Stocks lead the chart with 50 per cent returns, followed by real estate and gold. The markets may be expecting a correction now, but the year has been a spectacular one for those who had put money in stocks. Equities gave a return of 49.64 per cent, the same as in the last three years.
The Planning Commission, according to highly-placed sources, says GDP allocation to education will increase from its from current 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan. Around 19.7 per cent of the total plan resources would be set aside for education, according to the sources in the Commission.
Foreign institutional investors, who are big players in the futures and options segment, are making a killing in the domestic market by using arbitrage as a weapon in the spot and derivatives trade as well as structured derivative deals. The arbitrage game is on despite the curb on the issue of P-notes or participatory notes by the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently.
This Diwali, Rakesh Mehta, a senior sales and marketing employee with an IT firm, will celebrate in Australia with his family. Mehta, is one of the top performers of his company and has been rewarded with this 'Diwali Gift'. Other top performers from his company will celebrate their Diwali in New Zealand and Mauritius. In fact, a lot of IT, BPO, pharma companies and banks are rewarding their employees for good performance by sending them to exotic locations.
Another Indian School of Business (ISB) is taking shape. Rajat Gupta, the former CEO of McKinsey & Company and now a senior partner in the professional services firm, along with his team is planning to set up a second ISB, this time in the North. The existing ISB in Hyderabad was Gupta's brainchild and is among India's most coveted business schools. It is spread over 260 acres of land and was set up in December 1999 at a cost of around Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).
The Indian markets look extremely stretched. The Sensex valuations have gone up 19.28 per cent to 26 per cent since the lows triggered by the sub-prime crisis two months ago. Taiwan and Kospi, on the other hand, have not changed much. A Citi group report suggested that the RBI might hike CRR rates to suck out excess liquidity from the system. An increase of one per cent would draw out $7 billion from the system.
The curbs on participatory notes (P-notes), announced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday, have virtually ended a flourishing business of many leading foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Observers said the brokerage fees for offshore P-note transactions were nearly four times higher than those prevailing in the onshore market in India.
Dubai Holding, an investment firm of the Dubai government, has threatened to come out with an open offer for Orient-Express Hotels if the Tata group acquires a significant stake in the hotel chain. This comes exactly a month after the Tata group's Indian Hotels Company bought 10 per cent and expressed interest in striking a deal which was turned down by Orient-Express.
According to estimates by Citigroup India, P-note investments, excluding the underlying shares, account for 34 per cent of FII assets with custodians in BSE-500 companies. Sebi stipulates that P-Notes can account for up to 40 per cent of FII assets under custody. This leaves room for FIIs to increase their exposure through P-notes 6 percentage points.
Regulating PNs are important when the country has some restrictions on foreign investments. Countries having full capital account convertibility do not need FIIs to even register.
Shortage of staff is preventing the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission from summoning over 140 B-schools to furnish details about their fee structure, faculty payments and tie-ups. The body issued notices to around 100 "defaulter" B-schools last week.
Rising real estate costs and lack of good locations in cities are driving hotel companies to rent space in malls and other commercial complexes. For instance, Accor Hotels is in talks with mall developers to build its Formulae 1 brand of budget hotels at the topfloor of malls in tier I and tier II cities.
Ginger Hotels, the no-frills brand by Roots Corporation, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Indian Hotels which operates Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, is in talks with real estate developers to rent space in commercial complexes to run its hotels.
IMT-Ghaziabad's placement chairperson, Nilanjan Chatopadhyay, has scheduled visits to 15 companies in Singapore and eight in Hong Kong from July 2007 to January 2008. The institute has set aside a fund of Rs 6 lakh for promotional activities.
IIM-Bangalore has received around 70 offers so far this year .Companies which have made offers are Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, HSBC, JP Morgan, HLL, P&G and Marico among others.
The rooms will be priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,400, based on the location, and will provide a basic room and dining service, gym and a wi-fi connection.
The facility will be available at four of Future Group's Big Bazaar outlets in Mumbai. Cleartrip will soon extend this tie-up to other Big Bazaar outlets in the city as well as other metros.
There's plenty of room for everybody. With the demand for low-cost accommodation on the rise, a whole host of hospitality firms, both foreign and local, is planning to set up budgets hotels.
ITC Hotels- The Grand Central, The Luxury Collection, in Mumbai, has recorded a 15 per cent rise in bookings for September month as compared with last year's booking of 60 per cent for the same month.
As Indians take to the roads like never before, restaurants are fanning out to the highways.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances