Leading steel producers Tata Steel and state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd on Tuesday agreed to hold their prices for 2-3 months after the government's top economic managers spoke out against the rising cost of steel and cement. Essar Steel said it too could look at a similar assurance. Finance Minister P Chidambaram told Parliament that cement and steel producers were acting like a cartel and the govt was looking at legal and administrative measures to deal with them.
Bharti Retail, owned by Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprises, on Wednesday started retail operations in the country with neighbourhood store format, Easy Day, from Ludhiana in Punjab. Bharti has set up three stores in Ludhiana.Bharti has announced plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to set up stores across the country by 2012. The company said that it is looking at a retail space of 10 million square feet and employ 60,000 people.
M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised. India allows 51 per cent foreign direct investment in single-brand retail and 100 per cent in cash-and-carry operations. Multi-brand retail is barred for foreign companies and investors. M&S may hold a majority stake in the venture and the final contours of the partnership are being finalised.
According to unconfirmed reports, North India has seen a Rs 3 hike. A Delhi-based dealer said the companies had told him that the price would go up by Rs 5 a bag in a day or two. "The companies raised wholesale prices and we passed on the burden to consumers," said a Mumbai-based dealer who did not want to be named. The present retail price in Mumbai is Rs 274 per bag. Market sources said Chennai had seen a hike of Rs 3.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the farmers' debt relief fund with an initial corpus of Rs 10,000 crore. The scheme, widely seen as a populist measure ahead of the general elections in 2009, will be implemented by June 30, 2008. The farmers will be entitled to fresh agricultural loans from banks after June 30. The CCEA also removed the ceiling of Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for investment by power utility NTPC Ltd in joint ventures and subsidiaries in India & abroad.
The Rs 200,000 plus perks hike for regulators proposed in the Sixth Pay Commission is likely to attract good talent. It would be sufficient incentive for both private sector executives and serving bureaucrats to join as watchdogs. The Commission has recommended that the remuneration of chairpersons of regulatory agencies like the Sebi, Irda, Trai, CERC as well as the Competition Commission of India be hiked to Rs 300,000 if they do not avail of perks like cars and housing.
Since most of the States' coffers are depleting the hike in salaries in states is unlikely to match the central government. The payout is likely to be deferred levels. Besides, many states have their own pay commissions. However, state govt employees are assessing whether it is the central pay commission's recommendations that will be more beneficial for them or the state govt's own, as state commission's recommendations are reviewed every 5 years and centre's every 10 years.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has received permission to offer CDMA services across the country (except Delhi and Mumbai) under the crossover technology policy. Under the policy, existing GSM operators are allowed to offer CDMA service and vice versa within the same licence after paying a fee.BSNL is the third company after Reliance Communications (which is in CDMA and wanted to operate GSM service) and Tata Teleservices (similar to Reliance) which has been given licences
There is a need to set up independent regulatory authorities on energy, transport and urban infrastructure at the state level to ensure smooth implementation of infrastructure projects, especially those which are taken up on the PPP (public private partnership) model, said Vinayak Chatterjee, co-chairman of the CII National Council on Infrastructure and chairman of Feedback Ventures Limited.
Real estate market in the national capital region is likely to be hit by the steep rise in steel & cement prices. Caught between oversupply of sales of residential properties and rising steel & cement prices, property developers may be forced to review property prices. But realty developers will not pass on the burden to buyers and will try to absorb the shock of the rise in steel & cement prices. Pushing up real estate prices may hinder potent buyer from buying properties.
At IIM-Indore, the highest domestic salary offer recorded this year was Rs 26 lakh compared with Rs 18 lakh last year an increase of Rs 44 per cent. At IIFT-Delhi, the highest domestic offer was Rs 25 lakh over Rs 19.20 lakh in 2007 an increase of 30 per cent. At IIM-Bangalore, for instance, consulting firms accounted for 37 per cent of total placements. At IIM -Ahmedabad, a total of 103 offers were made during lateral placements.
After having raised Rs 20,000 crore by selling NFOs, mutual funds are now likely to turn buyers. A slew of funds, including Morgan Stanley ACE Fund, Birla Sun Life Pure Value Fund, Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund Standard Chartered Fund closed recently. Mutual funds launch NFOs to raise money since the mutual fund penetration in India is low. Most mutual funds expect redemptions on account of advance tax provisioning that corporate houses do at this time of the year.
McKinsey led the pack by picking up 15 students, followed by Lehman Brothers and Boston Consulting taking 11 each. This year's batch, too, had their share of entrepreneurs with four students who opted out of the placements. Of the 256 students, about 100 students received pre-placement offers, and about 75-odd had bagged offer letters during the lateral placement that happened few weeks prior to the final placement.
The Indian economic growth story is being reflected on B-school campuses too.
Even as Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that a final decision on expiry of tax benefits to export-oriented units and Software Technology Parks of India had not been taken yet, government sources indicated that an extension of the concessions was unlikely.
IIM C and IIM A have hiked their fees for post graduate programme by Rs 1 lakh.
Right from day one, the delegates were faced with external odds over which they had little or no control. For instance, would the Software Technology Parks of India scheme be extended beyond 2009? They could only take home the assurance that Minister for Communications and IT Thiru A Raja was on their side.
Haryana Urban Development Authority had to defer the auction of an eight-acre plot earmarked for a five-star hotel in the city centre as only one bidder turned up on the day of auction. The authorities told that a quorum of three bidders was a must for the auction to take place.
Clearly, couples are spending more time and money in the malls and eating out rather than on flowers and cards. And the much-publicised hoopla on Valentine's Day, has given way to expensive gifts and eating out culture across major cities.
There seems to be no respite for primary markets as initial public offers (IPOs) continue to get a tepid response from investors. The latest example is Emaar MGF's mega IPO, which has not just been extended by five days, its price band has also been revised once again. The issue will now close on February 11, according to investment banking sources.
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