Mumbai, October 10
India still faced a one-in-three chance of a credit rating downgrade over the next 24 months, Standard & Poor's said, although a series of reform steps launched in September had slightly improved the country's prospects.

S&P's credit rating for India is BBB-, one notch above junk grade and the lowest investment rating in the BRICS grouping of big emerging economies. S&P had lowered India's rating outlook to negative from stable in April.

"A downgrade is likely if the country's economic growth prospects dim, its external position deteriorates, its political climate worsens, or fiscal reforms slow," the ratings agency said in a report dated Tuesday and released on Wednesday.

The spate of initiatives unveiled by India including opening up of the retail and aviation sectors to foreign investors and cutting back fuel subsidies is intended in part to stave off a downgrade, which would hurt investor sentiment and push up overseas borrowing costs for Indian companies.

India does not have any sovereign global bond issues.

S&P analyst Kim Eng Tan said the reform measures had helped in "slightly" revising S&P's view on India's rating.

"Right now we do see the government has taken some actions that we didn't expect initially. To some extent that has helped to revise slightly our views of credit downgrade," Tan told a business news channel.

India's outlook can be revised back to stable, S&P said, if New Delhi moves forward with steps to reduce structural fiscal deficits, improve the investment climate, and increase growth prospects.

The report briefly rattled markets, with bond yields edging higher and the rupee falling before recovering to levels before the release. S&P later said the report is the regular Asia-Pacific sovereign report card and does not contain new information on India's rating. Asia's third-largest economy is growing at its slowest pace in three years, and this week the IMF joined the chorus of those slashing their growth forecasts for India, to 4.9% in 2012 from 6.1% previously.

Last week the government approved bills to attract foreign investment into the insurance and pension sectors in a second set of reforms. — Reuters

New Delhi, October 10
Energy tycoon and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the country's richest man with a personal fortune of US $19.3 billion, says a report.

According to China-based research firm Hurun's inaugural India Rich List, Ambani is followed by the London-based steel baron L N Mittal who has a wealth of $16.9 billion.

Among others in the top 10 are: Wipro's Azim Premji ($12.3 billion), Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceuticals ($ 8.5 bn), Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co ($7.9 bn), Shashi & Ravi Ruia (Essar Energy, $7.2 bn) and Adi Godrej (Godrej Group, $6.9 bn).

The other four who make the list of top 10 billionaires are Kushal Pal Singh (DLF, $6.3 billion), Kumara Mangalam Birla (Grasim Industries, $5.8 billion), Shiv Nadar (HCL Technology, $5.7 billion) and Sunil Mittal (Bharti Airtel, $5.7 billion).

Men dominate the list with just 5 per cent of the list occupied by women.

Among the five richest Indian women, Savitri Jindal has emerged as India's richest woman with a personal fortune of $5.6 billion. She is followed by Indu Jain (Bennett Coleman, $1.7 billion), Anu Aga (Thermax, $690 million), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon, $600 million) and Shobhana Bhartia (Hindustan Times, $490 million ).

"The stories of the people on the Hurun India Rich List tell the story of business in modern India," Hurun Report chairman & chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said, adding that "12 per cent depreciation of rupee against the US dollar negated the appreciation in India's stock markets."

Among the rich whose wealth was adversely affected in 2012 were Mukesh Ambani, L N Mittal, Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia, Kumara Mangalam Birla's flagship company Hindalco and telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal.

Those whose fortunes were on the upswing this year included Azim Premji, Pharma King Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharma), construction tycoon Pallonji Mistry and technology entrepreneur Shiv Nadar (HCL). Interestingly, 62 per cent of the individuals in the Hurun India Rich List are self-made and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the only self-made woman in the list. — PTI

Mumbai, October 10
IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant that was among the first single brand retailers to obtain permission to set up shop in India, is still working on its plans for the country.

“I don’t know at this time, when we’ll be launching in India. I do know we’ll anchor IKEA in India over the coming years,” Juvencio Maeztu, country manager, IKEA Retail India, said at the India Retail Forum 2012 here Thursday.

Revealing some of the company's plans in India, Maeztu said IKEA was looking to set up stores that are really large in size since it sells a lot of things under one roof. “Our concept of everything under one roof demands large stores. We don’t sell products. We sell solution to people’s needs," he said. Maeztu went on to say that the company plans to proceed slowly as part of its long-term approach in India. "We’re not going to open too many stores in a short time," he added.

Insisting that IKEA's products would be affordable Maeztu said the company's focus would be on combining function and design with a low price.

“Design isn’t a good friend of price and many times price is not a good friend of quality. It’s extremely important for us to combine these three things together for our future in India," he added.

Maeztu went on to say that Ikea was committed to sourcing from India and was working on setting up distribution facilities in the country. "We have to do a lot of learning and understanding in India... there are many issues to be resolved," he said.

The global retailer had earlier announced it planned to invest Rs 10,600 crore in India.

New Delhi/Tokyo, Oct 10
Toyota Motor Corp said it would recall more than 7.4 million vehicles worldwide , including 8,700 units of its premium sedans Corolla Altis and Camry in India, as a faulty power window switch was a potential fire hazard, the latest in a series of setbacks that have dented the reputation of Japan's biggest automaker.

The voluntary move is the biggest single recall since Ford pulled 8 million vehicles off the road in 1996 to replace defective ignition switches that could have caused engine fires.

The company will start the exercise in India from next month and will contact the respective customers, check and change the part, if necessary, free of cost, it said, clarifying the trouble was only in the units manufactured till 2008.

Toyota has battled its way back from multiple difficulties since 2008, including a series of recalls involving more than 10 million of its vehicles in 2009-11, and crippled supply chains from last year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand. It posted its biggest quarterly operating profit in four years in April-June.

The firm regained its crown as the world's best-selling automaker in the first half year and expects to sell 9.76 million cars and light trucks globally this year, including the Daihatsu and Hino brands.

More recently, though, Toyota — and other Japanese brands — have seen sales plummet in China, the world's biggest autos market, as a result of protests in a simmering Sino-Japanese territorial dispute. Toyota said on Tuesday that its China sales fell 48.9 percent year-on-year in September. Sales in China account for about 12 percent of its total.

QUICK FIX: The recall, intended to fix a malfunctioning power window switch on the driver's side, primarily affects cars in the United States, China and Europe.

Toyota's main rivals in the United States include Ford and General Motors Co, while in China they include Volkswagen AG, Hyundai Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co Ltd, and in Europe, Hyundai and Nissan.

New Delhi, October 10
India Inc's business confidence for the October-December quarter is witnessing signs of "turnaround" on account of recent reforms push, which has lifted domestic sentiment and renewed foreign investors interest as well, says research firm Dun & Bradstreet.

For the fourth quarter of this calender year, the Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 140.8, registering an increase of 3.4% as compared to the third quarter (July-September) this year.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the optimism for the coming three months still represent a decline of 2.1% compared to corresponding quarter last year, the report said.

"D&B Business Optimism Index for Q4 2012 improved, drawing support from the recent reform measures announced by the government," Dun & Bradstreet India president & CEO Kaushal Sampat said.

Sampat further said the slow pace of reforms along with the eurozone crisis had muted the investment flow in India.

As an immediate impact, the reform announcements have lifted sentiment within the domestic industry and renewed interest of foreign institutional investors in the Indian market.

The index reveals that businesses are now turning optimistic about prospects for sales and profits. The resultant optimism for volume of sales highest in six quarters, while optimism for net profits was highest in five quarters, Dun & Bradstreet said.

"Significant economic and investment cycle challenges persist in the economy. Therefore, revival of economic growth prospects is reliant on sharp pick-up in investment activity, corrective fiscal consolidation measures and continued momentum in reforms," Sampat added. — PTI