New Delhi, October 12
Industrial activity improved a bit in August to grow at 2.7 per cent though analysts said it was aided by a low base. All eyes are now on the RBI to see if it delivers a rate cut to further boost momentum.

Industrial production grew by 2.7% in August, surprising on the positive side and reversing the contraction in the last two months. Though the trend seems to have stabilized it is early to call it a recovery, although recent government reforms have improved business sentiment and expectations are that the IIP figure will improve in the coming months.

Bhupali Gursale, economist at Angel Broking, said although growth in industrial production by 2.7% in August had surprised on the positive side, it could be attributed mainly to a low base effect.

On a cumulative basis in the April- August 2012 period, the index has reported subdued growth of 0.4% as compared to growth of 5.6% during April-August 2011.

Analysts expect industrial activity to improve in the coming months. A report by Edelweiss Financial Services said that on a trend basis the downward drift in activity since the beginning of the fiscal year seems to be stabilizing. This holds true for capital goods as well as consumer goods, both of which improved sequentially.

“Going ahead, we expect IIP data to be better than previous months triggered by stabilization in sequential momentum, improvement in PMI new orders and favourable base effect, although the level of industrial activity will still remain weak given the lag impact of monetary tightening and weak external demand”, Edelweiss said.

Industry said the performance was disappointing. Commenting on the IIP figures, CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said what is of serious concern is the sharp drop in electricity production even as the manufacturing sector continues to stagnate due to faltering investments. The weak industrial performance comes close on the heels of a lackluster performance of the core sector that showed a meagre growth of 2.1% in August.

FICCI president R.V. Kanoria said growth had hopefully bottomed out in July as there was some upturn in mining and manufacturing sector in August. “Recent government initiatives have resulted in improved policy framework for business and it’s possible to achieve higher industrial growth by keeping up the reform momentum”, he added.

Bangalore/Mumbai, Oct 12
Software services provider Infosys again disappointed investors hoping for a more robust growth outlook, undermining its standing as the country's information technology bellwether and sending its shares down by almost 9%.

The company reported weaker-than-expected operating margins for the quarter ended Sept 30, adding to pressure to revive its business as the company loses market share to local rivals including TCS.

However, Infosys CEO S.D. Shibulal said the firm’s results for the quarter ending on Sept 30 had shown the execution of its business plan had started yielding results.

Infosys’s net profit for the quarter was Rs 2,369 crore – over 24% more than the net profit posted in the same quarter in fiscal 2011-12. Sequentially net profit rose 3.5%. Total revenues of Rs 9,858 during the quarter showed a YoY growth of 21.7 % and sequential growth of 2.5%.

In dollar terms Infosys’s net profit for the period (431 million) rose 4.9% YoY and 3.6% sequentially. Earnings per domestic share was Rs 41.46 for the quarter showing a year-on-year growth of 24.3%. The company also announced an interim dividend of Rs 15 per share.

The company that once symbolized India's rise as an outsourcing powerhouse has delivered a series of disappointing growth targets since January as its internal reorganization to better compete with the likes of Accenture PLC takes longer than hoped.

"It's a case of escape to a new orbit or stall and fall, and at the moment they are stalling, but that doesn't mean the story is over," said P. Phani Sekhar, a fund manager at Angel Broking in Mumbai, which owns Infosys stock.

Infosys expects revenue of at least $7.34 billion, or growth of 5%, for the year ending March, the company said Friday, unchanged from its previous outlook. That excludes any additional revenue from its acquisition of Swiss consultancy Lodestone.

Analysts had predicted Infosys would raise its revenue growth forecast to around 6% after it agreed last month to buy Lodestone, the firm's biggest overseas acquisition.

Long-time chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan has been seen as a potential successor, and on Friday, the company said Balakrishnan would give up his CFO position from October 31 to head the company's business process outsourcing unit, banking product unit and India business unit.

Mumbai, October 12
The Securities & Exchange Board of India is examining the modalities of annulling stock transactions following market crashes caused by "freak trades".

Addressing a conference on capital markets organized by FICCI, SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha said the regulator was concerned about the freak trade on the NSE last week by broker Emkay, which caused the Nifty index to crash sharply.

"We’ll work on a policy on trade annulment. It’ll take some time. We want to be very cautious in whatever structures we come out with," he said. He added the process would entail indepth review of existing systems. "We’ve already set up a group, which is looking at various aspects.....We’ll do wide consultations, stress testing and scenario building," he noted.

Sinha said such 'freak trades' happen in other parts of the world as well. "When there are freak instances of things not going right SEBI

looks into it," he added. The regulator has roped in experts to probe the freak trade of Rs 650 crore by a lone employee at the brokerage which caused the fall.

Sinha added the regulator's Risk Management System set up in 2000 had withstood the test of time. "We don’t want to tinker with it in a hurry," he told reporters when questioned about how fast SEBI would put fresh systems in place.

Cupertino, Calif., Oct 12
Apple Inc is expected to take the wraps off its highly anticipated mini iPad at an Oct 23 invitation-only event, reported tech blog AllThingsD on Friday, citing sources familiar with the company. The event would come before Microsoft Corp unveils its latest operating system, Windows 8, and its new Surface tablet on Oct 26.

An Apple spokesman did not immediately respond for comment. Speculation has been swirling for months that Apple was planning a smaller, less expensive version of its popular iPad to take on cheaper competing devices.

Earlier this week it was reported Apple has placed an order for 10 million units of the iPad Mini with component suppliers in Asia in Q4. According to suppliers, that is roughly double the order that were placed for Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets in the same quarter.

Meanwhile, a US appeals court Thursday lifted a sales ban on Google-branded Samsung smartphones in a patent fight with Apple,— Reuters

Mumbai, October 12
Traditional kirana (mom & pop) store owners who are embracing modern retailing methods are growing faster than corporate retail chains in the Indian market, says a report on retailing presented at the India Retail Forum that concluded here Thursday.

According to the report, kirana shops which adopted modern methods of retailing turned profitable much faster than the bigger players in the past two years. Researchers who prepared the report said discussions with cash and carry operators, distributors of FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), personal care and pharma companies and other players indicated that as many as 57,000 local retailers transformed into modern retailers in the past two years.

Analysts say this trend is expected to increase in the coming years as corporate retailers entrench themselves in the Indian market. Modern retail as a whole was estimated at Rs 223,572 crore in 2012, an annual jump of 26.8% for the past two years. However it still accounted for 7.8% of the total retail market.

According to the study, modern retail is expected to grow at the rate of 29.7% every year to touch Rs 487,423 crore by 2015.