Asian shares fell to their lowest levels of the year
on Friday as early bargain hunting gave way to worries about Europe's raging
debt crisis and weak global growth.
European
shares looked set to follow their Asian peers, with spreadbetters predicting
major European markets would open as much as 0.4% lower. US stock futures were
also down 0.3%.The MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed early gains to slip 0.7%, hitting
its lowest since late December as worries about a possible Greek exit from the
euro zone weighed on the market.
The pan-Asia stock index was set for
a third consecutive week of losses, on track for a 1.1% weekly decline to post
its longest losing streak in six months. The index has now edged into negative
territory for the year, having been up some 15% from end-2011 levels in late
February.
Australia's top airline, Qantas Airways, said on
Tuesday its international and domestic business will be managed as separate
businesses with their own chief executive with earnings to be reported
separately from July 1.
Qantas said in a stock exchange filing that the
changes were part of a five-year turnaround plan aimed at shrinking costs and
getting the loss making international operations into profit.
"Qantas International, a great airline with a
rich history, is loss-making and does not deliver sustainable returns,"
Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.
"However, we are committed to turning it around
through the five-year strategy we announced last year, based on flying to
global gateways, deeper alliances, smart investment in product and disciplined
capital management."
ASIAN
MANAGEMENT
The deal sets a benchmark valuation of at least $7.6
billion for the company as financial advisers begin to target cornerstone and
retail investors during the pre-marketing process of the IPO. The shares are expected
to debut in June.
The three investors are U.S. groups Waddell & Reed
(WDR.N)
and BlackRock (BLK.N),
along with Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management, the asset management
unit of the Norwegian central bank, CVC said in a statement on Tuesday,
confirming earlier reports.
Waddell & Reed said it had invested $1.1 billion
through its Asset Strategy mutual funds and separate accounts. Norges Bank is
believed to have contributed around $300 million and BlackRock the remaining
$200 million in deals struck since the start of the year.
Private equity firm CVC Capital has sold a $1.6
billion stake in Formula One to three investors including BlackRock ahead of
the motor racing company's planned $3 billion initial public offering in
Singapore, sources said on Tuesday.
The
deal sets a benchmark valuation of at least $7 billion for the company as
financial advisers begin to target potential cornerstone and retail investors
during the pre-marketing process of the IPO. The shares are expected to debut
in June. The pre-IPO deal cuts CVC's stake in Formula One to about
40% from 63.4%, one of the sources s aid. The two other investors are asset
manager Waddell & Reed and Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management, the
asset management unit of the Norwegian central bank, known as Norges Bank.
"It raises some capital, which
may be required, and it gives the IPO a little bit more credibility if some
well-known investment houses come on board pre-IPO," said Peter Elston,
head of Asia-Pacific strategy and asset allocation at Aberdeen Asset
Management's Asian unit.
BANKING
Spain’s fourth largest bank Bankia, which lost
billions of euros through its exposure to the collapsed property market on
Friday asked the government for a financial support of 19 billion euros to
avert bankruptcy.
Bankia had already received from the Spanish
government a financial assistance of 4.5 billion euros when it was partially
nationalised two weeks ago and the total costs of rescuing the bank will now go
up to 23.5 billion euros. More bad news for the Spanish government came from
the regional government in Catalonia, which asked for help to make payments.
While the financial crisis in Greece was triggered by massive debts and huge budgetary deficit, the crisis in Spain stems from the banking sector, which suffered massive losses after the property bubble burst in 2008.
Bankia, which reportedly has provided about 32 billion euros credit to the unsuccessful property market is at the centre of the Spanish financial crisis.
The government of Prime Minister Rajoy is determined to prevent a collapse of the bank at any cost, media reports said quoting government officials.
While the financial crisis in Greece was triggered by massive debts and huge budgetary deficit, the crisis in Spain stems from the banking sector, which suffered massive losses after the property bubble burst in 2008.
Bankia, which reportedly has provided about 32 billion euros credit to the unsuccessful property market is at the centre of the Spanish financial crisis.
The government of Prime Minister Rajoy is determined to prevent a collapse of the bank at any cost, media reports said quoting government officials.
China announced on Saturday it would grant private
capital the same entry standards to the banking industry as other capital, in
an effort to shore up an economy that is continuing slowing down and to lend
more to small businesses that are thirsty for funds.
Private companies can buy into banks through private
stock placements, new share subscriptions, equity transfers, mergers and
acquisitions, according to a guideline released by the China Banking Regulatory
Commission on its official website.
And private investment is also welcomed in trust,
financial leasing and auto-financing companies, it said.
The guideline also lowered the minimum shareholding of
the main initiator for rural banks, which are usually major State-owned
commercial lenders, from 20 percent to 15 percent, to stimulate private
investors’ willingness to lend to rural residents and small enterprises.
"The banking regulatory branches at different
levels cannot set up separate restrictions or additional conditions for private
capital to enter banking sector. And they are obliged to improve transparency
of the banking market access constantly," the CBRC said.
BUSINESS
The official purchasing managers' index - covering
China's biggest, mainly state-backed firms - fell more than expected to 50.4 in
May, the weakest reading this year and down from April's 13-month high, with
output at its lowest since November 2011.
The HSBC China manufacturing PMI, tracking smaller
private sector firms, retreated to 48.4 from 49.3 in April - its seventh
straight month below the 50-mark that demarcates expansion from contraction -
with the employment sub-index falling to 48.1, its lowest level since March,
2009.
"Growth in Q2 is likely to slow, probably below
7.5 percent year-on-year. That puts the annual growth target at risk and the
risks continue to increase because the external environment is weakening,"
Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in
Hong Kong, told Reuters.
"The government will still try to get by with
targeted, selective measures like the cash for clunkers program, but we will
get more monetary measures as well."
An increasing number of top companies and government
departments that were once devoted to the Blackberry are instead now giving
some staff the option of using Apple Inc's iPhone or smartphones running off of
Google Inc's Android-operating system.
There is now a real danger for RIM that such switching
will gather pace and turn into a much bigger exodus of customers, mobile phone
industry consultants and experts warned.
The uncertainty surrounding RIM's future, and the
possibility of a sale, is "scary to an end user," said John Hering,
chief executive of Lookout, one of the world's biggest providers of mobile
security products.
Within 12 hours of RIM's announcement, Hering said, he
heard from several corporate technology executives troubled by the news.
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT
Ofer Ships Management India Pvt Ltd will
open its second office in the country in Kolkata to tap the talent pool in East
and North-East India.
The company, a crew management wing of
the Netherlands-based Ofer Shipping Group, plans to use Kolkata office for
recruitment hub for its merchant ships.
Ofer currently has an office in Mumbai.
“With the new crew management office in
Kolkata, we will be recruiting a number of staff from West Bengal, Bihar,
Odisha, and the north eastern states including Assam for all our services
globally,” Capt Anil Sood, Director of Ofer Ship Management, told Business
Line.
As part of its expansion plans, the
company is in talks with Kolkata-based shipping management and marine
engineering institutes for training tie-ups.
Partnerpedia,
a leading provider of enterprise application store and marketplace solutions,
today announced the general availability of its Enterprise
AppZone solution for corporate IT. Enterprise AppZone is a cloud-based
service that offers a curated app marketplace consisting of top selling
business apps, as well as a private enterprise app store for corporate IT to
distribute and manage apps on BYOD and company owned devices.
The Enterprise AppZone marketplace consists of top
selling business apps for Android that are available for direct purchase and
download. According to Strategy Analytics, Android represented over 50% of the
US smartphone market in 2011. The value of purchasing apps via Enterprise
AppZone over conventional app stores is that corporate IT retains ownership and
control over the app licenses for distribution and reallocation to end-users.
In addition, the apps are vetted for viruses and the marketplace supports
corporate procurement models such as volume and PO based purchasing.
FINANCE
The S&P 500 closed at its lowest since early
January and ended below its 200-day moving average for the first time in 2012 after
the Labor Department said employers created just 69,000 jobs last month, the
weakest in a year.
The bleak May jobs report caps a week of soft economic
data from China and growing problems in Europe as
Spain's bank crisis deepened.
The global flight to safety pushed U.S. and German
government debt yields to record lows while the VIX .VIX, a gauge of U.S. stock
market anxiety, jumped more than 20 percent for the week.
"The vast majority of investors are choosing to
panic," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo
Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
"It's been pretty clear for the last year that
Europe was going to be a drag for the global economy."
Though steep, Jacobsen said he would view the pullback
as a buying opportunity unless it pushed the S&P 500 below 1,250.
Ratan Tata-led Tata Motors today
reported four per cent increase in its total sales in May this year at 64,347
vehicles.
The company's domestic sales of
commercial and passenger vehicles for the month rose six per cent to 60,128
units against 56,571 units sold in May last year.
Tata Motors' sales of commercial
vehicles in May 2012 in the domestic market moved up by seven per cent to
39,625 units compared to 37,170 vehicles, sold in May last year, it said in a
statement.
Light commercial vehicle sales were
27,174 units, a growth of 26 per cent, compared to 21,638 vehicles sold in May
last year.
Medium and heavy vehicle sales stood
at 12,451 vehicles, lower by 20 per cent, compared to 15,532 vehicles sold in
May, last year
INDIA BUSINESS
British
telecom giant Vodafone Group on Tuesday posted 14 per cent growth in operating
earnings from India's [ Images ] business to 1.12 billion pounds (about Rs 9,749
crore) for 2011-12 helped by rising customer base and strong growth in
voice-call minutes. The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortisation (EBITDA) - which excludes one-time effects, for the financial year
ended March 31, rose to 1.12 billion pounds, from 985 million pounds in
2010-11, Vodafone said in a statement.
The Group's revenue from Indian operations surged to 4.26 billion pounds in 2011-12, from 3.85 billion pounds in the previous fiscal.
The telecom entity attributed the robust earnings from India's operations to service revenue as well as higher customer base. The growth also came from mobile operators starting to charge for SMS termination during the second quarter of the 2012 financial year.
"Service revenue grew by 19.5 per cent, driven by an 11.8 per cent increase in the customer base, strong growth in incoming and outgoing voice minutes and 51.3 per cent growth in data revenue," Vodafone said.
The Group's revenue from Indian operations surged to 4.26 billion pounds in 2011-12, from 3.85 billion pounds in the previous fiscal.
The telecom entity attributed the robust earnings from India's operations to service revenue as well as higher customer base. The growth also came from mobile operators starting to charge for SMS termination during the second quarter of the 2012 financial year.
"Service revenue grew by 19.5 per cent, driven by an 11.8 per cent increase in the customer base, strong growth in incoming and outgoing voice minutes and 51.3 per cent growth in data revenue," Vodafone said.
In April, the Department
of Financial Services suggested a sweeping reorganisation of the
Bank-Business Correspondent (BC) model.
It recommended that India be split into 20 clusters,
and that one BC company, common to all public sector banks operating in that
geography, be appointed for each cluster. Such a reorganisation, senior
mandarins in the Ministry told ET, would improve the economics of the bank-BC
model. ET has now learnt that 11 companies have bid for the first of the
tenders -- issued by the State Bank of India for Maharashtra. These are, in no
particular order, Atyati
Technologies, Spanco,
Eko
India Financial Services, Ascendrum Solutions, Basix, Terasoft, Datamatrix
GS, Vakrangee Finserve, Coramandel Infotech, FINO and Integra Macro Systems. In
the industry, this list is creating some surprise.
Under the proposal, each cluster is expected to have
about 3,000 gram panchayats. As such, Maharashtra
would be one cluster while smaller states like Haryana and Punjab would be
clubbed together as a single cluster.
INDIA
MANAGEMENT
A trade union representative in the EPFO has opposed
its fund manager Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital Asset Management's
decision to sell 26 percent stake to Japanese insurance firm Nippon Life.
"We are against the entry of foreign investor in the asset management firm managing EPFO funds. This is very dangerous and against the interest of workers," B N Rai, Secretary Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh said.
Under the contract with the EPFO, its fund managers, "shall not undertake any corporate action including mergers, amalgamations, take over, acquisition, divestment etc, without the prior written approval of the Trust".
The matter came up for discussion before the EPFO's advisory body, Finance and Investment Committee (FIC), on Friday, and faced opposition from Rai, the sole union member who was present at the meeting.
In view of the stiff opposition, the issue, which was listed on the agenda, was dropped at the recent meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), at Chennai on Friday.
"We are against the entry of foreign investor in the asset management firm managing EPFO funds. This is very dangerous and against the interest of workers," B N Rai, Secretary Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh said.
Under the contract with the EPFO, its fund managers, "shall not undertake any corporate action including mergers, amalgamations, take over, acquisition, divestment etc, without the prior written approval of the Trust".
The matter came up for discussion before the EPFO's advisory body, Finance and Investment Committee (FIC), on Friday, and faced opposition from Rai, the sole union member who was present at the meeting.
In view of the stiff opposition, the issue, which was listed on the agenda, was dropped at the recent meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), at Chennai on Friday.
Adidas India has
confiscated goods from three of the four 'secret' warehouses where it alleged
that its former top executives had stashed products worth Rs. 63 crore, two
persons with knowledge of the development said.
"When the police went to search the alleged
secret warehouses it found that the sporting goods company had on its own gone
ahead and confiscated the goods in three warehouses," one of them said.
The police have now restricted Adidas from opening the fourth warehouse, the
person added. In an FIR filed on Monday, the German sports goods maker,
which owns Adidas and Reebok
brands, alleged that former Reebok India MD Subhinder Singh Prem and former COO
Vishnu Bhagat were involved in a series of frauds that may have cost the parent
company Rs. 870 crore.
The company accused the two former executives of
stealing and diverting products and keeping them in four secret warehouses,
despite Adidas having around nine warehouses. Gurgaon Police DCP (east)
Maheswar Dayal said a lookout circular has been issued against Prem and Bhagat
by the state head quarters. This will ensure that the two former Reebok
employees do not leave the country.
INSURANCE
Courtesy the growing insurance penetration in the country,
the sector is likely to face a shortage of skilled manpower, according to
experts.
“Manpower
requirements differ from companies to companies. In Life Insurance Corporation
(LIC) alone, the current requirement is about 10,000 professionals at the administrative
and clerical level,” K Venugopal, general secretary, All India Insurance
Employee Association (AIIEA), told Business Standard. In
the Indian banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, the
incremental human resource requirement will be about 500,000 persons by 2020,
estimates National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
The insurance industry will require
niche high-end skills in complex and highly-specialised areas such as risk
management, credit evaluation and financial engineering.
“Also, high skills are required in
making policies as per the economic status of the public, deciding premium
amount, calculating the premium and even for selling polices. Demand for
actuaries and professionals proficient in underwriting, claims and customer
services and giving the risk solutions are in demand,” said Sanjay Datta, head
(underwriting and claims), ICICI Lombard.
In April, private companies continued to be a drag on
the life insurance sector’s new premium collection. Data collected by the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) showed private insurers
collected Rs 1,125 crore by writing new policies in April, down 16.3 per cent
compared with Rs 1,345 crore in the same month last year.
The country’s largest life insurer, government-owned
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), reported only a 2.5 per cent increase in new
premium collection in the same period, at Rs 3,812 crore. As a result, total
new premium collection by the 23 life insurers in the country fell 2.5 per cent
to Rs 4,937 crore in April from Rs 5,063 crore in the same period last year.
While lack of products continued to remain a key reason behind this fall in
collection, the volatile equity market is taking its toll. The worst sufferers
are private life insurers; the number of policies issued by them was down 18
per cent in April. The number of policies issued by LIC declined, too, 11 per
cent. As a result, total policy issuance by the industry declined 12 per cent
in April.
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
International cash and carry chains in the retail
sector want to expand through the year in India, despite the economic slowdown
and dip in foreign investor confidence.
Having no foreign direct investment (FDI) restriction,
these wholesale chains are allowed to sell products only to retailers,
professional users, caterers, institutional buyers and other businesses, which
need special licences to buy from these outlets. Walmart, the $446-billion
American retail giant, which operates cash and carry outlets in India in a
50-50 joint venture with the Bharti group, expects to open 12 to 15 wholesale
outlets in 2012, against 10 in 2011. At an average cost of $6-7 million (Rs
33-38 crore) per store, excluding land and construction cost, 15 outlets would
mean an investment of anything between Rs 500 crore and Rs 600 crore. With land
and construction cost, total investment could double.
Exports and consumer demand are cushioning Germany against recession, data
showed on Thursday, but crisis clouds are gathering over Europe's biggest
economy as business confidence falls sharply.
The German
economy grew 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2012, the federal
statistics office Destatis said, with a 1.7-per cent rise in exports and a
0.4-per cent gain in consumer spending helping to avert a recession. But at the
same time, the Ifo economic institute said its closely watched business climate
index dropped in May, with the intensification of the Greek crisis and the
resulting resurgence in uncertainty in the eurozone as a whole "impacting
the German economy."
It was the first time in seven months that the Ifo
index has fallen and shows that companies are becoming increasingly spooked by
the long-running eurozone debt crisis. The drop was also the steepest drop
since August last year and, at 106.9 points, brings the barometer down to its
lowest level since November 2011.
Economy minister Philipp
Roesler was adamant, however, that despite the unexpected drop in the Ifo
index, businesses "remain confident." The German economy "grew
unexpectedly rapidly in the first quarter and is now clearly back on a growth
path," he said.
LOGISTICS
Saudi Logistics, a subsidiary of Banaja Holdings and an exclusive logistic company for the Healthcare industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has successfully upgraded its ISO certificate from ISO 9001:2000 to ISO 9001:2008.
The latest, prestigious certificate
is compliant with the International Organisation for Standardisation in the
provision of logistics management encompassing supply/demand, warehousing, and
transportation and distribution specialised in healthcare and related lines,
confirming that SL consistently meets and exceeds client satisfaction and
regulatory requirements throughout the entire organisation.
In order to secure 9001:2008 certification, SL was carefully evaluated throughout the enterprise from sales forecast, demand planning and customs clearance to warehousing and distribution. The analysis also included a thorough audit of policies and practices governing operations, confirming that these processes are applied with a firm commitment to ongoing improvement.
In order to secure 9001:2008 certification, SL was carefully evaluated throughout the enterprise from sales forecast, demand planning and customs clearance to warehousing and distribution. The analysis also included a thorough audit of policies and practices governing operations, confirming that these processes are applied with a firm commitment to ongoing improvement.
Indian logistics
firms grew at over 25 per cent in fiscal 2011-12 led by a large-scale
outsourcing of logistics services by manufacturing and services sectors and a
steady rise in rural consumption.
At a time the domestic economy was grappling with
slowdown fears, logistics majors like Blue Dart, Arshiya, DTDC and Allcargo
Global reported a robust growth. "More and more companies are now looking
to outsource services to logistics companies and logistics companies are also
realising the importance of cost-effective measures, helping them grow,"
said Shashi Kiran Shetty, managing director, Allcargo Global.
The growth comes at time when the sector has been
witnessing a paradigm shift, with many small-scale and large-scale firms
looking to improve presence in the 3PL (third-party logistics sector) market.
3PL players are outsourced to provide an integrated end-to-end logistics
solutions such as warehousing, transportation and inventory management,
ensuring safe delivery and storage of goods.
"There are some avenues from where the logistics
sector has been benefiting. E-commerce, pharma, auto industry and consumer
demand from Tier-II and Tier-III cities have been good. There has been a wider
slowdown, but the logistics sector has been doing better," said Anil
Khanna, MD, Blue Dart.
MANAGEMENT
Reliance
Capital Asset Management Company, which runs Anil Ambani-led Reliance
group's mutual fund business, has posted a net profit of Rs 276 crore for the
fiscal year 2011-12, retaining its position as the country's most profitable
fund house for the second straight year.
The company's profit after tax grew by over five per
cent from Rs 261 crore in the previous fiscal 2011-12. Its profit after tax
also grew by five per cent to Rs 308 crore in the fiscal ended March 31, 2012.
Reliance Capital AMC (Asset Management Company) had overtaken HDFC AMC as the
country's most profitable fund house during the previous fiscal 2010-11 and has
managed to retain its leadership position.
In the latest fiscal 2011-12, Reliance AMC
was followed by HDFC AMC as the second most profitable fund house and the
latter's profit after tax grew to Rs 269 crore from Rs 242 crore.
During the fiscal 2009-10, HDFC AMC was the most
profitable with a profit after tax of Rs 208 crore, followed by Reliance AMC
(Rs 195 crore), UTI AMC (Rs 170 crore) and ICICI Prudential (Rs 128 crore).
However, HDFC AMC slipped to second slot in 2010-11,
while UTI remained at the thirst position with Rs 138 crore, followed by
Franklin Templeton (Rs 97 crore), Birla Sunlife (Rs 85 crore) and ICICI Pru (Rs
72 crore), among others.
VMware has acquired Wanova, a developer of software
used to centralize and simplify image management on physical and virtual
desktops, the company said Tuesday. The combination of VMware's virtual desktop
platform View and Wanova's cloud-based management and recovery product Mirage
will help expand the operational benefits of central image management, wrote
VMware's Scott Davis, CTO for VMware's End User Computing business unit, in a blog post.
Both View and Mirage provides centralized desktop
image management, with advantages such as making it easier to install patches.
The key difference is that VMware View images execute
on servers in the data center and use a remote graphics protocol for the user
interface, while Mirage images are transmitted and cached locally for runtime
execution on the client, according to Davis.
MARKETING
The week gone by displayed indecisiveness by
participants as the markets garnered small gains after moving in a tight range.
The Nifty managed to hold on to the 4900 level mark as investors cheered the
government’s announcement to raise petrol prices in an attempt to revive the
policy inaction tag. State-run oil marketing firms took the long overdue step
of raising petrol prices by 7.50 rupees per litre — the steepest ever
increase in retail prices. The revision comes as the rupee hit
an all-time low against the dollar leading to a jump in the oil import bill. As
expected, the government faces strong protests by the opposition and a partial
rollback could be on the cards in the next few days. This could also delay the
decision on the increase in retail prices of diesel and LPG which form a lion’s
share of the subsidy bill and is one of the important signals about the
seriousness of the government to pull through bold and tough measures.
State-run
oil marketing companies may be whining about the government denying them their
due with administered fuel prices that lower their revenues, but they are
laughing all the way to the banks with manifold profit growth. Aided
by cash subsidies and payments from other state
Aided by cash subsidies and payments from other state
companies to compensate for under-recoveries resulting from their selling fuel
at below-market prices, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL)
have announced stellar profits for the fourth quarter of 2011-12, while
Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) is scheduled to unveil its results on Tuesday.
Posting a much higher than expected earnings, the biggest of them all, IOC,
on Monday reported a 224 % jump in its January-March net profit at Rs. 12,670.43 crore from R 3,905.16 crore a year ago
ODISHA
BUSINESS
The four distribution companies operating in the
state- Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha Ltd (Cesu), North-Eastern
Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Nesco), Southern Electricity Supply
Company of Odisha (Southco) and Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha
(Wesco) have begun implementation of the ambitious capital expenditure (Capex)
programme.
The Capex programme with an outlay of Rs 2400 crore is
aimed at reducing high AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) loss in
the state which currently stands at 39 per cent. "Discoms are through with
the process of material procurement for the Capex programme and have started
execution of the scheme. An outlay of Rs 205 crore was earmarked by the state
government for the scheme in 2010-11 and Rs 215 crore in 2011-12 whileRs 291
crore has been set aside for 2012-13”, a senior energy department official told
Business Standard.
Tata Pigments, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata
Steel, has targeted its annual turnover of Rs 82 crore in this fiscal.
The company in the last fiscal had an annual turnover of Rs 65 crore. To expand its business, the company, which has its state-of-art plant in Jamshedpur, is going set up two processing units in Odisha and West Bengal. This was announced by Om Prakash Gupta, General Manager (Marketing and Sales) at the Annual Business Associates Meet-2012 at hotel Suryansh here today.
While speaking about the business viability of the State, Gupta said that last year, the company had a business turnover of Rs 11crore from Odisha market. This year it plans for a business of Rs 13 crore from the state, he added. Of its total business in the country, Odisha contributes 30 per cent business, he informed.
Tata Pigment is the only Indian manufacturer of synthetic iron oxide pigments in the organised sector.
The company in the last fiscal had an annual turnover of Rs 65 crore. To expand its business, the company, which has its state-of-art plant in Jamshedpur, is going set up two processing units in Odisha and West Bengal. This was announced by Om Prakash Gupta, General Manager (Marketing and Sales) at the Annual Business Associates Meet-2012 at hotel Suryansh here today.
While speaking about the business viability of the State, Gupta said that last year, the company had a business turnover of Rs 11crore from Odisha market. This year it plans for a business of Rs 13 crore from the state, he added. Of its total business in the country, Odisha contributes 30 per cent business, he informed.
Tata Pigment is the only Indian manufacturer of synthetic iron oxide pigments in the organised sector.
RETAIL
The recent decision by state-owned oil marketing
companies to increase petrol prices steeply has raised hopes of retail chains,
which expects the government will now initiate steps to take the long-pending
decision on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
The oil companies raised petrol prices by Rs 7.50 on
Wednesday, a tough but unpopular decision which many see as a strong signal
from the government that it’s now stepping on the reform pedal. Many of the
retail chains, which have been on a silent mode for months, sent out feelers on
Thursday that all was not lost on the FDI front. In another indication that
things could be moving, India head of French retail chain Carrefour SA, Jean
Noel Bironneau met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Thursday.
Carrefour is one of the chains waiting for the government’s decision on FDI in
multi-brand retail
British retail sales
fell at their fastest monthly pace in more than two years in April, after a
record drop in fuel sales and a weather-related drop in clothing sales,
official data showed on Wednesday. The weak start into the second quarter highlights
the ongoing weakness of the economy and may raise speculation about another
cash boost from the Bank of
England.
The Office for National Statistics said retail sales
volumes fell 2.3 per cent on the month - its biggest drop since January 2010
and more than twice as fast as forecast. The fall more than reversed an
upwardly revised 2 percent rise in March. On the year, sales fell 1.1 percent -
confounding economists' forecasts for an annual rise of 1.0 percent. The ONS
said the monthly decline was driven by a record drop in fuel sales following
panic buying of fuel in March that had resulted in petrol stations being unable
to restock in tim e in April.
Record rainfall in April meanwhile depressed sales of
clothing and footwear, which fell at its sharpest monthly pace since June 2008.
Business surveys had already indicated that the retailers struggled in April,
though the CBI survey had also shown that retailers were more confident about
the month ahead.
SUPPLY
CHAIN
A partnership between Transparency International and
private equity firm KKR highlights the increased importance being attached
to risks in the supply chain, as well as the heightened sensitivity of
investors to compliance risks. The partnership, which KKR announced last week, will involve Transparency International in the
private equity firm’s best practice meetings and in working with its portfolio
companies.
Compliance experts focused on the potential work
Transparency International could do with KKR on its supply chain. “If KKR
chooses to invest in an electronics company, Transparency International would
look at the supply chain to make sure it’s not buying gold, tin or other
minerals” from conflict nations, said David Holley, a senior managing director
at Kroll.
The sourcing of supply question becomes doubly
important given a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that mandates the disclosure
of the origin of conflict minerals, he said.
The economy has shifted from recession to recovery
mode with automation and software technologies cited as one of the fastest
growing industries in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of
Commerce and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rapid expansion of the sector and
its business and economic impact will be the focus of the 27th annual Material
Handling & Logistics Conference, sponsored by Dematic, the leading supplier
of logistics systems for distribution, manufacturing and warehouse
environments, September 9 to 12 in Park City, Utah. Steve Forbes, chairman of
Forbes Media, will serve as the Conference's keynote speaker offering his
international insights in the areas of economics, finance and corporate
leadership. His presentation will also provide advice on how to grow businesses
in challenging economic times and gain a competitive edge in the $156 billion
supply chain industry.
______________________________________________________________________
Source of
Information for this issue : Google alert accessed on 28th May and 1st June 2012 &
Google search accessed on 1st June 2012.
We welcome your suggestions
in improving this information updating service.
Knowledge
Is Power. Be Informed, Be Knowledgeable, Be Powerful.
Best wishes
Compilation
Sabita Sahu, B.A., PGDCA, MLISc,
Professional Library Trainee
Sabita Sahu, B.A., PGDCA, MLISc,
Professional Library Trainee
Concept, Layout and
Editing
Rajashekhar Devarai
Chief Librarian
Chief Librarian
Information and
Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of
Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road,
Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
Tel:0674-2374832, 2374833
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