Walchandnagar Industries allots equity shares

Walchandnagar Industries allots 3769310 equity shares

Walchandnagar Industries Ltd has announced that the Allotment Committee of Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on July 29, 2008 has issued and allotted 30,00,000 (Thirty Lakhs) equity shares of Rs 2/- each (including 15,00,000 Bonus equity shares) to M/s. Rodin Holdings Inc. and 7,69,310 (Seven Lakhs Sixty Nine Thousand Three Hundred and Ten) equity shares of Rs 2/- each (including 3,84,655 Bonus Equity Shares) to M/s. Olsson Holdings Inc. by way of Conversion of Warrants.

The equity shares issued as above shall rank pari-passu with the existing equity shares of the Company.

With the above allotment of shares the total promoters' holding in the Company has gone up from 50.04% to 54.99%.

NTPC Q1 net profit at Rs 1726.5 cr

State run National Thermal Power Corp today announced a net profit of Rs 1,726.53 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008, a 27.15 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year-ago.

NTPC had a net profit of Rs 2,369.93 crore in the Q1 of FY 2007-08, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The total income rose 6 per cent to Rs 10,256.70 crore in Q1 of FY'09, from Rs 9,687.84 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
The net sales rose 6.35 per cent to Rs 9,539.47 crore in the June quarter, from Rs 8,969.70 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Shares of NTPC closed at Rs 178.45, down 3.44 per cent on the BSE.

HPCL Q1 net loss of Rs 888.12 crore

HPCL has decalred its Q1FY09 results. The company's net sales were up 59% to Rs 34749.32 crore from Rs 21881.7 crore.

Its has post net loss of Rs 888.12 crore versus loss of Rs 86.93 crore.

Highlights

* GRMs for Q1FY09 were at $15.23/bbl (Apr-Jun 2007 : $9.04/bbl) for Mumbai Refinery and $17.05/bbl (Apr-June 2007: $ 7.80/bbl) for Visakh Refinery.
* Received discounts from upstream companies to the tune of Rs 2357.38 cr Vs Rs 900.94 cr
* Received in principle nod from Fin Min for oil bonds worth Rs 5115 cr (Apr-June 2007 : Nil)
* Pay revision provision of Rs 162.94 cr

Ranbaxy Q2 net profit at Rs 23 cr

Ranbaxy Laboratories has declareed its results for the quarter ended June 2008 (Q2). The company's consolidated net profit excluding forex loss was at Rs 160.8 crore versus Rs 160.4 crore. The company's consolidated net profit including forex loss was at Rs 23 crore.

The company's Q2 consolidated net sales were at Rs 1,830 crore versus Rs 1,624 crore.

The company's Q2 standalone net sales were at Rs 1,216.9 crore versus Rs 1,014.6 crore. Its standalone net profit was at Rs 23.7 crore versus Rs 291 crore. The Global sales were at USD 440 million.

Hero Honda Q1 net profit at Rs 272 cr

Hero Honda Motors has declared its results for the quarter ended June 2008 (Q1). The company's net profit was at Rs 272 crore versus Rs 189.8 crore.The company's total income was at Rs 2,890 crore.

The company's Q1 net sales were up by 16.2% to Rs 2843.5 crore versus Rs 2447.9 crore. Its OPM were at 12% versus 10.76%.The company's Q1 margins were at 12% versus 10.76% on YoY basis. Tax incidence was at 22% versus 30% (post Uttaranchal plant launch in April 8th).

TV18 Q1 net loss at Rs 5.28 cr

Television Eighteen (TV18) has announced its first quarter numbers. It has reported net loss of Rs 5.28 crore for the quarter ended June 2008 as against profit of Rs 4.84 crore in same period of last year.
Income from operations increased at Rs 92.99 crore from Rs 68.15 crore YoY.

Income from news operations stood at Rs 75.33 crore versus Rs 57.92 crore and net profit from news operations at Rs 12.66 crore versus Rs 12.39 crore, YoY.

Web arm revenues also increased at Rs 13.15 crore from Rs 9.34 crore while net loss stood at Rs 7.79 crore versus loss of Rs 2.9 crore (YoY).(Note: Web18, which owns Moneycontrol.com and Indiaearnings.com, belongs to the Network 18 Group).

RBI governor raises rates

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points on Tuesday its highest in seven years and hiked the cash reserve ratio, delivering a bigger-than-expected tightening to quell double-digit inflation.

It raised the short-term repo rate by 50 basis points to 9.0 percent with immediate effect.

It raised the cash reserve ratio, the proportion of funds banks must keep on deposit with it, by 25 basis points to 9.0 percent, with effect from Aug. 30.

Following are comments from Governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy at a news conference after the decision.

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ON INFLATION:

“Our internal analysis indicate that barring any further shocks, particularly globally, headline inflation for the next few months will be around current levels. Rather in the second quarter and the start of the third quarter of the current fiscal year it should be around these levels; whether it will be higher or lower, it will be very marginal.”

“From the second half of the third quarter it will start moderating, and by the fourth quarter we are confident we will bring it down to 7 percent.”

ON BANKS AND DEMAND MANAGEMENT:

“Basically it is a continuation of the management of aggregate demand that we have taken for quite some time. Basically, we believe that this should have a sobering effect on demand, particularly in areas of credit growth and credit-deposit ratio. We have been expecting banks to fall in line with monetary policy objectives.”

“We have urged them to contain credit growth and we have indicated today that we will undertake supervisory review of banks. In essence this is a clear-cut indication that the financial sector has to fall in line.”

ON GROWTH:

“As I mentioned, growth should be 8 percent, which is below 8.5 but compared to the drop in global growth rates all over the world or our standards it will be a very, very marginal moderation.”

“Secondly, we will continue to be the second-fastest growing economy in the world, and thirdly this growth is consistent with stability.”

ON GROWTH VS INFLATION:

“There are some who believe we should fight inflation with greater vigour. Well, in that case there will be more disruption. On the other hand, there are some who believe that we should go soft, but if we go soft then growth itself will be jeopardised.

“That is the type of balancing we have to do. In our view, by and large, the financial sector and the balance sheets of the financial sector will be able to comfortably manage this type of nuanced aggregate demand.”

ON GROWTH SLOWING SHARPLY IN FY10

“Though it is still too early, by and large the idea is because of these stern measures on inflation it is likely to affect growth with a one-year lag. I would say if we do not take stern measures now it is going to fuel inflationary expectations and disrupt the growth path, and might even threaten stability.”

ON RUPEE OUTLOOK:

“Basically, as far as the external sector is concerned, the trade deficit may be higher, the current account deficit will be marginally higher but we expect the capital flows to comfortably finance this. In addition we have comfortable reserves. As far as the fundamentals are concerned, we have no reason to believe that things will be significantly different from what it was earlier.”

ON THE RATE DECISION

“Every time a medicine is given people find it bitter, but in the end everybody wants to be healthy.”

ON OIL BONDS

“The special market operations that we have undertaken in terms of oil bonds from IOC (Indian Oil Corp) and other oil companies, I think we have already told them that the facility is ceasing.”

ON THE REVERSE REPO-REPO RATE CORRIDOR

“In the market if there are uncertainties the spread between bid and ask widens. Similarly for public policy it cannot have a narrow corridor as it would indicate the public policy is taking the burden of uncertainty. Public policy must try to reduce excess volatility but in trying to reduce excess volatility it should not give too much stability to the market if there are inherent issues.”

ON EARLY EMAILING OF RATE DECISION

“The preliminary inquiries reveal that the emails containing the policy document went from the web manager at around 11:29 am instead of 12 noon.

“We are making further inquiries to take necessary corrective measures. We deeply regret this unfortunate set of events.”

SEBI to put IPO reforms in place by August-end

The stock market regulator - Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has planned an experiment by August-end on reforms for primary market. SEBI had indicated that primary market is the place, which requires improvement and it’s the main agenda on its reforms list.

“For making the IPO mechanism quicker, banks’ role is as important as any other participant. We wish to experiment the process that has been put in place by August-end, though the existing mechanism will go on simultaneously before we come out with full-fledged process,” said SEBI chairman Chandrashekhar Bhaskar Bhave.

According to Bhave, the regulator would be introducing the process at few branches with the banks where core banking is in place. “The new investors will have the option to go for either of the processes at the branches we have identified for the experiment,” he added.

Bhave was addressing at an event organised by All Gujarat Investor Protection Trust (AGIPT) at Himmatnagar on Saturday. He said that through this new mechanism, retail investors would benefit not only on refunds but also as far as listing is concerned. Bhave also mentioned that the regulator would also ask the institutional investors to put full money at the time of application for shares.

“It will give true picture of the subscription of public offer. Also, the fact is that the value of thousand for retail investor is same as value of crore for institutions and so there is no reason to be biased against retail investors,” he said.

The main concern for the regulator was the time period that public offering took before listing on the bourses. Apart from that, the regulator was also not comfortable with the fact that the institutional investors are required to pay only fraction of money, while retail investor are asked to cough out full amount. On suggestion of having a regional office of SEBI in Ahmedabad, Bhave said that he would be looking into the matter, as Gujarat has one of the highest investments in equity market.

HCC JV bags Rs 639 cr from Andhra govt

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) along with its two JV partners SEW Infrastructure and Megha Engineering & Infrastructure (MEIL) bagged Rs 639.27 crore contract from Government of Andhra Pradesh, Irrigation and CAD Department. Of the contract value of Rs 639.27 crore, HCCs share is 51 per cent that is Rs 326.03 crore.

Under the coantract the JV firms will construct Barrage of around 3.5 km with Head Regulator across River Pranahita (PCLIS - Package-III) near Tummidi Hetti Village in Adilabad District of Andhra Pradesh.

The project is to be comleted in the next 48 months. The Pranahita-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme is a part of the Goverment initiative to provide irrigation benefits to all under-developed regions of Andhra Pradesh.

HDFC Bank Results

HDFC Bank net profit rose 44.55% to Rs 464.35 crore in Qtr ending June 2008 for the financial year 2008-2009 compared to Rs 321.23 crore in qtr ending june 2007. Total operating income rose 70.36% to Rs 3621.73 crore in Qtr ending June 2008 for the financial year 2008-2009 compared to Rs 2125.88 crore in qtr ending june 2007.

Reliance Globalcom in strategic alliance

Reliance Globalcom, part of Reliance Communications Ltd, Tuesday entered into a strategic alliance with Internap Network Services Corp, a US-based provider of end-to-end internet business solutions.

The partnership would aim at providing a broad set of content and application delivery network services to Indian businesses.

Under the alliance, Internap would set up a new point-of-presence in India which would be integrated with its global delivery infrastructure spanning in seven countries(Australia, China, Singapore, Japan, the US, the UK and Netherlands).

The point-of-presence in India would be established and managed by Reliance Globalcom.

‘Reliance Globalcom’s strategic alliance with Internap enables us to bring world-class content and application delivery network services to the underserved and emerging markets in India,’ Reliance Globalcom CEO Punit Garg said.

Jet posts $33.3 million profit

India’s largest private carrier Jet Airways has announced a net profit of Rs.1.43 billion ($33.3 million) during the first quarter of fiscal 2008-09 against Rs.308.80 million in the corresponding period last year.For the first quarter ending June 30, total income increased to Rs.28.99 billion from Rs.19.83 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

An aviation analyst in a leading brokerage firm told IANS: ‘Due to a change in accounting policy for charging depreciation on narrow body aircraft, there is an excess of around Rs.9.15 billion.’

‘If this (depreciation) is not taken into account, then the loss posted by Jet would have been steep,’ he added.

Mercator Lines announces 1st Quarter results for FY 2008-09

On a consolidated basis, Mercator Lines Limited has achieved an operating income of Rs. 492.90 crores as compared to Rs. 269.77 crores in the corresponding period last year.

The consolidated profit from ordinary activities has increased to Rs. 106.18 crores as compared to Rs. 71.29 crores.

The company has achieved this performance in spite of charging off mark to market foreign exchange loss of Rs. 13.92 crores for the quarter as against a gain of Rs. 21.87 crores in the corresponding period previous year.

The company has also written off dry docking expenses of Rs. 28.38 crores in this quarter as compared to Rs. 2.99 crores in the previous corresponding period.

All the scheduled dry docks for the current financial year have been concluded in this quarter itself and the entire dry docking expenses has been charged off to the profit and loss account.

During the quarter under review, the company acquired one 2006 built VLCC of 2,99,235 DWT, one 2008 built Dredger of 4500 Cu.M., and its subsidiary, Mercator Lines (Singapore) Limited (MLS) acquired one 1997 built Panamax vessel of 69,186 DWT.

Subsequent to quarter end; MLS acquired one more 1997 built Panamax vessel of 69,221 DWT.

The coal mining operations in Indonesia have started and currently the first consignment is under loading

Bank of India Results - Announces Qtr Ending June 2008-2009 results

Bank of India net profit rose 78.28% to Rs 561.95 crore in Qtr ending June 2008 for the financial year 2008-2009 compared to Rs 315.20 crore in qtr ending june 2007. Total operating income rose 30.11% to Rs 3548.32 crore in Qtr ending June 2008 for the financial year 2008-2009 compared to Rs 2727.26 crore in qtr ending june 2007.

NuTek India Limited IPO

NuTek India Limited is a Telecom infrastructure service provider offering Infrastructure rollout solutions for both mobile and fixed telecommunication networks. NuTek India offer services to Telecommunication Equipment Manufacturers, Telecom operators as well as third party infrastructure leasing companies in installing and maintaining Telecom Network Equipment & Infrastructure. NuTek India Limited, in the process of creating a total solution undertake initial feasibility studies, prepare strategies, and undertake engineering, electronics, construction, installation, integration and maintenance of network components for its customers. Company is also registered with Department of Telecommunication as Infrastructure Provider - Category I.

NuTek India undertake turnkey projects, provide management expertise to its clients for infrastructure creation and installation for telecom sites which includes Passive Infrastructure like Towers, Telecom Shelters, Backup Power - DG sets and Battery Banks, Electrical Infrastructure and Earthing Stations etc. and active infrastructure like Base Transceiver Station (BTS), microwave, optic fibre, Base Station Controller (BSC), Mobile Switching Centres (MSC), IN (Intelligent networks), VAS (Value added services) equipments, transmission equipment such as STM’s and Microwaves to the most advanced World Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) equipment and future ready 3G Nodes. Company also provide's technical support services in the High End Telecom segments such as Radio Frequency and Transmission Planning, Network Tuning & Optimization and Quality of Service (QoS) to our clients. This activity is undertaken through our engineers and technical staff deputed on client sites/offices. Some of its major clients are Nokia Siemens Networks Pvt. Ltd, Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd, Motorola India Pvt. Ltd, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd, Vodafone Essar Ltd. (Hutch), Videsh Sanchar Nigan Limited etc.

Apollo Tyres plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore

Apollo Tyres plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years to increase its production capacity both in the country and abroad.

The firm, which plans a greenfield facility in Hungary, is also setting up a plant in Chennai, while increasing the capacity at its Vadodara plant.

"We will invest Rs 2,000 crore in next three years including Euro 200 million for our upcoming plant in Hungary," Apollo Tyres Chief of India Operations Satish Sharma told PTI.

He said the company would invest around Rs 1,350 crore in setting up the facility in Hungary for which it had bought about 45 hectares of land earlier this year.

The Hungary plant would be the company's hub to service its passenger car radial tyre buyers in Europe, North America as well as other countries.

The company also plans to augment capacity of passenger car tyre production at its Vadodara unit from the existing 10,000 tyres a day to 15,000 tyres a day by the mid-2009.

Binani Cement Ltd to form JV to buy Rajasthan lignite

Binani Cement Ltd, a flagship company of the Braj Binani Group, will
soon enter into a JV with the Rajasthan State Mineral Development
Corporation (RSMDC) and Gujarat State Mineral Development Corporation (GSMDC) for mining lignite, which will be used as an alternative fuel for its 75 mw captive power plant in Rajasthan.

The company will invest to the tune of Rs 500 crore in the JV and the funds will be raised through a mix of debt and equity.

Visa Steel net profit rises 845.61% & Sales rise 268.43%

Net profit of Visa Steel rose 845.61% to Rs 48.51 crore in the quarter
ended June 2008 as against Rs 5.13 crore during the previous quarter
ended June 2007. Sales rose 268.43% to Rs 255.73 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 69.41 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007.

ICI India net profit rises 209.79% in the June 2008 qtr

Net profit of ICI India rose 209.79% to Rs 70.88 crore in the
quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 22.88 crore during the
previous quarter ended June 2007. Sales rose 0.35% to Rs 227.52
crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 226.73 crore
during the previous quarter ended June 2007.

ICI India Ltd will set up a new decorative paints plant, with a capacity of over 100 million litres per year, by 2010. Speaking on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the company, ICI India managing director Rajiv Jain said: "We are looking to put up a greenfield plant, the location for this has not been finalised yet."

"It would be a decorative paints manufacturing unit. The capacity of the plant would be in excess of 100 million litres a year," he added.

A project team has already been formed and the company expects to finalise the project by the end of this calendar year.

The company at present has a capacity to manufacture 120 million litres every year. It produces both decorative and refinished paints.

BEML bagged two export orders

Bangalore-based BEML Ltd, the mining and construction equipment major under the defence ministry, has bagged two export orders worth Rs 207 crore for supply of mining equipment from two Indonesian companies. The first order is for supply of 93 equipment valued at Rs 158 crore consisting of hydraulic excavators, rear dump trucks and bull dozers from Pt Fajar Bumi Sakti of Indonesia.

A pilot batch of 8 machines have been deployed at KPC mines, one of the world's largest open cast coal mines in Indonesia. Additional supply of equipment will be deployed at KPC Mines, Tenagarong Mines and Tabang Mines of Indonesia.

The second order is from Far East Resources & Mining Co Pte Ltd, Singapore for supply of 35 machines worth Rs 49 crore, for their coal mines at Tarakon in Indonesia. BEML also plans to establish a sales office cum repair facility & spares depot at Balikpapan in Indonesia in 2 to 3 months, a company release said

Cairn India signs oil exploration pact with Sri Lanka

Cairn India on Monday signed the Petroleum Resources Agreement with Sri Lanka for licence to explore oil and natural gas in the Mannar
Basin.

The pact was signed by Sri Lan kan Minister for Petroleum and Petroleum Development Resources A H M Fowzie and Indrajit Banerjee, the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Cairn India, a company release here said.

Block SL 2007-01-001, which is offshore North West Sri Lanka and covers approximately 3,000 square kilometer in water depths of 200 metres to 1,800 metres, was awarded to Cairn India in the recent Sri Lanka bid round.

The work programme includes proposals to acquire 5,000 kilometres of 2D, 1,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic and drill three wells in the initial three years of the eight- year exploration period.

Himalya International to consider JV with US Company:

Himalya International at its board meeting to be held on Jul. 17, 2008, will discuss joint venture (JV) with US company for organic
vegetable cultivation and marketing as fresh and frozen in USA.

The board of the company will also discuss ESOP scheme, preferential allotment of 5 million shares / FCD`s and 5 million warrants, to be presented for approval before share-holders during proposed AGM.

Further, the board will discuss and approve quarterly results of the company as on Jun. 30, 2008 and will consider annual results for the year ended March 2008 and fix up the date for annual general meeting of the company.

Tax Impact

`Equity and efficiency are complimentary, not contradictory…`` – Dr. Manmohan Singh

Equity investments can be in the form of direct investments through equity shares or indirectly through mutual funds. Balanced funds with equity exposure above 65% in Indian companies traded on a stock exchange are treated as equity from a taxation standpoint.

Dividend Distributed

Apart from capital appreciation, one can also earn returns by means of dividend declared by the company/fund. These dividends are tax-free in the hands of the investor, and there is no dividend distribution tax either on ``Equity`` mutual funds as per the definition above. This is so because when companies declare dividends, there is a dividend distribution tax that is paid by the company. This has no impact on the investor.

Securities Transaction Tax (STT)

The point which is often ignored is STT that is applicable on purchase/sale of equity shares, units of equity oriented mutual fund (delivery based) at 0.125%. For non-delivery based sale, 0.025% is applicable on transactions, sale of derivatives/options would attract 0.017% STT. Hence, they do not escape from the ambit of taxes irrespective of the holding period.

Computing Date of Holding – Special Scenarios

Shares acquired as a gift

Where one has been gifted equity, the period for which the shares were held by the previous owner (the person who gave the gift) is to be included in the holding period. The cost of the shares incurred by the donor of the gift is considered to be cost of benefactor of gift.

Shares acquired as inheritance

Where one has inherited equity, then the period for such shares will be from the date of transfer (to the one who has inherited the equity). The purchase cost will be the Fair Market Value (FMV) as on the Date of Transfer.

Rights shares

For right shares, the period of holding will be computed from the date of allotment of the shares. The amount actually paid for purchase of the rights shares is taken as cost of the shares.

Bonus shares

When one receives bonus shares, the period of holding is computed from the date of allotment of the bonus shares. Cost of bonus shares is taken as nil.

Shares listed Overseas

Shares listed overseas and mutual funds investing in overseas stock (with Indian traded equity shares composition .

Capital Losses

Since long-term capital gains earned on equity investments are tax-free, long-term capital losses incurred on equity investment cannot be set off to reduce taxable capital gains.

Short-term capital losses incurred on equity investment can be set off against any capital gain (long-term or short-term). If in the current year there is no taxable capital gain to set off the loss against, one can carry forward this loss for 8 years and set it off against future taxable capital gains.

Dolphin Offshore Enterprises India net profit rises 441.94% in the March 2008

Net profit of Dolphin Offshore Enterprises India rose 441.94% to Rs 11.76 crore in the quarter ended March 2008 as against Rs 2.17 crore
during the previous quarter ended March 2007. Sales rose 37.27% to Rs
104.42 crore in the quarter ended March 2008 as against Rs 76.07 crore
during the previous quarter ended March 2007.

For the full year, net profit rose 9.64% to Rs 16.26 crore in the year
ended March 2008 as against Rs 14.83 crore during the previous year
ended March 2007. Sales rose 10.64% to Rs 227.70 crore in the year ended March 2008 as against Rs 205.81 crore during the previous year ended March 2007.

Pantaloon Retail board approves 1:10 bonus issue

The board of directors of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd recently approved a bonus issue of shares with differential voting rights (DVR) to the existing shareholders of the company, subject to necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals. The bonus issue has been structured in a unique and innovative manner, which enhances the value creation for existing shareholders by providing them bonus shares with additional dividend payouts on such shares.

These bonus issue shares will be offered, subject to necessary approvals, to all shareholders of the company in the ratio of one bonus share with differential voting rights for every ten equity shares held by shareholders on the record date. The record date will be fixed after the necessary approvals are obtained by the company. The new shares called Class B shares will entitle the shareholders to an additional 5 per cent dividend over the regular dividend payable to Class A shareholders in any financial year.

Also, ten such Class B shares will carry one vote. Enam Securities Private Limited is the advisor to Pantaloon Retail to this issuance.

Shipping Corporation Q1 net up 36% at Rs 279.6 crore

Public sector Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) on Saturday announced a net profit of Rs 279.6 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal, a 35.64 per cent growth over the corresponding period a year ago.

The company had a net profit of Rs 206.12 crore in the first quarter of FY'08, Shipping Corporation of India said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

The total income rose to Rs 1,126.35 crore in the latest quarter, from Rs 979.99 crore in the year-ago period. Further, the board has approved the issuance of one bonus share of nominal value of Rs 10, for every two share held in the company.Shares of the company closed at Rs 230.05, up 0.22 per cent Friday on the BSE.

Tips Industries net profit rises 874.78% in the March 2008 qtr

Net profit of Tips Industries rose 874.78% to Rs 11.21 crore in the
quarter ended March 2008 as against Rs 1.15 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2007. Sales rose 980.72% to Rs 74.57 crore in the quarter ended March 2008 as against Rs 6.90 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2007.

For the full year, net profit rose 1757.14% to Rs 19.50 crore in the year ended March 2008 as against Rs 1.05 crore during the previous year ended March 2007. Sales rose 352.03% to Rs 113.37 crore in the year ended March 2008 as against Rs 25.08 crore during the previous
year ended March 2007.

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) markets

EVERY investor should think like a professional, says asset-allocation specialist Tim Farrelly: which means making emerging markets -- especially the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) markets -- a part of your portfolio.

But whether this means buying a specialist emerging-markets fund or a global fund depends on valuation.

"Global fund managers are well and truly on to this theme, they are increasing their weights to BRIC markets within global equities.

"Generally speaking it's a good idea to let your global managers decide on the emerging-markets allocation. Maybe, when emerging markets' P/Es look reasonable, it's time to look at a separate weighting."

Typically, says Farrelly, leaving the allocation to the global fund managers results in a lower exposure to BRIC than if you had made a separate allocation to BRIC.

But he says on valuation grounds, that protects the investor.

"To me, that's been entirely appropriate in a world where you had to pay 25 times to get into China, when at the same time you could pay 11 times to get into the UK."

While BRIC economic growth is a "hugely important" investment theme, Farrelly says investors should "never get carried away" enough to buy into a market that is becoming over-valued.

"The attraction of emerging markets is that you're buying high-risk, high-growth assets, both to give your portfolio good diversification and make a lot of money.

"But buying potentially high-growth assets at high prices is not such a good idea: if things go well, you'll make as much money as you would have investing elsewhere, but you've added a ton of risk.

"You have to make sure you're buying at attractive prices."

For example, in March this year, says Farrelly, emerging markets would certainly have given you diversification -- but it would have cost too much.

"Back then, they were so expensive compared to other assets, I wouldn't have wanted to touch them.

"Price/earnings (P/E) ratios in India and in China were about 28 and 25 respectively.

"Part of that thinking professionally as an investor is understanding when you're being asked to pay too much for something -- and you were then."

This is a different question to the strength of the investment theme, he says. "Back in the tech-boom days, in 1999-2000, most of what was said about technology was true -- it was going to transform the world -- but the problem was that the companies involved weren't worth 100 times earnings.

"People paid far too much. The BRIC theme sounds similar. The basic story is right -- we are going to see massive economic growth out of those countries, particularly India and China -- but the second question is, are we going to make money in these stocks? That's an entirely different question."

RIL drops after Q1 results

Reliance Industries declined 2.67% to Rs 2245 at 9:55 IST on BSE after it reported 13.2% rise in net profit to Rs 4110 crore on 40.8% increase in net sales to Rs 41579 crore in Q1 June 2008 over Q1 June 2007.

The results were more or less in line with market expectations.The company announced the results after trading hours yesterday, 24 July 2008.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 434.06 points, or 2.94%, to 14,342.95. The market retreated on weak global cues. US stocks declined sharply on Thursday, 24 July 2008, after a report showing yet another drop in US home sales prompted investors to take profits in financial shares, which had rallied over the past week

On BSE, 4,267 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 11.34 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 289.95 and a low of Rs 2245 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 3252.10 on 15 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 1700 on 17 August 2007.

The large-cap company had outperformed the market over the past one month till 24 July 2008, gaining 8.02% compared to the Sensex’s return of 3.92%. It had also outperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 12.11% compared to Sensex’s decline of 13.72%.

The company has an equity capital of Rs 1453.65 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 2245 discounts its Q1 June 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 113.07, by a PE multiple of 19.85.

Nearly 95% of the increase in turnover was due to increase in prices, with volume increases accounting for the rest, said a press release of Reliance Industris (RIL) on Q1 results.

Markets stay weak on selling pressure

Intense selling in blue chips pushed the market down further in early afternoon trade. Two index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank tumbled. An overnight sharp fall in US stocks and rise in oil prices weighed on the Indian market today. Healthcare and IT stocks hovered in positive terrain bucking the weak market trend.

US stocks declined sharply on Thursday, 24 July 2008, after a report showing yet another drop in US home sales prompted investors to take profits in financial shares, which had rallied over the past week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 283.10 points, or 2.43%, to close at 11,349.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 29.65 points, or 2.31%, to 1,252.54, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 45.77 points, or 1.97%, to 2,280.11.

Asian market, which opened before Indian markets, declined further. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore were down by between 1.13% to 1.97%.

At 12:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 425.8 points or 2.88% at 14,351.20. The index lost 461.43 points at the days low of 14,315.58, hit in mid-morning trade. Sensex lost 292.62 points at the day's high of 14,484.39, hit in early trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty slipped 95.05 points or 2.14% at 4338.50.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.60% to 5,547.65 and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.35% to 6,772.42.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 873 shares advancing as compared to 1401 that declined. 79 remained unchanged.

Bharti Airtel (up 1.85% at Rs 812.15), Hindalco Industries (up 1.58% at Rs 154), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.38% at Rs 231), Reliance Communication (up 1.02% at Rs 506.40), were the top gainers from the Sensex pack.

HDFC Bank (down 7.18% at Rs 1127), Housing Development Finance Corporation (down 7.21% at Rs 2185), Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.51% at Rs 991), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.16% at Rs 165.75), and DLF (down 3.32% at Rs 490.35), were the top losers from the Sensex pack.

Indias largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slumped 8.38% to Rs 665.90.

Indias largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries slipped 5.51% to Rs 2,179.45. Strong refining margins helped Reliance Industries (RIL) post 13.2% growth in net profit to Rs 4,110 crore on 41% growth in turnover to Rs 41,805 crore in Q1 June 2008 over Q1 June 2007. Nearly 95% of the increase in turnover was due to increase in prices, with volume increases accounting for the rest, said a press release from the company.

Healthcare stocks rose on defensive buying strategy by investors. Piramal Healthcare (up 3.81% at Rs 309), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 3.20% at Rs 681), Sterlite Biotech (up 2.80% at Rs 205.90), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.72% at Rs 1,410), and Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 0.28% at Rs 468), gained. The BSE Healthcare index was up 0.21% at 4,192.50.

TUTIS TECHNO

Being a leading player in IT and BPO solutions, it is making news these days. Tutis Technologies is the parent company of the Vishal IT, with a 51.51 per cent stake, which is going to tap the primary market. This IPO
will unlock the value for the Tutis Technologies, considering the premium,
which Vishal IT is demanding from the market. Looking at potential for the
value appreciation in the counter, investors, as well as broking firms, are
taking interest. On the verge of an IPO, the parent company is expected to
gain momentum. The price has moved already from Rs 13.76 to Rs 18 in the
last few days. It's a good bet for short-term risk-takers.

TECH MAHINDRA buy

TECH MAHINDRA BSE code: 532755

Tech Mahindra is one of the leading IT companies, providing IT solutions to
the telecom industry in India and abroad. After a listless phase, the scrip recently gained momentum. Despite the looming slowdown in the IT sector, it
is expected to post a good result in Q1FY09. The broking community is said
to be taking interest in the counter, which has business linkages in
European countries. This gives it a hedge against the current spell of
slowdown in the US market. The recent spurt in volumes, which the counter
has witnessed, are likely to continue. Therefore, investors can take
exposure in this counter with a short to medium-term.

GTL

GTL BSE code: 500160
GTL has aroused interest among investors after it declared the results for
Q1FY09 and announced a dividend of 30 per cent. The focus of GTL's business
model is on networking business. Anticipating great potential of this
counter, brokers are confident it would fetch good returns for investors. A
good momentum is on the cards in the near term. This is evident from the
high deliverable quantity, with an upward movement in price and hefty
volume. The movement on the technical chart also supports the optimism.
Investors can take short or medium exposure.

Tricom India

Tricom India had fixed 22 July 2008 as the record date for the sub-division
of 1 equity share of Rs 10 each into 5 equity shares of Rs 2 each. Whoever
have held the shares today, would be eligible for this stock split.

On 4 July 2008, Tricom India acquired 100% interest in US based Pacific Data
Centers, Inc through its subsidiary Tricom Document Management, Inc for
$2.25 million.

Tricom India's net profit rose 13.90% to Rs 5 crore on 15.51% increase in
net sales to Rs 12.14 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q3 December 2007.

The company provides non-voice related information technology enabled
services (ITES) - business process outsourcing (BPO) services for global
businesses.

Areva T&D India

Areva T&D India jumped 6% to Rs 1615 on BSE after the company said its board
will meet on 29 July 2008 to consider a 5-for-1 stock split. The company
made this announcement during trading hours today, 22 July 2008.

Areva T&D India will be a major beneficiary of the Indo-US nuclear deal if
the deal fructifies. French giant Areva, which holds 72.18% stake in Areva
T&D (as at end march 2008) is best known for its nuclear power plant and
transmission interests. It is the only company in the world that has
interests in every industry linked to nuclear power - from mining uranium to
dismantling old nuclear power plants.

The company's products and systems serve to transmit and distributed
electricity, ensure the reliability, quality and safety of energy flows.

Bliss GVS Pharma Bonus Proposal

Look at this company today! Bliss GVS Pharma was locked at 20% upper limit at Rs 46.25 on BSE after the company said its board will meet on 29 July 2008 to consider issue of bonus shares. The company has an equity capital of Rs 6.45 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1. The company operates in two segments, healthcare products and pharma products.

It’s a good jump of 20% in a single day on the bonus issue news. And that’s the reason I keep on telling you to give enough attention to the bonus issues, stock splits, rights issue updates we offer here at this blog.

Long Term Best Picks at current level::::::Max India Ltd

Max India Ltd ( CMP Rs. 154.80 ) :

Net profit of Max India rose 257.22% to Rs 13.61 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 3.81crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007. Sales rose 89.64% to Rs 91.52 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 48.26 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007.

Long Term Best Picks at current level::::::Sasken Communication Technology Ltd

Sasken Communication Technology Ltd ( CMP Rs. 139.45 ) :

Net profit of Sasken Communication Technology rose 389.30% to Rs 9.15 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 1.87 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007. Sales rose 25.31% to Rs 110.72 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 88.36 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007.

Long Term Best Picks at current level::::::Chennai Petroleum Corporation

Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd ( CMP Rs. 304.95 ) :

Net profit of Chennai Petroleum Corporation rose 117.63% to Rs 703.27 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 323.15 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007. Sales rose 77.10% to Rs 11151.10 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 6296.61 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007.

Long Term Best Picks at current level::::::Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd

Some Financial Informations: -

Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd ( Rs. 121 ) :

Net profit of Gujarat NRE Coke rose 120.46% to Rs 94.40 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 42.82 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007. Sales rose 153.64% to Rs 377.64 crore in the quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 148.89 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2007

CLSA: More Than Half Of The Malls Built In India Will Go Defunct in 3-5 Years.

Key message from the Q&A;
· Companies remain optimistic on their prospects, notwithstanding stockmarket's concerns on Indian growth story. On average, corporations expect India to achieve a 7-8% annual GDP growth for the next two years.
· However, 72% of companies surveyed felt the deterioration of the overall business environment versus 2007. Top three concerns were rising raw-materials costs/commodities prices (69% of respondents), potential demand slowdown and 'higher interest rate and credit availability'. We were surprised that 'poor infrastructure' was less of an issue.
· Metals companies see stronger growth in FY09, while most other sectors expect growth to be in-line with FY08; only airlines, software and retailers are cautious.
· While firms across sectors were concerned about rising input costs, consumers saw good pricing power, while capital goods saw volumes offsetting margin pressures. Banks saw 20% loan growth as achievable, but admitted to a rise in delinquencies.
· Investors were far more bearish – seeing GDP-growth moderation to nearly 7%, earnings growth falling to 15-20%; 31% saw negative returns from the market, even from here. IT, consumer and pharma were seen as outperformers over a 12-month horizon; interest-rate sensitives such as property, auto and financials to be underperformers.
We sense some dissonance between these firms' assessment of macro environment and their own growth outlook (only 26% expect their domestic business to slow) and see downside potential to their "guidance" on growth.
Overall market earnings growth could remain supported by commodity price boost for a few large companies, but variance in company performance across our universe will rise. The steep fall in stocks does provide opportunities, but for medium-term bets, we would focus on execution, risk-management skills and balance-sheet quality

WNS Acquires Aviva BPO For $230M; ICICI Lends $200M, Warburg $30M

YSE-listed WNS (Holdings), the second largest business process outsourcing firm in India, has just become bigger. The Mumbai-based BPO, which is 51-per cent controlled by Warburg Pincus, has acquired Aviva Global Services, the UK-based insurance giant’s captive BPO in India and Sri Lanka, for $230 million, The Economic Times has reported. The deal is one of the largest buyouts of a foreign captive BPO in India.
WNS has pipped Aviva’s other vendors, EXL Services and 24/7 Customer, and global giant like Capgemini to acquire the captive BPO. The company is funding the acquisition with $200 million in credit from ICICI Bank and $30 million in equity contribution from Warburg Pincus. Aviva BPO has operations in Bangalore, Pune, Noida, Chennai and Colombo.
Through this deal WNS has also secured Aviva’s $1 billion outsourced work over the next eight years. But part of this will be subcontracted to EXL and 24/7 Customer. Aviva’s BPO operations are run by Aviva Global Services on a built-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The insurance giant had split its operations among three vendors initially - EXL Services, WNS and 24/7 Customer.
With plans to take over its own operations, in 2007, AGS took over the 1,600 employees working with 24/7 Customer and 300 who were working with WNS. But later it decided to sell its offshore operations. The report also added that 24/7 Customer has announced the transfer of 750 employees from its Aviva 24/7 centre in Chennai to Aviva Global Services as part of its BOT contract.
WNS has been aggressively pursuing inorganic growth oppurtunities. Interestingly, is also reportedly in the race for acquiring ICICI Bank’s stake in India leading listed BPO Firstsource Solutions. Recently it has also acquired UK-based auto insurance claims BPO Call 24/7 Ltd. for $16 million.
Last year, the company had acquired Bangalore-based analytics services company Marketics Technologies (MarketRx) for up to $65 million in cash. WNS had also acquired travel services provider PRG Airline services and Banglore-based information technology systems supplier FLOvate Technologies.

ADAG hits PE road with $2 bn fund

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is hitting the private equity road braving the market turmoil. The group is promoting a $2-billion yet-to-be named fund as a standalone entity, and not as part of Reliance Capital, sources said.
The group has put in place a fund team that is already chasing deals of at least $50-75 million in size. The general purpose fund has already raised over $500 million with Anil Ambani as anchor limited partner, sources added. Mr Ambani’s infusion is believed to have come from his personal holding companies - Batista and AAA.

“The fund hopes to close a few transactions before achieving financial closure. It may have 4-5 LPs besides Mr Ambani himself who is not treating it as just a route for deploying his personal wealth,” a sources explained. In context, sectoral observers said Mr Ambani’s PE play may be different from his peer and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji who recently floated $1 billion PremjiInvest mainly pouring in his personal wealth.
Independent investment banking sources confirmed that the group was talking to global investors for raising a private equity fund in the bracket of $1.5-2 billion.

ADAG is expected to announce the private equity team with a CEO - who is most probably a group insider - and three fund managers in the coming days. An email questionnaire to ADAG did not elicit response at the time of going to the press.

Incidentally, the group company Reliance Capital has an existing private equity division with investments in companies like Prime Focus, Kinetic Engineering, DTDC, Yatra Online, Financial Technologies and Southern Wind farms.

In fact, the group’s buyout binge soon after the split with Reliance Industries Ltd was perceived to be private equity transactions by nature, and media reports at the time indicated that ADAG through Reliance capital was floating $500 million private equity play.

Observers did not rule out the possibility of the new standalone fund assuming the private equity portfolio of Reliance Capital, eventhough this could not be independently confirmed.

Unitech can touch Rs 200

Technical Analyst, Hitendra Vasudeo is of the view that Unitech can touch Rs 200.

Vasudeo told CNBC-TV18, "Unitech has made a recent low with heavy volumes and on the same day we had seen the stock climbing to Rs 177 couple of days back and we have tested that resistance once again in early morning. So I think if it is able to cross Rs 178 then in the near-term we can expect a good upmove to around Rs 200. So I think corrective dips, minor dips down in the area of Rs 160 should be looked as a buying opportunity and alternately buy on break out around Rs 178. So we could see Rs 200 level if things are favorable for the stock from here."

Disclosure: Analyst doesn't have any personal positions but have recommended to his clients.

Non-US iPhone debuts

LONDON/WELLINGTON

July 11: Apple’s new iPhone made its hotly awaited debut on Friday, with buyers storming stores in Asia and queues forming in European cities.

Sales of the device, which combines a music and video player, cellphone and Web browser, kicked off in New Zealand, where a 22-year-old student became its first owner.

"I’m going to put this on charge, have a play around with it and have a nice long sleep," said Mr Jonny Gladwell, who queued in freezing temperatures for around 60 hours to be the world’s first to buy the iPhone at a minute past midnight on Friday.

Guards in kevlar vests and helmets brandished shotguns and stood guard over 500 devices on sale in Hong Kong, a city that has seen its share of unruly crowds at major product launches.

Softbank Corp, which sells the iPhone in Japan, said over 1,500 people lined up outside its flagship Tokyo store. Policemen yelled at passers-by to make room.

In London, a orderly queue in front of the flagship store of O2, a unit of Telefonica, extended around the corner. "We ordered lots. We’ve seen the demand the first time, but we’re even blown away by this demand. I think it is unprecedented," said Mr Steve Alder, O2 UK’s iPhone director.

"We’ve got stocks coming in every week. I am confident that by the end of the summer, everyone will have one who wants one."

Apple shares have risen by nearly four per cent over the last week in anticipation of the rollout in 21 countries on Friday.

BHEL, India's largest supplier of power-generation equipment maker

BHEL, India's largest supplier of power-generation equipment, is a key
beneficiary of strong growth in generation-capacity additions across the
country. We expect robust orderflow in the coming few years, driven by
supercritical and gas projects. BHEL is expanding capacity from 10GW to 15GW
to meet rising demand and cut down on delivery schedules. BHEL offers strong
earnings visibility (order backlog at four times FY08 sales) and 34%
earnings growth over FY08-10CL.

With orderflow of Rs502bn in FY08, BHEL has ended FY08 with an
orderbacklog-to-sales ratio of four times. We expect flat-to-higher
orderflow in FY09-10 supported by spillover of 11th plan orders into FY09
(45-55GW likely addition in the 11th plan versus 21GW in the 10th plan),
commencement of ordering for 12th plan projects in 2HFY09 and strong
orderflow of supercritical and gas projects. BHEL has emerged as the sole
bidder for the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC's) Barh II
supercritical project and has also bagged India's first advance-class gas
turbine project from Reliance Industries. With substantial increases in
supercritical and gas projects in the future, BHEL is well placed to
capitalise on this opportunity.

BHEL has completed the first phase of its capacity expansion from 6GW to
10GW. The full impact of the increased capacity will be visible in FY09. The
company has begun work on the second phase of capacity expansion to 15GW,
which is scheduled for completion in December 2009. BHEL is also carrying
out a standardisation exercise for its main plant equipment, which will help
cut costs and production lead times. We expect Ebitda margin to expand by
100bps from FY08-10CL due to operating leverage. The improvement would have
been more dramatic but for the sharp increase in metal prices over last
couple of months. We have factored in a 150bps increase in material cost as
a percentage of sales in FY09CL and another
100bps increase in FY10CL.

BHEL has completed Phase I of its capacity expansion plan (6,000MW to
10,000MW). The full impact of the increased capacity will be visible in
FY09. In the second phase, the capacity will be increased to 15,000MW by
December 2009. We expect operating margins to improve due to higher
operating leverage with capacity more than doubling in less than three
years. As a result, BHEL will also be able to improve on its delivery
schedules and enjoy higher bargaining power with suppliers. BHEL is also
working on the standardisation of its products, which will help cut down
costs substantially and will also reduce production lead times.

Indian IT-BPO industry grows 28 p.c.: Nasscom

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Indian IT-BPO industry (including domestic market) recorded an overall growth of 28 per cent (currency adjusted), clocking revenues of $52 billion in FY07-08, up from $39.6 billion in FY06-07.

According to an annual Nasscom survey on the performance of the Indian software and services sector (excluding hardware), the domestic segment grew by 26 per cent (in INR) to register revenues of $11.6 billion in FY07-08.

Within the export segment, IT services exports have grown by 28 per cent (in USD) to clock revenues of $23.1 billion; while BPO exports are up by 30 per cent (in USD) registering revenues of $10.9 billion.

Engineering services and products exports clocked revenues of $6.4 billion, growing at 29 per cent (in USD) in FY 07 -08.

The survey projected that the overall software and services revenues will grow by 21-24 per cent (currency adjusted) to touch $50 billion in FY08-09.

Som Mittal, president, Nasscom, said: "The Indian IT-BPO industry's resilience is reflected in its FY07-08 performance, with a 28.2% overall growth rate and next year's projected growth between 21-24 percent. Given that we are well on our way to achieve the target of USD 60 billion in exports by FY09-10, the industry is now focusing on improving productivity, efficiency, as well as opening up new markets and services".

He further added: "The next decade offers opportunities and challenges which will require new business models and the industry dynamics will also see significant changes leading to a many new industry drivers and enablers, and we will need to prepare ourselves for these. NASSCOM is developing a long term vision for 2020, to chart out the roadmap for all stakeholders and help them tap into this opportunity."

Top 20 IT Software and Service Exporters FY07-08

1 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
2 Infosys Technologies Ltd.
3 Wipro Technologies Ltd.
4 Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
5 HCL Technologies Ltd.
6 Tech Mahindra Ltd.
7 Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
8 I-flex Solutions Ltd.
9 Mphasis an EDS company
10 Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd.
11 CSC in India
12 Aricent
13 Syntel Inc.
14 Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd.
15 Hexaware Technologies Ltd.
16 Polaris Software Lab Ltd.
17 NIIT Technologies Ltd.
18 Sonata Software Ltd.
19 Mastek Ltd.
20 Genpact India Pvt. Ltd.

Top 15 BPO rankings for FY07-08

1 Genpact India Pvt. Ltd.
2 WNS Global Services Ltd.
3 IBM-Daksh Business Process Services Pvt. Ltd.
4 Transworks Information Services (AB Minacs)
5 Tata Consultancy Services BPO
6 Wipro BPO
7 Firstsource Solutions Ltd.
8 Infosys BPO
9 HCL BPO
10 EXL Service Holdings, Inc.
11 Citigroup Global Services Ltd.
12 HTMT Global Solutions Ltd.
13 Aegis BPO Services Ltd.
14 Intelenet Global Services
15 Mphasis an EDS Company

Top 20 IT-BPO Employers in India - FY07-08

1 Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
2 Infosys Technologies Ltd.
3 Wipro Technologies Ltd.
4 Satyam Computers Ltd.
5 HCL Technologies Ltd.
6 Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd.
7 Mphasis an EDS Company
8 Genpact India Pvt. Ltd.
9 Intelenet Global Services
10 Tech Mahindra
11 WNS Global Services Ltd.
12 Aegis BPO Services Ltd.
13 CSC in India
14 Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
15 Firstsource Solutions Ltd.
16 Citigroup Global Services Ltd.
17 EXL Services Holdings, Inc
18 Syntel Inc.
19 Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd.
20 HTMT Global Solutions Ltd.

Capgemini gets Reji Cherian as TME India head

BANGALORE, INDIA: Outsourcing services provider Capgemini has appointed Reji Cherian as its telecom, media and entertainment sector (TME) India leader.

Cherian will be based in Bangalore and those working on the TME North America projects would report to him.

He will also be in charge of the company's 'One Team' policy for improving synergy in the offshore and onshore operations of the organizations.

Salil Parekh, executive chairman of India, Capgemini, said: "We are thrilled to have a high-level professional like Reji join our team in India to reinforce our extensive domain experience to assist our clients in responding to new challenges "

Cherian is a graduate from Karnataka University. He started his career as an engineer in Siemens.

Microsoft smiles as Indian SMBs demand ERP

We know Microsoft as the software giant of this century. But talk of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software market, names like Oracle and SAP steal the thunder. But predictions have it that Microsoft could overtake Oracle Corp. in fresh licence sales of business software in India by 2010, if its SMB strategy pays out well.

ERP, which basically helps companies, streamline different parts of their business like manufacturing, supply chain, operations, budgeting and human resources is a booming market in India.

At present SAP rules it with a 48.3 per cent share, followed by Oracle at 24.9 per cent. Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd stood at 12.2 per cent according to Indian enterprise application software market revenues data for 2006 by Frost & Sullivan. It had also predicted that the market for fresh ERP licenses sold each year in India to touch about $185 million by 2013 and over half the demand for ERP solutions expected to come from small and medium enterprises or SMEs, a segment which will continue to drive the market in the future.

Analysts have already started pointing that while SAP, Oracle and Microsoft will continue to dominate the market in the future, the possibility of Microsoft overtaking Oracle in the next two years is very likely.

So where does Microsoft see itself standing with Microsoft Dynamics, its line of financial, customer relationship and supply chain management solutions and how does it interpret the common issues raised by Indian CIOs with foreign ERPs. Read on…

It has been just about three years since you entered this market. How has the going been so far?

It was in 2005 that Microsoft Dynamics suite was offered in India. The last two years have been momentous in terms of the footprint, which the suite of products has left on the customers in India. An iteration of the impact was manifest in Microsoft Dynamics being voted number one against the index of customer satisfaction, in an annual survey of Customer Satisfaction in the enterprise application space, conducted by research firm IDC in conjunction with Dataquest this year.

In another survey conducted in March, 2008 by IDC for DQ Channels in India across 19 cities and 898 channel partners Microsoft won the Channels' Choice Gold award for best enterprise application. Our goal initially was to make ERP as easy and usable as a PC.

So from business standpoint that meant easy-to-use applications. Business applications don't fail, it's all about how people use them. We have focused on ease of deployability Talking of SMB market, when we entered, SMB segment was emerging and now it is shortly entering the maturity phase.

Earlier we had to explain ERP as a concept, today it is the customer who asks for what ERP suits his industry best.

So are you in a position to claim an edge over other competitors or in-house systems with respect to the Indian ERP market?

The market here is characterized with be-spoked applications. And then there were some small applications apart from the big pieces. It's not the companies have not spent on ERP; they have those applications but not an integrated offering.

The payroll, CRM, etc. is different pieces. One piece does not talk into the other. You may have some application developed here and other. We have an edge over others when it comes to making it available at the right time, with the right partner approach, to the right customer.

Microsoft Dynamics for instance, has the Outlook interface flavour. We are trying to cater to the people where they need to have it. These are the kind of differentiators that position us differently.

How do you respond to the grievances that many Indian CIOs still have when it comes to inadequate customization to a specific vertical or industry?

I have a different point of view from Microsoft's standpoint. Our focus has been actually extremely verticalised. We have examples with industry clusters like that of textile in Tirupur, pharma in Ahmedabad, auto and ancillaries in Pune.

The biggest challenge, for an apparel manufacturer for instance, is to deliver his offering in time and he needs technology enablers. We have identified partners to cater to specific industry needs, we have vertical heads and specialists and the traction has been very positive so far.

Isn't the AMC cost burden heavy enough for customers?

I don't think the Indian customer is worried about price as long as he gets value.

Not even the customers from the SMB market?

The days are gone when one just produced and got away with selling in the domestic market. Today a manufacturer needs to have products in the right volume, he really needs to scale it smartly and be profitable. It's a global game now and efficiencies and global competitiveness are a must. That's what is driving usage of IT and ERP deployment in this market. It's all about getting the right value.

So what is lined up for the next version 5.0? What exactly is expected out of the role center feature?

We are focusing on better usability, a simple user interface as the compelling feature. In case of role centers we would have specific front-ends for every role profile. For example, a store keeper will have whatever he needs on his table, be it the escalations he needs to manage, files, mails whatever he needs as an individual on the table.