New Delhi, April 27: Leading private sector insurer SBI Life Insurance today reported a 33 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 366 crore for the financial year ended March 2011 on the back of increase in renewal premium income.
“We continue to be profitable from operations side as we keep our expenses low. Bancassurance (bank channels) and agency force is helping us to sustain profits,” SBI Life Insurance Managing Director M N Rao told PTI.
Mumbai, April 27: The country’s third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.
Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.
“We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth,” Wipro chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.
Bangalore, April 27: Wipro posted net profit of Rs.5,298 crore (Rs.5.3 billion) for fiscal 2010-11, registering a growth of 15 percent year-on-year (YoY).
In a regulatory filing Wednesday, the IT bellwether said total revenue for the fiscal under review (FY 2011) was Rs.31,099 crore (Rs.311 billion), an increase of 15 percent YoY.
Under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), net income for FY 2011 was $1.2 billion and total revenue was $6.98 billion.
Revenue from global IT services business for FY 2011 was Rs.23,485 crore (Rs.23.49 billion), up 16 percent YoY.
Mumbai, April 27: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday fined 19 public and private sector banks, including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank Ltd and Citibank, a total of Rs.1.95 crore for violating norms related to derivatives.
“The penalties have been imposed on these banks for contravention of various instructions issued by the Reserve Bank in respect of derivatives,” the central bank said in a release.
Mumbai, April 27: Telecom service provider Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. (TTML) Tuesday reported a radical turnaround, saying it earned a net profit of Rs. 80 crore for the 2010-11 fiscal year ended March 31 against a net loss of Rs. 318 crore suffered in the fiscal before 2009-10.
The total sales of the company stood at Rs. 3,168.43 crore during the period under review as against Rs. 2,277.78 crore during the year ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.
New Delhi, April 27: About 800 Air India pilots took to strike Tuesday midnight after failure of talks with the management over payment parity and better working conditions. Their action is likely to cause disruption of flights of the state-owned carrier from Wednesday.
Earlier, Rishab Kapoor, the general secretary of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said the pilots will go on strike from midnight of Tuesday.
New Delhi, April 26: Industry Minister Anand Sharma today said it would be a “historic blunder” for the country not to have a national manufacturing policy.
He said this in the backdrop of reports of opposition from ministries such as environment and labour on the proposal to relax certain laws in the policy.
Sharma made these comments ahead of a meeting on the issue convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 4.
New Delhi, April 26: Refusing to give in to protests against Jaitapur nuclear plant, government today decided to go ahead with the project but made it clear that safety aspects would be given top priority in a transparent manner and a bill will be moved to set up an independent regulator.
The decision to push the project in Maharashtra, to be built by France, was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which considered the apprehensions and concerns arising from the radiation leak scare in Japan and the steps needed to address these.
New Delhi, April 26: Two Indian firms – ITC Limited and Ruchi Soya – have been ranked 15th and 20th among the fastest growing consumer companies across the globe during June 2009-2010, a study by research and advisory firm Deloitte said Tuesday.
The report identified 250 largest consumer products companies out of which the fastest 50 were mostly Asia-Pacific and Latin American companies.
Mumbai, April 26: A benchmark index for Indian equities markets made a weak start Tuesday morning. Broader markets were trading flat too.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,596.32 points, was ruling at 19,474.78 points, down 92.23 points or 0.47 percent from its previous close at 19,584.31 points.
The 50-scrip S&P; CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading 0.47 percent lower at 5,846.75 points.
Bhubaneswar, April 25:State-run National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) Monday said that work on expanding capacity at its alumina refinery in Orissa’s Koraput district has commenced.
The commissioning of capacity enhancement has begun at the power plant, the evaporation plant stacker and bauxite circuit. Other packages in the refinery are now under advanced stage of commissioning, the company said in a statement.
Abu Dhabi, April 25: First Gulf Bank (FGB) has announced a net profit of 875 million UAE dirhams (about $238 million) in the first quarter of 2011. This represents an increase of 10 million dirhams and is 1.2 percent higher than the Q4 2010 net profit of 865 dirhams.
The core banking revenues at 1,580 million dirhams was eight percent higher than last year and represented 99 percent of the total revenue. For four consecutive quarters, FGB has shown consistent positive growth in net profit.
New Delhi, April 25 :India is seeking the help of young parliamentarians from Africa to increase the outreach of a unique private-public partnership to increase collaboration between the youth in India and the world, especially from the continent.
After a successful first year of operation, the second edition of “India – Future of Change”, organised by the Delhi-based Idea Works, is set to roll out a second round of contests which aims to involve young people to think about solutions to challenges facing India and other emerging economies.
New Delhi, April 25: Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car maker, said Monday its profit rose marginally by half a percent to Rs.659.9 crore (Rs.6,599 million) in the fourth quarter of 2010-11.
The company’s total income grew 19.19 percent at Rs.10,212.1 crore in January-March 2011 quarter, Maruti Suzuki said in a statement.
For the whole financial year 2010-11, the company posted a net profit of Rs.2,288.6 crore, which is 8.4 percent lower than its profit the previous year.
Singapore, April 25: Oil was up in Asian trade today as escalating tensions in Libya, Syria and Yemen heightened fears of supply disruption in the Middle East and North African region.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose 52 cents to USD 112.81 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for June gained 54 cents to USD 124.53.
“The violence in Syria and Yemen escalated over the weekend, and traders worry about supply disruption,” said Ong Yi Ling, an investment analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Kolkata, April 25: Bengal Inc wants politics to be kept out of business by the new government that will be decided in the ongoing Assembly polls in West Bengal as they believe the prosperity of the state has taken a beating on account of political differences and issues.
“The administration should exercise control so that business can function without any influence by political parties. Development should be on merit and free from political considerations,” Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Director General P Roy told PTI.
Chandigarh, April 25: Government agencies and private millers have procured 47.17 lakh tonnes of wheat in Punjab in the ongoing crop year so far, as against 90.32 lakh tonnes last year.
Out of total procurement, state agencies procured 47.10 lakh tonnes of wheat, while private traders procured 6,755 tonnes.
The FCI has been able to procure 6.24 lakh tonnes of wheat, which accounts for 13.2 per cent of the total procurement in the state.
New Delhi, April 25: Riding high on the firming global trend, gold zoomed past all previous records and climbed 1.75 per cent to trade at Rs 22,815 per 10 grams in futures trade today.
A firming trend at the domestic markets also supported the upside in the yellow metal’s prices at futures trade.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in August surged by Rs 398, or 1.75 per cent to trade at a record high of Rs 22,815 per kg, clocking business turnover of 382 lots.
New Delhi, April 25: Extending its record-breaking rally, silver futures prices went up by a whopping Rs 854 to trade at yet another high of Rs 76,752 per kg, largely on the back of a firming global trend.
Firming trend at the domestic spot markets on the back of festive season demand also influenced silver prices at futures trade here.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, silver for delivery in December surged by Rs 854, to hit a fresh high of Rs 76,752 per kg, with a trade volume of 235 lots.
New Delhi, April 25: Admonishing the defiant Reliance Industries, the Oil Ministry has ordered the Mukesh Ambani-run firm to immediately stop natural gas sales to non-core users like Essar Steel to meet the full demand of fertilizer and power plants.
Citing the May, 2010, Supreme Court ruling that upheld the government’s right to frame gas utilisation policy, the ministry last week wrote to Reliance directing it to first supply natural gas from its KG-D6 fields to priority sectors like fertiliser and power, official sources said.
Mumbai, April 25: Shares of corporate major Reliance Industries fell by nearly 3 per cent in morning trade on the BSE today following the company’s announcement of 14 per cent growth in fourth quarter net profit to Rs 5,376 crore, which was lower than the expectations on Dalal Street.
The scrip of the country’s most valued firm by market capitalisation slipped by 2.86 per cent to touch an early low of Rs 1,010.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
In a similar fashion, the stock went down by 2.93 per cent to a low of Rs 1,010.10 on the National Stock Exchange.
Washington, April 24: Global gold prices have hit a record high, topping $1,508 per ounce for the first time ever as a weak dollar boosted the metal’s demand as an alternative investment.
Spot gold surged to an all-time high and silver rallied to its strongest level since 1980 on Friday as the dollar slid to a three-year low against a basket of major currencies and oil prices rose, Reuters reported.
Gold prices have risen 5.4 percent so far this month and are on track for a sixth straight week of gains, reflecting strength across the commodity markets.
New Delhi, April 23: Former Joint Managing Director of pharmaceutical firm Cipla Amar Lulla today passed away after a prolonged battle against cancer.
Lulla, 63, worked in Cipla for over thirty five years.
He was suffering from cancer and last December he had resigned from the position of joint managing director of Cipla but continued to be the non-executive director of firm.
Mumbai, April 23: Renewed buying by foreign funds mainly in refinery, auto and metal counters amid firm global markets helped the BSE benchmark Sensex to bounce by 215 points during the week under review.
The BSE and NSE were closed on Friday, April 22, on account of “Good Friday”.
Prediction of normal monsoon by India Meteorological Department for this year also boosted investors’ sentiment as a good rainfall could boost rural income, impacting positively on sales of automobiles, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer durables.
New Delhi, April 23: Going against the cross-holding rules of telecom sector and grant of licence, Swan Telecom was created out of funds arranged from several Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies, a daily reported on Saturday, citing the testimony of an ICICI Bank official submitted to the trail court.
According to the report, this was revealed in the testimony of Amit Khot, deputy branch manager of ICICI Bank’s Nariman Point branch, where seven ADAG companies have their accounts.