India to increase its energy efficiency by 20%

India today said that in the 11th five-year plan period it intends to increase its energy efficiency by another 20%. "In the past decade or so, India has been able to deliver eight to nine per cent growth in our economy with energy use growing about 5-3.7%," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran told a group of Indian reporters here. "India has energy conservation act in place which has identified nine energy intensive sectors," he said after the two-day meeting of Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department here. "In a sense the energy efficiency of our growth has been coming down and the reason for this is that the real prices of energy in India are some of the highest in the world. If you look at energy pricing in India in the context our GDP, in the context of per capita income, you will see that the energy prices in India are very high," he said. "This is what has spurred a great deal of effort in energy efficiency. The energy intensity of our growth has been going down, which also means that the carbon intensity of our growth is going down," he said. Saran said the Indian Government has set mandatory energy audits, has mandated energy standards, and also have energy conservation building code. "We gave a sense of how we are going about improving our energy efficiency," he said.

US economy's free-fall probably eased in first quarter

The recession's grip on US may be letting up a bit. The government is set to release a report on Wednesday expected to show the economy shrank at a pace of 5 per cent in the first three months of this year. If Wall Street analysts' forecasts' are correct, the figure — while still extremely weak — would be viewed as a hopeful sign that the worst of the recession — in terms of lost economic activity — may be past. "The recession is easing up," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia. "We're probably bottoming out here in the first half of this year." The economy in the final three months of last year logged its worst downhill slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent annual rate as nervous American consumers ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs. The less steep decline in economic activity anticipated by analysts in the January-March quarter is based on the expectation that shoppers at home and abroad didn't pull back quite as much at the start of this year. Consumer spending, which accounts for roughly 70 percent of national economic activity, is still expected to be negative. But it will probably log a small dip versus the big 4.3 percent annualized decline seen in the final three months of 2008. The same rationale would hold for sales of U.S. exports, which have been crimped as economic troubles in other countries force foreign buyers to be cautious. Many analysts predict the economy will shrink even less in the current April-June period — at a pace of 1 to 2.5 percent. Tax cuts and increased government spending on big public works projects included in President Barack Obama's $787 billion should help bolster economic activity. Analysts hope the economy will actually start to grow again in the final quarter of this year. However, the recent outbreak of the swine flu, which started out in Mexico and has spread to the United States and elsewhere, poses a new potential danger. If the flu stifles trade and forces consumers to cut back further, those negative forces would worsen the recession. Moving to contain the threat, the White House asked Congress for $1.5 billion to fight a swine flu outbreak. President Barack Obama sent a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday, asking them for a supplemental spending plan to build drug stockpiles and monitor future cases. Before the flu outbreak, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end this year if the government succeeds in stabilizing the shaky financial system and getting banks to lend again. To combat the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to a record low near zero and rolled out a string of radical programs to spur lending. The Fed at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday is expected to keep its key rate near zero. Besides the $787 billion stimulus, the administration is counting on its efforts to rescue banks and curb home foreclosures to turn the economy around. Bernanke and his colleagues have cited "tentative signs" of the recession easing in some consumer spending, home building and other reports. Finance officials from the U.S. and other top economic powers meeting here last week also saw some hopeful signs for the global economy. Fresh glimmers of hope emerged in the U.S. Tuesday. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose far more than expected in April, jumping more than 12 points to 39.2, the highest level since November. And a housing index showed that home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 25 months the decline was not a record. Even if the recession were to end this year, the economy will remain feeble and unemployment will keep climbing. The jobless rate is now at a quarter-century high of 8.5 percent and is expected to hit 10 percent by the end of this year. It will probably rise a bit higher in early 2010 before starting to slowly drift downward. Still, the Fed predicts unemployment will stay elevated into 2011, and economists don't think it will return to normal — around a 5 percent jobless rate — until 2013. More layoffs were announced this week. General Motors Corp. laid out a massive restructuring plan that includes cutting 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. Bearings and specialty steels maker Timken Co. indicated it will cut about 4,000 more jobs by the end of this year after earlier suggesting about 3,000 jobs already had been targeted. Elsewhere, construction equipment maker Bobcat Co. told nearly 250 workers at its two North Dakota plants they will be laid off indefinitely, executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. announced plans to cut more jobs and reduce bonuses and salaries, and Lockheed Martin Corp. said it's cutting 225 jobs at a plant in upstate New York.

$100 bn dose may revive IT industry in Q3: experts

Information Technology (IT) industry is likely to bounce back by the third quarter of the current fiscal. The industry has already started showing some positive outlook. The growth will be driven by power, media, utilities and especially health care, according to industry representatives. They added, global health care industry alone has the potential to give business worth over $100 billion (around Rs 500,000 crore) to Indian IT companies. In his special address at Emerge Out Conclave 2008, organised by NASSCOM, which was inaugurated today at Chennai, Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM said that the current down was manmade crisis and will not long last. The industry did not witness any negative growth for the last 40 years and was witnessing, especially in the last 15 years, only positive growth. The industry was not prepared to face the sudden crisis. Customers are not questioning about competitiveness about the Indian IT industry and still they are ready to invest in IT. If the industry going to continue it’s focus on the existing market and customers growth would be only 50 per cent. Whereas the untapped market will help the industry do triple the growth of the industry, which is estimated to be $500 billion and can grow upto $1.2 trillion over the next five years. R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, Cognizant said that companies, especially SMEs, should focus on health care sector, which is recession proof. He noted between 2003 and 2008 world-wide health care spending was around $4.1 trillion to $4.8 trillion. The US alone had spent 15 per cent of its GDP on the health care and planning to increase it to 40-50 per cent in 25-30 years. As the US government has made mandate that all the medical records should me maintained electronically the amount expected to conversion and maintain the record is around $20 billion (around Rs 100,000 crore) in US alone. Similarly, UK and Canada are planning to spend $30 billion (around Rs 150,000 crore) each all these are good opportunity for the Indian IT firms. Increase usage of web, data warehouse, analysis and self portal in the health care sector will create more opportunity for Indian IT industry. Comment on opportunity for Indian BPO companies in health care, Chandrasekaran said, of total spent on health care of $4.5-$4.8 trillion, 14 per cent was towards administration, which is in the tune of around $60 billion (around Rs 300,000 crore) to $70 billion (around Rs 350,000 crore) for billing, transcription and remote diagnostics. In health sector, Indian IT companies got opportunities on adminstartion outsourcing, remote medical diagnostics, drug research and clinical trial, said Chandrasekaran.

Sterlite to match rival bid for Asarco, to seal deal in 4 mths

NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Sterlite Industries will compete with any rival bidder to buyout America's third-largest copper producer Asarco, for which it has already offered $1.7 billion, and said it sees the deal getting sealed in the next 3-4 months. "...There always can be a competing bid and if that happens we have a right to match it," Vedanta Resources Deputy Executive Chairman Navin Agarwal said during an analyst conference. Asarco's parent firm Grupo Mexico has offered USD 1.3 billion in cash, rivaling Sterlite's USD 1.7-billion bid, which has a cash component of $1.1 billion, to gain control of the bankrupt copper miner A US bankruptcy court had last week approved Sterlite's revised buyout pact with Asarco. Sterlite now expects the deal to be sealed in the next four months. "...As a first step towards completion of the transaction , the bankruptcy court has approved the revised agreement and has certain bid protection measures like break-up fee. We think it will take another three to four months to complete the transaction, subject to court approval," he said. Agarwal said Sterlite Industries "continues to remain excited" at the opportunity of buying Asarco.Barely a month after Sterlite Industries signed a buyout pact with Asarco for $1.7 billion, rival Grupo Mexico came up with a counter offer of $1.3 billion in cash to retrieve its ailing unit out of bankruptcy and pay back the creditors. The creditors will have to approve one of the bids for Asarco so that the court can take a final call on the matter. Sterlite, the Indian subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources, has been negotiating the Asarco deal since last year. It had initially offered $2.6 billion for buying the assets of the ailing company, which has been bankrupt for over four years now. However, with the devaluation of mining assets and falling copper prices amid the global economic downturn, Sterlite last year revised the bid downwards to $2.1 billion, which was later revised to $1.7 billion. Sterlite is looking to acquire Asarco's three open-pit copper mines and associated mills and SX-EW in Arizona; a copper smelter in Arizona; a copper refinery, rod and cake plants; and a precious metals plant in Texas. Asarco, formerly known as American Smelting and Refining Company, is a 110-year-old firm, which sold 2.37 lakh tonnes of refined copper last year. The company's mines currently have an estimated copper reserves of 5 million tonnes.

Pvt banks may be exempted from new FDI guidelines

Private sector banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Vysya Bank may be kept outside the purview of the new FDI guidelines, with the Government addressing the RBI's concerns on the change of their status from 'resident' to 'foreign' if the norms are implemented. "There is a probability that we will exempt these banks from the guidelines on the lines of the exemptions in the insurance sector," an official said. With the changes in the FDI guidelines by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, through a string of 'Press notes' in February, several private sector banks found that their status would change from 'resident' to 'non-resident'. This was so because the total FDI will take into account the stakes held by Non-Resident Indians, American and global depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds and convertible preference shares. Raising the issue with the Finance Ministry and DIPP, the RBI pointed out that as per the revised policy, foreign investment in all these banks would exceed 50% in the new policy regime and they will be treated as non-resident entities.

Unitech to tweak luxury housing project into township

Under weakening property market conditions, realty major Unitech has been forced to develop its Rs 15,000 crore worth high-end luxury housing project in Noida as an integrated township, aiming to boost sales. Unitech had launched 'Unitech Grande' project in Noida in July 2007 on a 340 acre plot that it had won in May 2006 by outbidding bigger rival DLF for whopping Rs 1,582 crore. Earlier, the company had planned to build 5,300 flats targeting high-net worth individuals and NRIs for the ultra luxurious project. But, the buyers for the high-end products have vanished from the property market, which is going through a slowdown, forcing builders to change their product mix. "We are re-designing our Grande project in Noida and will re-launch the project as an integrated townships comprising high-rise apartments, bungalows, villas and developed plots," a Unitech spokesperson said. The spokesperson said that the company would develop 300 apartments that it has sold in Grande. "These apartments will be developed as per the original plan and will not be affected by the re-orientation of the project. Though these buyers will also be given an option to switch to new format". Unitech, the country's second-largest realty firm, has launched the plots in the township at Rs 51,000 per sq yard. While launching the project, Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra had said the investment will be about Rs 6,000 crore and estimated revenue from this project over the next seven years would be about Rs 15,000 crore. Unitech's decision to redesign its Noida project came in the wake of huge response it received from the buyers for its recent affordable housing projects in Gurgaon and Chennai. In the last one and half months, Unitech has sold 750 flats priced at Rs 28-40 lakh in Gurgaon and 500 units in Chennai offered between Rs 19 and Rs 35 lakh. Unitech, which has recently raised over Rs 1,600 crore through private placements, plans to launch more than 40 projects across the country in the current fiscal, most of it would be affordable housing projects. It would largely utilise the funds raised to develop its projects. This would help Unitech in improving the cash flow of the company and meet debt obligations of Rs 8,400 crore. In a presentation to the investors, Unitech has recently said that it has commenced launch of projects priced below Rs 20 lakh and plans to offer products priced below Rs 10 lakh. As per the presentation, the company plans to offer housing units at affordable prices by cutting down sizes and also working under reduced margins. "Unitech has a large, low-cost and well diversified land bank which is sufficient to meet its development plans for the next 7-8 years," the company said, adding it would not acquire further land bank except for "extremely attractive opportunities". The Gurgaon-based company has a land bank of about 700 million sq ft.

RIL gets highest number of trademarks in 2008

Reliance Industries, India's most-valued firm, has got the maximum number of trademarks in the financial year 2007-08, while FMCG major HUL received the highest number of patents in the same period, industry body CII has said. RIL was granted 816 trademarks during the fiscal, whereas Hindustan Unilever Ltd, part of UK-based fast moving consumer goods major Unilever, got 311 patents in the same period. The two firms and several others in different categories, got felicitations from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for their outstanding contribution in the field of IPR during a programme organised by the industry body along with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, to mark the World Intellectual Property Day, which falls on April 26. "CII has started award ceremony for the first time this year to recognise the contribution in IPR related activities," Anjan Das, head of Technology, Innovation & IPR centres said. Drugs packaging firm Bilcare also got felicitation for its contribution in the design protection category. The World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated each year on Aril 26 by the Geneva-based UN agency World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its member states, which aims to encourage IPR awareness among the general public.

FIIs back to play on Dalal Street

Mirroring the changed outlook for Indian equities, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have enhanced their grip by increasing their stakes in 157 companies in the January-March quarter. Companies which saw FIIs significantly raising their stakes include Onmobile Global (9.31% stake rise), followed by Uttam Galva Steels (8.82%), IVRCL Infra (5.51%), Maruti Suzuki (4.97%), GMR Industries (4.48%), Austral Coke (3.95%), Nelco (3.8%), IRB Infra (3.32%), Balasore Alloys (3.28%), AmtekAuto (3.25%). Others such as Mindtree (3.01%), Grasim (2.54%), Hero Honda (2.33%) and Unitech (2.28%) also witnessed FII hike their holdings in the three months of last fiscal, according to CMIE data. Also, FIIs have pumped in Rs 4,328 crore in the capital markets so far in April, the highest monthly infusion this year. They have made a gross purchase of equities worth Rs 32,499 crore in April, while they sold shares valuing Rs 28,170 crore, resulting in a net investment of Rs 4,328 crore, according to data available with the Sebi. Marketmen said the inflow of foreign funds into domestic equity market will continue in the near term as the global economic situation seems to be somewhat stabilising. "FIIs would continue investing in the Indian market till they hear some bad news from their home market. As of now the economy there is somewhat stabilising and FIIs would continue their investments here in India," SMC Global V-P Rajesh Jain said. "What will matter most towards the end of 2009-10 will be the outlook for 2010-11, when we expect the economy to grow 8% and corporate earnings to increase close to trend levels of 10-12%. We doubt if this has been priced in, and believe the markets may be pleasantly surprised towards the end of 2009," an HSBC economist said. In early April, Goldman Sachs raised India's stock rating to 'market weight', the first upgrade, since it was rated 'underweight' in January 2008. "We are raising our long-standing underweight stance on India to market weight, because we believe that India's investment merits relative to other regional alternatives have improved," a Goldman Sachs analyst said. FIIs have pumped in more than Rs 4,000 crore into the stock markets in the last 13 trading days of the new fiscal. FIIs are particularly buying now when pessimism is maximum as they expect to reap benefits when the economy gains strength later, marketmen added. However, the foreign investors shed their stakes in 463 out the 869 firms (that FII exposure at the end of October-December 2008 quarter) with stocks across sectors getting offloaded in the January-March quarter. While FIIs reduced holdings in scam-tainted Satyam by 29.15%, others such as Ansal Housing (-17.91%), MALCO (-11.2%), ICSA (-8.46%), Patni Computers (-8.38%), Indian Overseas Bank (-8.22%), Financial Technologies (-7.85%), Aban Offshore (-7.64%), Gateway Distriparks (-7.01%), NIIT (-6.78%), S Kumars Nationwide (-6.45%), Bharat Bijlee (-6.12%) and Pyramid Saimira (-5.94%) were amongst the prominent names which figured on the list where the investors pared stakes.

JP Associates Q4 profit at Rs3.85bn

JP Associates Q4 profit at Rs3.85bn versus Rs2.1bn. The company posted net sales of Rs20.84bn against Rs12.bn. Other income was at Rs429mn and EPS was at Rs3.01 against Rs1.84. Operating margin was at 28.9% against 27.2%. JP Associates expects FY10 revenue of Rs110bn and cement sales of 14mn metric tons versus 8.7mn metric tons in FY09.

RBI offers Rs 60,000 cr at special repo

The Reserve Bank of India said it would conduct a special repo auction for Rs 60,000 crore. The reversal of the auction will be on May 11, it said in a statement. The special repo facility was introduced on Oct. 14, offering Rs 20,000 crore to meet liquidity needs of mutual funds. The central bank later increased the facility to Rs 60,000 crore to include liquidity needs of non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies and has said it would be held every day till Sept. 30, 2009. At its policy review on April 21, the central bank said the auction will be conducted every Monday till March 2010.

Nifty rallies on strong global cues, 3525 eyed

Markets began on a dull note mirroring subdued Asian stocks and remained in a narrow range till afternoon. Mid and small cap stocks tried to catch-up with the frontliners after lying low in the previous trade. There was stock specific action in companies that announced quarterly earnings. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 3480.75, up 57.05 points or 1.67 per cent from the previous close. The broader index touched high of 3491.35 and low of 3402.90 Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 11,329.05, up 194.06 points or 1.74 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 11362.88 and low of 11070.33. “As long as overseas cues remain positive, Nifty is likely to touch 3525 levels on Monday. Some more short covering is also expected next week ahead of F&O expiry,” said Vijay Bhambwani, CEO, BSPLindia.com. All the sectoral indices ended in green. The Bankex gained 2.77%, BSE Capital Goods moved up 2.32% and BSE Capital Goods Index advanced 2.04%. BSE Midcap Index outperformed the Sensex ending 1.86 per cent higher while BSE Smallcap Index closed up 1.71 per cent. M&M (6.09%), Bharti Airtel (5.91%), Grasim (5.82%), Axis Bank (5.49%) and Suzlon Energy (5.02%) were the top Nifty gainers. HCL Technologies (-5.30%), Ambuja Cement (-2.24%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-2.22%), ABB (-1.53%) and Unitech (-1.19%) capped the index gains. Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1536 advances and 970 declines. Results impact: Maruti Suzuki India reported 18.5 per cent drop in quarterly net profit, missing the forecast, due to higher raw material costs and inventory. Maruti’s net profit rose to Rs 2.43 billion in the fourth quarter ended March from Rs 2.98 billion reported in the same period year earlier. The stock ended flat at Rs 802.25 on the BSE. Ranbaxy Laboratories’ Q1 standalone net sales was down at Rs 802.22 crore against Rs 987.29 crore in the same period a year ago. Standalone net loss was at Rs 777.78 crore against net profit of Rs 103.42 crore during the same period previous year. The share closed 2.42 per cent lower. Cipla’s Q4 standalone net profit was up 40.89 per cent at Rs 252.9 crore from Rs 179.5 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Standalone net sales was up10.08%, to Rs 1,235.2 crore from Rs 1,122.1 crore. The scrip closed 3.59 per cent higher.

I will revive economy in 100 days: PM

"There is considerable scope to refuel the stimulus packages and our aim is to take the economy back to the stage where 9% to 10% growth is possible," he said, adding that such a boost would revive confidence in the economy. Singh was hopeful of a quick economic recovery and creation of new jobs. He said that the recovery process was being led by cement, textiles and construction industries and these sectors would also create employment opportunities. Singh has also added a new priority to his 100-day "to-do" list ^ bringing back black money salted away in tax havens abroad by taking whatever steps required. He, however, disputed figures being quoted by BJP leader L K Advani: "I am not denying its existence but how much in Swiss banks, how much in tax havens, nobody knows." On opaque banks in tax havens, he said, "We argued within a group of friendly countries for absolute transparency within the banking system and an international agreement to share information between tax authorities of different countries." The PM has pointed to India's unstable neighbourhood along with home-grown terror and said that given the international ramifications, his government would urgently modernize the security and intelligence mechanism if voted back to power. He drew attention to the Taliban's expansion in Pakistan and linked it to a spurt in terror directed against India. On the role of home-grown terror, he said, "We cannot say there are no links between terrorists outside and terrorists within the country." He laid emphasis on getting the basics like ground-level policing right. "Ultimately, community policing is the best way (of handling the problem)," he said. Insisting only a Congress-led government would be up to the task of meeting the challenges, he recalled the perils posed by a government that lacked solid moorings by referring to the mortgaging of gold reserves by the short-lived Chandra Shekhar government and the success of the Congress government .

G7 signals worst of world recession may be over

Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers said after a meeting that economic activity should begin to recover later this year. However, they said the outlook remained weak and there was a risk that the global economy may still worsen. "We are right to be somewhat encouraged, but we would be wrong to conclude that we are close to emerging from the darkness that descended on the global economy early last fall," US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement. It was a less dire assessment than the G7 finance officials delivered at their last gathering in February, when they warned that the severe downturn would persist through most of 2009 and made no mention of promising signs of stability. "Recent data suggest that the pace of decline in our economies has slowed and some signs of stabilization are emerging," the G7 said in a closing communique. "We will continue to act, as needed, to restore lending, provide liquidity support, inject capital into financial institutions, protect savings and deposits and address impaired assets. We reaffirm our commitment to take all necessary actions to ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions," the statement said. Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said "signs of stabilization" was "an expression with a question mark."

US cotton industry concerned over Indian subsidy

The US cotton industry has expressed its concern over subsidies being provided by the Indian government to its cotton growing farmers, alleging it is in violation of WTO norms. Testifying before the US International Trade Commission hearing on "India: Effects of Tariffs and Non-Tariff Measures on US Agricultural Experts", the National Cotton Council -- the central organisation of the US cotton industry -- has sought the administration's help in this regard. "The lack of transparency in the operation and scope of India's subsidy programme is a major impediment to trade. Despite India's membership in the WTO, it has repeatedly failed to notify its support levels to WTO," Gary Adams, of the National Cotton Council, said. The special hearing was convened by the US International Trade Commission at the direction of the US Senate Committee on Finance in this regard. Adams urged the US government that it should continue to press India to make these submissions. "The export subsidy (to cotton farmers) programme will support India's internal prices while artificially increasing its competitiveness in world market," he argued.

Satyam needs govt support in its bid for PSU projects: report

Satyam Computer Services will continue to ask the government to support its bids for PSU projects, according to a report. The firm will continue to request the government to ask PSUs to waive the criteria seeking financial information in its tenders where Satyam is participating. The report stated that the company had earlier sought similar government intervention in PSU tenders, such as those of BSNL, ISRO, HUDCO and Vizag Steel Plant.