Roundup: Events of the fortnight
London's betting houses offer odds on almost anything, including a UFO disrupting the start of the Olympics.
Going for Gold: The lack of a UFO sighting at the opening ceremony must have disappointed some people. London's betting houses offer odds on almost anything, including a UFO disrupting the start of the Olympics. Much is riding on the world's biggest sporting event, which kicked off in the city on July 27. The betting industry expects to handle a record »100 million (Rs 859 crore) during the Games, which end on August 12. See businesstoday.in/olympics-training
CORPORATE
With the monsoon playing truant, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed all ministries to coordinate with state governments to prepare contingency plans. Even so, a jump in food prices seems inevitable.
With Pranab Mukherjee moving to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the onus of chairing empowered groups of ministers has largely fallen on P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Sharad Pawar. Chidambaram will chair the group that decides the pricing of public issues of public sector companies. Antony will head the group on pricing and commercial utilisation of gas as well as the group on ultra-mega power projects. Sharad Pawar will chair the group on drought management.
A day after the Presidential elections, public sector oil companies revised prices. Diesel became costlier in seven states by up to Rs 1.95 a litre, but cheaper in 11 states. Petrol prices rose in seven states by up to Rs 2.13 a litre. This is the second increase this financial year. Predictably, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the increase.
With state elections due later this year, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up public relations efforts to attract foreign investors to his state. On a recent visit to Japan, he took the opportunity to highlight Maruti Suzuki's troubles in Manesar, Haryana.
$32 tn Potential amount of financial assets hidden in offshore havens by the global super-rich at the end of 2010 (the low end of the estimate is $21 trillion). This represents up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues. The research was conducted by McKinsey & Co for the pressure group Tax Justice Network.
$43.57 bn Estimated IT spending in India in 2012, up from $37.46 billion in 2011. Spending by small and medium businesses is likely to rise to 48 per cent by 2015, from 38 per cent in 2011. Banking, retail and healthcare are among the big spenders.
MARKETS
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has tightened eligibility and exit criteria for stocks in the derivatives segment. So scrips with a minimum trading volume of Rs 10 lakh (the current minimum is Rs 5 lakh) and marketwide position limit or market capitalisation of Rs 300 crore (current limit is Rs 100 crore) will be eligible for entry into the futures and options segment. The move is aimed at improving market integrity and checking manipulation by doing away with illiquid stocks.
Reliance Communications has put on hold the initial public offering of its undersea cable unit Flag Telecom in Singapore because of adverse market conditions. The IPO was to raise about $1 billion.
COMING UP
The Securities and Exchange Board of India may get access to emails and telephone call records as evidence in insider trading cases. This comes in the wake of the use of wire tapping evidence against Goldman Sachs' board member Rajat Gupta in an insider trading case in the US.
The finance ministry has asked public sector banks to prepare their capital requirement plans for the current financial year by August 15. The finance ministry will discuss additional capital allocation with public sector banks from August 15 to 31. The implementation of new global risk norms, or Basel III, is set for January next year.
CORPORATE
- Azim Premji-led Wipro, India's third largest software exporter, reported an 18.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,580 crore for the April-June quarter, trailing estimates. Its earnings guidance for the current quarter was weak, too. Shares fell to a nine-month low. HCL Technologies, the country's fourth largest software services exporter, reported a 29 per cent rise in quarterly net profit at Rs 659 crore, just shy of expectations.
Azim Premji - The reforms agenda of the UPA-II regime seems to have been scuttled by difficult allies, mainly the Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. As a result, allowing FDI in retail has taken a back seat. Shares of retailers such as Shoppers Stop and Trent, which are keen on tying up with foreign companies to gain fresh capital, have taken a knock.
- Hindustan Unilever reported a 48 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 855 crore for the April-June quarter. The next few quarters could be challenging for the fast-moving consumer goods sector if the monsoon is weak and the rupee continues to fall.
- The finance ministry's Financial Intelligence Unit is investigating HSBC's India operations, following allegations that the banking giant's weak safety mechanisms exposed the country to terror funding and money laundering.
- The defence offset policy is chugging along. L&T and the Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company have signed shareholder agreements with Mazagon Dock to build submarines and warships for the Navy. The order book is worth around Rs 1 trillion (a trillion is 100,000 crore). See www.businesstoday. in/defence-pvt
- The Hindujas plan to enter the real estate sector with investments pegged at $15 billion. They plan to develop townships, special economic zones, and hospitality and healthcare facilities.
- The battle between two global tech giants rages on. Apple says it is entitled to $2.53 billion in damages from Samsung Electronics over patents for technology used in smartphones and tablets such as the iPhone and iPad. Samsung says that Apple is stifling legitimate competition and limiting consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant prices.
- In the latest episode of the UK phone hacking scandal that racked media mogul Rupert Murdoch's empire, former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face 19 criminal charges that may lead to two years in jail. Both were close to the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron.
With the monsoon playing truant, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed all ministries to coordinate with state governments to prepare contingency plans. Even so, a jump in food prices seems inevitable.
With Pranab Mukherjee moving to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the onus of chairing empowered groups of ministers has largely fallen on P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Sharad Pawar. Chidambaram will chair the group that decides the pricing of public issues of public sector companies. Antony will head the group on pricing and commercial utilisation of gas as well as the group on ultra-mega power projects. Sharad Pawar will chair the group on drought management.
A day after the Presidential elections, public sector oil companies revised prices. Diesel became costlier in seven states by up to Rs 1.95 a litre, but cheaper in 11 states. Petrol prices rose in seven states by up to Rs 2.13 a litre. This is the second increase this financial year. Predictably, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the increase.
With state elections due later this year, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has stepped up public relations efforts to attract foreign investors to his state. On a recent visit to Japan, he took the opportunity to highlight Maruti Suzuki's troubles in Manesar, Haryana.
$32 tn Potential amount of financial assets hidden in offshore havens by the global super-rich at the end of 2010 (the low end of the estimate is $21 trillion). This represents up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues. The research was conducted by McKinsey & Co for the pressure group Tax Justice Network.
$43.57 bn Estimated IT spending in India in 2012, up from $37.46 billion in 2011. Spending by small and medium businesses is likely to rise to 48 per cent by 2015, from 38 per cent in 2011. Banking, retail and healthcare are among the big spenders.
MARKETS
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has tightened eligibility and exit criteria for stocks in the derivatives segment. So scrips with a minimum trading volume of Rs 10 lakh (the current minimum is Rs 5 lakh) and marketwide position limit or market capitalisation of Rs 300 crore (current limit is Rs 100 crore) will be eligible for entry into the futures and options segment. The move is aimed at improving market integrity and checking manipulation by doing away with illiquid stocks.
Reliance Communications has put on hold the initial public offering of its undersea cable unit Flag Telecom in Singapore because of adverse market conditions. The IPO was to raise about $1 billion.
COMING UP
The Securities and Exchange Board of India may get access to emails and telephone call records as evidence in insider trading cases. This comes in the wake of the use of wire tapping evidence against Goldman Sachs' board member Rajat Gupta in an insider trading case in the US.
The finance ministry has asked public sector banks to prepare their capital requirement plans for the current financial year by August 15. The finance ministry will discuss additional capital allocation with public sector banks from August 15 to 31. The implementation of new global risk norms, or Basel III, is set for January next year.
