bharti commanded a market value of Rs 1,04,204 crore, as against ICICI Bank's Rs 1,10,449 crore m-cap. The top-10 list is led by RIL with m-cap of Rs 2,58,902 crore, followed by TCS (Rs 2,44,750 crore), ONGC (Rs 2,40,409 crore), Coal India (Rs 2,18,198 crore), ITC (Rs 2,04,764 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,40,674 crore), NTPC (Rs 1,38,606 crore), SBI (Rs 1,38,309 crore), Infosys (Rs 1,31,033 crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 1,10,449 crore). — PTI
	Keshub passes M&M baton to Anand Mumbai, August 8 After leading the group for over 45 years, Keshub Mahindra today retired as chairman of the Mahindra & Mahindra group and said it was time to "break new grounds" for the company under his successor Anand. Keshub, who remained as one of the directors on Mahindra & Mahindra's board for 64 years overseeing the group's metamorphosis from a steel trading company to a $ 15.4 billion diversified group, handed over the baton to his nephew and vice-chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra. "I do want to stress that it has been a very difficult year and a most challenging one," Keshub told the company's shareholders in its Annual General Meeting here. He said there were problems stemming from many circumstances abroad like sovereign debts of many advanced economies, turmoil in the Middle-East, weakening global economic environment and India's rising fiscal and current account deficits. The 88-year old, who will continue to be Chairman Emeritus of the group, said: "By now, all of you know that after having enjoyed the privilege of serving as a Director of your company for 64 years, and the honour of being the chairman of the board for 48 years, I have decided to hand over the baton to the younger generation." Thanking the shareholders for their support, Keshub said it was time to "break new grounds", and the group was in good hands for going forward. Net up 26% Mahindra & Mahindra today reported a 25.90 per cent increase in the consolidated net profit at Rs 778.47 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. It had posted the consolidated net profit of Rs 618.31 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, the company said in a statement. — PTI
	Citigroup lowers India’s growth forecast to 5.4% Sanjeev Sharma/TNS New Delhi, August 8 Leading FII Citigroup has lowered India’s growth forecast for the financial year 2013 to 5.4 per cent from 6.4 per cent. Citigroup joins several investment houses that have pared India’s growth forecast on macro-economic concerns. Crisil had lowered India’s GDP forecast for the year to 5.5 per cent from its earlier estimate of 6.5 per cent on concerns around poor monsoon, Eurozone crisis and the rising fiscal pressures which will limit the government’s ability to provide a stimulus. Citigroup in a research note said the Murphy’s Law seems to be at play in the Indian macro-environment. The stars just don’t seem to be aligning for India with almost all the growth drivers being hit. These include drought fears are coming true, politics and policies are still not conducive for investments, power outages are taking a toll on growth, confidence is low and consumption has begun to splutter and exports are more sensitive to global demand than the weaker rupee. The note says that while their concerns earlier of GDP numbers being shaved off due to sub-par monsoons, the macro-environment, both domestic and global, has become grimmer. Citigroup has revised its FY13 and FY14 growth estimates to 5.4 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively, from 6.4 per cent and 6.9 per cent earlier. It has noted that if drought conditions worsen, headline growth could come in lower at 4.9 per cent. It has also made changes in forecasts for other numbers. The pressure on the food rates is likely to result in average inflation higher at 8 per cent compared to 7.5 per cent earlier. On the fiscal deficit, slippages on expenditure (subsidies/drought relief) and revenues to result in headline deficit at 5.9 per cent compared to 5.5 per cent previously. Citigroup maintains the view that the India story is “dented” but not “broken”. The structural drivers namely a domestic driven economy, demographics and relatively high savings rates, still exist.
	Kingfisher cancels 31 flights as pilots protest Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, August 8 Troubled Kingfisher Airlines cancelled 31 flights today after several of its pilots and engineers went on yet another strike to protest non-payment of salaries. According to Kingfisher Airlines, it cancelled 22 flights from Delhi and nine from Mumbai following the strike by its employees. Pilots and employees said they had decided to stay away from work from midnight today to coincide with the monsoon session of Parliament. "We would like our MPs to know that we have not been paid salaries since February. We want our plight to be known in the corridors of power," Kingfisher Airlines staffers on strike in Mumbai told reporters. Kingfisher's engineers, who joined the pilots in the strike for the first time in Mumbai, said they were facing problems like paying their housing loans and managing their families without regular incomes. "We are depending on loans from family and friends," a protesting engineer said. Vijay Mallya told a newspaper here that he was looking to recapitalise his airline in case the government did not allow foreign direct investment in the aviation sector.
	Industry allays fears on sugar output Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, August 8 As pressure builds up on the Centre to curb sugar exports due to deficient monsoon and rising prices, a worried sugar industry stepped in to assure that the production in 2012-13 will be 25 million tonnes, marginally lower than the current year's output of 26 MT but more than sufficient to take care of the country’s domestic consumption of 20-21 MT. While industry representatives admit that there are concerns of decreased yield due to drought in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, they are certain that good sugarcane output in other areas like Uttar Pradesh will cover up the gap, if any. Poor monsoon and uncertainty over the next year’s crop has sparked off a rally in domestic sugar prices. While ex-mill gate prices in North India have shot up from around Rs 20 a kg to Rs 35 just in the past fortnight over worries of drought impacting the crop in Maharashtra and Karnataka, retail prices are also hovering around Rs 40 to Rs 50 a kg depending upon the quality. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association, however, the increase in prices has nothing to do with the deficit monsoon or decrease in sugarcane productivity.
	J&K Bank net rises Tribune News Service Jammu, August 8 Marching steadily towards its target of Rs 1,000 crore profit by the end of this fiscal, J&K Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 246 crore for the quarter ended June 2012 which rose by 35 per cent year-on-year from Rs 182 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY11-12. The bank’s operating profit increased 31.22 per cent YOY to Rs 415.17 crore during the quarter from Rs 316.38 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year. Mushtaq Ahmad, Chairman and CEO, said, “The bank’s profit and income growth amply proves our consistent performance. Amid conditions where lending strategies have become a crucial aspect of banking business, we have increased our advances and improved yields on the same. All key ratios are showing an upward trend too”, he added. Regarding tourism, the chairman said the bank extends credit facilities to the hospitality industry and other allied sectors of the state. It recently financed two 5-star hotels, one each at Srinagar and Gulmarg, and considerably increased credit exposure in this sector.
	DLF to buy 1,200 acres near Chandigarh Chandigarh, August 8 DLF India is planning big in the region. The realty firm is developing three residential projects - two in Panchkula and one at Mullapur near Chandigarh, where it has already invested Rs 2,000 crore. Talking to mediapersons here today, Ananta Singh Raghuvanshi, director, sales and marketing, DLF India, said though the projects at Panchkula had been delayed, they had a very good response to their project, Hyde Park, at Mullanpur. “We have already acquired 400 acres of land there which will have plotted colonies as well as built-up independent floors. While we have already sold 850 plots here just after the project was launched in March last year, we have launched the premium independent floors called Hyde Park Terraces today,” she said. The company director said they were looking at buying more land here. “We are targeting to buy 1200 acres of land and develop this project in Mullanpur. We have had a very good response, especially from NRIs,” she said. — TNS
	RESULTS Tata Power net surges 11% Mumbai, August 8 Tata Power today reported an 11 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 312.30 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 281.56 crore in the same period of the last financial year. The total income of the company rose 19 per cent to Rs 2,284.10 crore compared to Rs 1,921.24 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal, Tata Power said in a regulatory filing. Tata Power plans to venture into international markets that offers a greater potential for growth. It is actively pursuing opportunities in other countries and hopes to increase its global footprint in the coming years. PFC PFC today reported a 41.63 per cent surge in the net profit to Rs 971.88 crore for three months ended June 30, 2012. The entity had posted a net profit of Rs 686.19 crore in April-June quarter of 2011, PFC said in a regulatory filing. Chambal Fert Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals today posted a 21 per cent jump in the net profit to Rs 77.06 crore for the April-June quarter this year. The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 63.69 crore in the same period last year, Chambal Fertilisers said. GVK Power GVK Power and Infrastructure today reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 64.30 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, largely due to higher outgo on interest payments and tax expenses. This has been the third consecutive quarter in which the Hyderabad-based firm has reported a consolidated net loss. In the previous quarter, ended March 31, 2012, the company had reported a net loss of Rs 20.88 crore. Abbott Abbott India today posted an increase of 72.63 per cent in its net profit at Rs 29.52 crore for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 17.10 crore during the same period of previous year, Abbott India said. The net sales of the company rose to Rs 402.83 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2012 as compared to Rs 351.50 crore during the same period of previous year. — PTI