Foreign institutional investors were the major sellers on the Indian bourses in the last six months, accounting for total outflows of Rs 62,000 crore (Rs 620 billion).
Stephen S Roach, chief economist at the US-based Morgan Stanley, returning from his fourth trip to India in three years, said the South Asian country has achieved breakthroughs in savings and foreign direct investments.
"We will complete the transformation within May 2007 and are talking to select foreign exchanges for a possible partnership," Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd managing director and CEO Rajnikant Patel said.
The high-profile bidding war for control of Hutch-Essar could intensify with reports in the British media suggesting that Indian partner Ruias have received funding pledges worth up to $25 billion to buy out foreign stakeholder Hutchison Telecom.
The Ruias have received overwhelming response from international banks for funding of their proposed bid to pick up Hutchison's 67 per cent equity stake in Hutchison-Essar Ltd, in which they hold the remaining stake.
From its lows in December, the stock of Tata Motors is up about 15 per cent. The gains came on the back of better than expected December volumes in its UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). This coupled with gradual recovery in the global passenger vehicle demand, improving profitability due to product mix and lower commodity costs are expected to be key positives for the company.
Indian stock markets have developed a resilience to political hurdles, reforms and have aligned to global cues which decide the direction of their movement, a report by a leading investment bank has said.
Goldman Sachs has amassed $2bn to use for property investments in Asia, a move likely to intensify competition for assets in fast-growing markets such as China and India.
The list of contenders for this job include Vikram S Pandit, currently Citigroup's investment banking head and a former Morgan Stanley investment banker, and Shaukat Aziz, formerly the bank's global private banking business head and most recently the prime minister of Pakistan, according to various media reports.
The current crisis in the euro zone will not create any major problems for India, but a 10-15 per cent correction in markets is not ruled out if it worsens, says Ridham Desai, managing director and head of equities at Morgan Stanley India.
The company's investments in telecom business reached 15-20% of capital employed.
India Today's annual list ranks the top 100 colleges in the country.
Call it a revival of the information technology (IT) industry or increase in demand from non-IT sectors, office lease and sale transactions have picked up by 10 to 15 per cent in the past quarter.
Investors must keep in mind that the bank has significant room for improvement, which could justify its aggressive valuations of Rs 275.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate on Wednesday announced that it has invested Rs 300 crore (around $68 million in Mantri Developers Private Ltd, a private Bangalore-based real estate developer.
Overall, the positives in favour of ONGC seem to outweigh the negatives from a long-term perspective.
But Citi's woes might call for more visionary and charismatic leadership than he can offer.
JM Financial Services, which split from its seven-year partner Morgan Stanley in February, had given up two key businesses viz., institutional broking & sales & equity research, to the US bank for $425 million (Rs 1,912 crore).
The one-year bank deposit and the 10-year government bond finished at the bottom in terms of returns for 10-year and five-year horizons, respectively. Surprisingly, property was the worst performing asset class for the 15-year period.
Given the uncertainty on the US economic outlook, the rising rupee, and the lack of clarity on imposition of fringe benefit tax on stock options, analysts believe the companies may strike a note of caution on FY08 earnings.
Most players are looking to invest anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion in new ventures in the next couple of years, said experts on this segment.
Sources close to the developments said the company would announce the deal any day. Morgan Stanley is advising Standard Chartered on the deal.
A consortium of bankers that will fund the Ruias' bid for Hutchison's 67 per cent equity stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd will begin "due diligence" on the company in the next few days
As top bosses of Vodafone and Essar arrived in Hong Kong to negotiate a deal for acquiring Hutchison Telecom's Indian business, its parent company has indicated it will not consider any offer below $14 billion.
IndiGo heads towards $400 mln IPO as air travel booms.
Mumbai-based property developer Oberoi Constructions, led by billionaire Vikas Oberoi, is planning a Rs 4,000 crore ($1 billion) initial public offer by year end. Vikas Oberoi, also known as Vikki Oberoi is at the 707th slot in the Forbes annual list of billionaires with a wealth of $1.7 billion.
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.
'India has got a large collection of world-class companies, extraordinary entrepreneurs, well-developed markets and an educated workforce that will act in its favour. What's been missing between this micro and macro is political impetus to reforms. The recent election changes the prospects for reforms,' says Stephen S Roach, chairman, Morgan Stanley Asia.
South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Company is considering tax implications of listing its Indian unit before taking a final call, according to sources privy to the development. Hyundai Motor is mulling an initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian arm to raise around $3 billion (at a valuation of up to $30 billion), and talks are in the early stages between the company and bankers, banking sources revealed. Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), however, declined to comment on the development.
A consortium of Anil Agarwal-led Sterlite Industries and global financial services major Morgan Stanley has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to acquire a strategic 26 per cent equity stake in the troubled financial institution IFCI Ltd.Besides Sterlite, two other consortiums - Shinsei Bank-PNB-JC Flowers and Cargill Financial Services Corporation-Texas Pacific Group - had put in bids on December 14.
Foreign institutional investment flows remain key driver for the Indian markets.\n
The taxman is rapidly catching up with foreign companies operating in India through agents. After Star, Morgan Stanley and Sony, it was the turn of UK-based Rolls Royce to be asked to pay taxes on a part of profits earned from Indian operations.
For every 2.5 degree celsius rise in global temperature, the damage to India is predicted to be 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product, highest for any country, according to a key finding of a research by global financial services firm Morgan Stanley.
Notwithstanding the protectionism and other hindrances, the current mood of optimism about the Indian business process outsourcing sector's growth prospects seems justified, according to the London-based magazine The Economist.
