Business

Global agency Moody’s Monday said the sliding rupee will not impact India’s sovereign ratings, but may hurt private sector companies with large overseas debts.

“Significant Indian rupee depreciation is insignificant for sovereign credit… The direct effect of depreciation on the government’s own debt repayment capacity is limited,” Moody’s Investors Service said in its report.

The report further pointed out that the current rupee volatility will be “less damaging than in 1991, when low reserves and a widening current account deficit prompted India’s last balance of payment crisis”.

State-owned Coal India (CIL) Monday reported a 4.9 percent dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,013 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, due to higher staff expenses.

The company clocked a net profit of Rs 4,220 crore during January-March quarter of FY 2010-11, the company said in a filing to BSE.

The income from operations of the public sector firm for the quarter, however, increased to Rs 19,418 crore over Rs 15,004 crore for the same period a year ago, it added.

Yangon China enjoys a monopoly on rare earth that is needed as much in your smart phone as in hybrid cars. The world is now looking at Myanmar to have an alternate source of this precious commodity.

Myanmar is known to have rare earth like Xenotine, Monazite, Columbite and Tantalite, says crcnetbase.com

The reforms brought about by President Thein Sein has led the tech-savvy and wide-eyed industrial giants to look at Myanmar’s deposits.

Amid nationwide outrage over the Rs 7/litre hike in petrol prices, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Monday made it clear that the government is not considering raising the prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene in the immediate future.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the impact of fule prices on inflation, Reddy said, “…not going to touch the price of LPG, diesel and kerosene, full stop.”

With an eye on the Assembly polls slated for next year, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is likely to put special focus on social sector and development when she presents the annual Budget of her government for the second consecutive year on Monday.

The Budget, the second since Dikshit has been handling the finance portfolio, is expected to be a populist one and a bid to regain the Congress’ support base for the Assembly Elections in the wake of the party’s crushing defeat in the municipal polls.

Emirates Airlines will launch a daily non-stop service to Lisbon in July, the only Middle East carrier to serve Portugal.

The service will start July 9. Portugal will be the airline’s 10th new route this year.

“I have only been in Lisbon for a short time, but I am really feeling a buzz about Emirates’ new flight, which will start in just over six weeks’ time,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice president.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Friday told Air India’s striking pilots that the airline may begin hiring new pilots if the 18-day-old strike continued.

“We are not waiting for them, (we) can even begin hiring new pilots,” the minister told IANS after meeting some of the striking pilots.

“I have told them my stand, now they need to think,” Singh said.

“We are now flying half the international routes. And we are making a new business plan. If I have to hire new pilots, I will do that.”

The West Bengal government has entered into an MoU with the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and the Burn Standard Company Ltd (BSCL) to set up a railway wagon and component factory in East Midnapore’s Jellingham, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Friday. SAIL will invest Rs.21,000 crore in various projects in the state.

Just two days after the state-run oil marketing companies announced the steepest hike so far in petrol price, Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy Friday said the government was monitoring the situation and would take a “definitive” view in a few days.

“I will come back to you with a definitive view in a few days,” Reddy told reporters while reacting on the petrol price hike.

Reddy said he has discussed the issue with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and would consult state governments to explore the possibilities of lower taxes, in order to reduce the burden on the common man.

Bharti Airtel today announced a Rs 922 crore (USD 165 million) deal with Qualcomm Asia Pacific, a move which will help the country’s largest telecom operator establish a stronghold in fast-growing high speed internet services.

The Bharti Group firm has acquired 49 per cent stake in Qualcomm Asia Pacific’s Indian broadband wireless access (BWA) entities with licences to offer the 4G data services in four cirles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.

Bharti Airtel would complete ownership of Qualcomm AP’s Indian entities by 2014, according to the agreement signed here.

Amid steep decline in the value of rupee, the Reserve Bank Thursday said that it is monitoring the situation and will do whatever is necessary to check the currency’s fall.

“RBI will do whatever is necessary. Some structural changes are necessary for improvement in current account. Meanwhile, the RBI is monitoring the situation and we will do whatever is necessary, consistent with our policy,” RBI Governor D Subbarao said while addressing a press conference after a meeting of the central bank board here.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S3 phone has become the fastest selling-pre-order phone of the year, according to Europe’s largest independent mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse.

The retailer confirmed that thousands of customers have pre-ordered the new flagship Google Android device, The Telegraph reports.

Over 800 Carphone shops will stock the phone during its launch, which will go on sale on May 29 to those who have pre-ordered it.

The BSE benchmark Sensex extended losses for the second straight session and fell below 16,000-mark in early trade on Wednesday after investors became jittery with rupee slumping to a new record low amid fund outflows.

The Sensex fell by 97 points to 15,928. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty lost 27 points to 4,832.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit was last trading at its record low of 55.82 per dollar from its last close of 55.39.

With no end in sight to the strike by a section of Air India pilots which entered the 16th day on Wednesday, the airline has filed contempt petition against striking pilots in the Delhi High Court.

The airline management has also extended its contingency plan of curtailed operations to June 1.

“The contingency plan that we have put in place has now been extended to June 1 from May 25,” Air India sources said on Tuesday.

Besides, the bookings are being accepted only for those flights which are being operated under the contingency plan, they said.

Nearly 75 million youths across the world will stay unemployed in 2012, said a report released Tuesday by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

This accounts for 12.7 percent of the global youth labour force aged 15 to 24. The number is an increase of four million since 2007, said Xinhua, citing the “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012” report.

The crisis-linked withdrawal from the labour market is particularly strong in developed economies, with an 18-percent youth unemployment rate being projected for this year, the report said.

Dispelling the impression of policy paralysis, the UPA-II government Tuesday touted a healthy 7 percent growth in economy, a sharp hike in social spending and sharp cuts in poverty as its major achievements.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released the annual report of his United Progressive Alliance government at his 7 Race Course Road residence in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party leaders and allies.

Rebuffing the opposition’s criticism and urging political parties to “rise above partisan considerations”, Manmohan Singh vowed to prove critics wrong.

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) draft report on the allocation of coal blocks – without auction- during 2004 to 2009 is expected to be tabled in the Parliament on the last day of the Budget session on Tuesday.

According to a newspaper report, the CAG report highlights undue benefits received by private entities, at the behest of government, at more than Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

As per leaked details of the CAG draft report, the government lost Rs 10.67 lakh crore on account of allotment of 155 coal blocks to 100 private and public sector companies.

US stocks rebounded Monday after major indexes suffered their worst weekly losses of the year in the previous week.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 135.10 points, or 1.09 percent, to settle at 12,504.48, which was the first time for the blue-chip index to gain tree digits since April 26, Xinhua reported.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 20.77 points, or 1.60 percent, to 1,315.99, the second best performance for the year.

After rising over 140 points intra- day, the BSE benchmark Sensex finally closed with a meagre gain of 30 points amid hectic selling in the last hour of trade triggered by the rupee moving towards its record lows against the dollar.

The 30-share Sensex, which climbed to day’s high of 16,298.39 led by smart gains in State Bank of India and Reliance Capital stocks, encountered a sudden bout of selling after investors became jittery over the weakness in rupee.

The rupee on Monday plunged below 55-level to trade at record low of 55.04 against dollar at 1655hrs.

Earlier in the day, rupee tumbled to an all-time low of 54.99 a dollar, just one paise short of the psychological 55 level in pre-close trade due to increased demand for the American currency from banks and importers.

The crisis in Air India raged on for the 13th day Sunday and the national carrier’s losses mounted to Rs.230 crore as the impasse between agitating pilots and the management continued.

“The loss due to ticket cancellations, unused labour and with the bulk of our Boeing-777 fleet grounded now stands at Rs.230 crore. Our losses per day stand between Rs.13-15 crore,” a senior official of Air India’s operations arm told IANS.

US stocks failed to find any support Friday amid continuing concerns over the eurozone and a shaky Nasdaq debut of the Facebook.

At market close, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 73.11 points, or 0.59 percent, to 12,369.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 9.64 points, or 0.74 percent, to 1,295.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 34.90 points, or 1.24 percent, to 2,778.79, Xinhua reports.

Making a strong stock market debut, shares of Facebook today started trading with a premium at USD 42.

Facebook shares opened with over ten per cent premium at USD 42 compared to its initial public offer price of USD 38.

The social networking site’s IPO, that mopped up USD 16 billion, is one of the largest in the history of US companies.

Paring the initial gains, Facebook shares were trading at USD 40 after 15 minutes of its opening on the Nasdaq stock
exchange.

The price band of the IPO was set at USD 34-38.

———————-PTI

The domestic Information Technology (IT) market has grown 16.7 percent to Rs.918 billion during 2011-2012, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said Friday.

“The growth rate of the IT domestic market is 16.7 percent in the financial year 2011-12. The domestic market has increased from Rs.786 billion to Rs.918 billion,” Pilot said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister also said that the aggregate revenue for the IT sector is estimated to cross $100 billion in 2011-12 from $88 billion during previous financial year.

Civil aviation ministry officials Friday defended Minister Ajit Singh’s visit later this month to the US to receive the first of the 27 Boeing-787 Dreamliners, saying the aircraft manufacturer is sharing the cost.

“The programme of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh visiting US will not cost more than 15-20 lakh. This is far less than giving an advertisement in any national dailies or TV channels,” said a senior ministry official.