Sales of commercial vehicles, which were on a decline for over a year, are showing signs of a recovery. Two out of the three CV makers reported an increase in sales last month.
Low cost carriers have 55 per cent of the market, up from 45 per cent in Q1 last year, and 30 per cent two years back. Does it mean India really is an LCC market? The performance of the airlines also seem to suggest that. While budget carrier Spicejet announced a small profit for Q1, all the big boys in the industry seem to be in trouble.
More than 50 companies had rushed to make qualified institutional placements after real estate firms like Unitech and Indiabulls raised money through this route. Now it appears that only some of these companies may be able to raise equity through this route, on rising concerns over valuations and over-supply.
The annual shareholders' meet resembled a rock concert in an indoor stadium with associates cheering like crazy fans.
Sources now believe that the next few months can see more companies raising money through qualified institutional placements and private equity. The success of the Unitech and DLF block deals have encouraged other companies to jump onto the bandwagon.
The Reserve Bank of India has cut the repo rate (at which it lends to the banks) by 525 basis points to 4.75 per cent from the pre-credit crunch level. Yet, companies continue to borrow much of their working capital at 12.25 per cent, which is State Bank of India's prime lending rate and a sort of benchmark. Nearly three-fourths of all working capital loans like cash credit and overdraft are lent at bank's prevailing PLR.
Parle-G enjoys close to 70% market share in the glucose biscuit segment and has held its price line for 25 years now. Ranju Sarkar explains how.
The compulsory peer reviews of auditors' notes for Sensex and Nifty companies for Q3 results of the last fiscal and full-year results of 2007-08 have proved a virtual non-starter, owing to confusion over its scope and the appointment of auditors.
More than 500 independent directors have resigned since January 1 this year.
In a few years, households receiving piped gas at home can use a fuel cell unit to produce power and heat, which can also be used to chill homes during summer.
The SC's dismissal of the Income-Tax department's plea that companies cannot claim deductions against tax liabilities on account of losses due to foreign exchange rate fluctuations legitimises the way companies were accounting for these forex losses.
Auto financiers, which had tightened lending norms in the face of rising defaults last year, may loosen their fists in the wake of the Calcutta high court's order of Wednesday, reaffirming the lender's right to seize vehicles if customers stop repaying loans.
The company plans to offer end-to-end logistics solutions where it has custodial charge of the cargo. Till the back-end warehouse infrastructure is ready at the airline's national hub in Nagpur, Gopinath's freighters will fly the Dubai-Mumbai-Delhi-Hong Kong route, offering dedicated cargo space to freight forwarders and serve anyone who wants to move international freight to these cities for time-definite delivery.
Falling sales at home have failed to douse the company's zeal to grow abroad.
The prices of construction steel have come down nearly 37 per cent. The price of bitumen has come down by 22 per cent since mid-November, while diesel and cement prices have come down by 10 per cent. GMR infrastructure CFO A Subba Rao estimates that construction costs have come down by 20 per cent. Construction costs account for 70-75 per cent of the project costs; the other significant variable being interest costs.
Companies are trying to clean up their balance-sheets and make provisions for forex losses as they think the disclosures will not have a major bearing on their valuations, which are already down.
Most have pledged their shares as collateral to raise working capital or a term loan, to increase their holding or to fund an acquisition as a multinational had done to buy an Indian company. Companies are rushing to make disclosures on pledging of shares by their promoters after Sebi made it mandatory. Promoters have to disclose details of pledged shares if the same exceeds 25,000 shares in a quarter or 1 per cent of the total shareholding or voting rights of the company.
Jaybharat Textiles & Real Estate, a textile company that forayed into real estate three years back, today has a market capitalisation higher than Grasim Industries or Tata Motors.
These will be business and mid-market hotels that will sport brands such as Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton (a long stay product). India is the second most important market for Hilton in Asia-Pacific after China, and accounts for 17 per cent of the 300-odd new hotels it plans to add in the region by 2017. It also expects India to account for 15-20 per cent of its revenues in the Asia-Pacific region by 2015.
AMCs can invest $7 billion abroad, and $300 million per AMC, but investments are way below these levels. Most equity schemes can invest 35 per cent of their assets abroad and there are schemes that invest only in overseas equity. What's holding them back is that they are not very sure if they can buy these bonds.
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