Mumbai, January 18
Reliance Industries, India's biggest company by market value, posted its first profit increase after four quarters of declining returns, buoyed by stronger oil refining margins.

The company beat street estimates on Friday by posting a profit after tax of Rs Rs 5502 crore for the third quarter, a 24% rise in profit over the same quarter last year. The company reported Q3 sales at Rs 93,886 crore.

Aaverage gross refining margin stood at $9.6 per barrel for Q3, compared to $6.8 in the same period last year.

Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex in Jamnagar, was expected to post a net profit of Rs 51.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Exports for Q3 grew by 16.6% to Rs 66,915 cr quarter-on-quarter. Cash profit rose 2% to Rs 7,938 cr QoQ.

Reliance has looked to widen beyond its core energy business in recent years, and has outlined a big drive into consumer-focused sectors such as telecoms, retail, and financial services.

Commenting on the results, Reliance Industries chairman & MD Mukesh Ambani said: "RIL's performance has improved in this quarter with margin expansion in petrochemicals and record earnings in the refining business. We are investing over Rs 100,000 crore by expanding our petrochemical capacities and adding value to our refining business."

"These investments will secure a significant change in RIL's earning capacity on commissioning of these projects. It will also provide employment opportunity for thousands of young Indians and support India's economic growth," he added.

Tweeting on the results, Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital said, "The RIL results were way above market consensus...should be positive for the stock." SMC Capitals equity head Jagannadham Thunuguntla said: "After a long time RIL has surprised markets with extreme set of numbers. Its just a matter of time, I see the stock is heading towards four digit mark."

Ahead of the results, RIL shares closed at Rs 900.00, up 1.02% on the BSE.

RIL is expected to outperform the benchmark indices in 2013. According to analysts at top brokerage firms, the era of underperformance of the oil & gas major seems to have ended.

Nomura sees over 15% upside in RIL from current levels to Rs 1,000 citing an improvement in exploration and production sentiments and more positive decisions would revive E&P investment. Another leading brokerage firm, CLSA has also raised RIL’s price target to Rs 930 with 'outperform' rating.

Relative to the BSE Sensex, Reliance had underperformed by 22% in FY10, 12% in FY11 and 20% in FY12. But in FY13 YTD, Reliance has gained 14% and has performed in line with the markets. — Agencies

Chandigarh, January 18
Allowing private investments in infrastructure has resulted in a significant improvement in projects like roads. However, the government has not been able to provide funds for vital public services like healthcare and education, among other areas. This imbalance has led to nonuniform development in the overall perspective.

These views were expressed by Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Subir Gokarn while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day national seminar on “Issues in State Finances in India” at the Centre for Research in Rural & Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh on Friday.

Gokarn said the country’s fiscal health had improved “slightly” since 2008 due to fiscal discipline. “At the moment revenue income (from own resources) is not out of sync with the capital component (based on loans and borrowings) based on better application and better management”, he noted.

He said there was a need to closely monitor the outcome of public expenditure. “In very simple terms, an effective pricing and cost recovery of the services needed a transparency in the system”, he added.

The keynote speaker, Prof D.K. Srivastava, former director of the Madras School of Economics, delved into the issue of management of state finances and argued it became qualitatively different after major changes in the ground rules in the previous decade.

In his presidential remarks, Prof S.S. Johl, chancellor, Central University of Panjab, Bathinda, suggested quality and efficiency of public expenditure should be improved, adding the willingness of state governments with respect to expenditure was important. He urged researchers to carry out impact analysis to provide a better picture from the micro point of view for managing fiscal issues in the states.

In the first technical session exclusively on Haryana, Prof Surinder Kumar examined the management of government finances over the last one decade in relation to their socioeconomic objectives and priorities vis-a-vis social welfare. Prof N.K. Bishnoi from the Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar, said despite regional disparities rising rapidly, the government’s attitude towards the situation remained “apathetic.

Bangalore/Mumbai, Jan 18
India's No.3 software services provider, Wipro Ltd, said Friday it had met the revenue forecast for the third quarter (Oct-Dec 2012) and projected a marginally better growth for its IT services business for the fourth quarter.

Net profit stood at Rs 1,716 crore in Q3, up 18% year-on-year and a 6.5% rise sequentially. Total revenues rose 10% YoY and 3% sequentially to Rs 11,025 crore. The IT services business grew 4.8% YoY and 2.4% sequentially and accounted for 78% of total revenues and 92% of operating income.

Wipro’s less-than-perfect score on its quarterly earnings report card threw a measure of doubt over the sector's near-term outlook, with new projects and contracts still elusive. Since a week ago, better-than-expected results from Infosys Ltd, TCS and HCL Technologies Ltd sparked a 13% rally in the sector subindex that grinded to a halt on Friday.

While Wipro did join its domestic rivals in topping profit forecasts, investors punished its shares after its core services business lagged expectations and revenue guidance for the current quarter was subdued.

"Put together, they do not necessarily indicate a material improvement from an end-demand perspective," said Kuldeep Koul, an analyst at ICICI Securities in Mumbai. — Reuters

Mumbai, January 18
India's biggest cigarette maker, ITC Ltd, beat estimates with a 21 per cent spurt in quarterly profit as cigarette volumes improved after four quarters of stagnant growth, aided by the launch of low-cost products during the quarter.

Net profit for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2012 rose to Rs 2,052 crore against Rs 1,701 crore during the same period last year. Net sales rose 23% to Rs 7,627 crore. On a sequential basis, profits increased 12% from Rs 1,836 crore during the quarter ended Sept 30, 2012.

ITC, which is 30.8% owned by British American Tobacco PLC, generates about half its revenue from cigarettes.

The company also owns hotels and makes products including soap and shampoo. It said net sales from its non-cigarette consumer business grew 30% to Rs 17.8 billion.

Higher taxes and tighter anti-smoking regulations in several states have impacted ITC’s sales. — Reuters

Tokyo, January 18
Decades of deep business ties between Boeing Co and Japan and the thousands of jobs that depend on them mean Japan will likely keep rewarding US. manufacturers with the bulk of its aviation spending.

Boeing's 80 percent share of commercial airline sales in Japan is unrivalled. In every other major market, including the United States, the U.S. planemaker's share is around half, with the rest going to European rival Airbus.

The health of Japan's aerospace industry — dismantled by the United States after Tokyo's defeat in World War II — has long been intertwined with the fortunes of Boeing's commercial jetliners and the 787 Dreamliner in particular.

The Dreamliner, grounded globally this week after a series of mishaps including an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways (9202.T) domestic flight, is around one third made-in-Japan.

"If you've been driving on the right, you don't want to shift to the left," said an aerospace industry official in Japan who didn't want to be named due to the issue's sensitivity. He said that, unless it became really serious, the 787's problems were unlikely to decouple Japan from Boeing.

BOEING'S BEST CUSTOMERS: Flag carrier Japan Airlines Co Ltd has never bought an Airbus plane, and ANA was the first to fly the 787. ANA was also a launch customer for Boeing's 777 jet aircraft. — Reuters

‘Boeing IS liable to compensate Air India’

Boeing Co is liable to compensate state-run Air India for the grounding of 787 Dreamliner passenger jets on safety issues, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters on Friday. The lightweight, mainly carbon-composite aircraft has been plagued by mishaps, raising concerns over its use of lithium-ion batteries and forcing many airlines across the globe to ground them.

Chandigarh, January 18
The yarn spinning industry in Punjab has got a Chinese boost. With India’s main trade rival buying yarn in huge quantities from yarn manufacturers in Punjab, spinning mills in the state have managed to come out of the red.

Because of slow domestic demand for yarn, the past few years had been particularly bad for the state’s spinning units. The mills were working at just 50-60% of capacity. However, with the sudden spurt in yarn imports by Chinese garment manufacturers, these mills have again started making profits.

Sources close to the spinning industry said Chinese yarn imports from Punjab have risen substantially over the past one year. “Initially China was importing cotton from India and then processing it into yarn for its garments industry. But since the past one year China has been importing yarn from India. Of the total yarn made in Punjab (having spindlage capacity of 1.5 million), almost 60% is now exported to China”, said H.S. Cheema, MD of Cheema Spintex.

It is not only Punjab — yarn exports from India have almost doubled, giving relief to spinning mills. It is learnt that as against yarn exports of $ 392 million from India to China in 2011, imports went up to $ 797 million in 2012.

Rajneesh Bhatia, COO of the yarn division of Barnala-based Trident group, said with Turkey too lifting sanctions against Indian yarn imports and third world countries like Yemen, Sufdan, Tunisia and Senegal importing yarn in a big way, yarn manufacturers can hope for making good profits and getting good prices.

In fact, because of this increase in demand of yarn by Chinese traders, the prices of yarn too have shown a gradual rise. Last year prices of 30 comb yarn hit a low of Rs 180 per kg and have now risen to Rs 210/kg in Ludhiana.

BRIEFLY

IndianOil art show opens

The 19th edition of the IndianOil Art Exhibition was formally inaugurated by IOC marketing director M. Nene in Mumbai on Friday. The exhibition showcases the works of 48 artists, including painters and sculptors, in diverse media.