Thursday 23 February, 2012

News Feb 2012

Feb 22, 2012


FY12 Economic Growth seen at 7.1%: Rangarajan:

India's economy could grow 7.1% this fiscal (FY12), feels C Rangarajan, economic advisor to the Prime Minister. His estimate is slightly better than the 6.9% GDP growth estimated by the state-owned Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). While admitting to the slack in manufacturing,

Rangarajan is hopeful that growth in farm output can be seen averaging at 3% against 2.5% estimated by the CSO.

He sees the economy growing 7.5%-8% next fiscal.

Rangarajan said that headline inflation is expected to ease to 5-6%. However, current account deficit is seen at 3% of GDP.

It is hoped that eurozone will soon find a solution to the problem. Germany is more forthcoming in providing this relief. US economy is better than Europe, but overall situation will be tight. The coming year is expected to be sans any shock.


Investment rate has been coming down

Gross fixed capital formation down sharply over past 4 years

Likely to have record food grain output this year

Expansion of fiscal deficit an area of concern

FY12 fiscal gap seen higher on rising subsidy bill

Manufacturing has not been doing well

Expect 3.9% growth in manufacturing sector

Expect 9.4% growth in services sector in 2011-12

Balance of payments situation has been difficult

Capital flows have picked up since January

Seeing increased FDI in FY12

FY13 budget must have decisive, tough measures

Mining sector projected to grow by 6% in FY13

Manufacturing sector to grow by 7.5% in FY13

Increase in veg prices due to archaic marketing arrangement

Adjustment of diesel prices has been overdue

Excessive appreciation of rupee vs dollar not good

Must return to pre-crisis tax-GDP ratio

Source: www.moneycontrol.com



Econet seeks $3 bn damages from Bharti Airtel:

Econet Wireless is seeking at least $3.1 billion in damages from Bharti Airtel in a dispute over ownership of its subsidiary Airtel Nigeria, according to a suit filed on Wednesday.

The move follows a Nigerian court ruling on January 30 that Bharti Airtel's ownership of its subsidiary Airtel Nigeria is "null and void" because co-founder and 5% shareholder Econet was not consulted on the transfer.

South Africa-based Econet Wireless is disputing Bharti's ownership of one of its top Africa operations.

Bharti said on February 8 that its stake in its Nigerian unit was "completely safe" and that the world's fifth-biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers had appealed against the verdict.

"The claim for damages and equitable compensation against the Applicant and some of the Respondents might be in excess of $3 billion," the document filed to the court said.

"The above estimated damages might also be in addition to a claim for $100 million received by the applicant as fees for the management of VNL (Vee Networks Limited, a former name of Airtel) for a period of six years which sum should have accrued."

Bharti Airtel inherited the legal case as part of a $9 billion acquisition of Zain's Africa operations in 2010, including 65% of Zain Nigeria.

The basis of Econet's claim is that its 5% stake was unfairly cancelled when Zain took control, so any decision made since then without it, including the transfer to Bharti, is void. The Nigerian court upheld that claim.

Nigeria contributes about 9.5% to Bharti's consolidated operational profits, the company says.

Econet disputed the buyout of Airtel's stake from Zain Nigeria in 2010 because its right of first refusal over the stake was denied, in a dispute that had been ongoing since 2003, when the same assets were first sold to Vee Networks.

Source: Business Standards.





Bears take over bulls on D-Street; Sensex, Nifty lose over 1% each:


The benchmark indices took three trading sessions to gather momentum, but only one to crash down! Today, extending previous two sessions’ gains, the key indices started off well in green. However, during the course of the day, the bourses fell below the equator and ended with major losses.


At close, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 18,145.25, down 283.36 points or 1.54%. The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty pulled down shutters at 5,505.35, lower by 101.80 points or 1.82%, from the previous close.

Tracking trade:

The bourses kick-started trade on a positive note and within seconds registered intraday highs: Sensex at 18,523.78 and Nifty at 5,629.95. Later, after trading range-bound in green for an hour, the bourses slipped in red following the news of SBI providing relief package to Kingfisher Airlines.

News reports suggest that country’s biggest lender; SBI may provide Kingfisher Airlines with Rs 1,200 crore relief package, including working capital of Rs 400 crore, bank guarantee of Rs 500 crore and loan repayment extension worth Rs 250-300 crore. The news took a toll on the stock, which gave up nearly 9% and was the biggest loser on the Sensex.

Reflecting the decline in the stock, the major indices kept hitting ground till the closing bell. The Sensex hit the bottom at 18,095.81, while the Nifty fell below 5,500 mark and registered intraday low at 5,491.35.

The picture was no different for the broader market. Secondary market, which also ended near intraday lows, underperformed the key indices. The BSE Midcap index lost 3.46%, while the BSE Smallcap index was down 3.24%.

On the sectoral front, barring BSE IT index (0.45%), all 12 BSE indices ended with losses. Among losers, BSE Realty index (-6.77%) was the biggest dud, followed by BSE Consumer Durables index (-4.93%) and BSE Metal index (-4.29%). Indices for banking and power stocks lost over 3%, while that for PSU and capital goods were down over 2% each. BSE Auto index gave up 1.55%, in trade.

Out of the 30 blue-chip companies listed on the Sensex, six ended with gains. TCS (1.46%), Sun Pharma (1.24%) and ITC (0.60%) topped the charts. On the downside, SBI (-7.91%), DLF (-7.69%) and Sterlite Ind (-6.62%) were leading the losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely weak. Of the 3,083 stocks traded on the BSE, only 767 advanced, while 2,210 declined and 106 remained unchanged.

Source:  www.yourmoneysite.com 

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