Prefer Eicher Motors for long term: Sandeep Shah

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management is of the view that one may prefer Eicher Motors for long term.

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management told CNBC-TV18, " Divis Laboratories has a fairly strong cramp business and they are also on the generic side as some of the lowest cost producers of certain drugs. One of the things they do is that they don't enter into conflict with multi national pharmaceuticals companies, on the generic side they will not look at Para 4 challenges nor they will look at patented drugs, they will only look at off patent drugs. So this is available at relative discount through the large caps, it has the best returns ratio in the industry, has one of the highest margins after Sun Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharmaceuticals margins are way higher than everybody else."

He further added, " Eicher Motors is a stock that has done well but the story is still unfolding. This is one stock where earnings can grow at 45 percent or so for the next three years. It may look optically expensive at 25 times next year but given the quality of earnings growth and given the fact their strong Royal Enfield franchise has been growing when the economy has been slowing down and with the economy recovering you should see a pick turn up in both the commercial vehicle business as well as the engine export rally ramping up as well the buses business, I think these are almost sure shot for somebody who is willing to stay invested for at least two to three years."

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Buy oil gas stocks on corrections: Sandeep Shah

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management is of the view that one may buy oil & gas stocks on corrections.

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management told CNBC-TV18, "In oil & gas the structural story is clearly unfolding, it began sometime back when the UPA started with 50 paisa a month diesel price hikes and that is when the story really started."

He further added, "For the current level of oil prices and for the current level of almost zero diesel subsidies, stocks are perhaps partly priced that in. If you look at it from a long term perspective these are clearly the oil refinery and marketing companies, these are clearly oligopolistic business with just three players controlling more than 90-95 percent or 99 percent of market share. There are significant entry barriers in the urban space, when we saw  Reliance and  Essar get into setting up their own petrol pumps they were really focusing on highways because there has to be real estate available. So there is a significant entry barrier for this business."

"However at the same point of time it is unlikely that this sector will earn super normal profits because the products are fairly sensitive. So having said that valuations are still reasonable, there is a significant opportunity for return on equity (ROE) to expand significantly from here. As long as we have a global economy which is not accelerating dramatically I think oil prices will remain stable or at best in modest increases," Shah said.

He further said, "In this environment one should be looking for corrections to enter the stock. I agree with you that in the short term you might see more of a consolidation rather than a continuation of the run we have seen over the last few months."

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Stay invested in HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank: Sandeep Shah

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management is of the view that one may stay invested in HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank.

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management told CNBC-TV18, "We continue to remain bullish on the private sector banks and public sector undertakings (PSU) banks will offer buying opportunities like we saw couple of weeks back. Broadly given the fact that we are in a bull market and we are at a stage where the economy is rebounding from a decade low, from 4.5 percent maybe going back up to at least 5.5 percent this year and accelerating to 6.5 percent. What will tend to happen is the banks like  Axis Bank and  ICICI Bank might actually tend to outperform the higher quality banks like HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank, having said that if you continue to own the  HDFC Bank and  IndusInd Bank you should continue to stay invested."

"If you are looking for little more pop and if you are looking for returns outperformance over three to five years of timeframe, then stocks like Axis Bank and ICICI Bank will give you better returns maybe ICICI Bank even more so because some of parts valuations tends to work better in bull market, tends to work with economy recovering as the markets starts to price in value of the subsidiaries and the different businesses," he added.

"On the PSU banking space I would continue to prefer be with quality and size we would include  State Bank of India (SBI) and  Bank of Baroda (BoB). If wish to nibble at some of the smaller banks then you can build smaller positions there in maybe  Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) which is trading at close to 0.5 times price to book but there of course is the reversion to me theory at work. Overweight banks in general for those with low risk appetite stay with the private sector banks, those with relatively higher risk appetite can play the PSU banks as well," he said.

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Goldman inks $1.2-bn deal over US bond claims

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, announced the settlement yesterday with the Wall Street powerhouse.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to a settlement worth USD 1.2 billion to resolve claims that it misled US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky mortgage securities it sold them before the housing market collapsed in 2007.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, announced the settlement yesterday with the Wall Street powerhouse.

New York-based Goldman Sachs sold the securities to the companies between 2005 and 2007.

Under the settlement, Goldman is paying USD 3.15 billion to buy back the securities from Fannie and Freddie.

The FHFA said the settlement was worth USD 1.2 billion because of the difference between what Goldman is paying and the current value of the securities. That means Goldman is paying $1.2 billion more than what the securities are now worth.

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Buy ONGC, says CK Narayan

CK Narayan of Growth Avenues is of the view that one may buy Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

CK Narayan of Growth Avenues told CNBC-TV18, "Oil and gas clearly is one of the spaces alongside with banking. I think banking will surely contribute significantly in the next week at least until that announcement about the holding company etc is out of the way. In oil and gas space, all of them are on a complete tear, you got  Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL),  Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and  Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on a total tear and if you look at  Petronet LNG which is also a parallel player in that and that is also moving up."

He further added, " Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has just had a nice upside breakout and has been holding on to those highs. The  Oil India is doing well and  Reliance Industries is the only bit of a drag in the whole particular pact. If you leave aside Reliance and then look at all the others, great place still left in IOC, HPCL and BPCL in that particular order and ONGC at these levels also is a great buy."

"I am speaking all these from a short to medium term perspective. We can wait for reactions but then it has been about five to six months and there has been no reaction and could go there safely and just buy. Somewhere we have to join the gang and play the game as it is being played by the rest of the market, we cannot keep forever waiting for a pullback," he said.

Disclosure: Network 18, which publishes moneycontrol.com, is now part of the Reliance Group.

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Buy HDFC on declines, says CK Narayan

CK Narayan of Growth Avenues advises buying Housing Development Finance Corporation at lower levels.

CK Narayan of Growth Avenues told CNBC-TV18, " ITC and  Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) from a market perspective two completely different animals, HDFC seems to be complete pullback of a profit taking nature it is not any kind of sell off. There has been some amount of light level of profit taking if you look at the derivatives side I see a significant built up in positions which is not to be treated lightly."

He further added, "There is lot of talk now more so concentrated on the merger stuff. If you really look at a relative performance chart between HDFC and  HDFC Bank clearly in the recent weeks, HDFC has very definitely taken the lead, so the market seems to be leading more towards HDFC as probably coming out with the better end of the stick. Lower levels in HDFC should definitely be useful to buy."

"As far as ITC is concerned bit of a range, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks moves in fits and jerks. They are all up there valuations has always a bit of a tricky issue as far as FMCG is concerned. We have been saying that ever since they were 25 times PE and now they are 40 times PE and the same set of arguments still persist but the stocks are in no more to come down. Periodically one should be buying into ITC the defensives names that is the stock which I am extremely bullish on and if you ask me one stock which will double in two years is ITC," he said.

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Buy Sun Pharmaceuticals, Lupin: Sandeep Shah

According to Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management, one may buy Sun Pharmaceuticals and Lupin.

Sandeep Shah of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth Management told CNBC-TV18, "If you continue to own  Sun Pharmaceutical and  Lupin Ltd there is no reason to exit. Those stocks will continue to compound at 20-25 percent, you can still look to buy those names if one want a little more beta in your portfolio."

He further added, "One can continue to look at stocks like  Divis Laboratories which has not been performing in a linear trend but it is still fairly a high quality company. You still have the second highest margins in pharmaceuticals after Sun Pharmaceuticals what is perhaps the highest return on capital employed and return on equity (ROE) in the space, so that remains a quality name as well."

"What is also happening is that the market is beginning to come to terms of the fact that in spite of having an economy which is recovering, in spite of having investor's faith back in India's economy and its government, the fact that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is tends to prefer a relatively weaker currency the fact that the RBI prefers to shore up their forex reserves at every available opportunity is one of the reason why IT and Pharmaceuticals stocks continue to do well only one of the reason of course there is a strong underlying fundamental reason there as well," Shah said.

He further said, "There are lot of other ideas also one could look at but one would need to do company wise specific research and for stocks like Sun Pharmaceuticals and Lupin any correction is a good time to buy them."

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Forex reserves rise by $ 43.3 m to $ 319.3 bn

Reserves had fallen by USD 643.3 million to USD 319.347 billion in the week to August 8, while it had dropped by USD 573.5 million to USD 319.99 billion in the week to August 1 after touching close to the life-time high of USD 321 billion in the previous week.

After falling for two consecutive weeks, foreign exchange reserves marginally rose to USD 319.39 billion, up by USD 43.3 million, for the week, driven by an increase in foreign currency assets.

Reserves had fallen by USD 643.3 million to USD 319.347 billion in the week to August 8, while it had dropped by USD 573.5 million to USD 319.99 billion in the week to August 1 after touching close to the life-time high of USD 321 billion in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major constituent of overall reserves, increased by USD 54.7 million to USD 292.101 billion for the week ended August 15, the Reserve Bank of India said in its weekly statement.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in reserves. Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 21.173 billion in the reporting week. The special drawing rights were down USD 8.3 million to USD 4.416 billion, and India's reserve position with the IMF dipped USD 3.1 million to USD 1.699 billion during the week, the apex bank said.

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Raghuram Rajan, Nachiket Mor deserve better

I  have so far resisted commenting on other journalists and their views but this once I am violating myself given rule. The myriad articles accusing RBI governor Raghuram Rajan of bringing his school fellow and friend Nachiket Mor into the RBI as its Deputy governor or COO are outright lies.

May be these fellow journalists of mine don't intend to lie (since some of them are really nice people) but on this one, they are making some really facile conclusions with little or no evidence and based entirely on gossip.

For one thing, the decision to restructure RBI was not Rajan's baby at all. It was a job begun before he took over.

At an offsite for senior management in early 2013, two groups of CGMs and RMs put forth their views on how they would see their work and their departmental design reorganised. Both groups argued that the current 21 departments lead to RBI working in silos.

In his first interaction with senior management, the key takeaways of the offsite were presented to the new governor who asked them to go ahead and present a report on the issue. Deputy governor K C Chakarabarty contributed a great deal of his thoughts and the report was finally ready under deputy governor R Gandhi.

The report, widely contributed to by RBI senior management, aimed to bring departments doing similar functions under one DG. For instance, regulation of banks, NBFCs, and urban cooperative banks lies with different departments. The report wants them under one DG so that a change in prudential rules in one part of the financial sector is extended to other sectors, if necessary, before it gives way to regulatory arbitrage. Likewise citizen-facing departments were to be clubbed together. Monetary policy and research would be a department by itself.  

The restructuring envisages one department that will look at RBI's internal housekeeping, the HR, training, transfers and promotions of RBI officials. The creating of such a department is with the following objectives: One, many staff functions need to be upgraded because their need has been felt only recently. For instance, forensic auditing, derivatives trading or IT.

The HR department is meant to identify such lacunas and plan the training. The idea is to make this department come under a 5th DG who should be called the COO considering the nature of his/her functions. This DG/COO position is meant for an RBI insider, since they are simply better placed to handle such issues. In fact, top ranking RBI officials told me other central banks too have one DG position for internal affairs so as to ensure that people from any branch - even security, press relations, or say Hindi bhasha can rise to the position of DG.

Now the point that these officials make is that by definition this 5th DG will be an RBI insider and hence journalists assuming that Rajan created this post for his class fellow Nachiket Mor is so completely laughable and fantastic. It was a demand from RBI senior management and will be filled by one of their ilk.

 As I see it such a function is not even Mor's  core competence or interest. Mor is a banker par excellence with extraordinary skills in treasury management, prudential rules and financial inclusion. Doing HR for RBI would not even interest him, even assuming an outsider was recruited for this, which again is most unlikely.

In any case since a fifth DG will require amending the Act, currently the revamp efforts envisage a person of ED level to head this housekeeping cum HR department. Once the Act is amended, the DG would be chosen by a government search committee, so again, getting one's class fellow into the position will not be possible. Not that Mor will even want to throw his hat in the ring.

The result of such unwarranted mud slinging and casting crony charges on the governor has been to instil fear in the minds of the unions against the revamp. While the revamp is looking at lateral hires too, seen in the context of press reports saying Mor will become the 5th DG, the unions are worried that promotions will become tough in the new revamped RBI and that newcomers may get the cream.

As two DGs, one current and one former, told me, RBI is in need of restructuring and retraining. There is a need to stop this old bureaucratic practice of transfering people every three or five years. There is a need to keep people in the same job for long so that specialised skills are developed. Rigorous performance evaluation is also needed so that knowledge gaps are identified and training provided.  They pointed out that RBI is functioning in a fast changing financial world where instruments and individuals are getting smarter by the day. Rapid and constant growth of key officials is a necessity. But this entire sensible exercise has been reduced to a fanciful charge that the governor wants to favour his old school friend.

I do hope the tiny band of scribes who cover the central bank show a little more maturity rather than a  cub-reporter's craze for sensational headlines.

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Central and east Gujarat expected to receive rain in next 2 to 3 days

There seems some respite for the people of Gujarat observing dry weather for the last 4 to 5 days. According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, rain is expected in central and east Gujarat in the next 2 to 3 days. Northern and western parts will still remain dry.

The month of August began on a positive note with some good widespread showers being observed in the state during the first ten days. Thereafter rain decreased and was only witnessed in the form of occasional light patchy showers. Ahmedabad recorded some rain on the 18th but there haven't been any showers since then.

The temperatures are on the rise with Ahmedabad recording 35.3 degrees Celsius as the maximum temperature on Friday, which is 3 degrees above normal. Baroda was 4 degrees above normal at 34.8 degrees Celsius, while Idar saw maximum settling 5 degrees above normal at 36.4 degrees Celsius. This clearly explains how uncomfortable the weather has been in the state in the last few days.

This spell of rain will pull down the maximum temperatures by 1to 2 degrees and provide some relief to the people for a couple of days. But the respite will be short lived as the temperature will again shoot up after decrease in rain. The region is already facing a rainfall deficit of 33%, from 1st June to 22nd August

Picture courtesy:globalgujaratnews.in

By: Skymetweather.com

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Modi for impetus to exports, promotion councils for states

The states will soon be allowed to form their own Export Promotion Councils, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today as he underscored the need for the Centre and states to work in tandem to give a fresh thrust to exports. He also stressed upon the need for swift removal of obstacles stalling the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). "We at the Centre have to team up with the state governments for export promotion and the states should also work hard individually to help drive exports," Modi said, addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust SEZ here.

Modi said the Centre had recently convened a meeting with states to identify the bottlenecks in exports and states would be given the right to set up their own Export Promotion Councils to drive foreign trade at the local level, hinting that they should not depend solely on the Central government interventions. At present, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry at the Centre plays the role of a facilitator for pushing exports. The states, Modi said, should also compete with each other in enhancing exports and focus on development of markets abroad, he said.

Voicing concern at a large number of stalled SEZ projects across the country, the Prime Minister said a high-level team has been constituted to review the problems and resolve them at the earliest. "In the PMO, there is a special team to look into why SEZs are not finding takers and to suggest solutions for the benefit of the entire country," he said. "Until we join manufacturers in export promotion, and unless States and Centre work together, we cannot achieve new heights in exports," he said.

Modi stressed the need for shifting focus from port development to 'port-led development' model to maximise gains. The government, he said, had conceived 'Sagarmala', an ambitious project for maritime states, envisaging not merely port development, but port-led development which would include ports, SEZs, rail, road, air and waterway connectivity with the hinterland, including linkages of cold storage and warehousing facilities. Noting that two-third of all global trade and 50 percent of container trade happens through the Indian Ocean, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the ports sector. "Ports can become gateways to India`s prosperity," he added.

Drawing from global experience where nations with good port facilities have achieved faster growth, Modi said coastal states in India should also seize the opportunity. Speaking at the function earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said 23 of the 146 SEZ applicants in the state had abandoned their plans due to unfavourable policies. Clarity of taxation, especially on the dividend distribution tax, was a key hindrance, Chavan said, requesting the Centre to bring about necessary policy changes.

In his speech , Modi said he wondered as to why the state government was unable to persuade the previous Congress-led UPA government to effect these changes. The government, Modi said, had recently done away with the requirement of renewal of shipping licences every year and now they would be granted for lifetime. He lauded Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari for the move. The Prime Minister said shipbuilding had emerged as a big opportunity and noted the strides that South Korea had taken in the sector.

Elaborating his theme of "Come, make in India", which he mentioned during his Independence Day address, Modi said his government will encourage foreign investment in ship building. Some, Modi said, had misconstrued his message and clarified he was inviting people to use the country as a manufacturing hub. In his address, Gadkari said the JNPT SEZ would provide employment to 1.5 lakh people. The 277-hectare multi-product SEZ is to be developed at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore. Gadkari said priority will be given to the sons of the soil for jobs at the SEZ. Modi also handed over land and monetary compensation to project affected people and laid the foundation stone for a Rs 1,900 crore road widening project inside the port.

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Sun Pharma unit recalls mutiple lots of capsules from US

The recalled drug bottles were distributed by Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd in the US while manufactured in India by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, a unit of Sun Pharma , has initiated a recall of multiple lots of Cephalexin capsules from the US market.

According to a notification by the USFDA, the recall of the 3,40,553 units of 500 mg and 1,13,677 units of 250 mg bottles is voluntarily initiated by the company through a letter to the regulator in June under 'Class-II' classification.

Cephalexin is an antibiotic that belongs to the family of medications known as cephalosporins. It is used to treat certain types of bacterial infections.

"CGMP Deviations: These products are being recalled because they were manufactured with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that were not manufactured with good manufacturing practices," USFDA's website said citing the reason for recall.

When contacted, a Sun Pharma spokesperson offered no comments.

The recalled drug bottles were distributed by Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd in the US while manufactured in India by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

According to American health regulator USFDA, Class II recall is a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.

Recently Caraco Pharmaceutical had said that it initiated a recall of some lots of Venlafaxine Hydrochloride extended-release tablets from the US market for not meeting the drug release dissolution specifications under 'Class-II' classification.

Meanwhile, in another notification FDA said  Wockhardt USA has initiated a recall of 840 bottles of Bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets USP (SR), 100 mg, (500-count bottle) from USA market. The reason for recall: "Out of specification levels of the impurity m-chlorobenzoic acid were observed'.

Bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets (SR) are indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder.

Sun Pharma stock price

On August 14, 2014, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries closed at Rs 814.05, up Rs 13.80, or 1.72 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 816.00 and the 52-week low was Rs 475.60.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 1.46 per share as per the quarter ended June 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 557.57. The latest book value of the company is Rs 41.64 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 19.55.

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Chlorophyll: Creating brands for the digital world

Brand consultancy Chlorophyll celebrated its 15th anniversary. Setup in 1999 by Kiran Khalap, Anand Halve & Madan Bahal, Chlorophyll has worked on prominent brands including Unilever, Mahindra Two Wheelers & Meru Cabs. Storyboard caught up with the founders.

This week, brand consultancy Chlorophyll celebrated its 15th anniversary. Setup in 1999 by Kiran Khalap, Anand Halve and Madan Bahal, Chlorophyll has worked on prominent brands including Unilever, Mahindra Two Wheelers and Meru Cabs. We caught up with the founders to understand the changing market requirements and the challenges of creating a brand in the digital age.

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Low growth, high inflation not acceptable: Arun Jaitley

Jaitley was speaking at a BJP forum meeting here, his second engagement in the nation's financial capital after becoming the finance minister.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday said the current situation of high inflation and low growth has to be reversed to achieve sustainable GDP expansion along with improvement in price situation.

"If inflation is high then you begin at a point where growth is low. We need to change this situation. And, I believe that unless we find out the reasons which have led us to such a situation, it is difficult to solve it," he said.

Jaitley was speaking at a BJP forum meeting here, his second engagement in the nation's financial capital after becoming the finance minister.

He attributed the reasons for the current predicament to policy paralysis and the populist measures of the previous UPA regime.

"Some of the populist schemes like free medicines in Rajasthan did not help the then ruling party to come back to power," the Finance Minister said.

Stating that the Narendra Modi government inherited very low growth, Jaitley said GDP grew at 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

"The manufacturing sector for one year was flat and another year it was negative. When manufacturing growth becomes negative, the Customs and Excise duties come down, revenue of government also comes down, forcing it to borrow more," he said.

Calling for eradication of poverty, the Minister said one of the challenges for the nation is to remove poverty and to increase the pace of development.

"People are not ready to accept that the pace of development is slow and we are not able to remove poverty," he said.

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Welspun to invest Rs 15K cr in solar, wind energy segments

Welspun Group, one of the largest domestic solar power producers, is betting big on the sector and has plans to invest Rs 15,000 crore to take its capacity to 1.75 GW over the next three years.

The city-based diversified company, which is also the world's second largest home linen maker and a one of the top heavy industrial pipes producers, is into the pipes, plates & coils, steel, infrastructure and energy and had grossed up over Rs 18,000 crore in revenues last fiscal.

It has two subsidiaries in the energy space - Welspun Renewables Energy and Welspun Energy one for the solar and the wind respectively. The private equity of the Asian Development Bank had recently picked around 11 percent in the latter for USD 50 million.

"We are planning to invest up to Rs 15,000 crore over the next three years in the renewable energy space to take our total generation to 1.75 GW. While we already have a commissioned capacity of 328 MW, mostly in the solar space, we have close to 725 MW under development," Welspun Group chairman B K Goenka told PTI.

He said the company has already invested over Rs 3,000 crore into the power sector so far.

Goenka said his company has the capabilities to do the design, engineering and construction of renewable projects, which brings down his execution cost. "Our projects are among the highest generating ones in the country and we are largest solar power producer in the country today with 330 mw of generation."

Most of this fresh investment will be in solar space, he said, adding the company will be focusing on Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. On the wind side, the company is planning to have 120 MW by the end of this fiscal itself.

Asked about why the focus on energy sector that is highly regulated, Goenka said the surety of returns makes energy one of the most key areas to be in. Also, there will be no dearth of demand for power in a power starved nation like ours.

On the capex for other businesses, Goenka said, the home textiles arm, which supplies to 14 of the top 30 American retailers, will see Rs 1,200 crore investment by 2016 to ramp up its capacity by 25 percent, while Rs 100 crore will be pumped into subsidiary Syntex, which is into specialty synthetic yarns.

The group's flagship Welspun Corp, which is the largest pipes maker in the country, had last week reported an marginal dip in net income at Rs 105 crore in its June quarter against Rs 109.5 crore a year ago, on sales turnover of Rs 1,146.67 crore, which was flat.

As of the June quarter, the company, had debt of over Rs 15,000 crore in its books, has Rs 5,000 crore of cash/cash equivalent balance.

Welspun Corp shares closed at Rs 218.50, up 0.90 percent on the BSE, which on August 14 closed 0.71 percent up.

The Welspun Corp stock has given a whopping 155 percent return over the last six months and over 355 percent over the last one year.

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MERC grants 25-yr power distribution licence to Tata Power

In a major decision, state electricity regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has granted 25 years distribution licence to  Tata Power for supplying power in city and suburban areas.

MERC in its order has allowed Tata Power Company (TPC) to supply electricity in Mumbai city, parts of suburban areas including Bandra to Dahisar in Western suburbs; Chunabhatti to Vikhroli and Mankhurd in Eastern suburbs for 25 years.

It has also been granted licence to supply electricity in areas of Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation, Chene and Versova which were earlier not a part of its licence area.

"Based on all materials placed, and suggestions and objections received, the Commission is of the view that it is in the public interest to grant licence to TPC to distribute electricity in the proposed area of supply," MERC said in the order.

The Commission had invited tenders from interested parties for granting licence to supply electricity in the proposed areas as TPC's licence was expiring today.

The new licence will come into effect from tomorrow, the order said.

"The Commission grants distribution licence to TPC to supply electricity in the proposed area for 25 years from August 16," the order said.

MERC has also asked Tata Power to submit a fresh rollout plan, for supplying electricity, within six weeks.

Currently, BEST is supplying electricity in the city along with Tata.

"With this order, consumers of BEST can shift to Tata Power's network," an industry expert said.

Tata Power has a consumer base of five lakh in Mumbai of which nearly 65 percent are those consuming below 300 units per month.

Reacting to MERC order, the leading private utility said it continues to aggressively expand network in Mumbai and serve all categories of consumers.

"We would continue to balance stakeholders' interest in Mumbai by welcoming small and residential customers as also all commercial and industrial consumers.

"Similarly, we will support BEST's case for transport subsidy to be rationalised across each electricity unit collected so that it's not just left to BEST (transport and electricity arm of local civic body) to collect the same," Tata Power said in a statement here.

The company will also make sure that BEST margin of business is not affected adversely as it has been a long term participant in power supply system in Mumbai, it said.

"Tata Power strongly believes in the vision of MERC and Government to get consumers a competitive cost option with reliable supply. We would continue to facilitate the same with positive and close association with all stakeholders."

Tata Power continues to aggressively expand its network in Mumbai to offer switchover so that consumers can have reduced tariffs, the statement added.

Tata Power stock price

On August 11, 2014, Tata Power Company closed at Rs 90.75, down Rs 0.7, or 0.77 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 115.25 and the 52-week low was Rs 67.36.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 3.15 per share as per the quarter ended June 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 28.81. The latest book value of the company is Rs 52.69 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.72.

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Amid increasing competition, Apollo says hold market share

Apollo Tyres  has obtained an enabling resolution to raise USD 200 million and will look to fuel its growth through the organic route, Neeraj Kanwar, vice chairman and managing director of the firm has said.

Also read: How the Apollo, Cooper Deal was botched

Apollo had made an ambitious USD 2.5 bid for US-based Cooper Tires -- something that did not play out – but in an interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Kanwar said the company may dilute equity to fund its future growth.

Kanwar also discussed the company's Indian and global plans and said that even as competition in its local market was increasing, it expected to maintain its market share.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: You have been spending a fair amount of your time in London. London is home for you now. What does India look like now that you paid a visit back after the new government has taken over?

A: India today at least when I am in London there is a lot of positive noise of India being back on track. A lot of investments, I see the same guys who were saying that they were very negative about the economy and very negative about the country for business are now becoming more and more positive. Everyone is still sitting on the boundary line. They are still waiting and watching on when is the right move to come into the country.

Q: So they are waiting for concrete decisions to be taken by this government in terms of policy?

A: In terms of policy, we are seeing that there is something actually happening at the ground level, implementation of policies, opening up of infrastructure. The government has made all the pro growth noises and one has to see whether they are going to be implemented physically on the ground and that is what the world is waiting to watch to see.

Q: How confident are you feeling about the auto sector because after a painful 12 months the passenger car business seems to have started to see a turn around, we have seen three months of consistent growth coming in for the passenger car segment, commercial vehicles still looking not so good and the prescription from commercial vehicle manufacturers seems to suggest that at least another two quarters before we will see some real visible turnaround in the sector. What is your own sense?

A: The passenger segment has started like you are saying it has started growing but we need to see a whole six month period of how the passenger vehicle will grow. We are now running up to Diwali and that is the main season to see pre Diwali, post Diwali what happens.

So there is a general tendency for people to buy before Diwali but post Diwali is that curve still going up and the trend still going up this is what we need to see. As far as commercial vehicle (CV) is concerned we are seeing signs of a growth coming in from before, not that they have reached their peak because peak was in 2011. They are nowhere close to that vehicle manufacturing.

Q: Only the deceleration has stopped at this point in time in a sense?

A: Yes, so they are coming back up but again, like I said people are waiting to watch. Once the infrastructure growth project starts then you will see CV booming but there is a lot to be seen on the ground. As far as farm is concern and that is a big concern for us. Farm sector is really down. The Q1 was very bad and Q2 has even seen worse.

Q: Speaking of challenge and problems and you announced your results a short while ago. There was a fair degree of volatility as far as your stock was concerned and there is a mixed set of opinions on the street; some positive and some not so positive. Let me get you to address some of the concerns that investors have. I am bringing up the concerns that brokerages who have a sell call on Apollo Tyres have raised. Let me start by getting you to address them one by one. The first concern is the increasing focus of multinational companies and technological advantages in truck, bus and radials which would results in a market share loss for domestic players like yourselves. Do you believe that this is an exaggerated threat or do you believe that you are well poised both on the technology R&D front or do you really see an erosion as far as your market share is concerned on an account of competitive pressure?

A: As far as India for Apollo is a concern I can talk about myself. We are very well positioned as far as technology and products are concerned and why I say that is today our truck radial product has grown 25 percent Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y). We have a brand new facility in Chennai which is up and running which is reaching terminal capacities. We have garnered market share, we are today clearly the leaders at around 30 percent market share in the Indian truck market.

If you see competition, multinational specifically, they all are here. Michelin has put up a plant in Chennai; Bridgestone is putting up a plant in Pune. So we have all of them here. As far as technology is concerned today customer's voice is the main voice and that shows in the market leadership and the price positioning.

Today I will not say we are clearly the leaders in price because there would be a gap of 1 percent from the international competition but we are clearly the market leaders and that shows in the technology that we have created for our products for our customers in India.

Q: Will you be able to hold prices?

A: Not the prices but even the market share. What we have gone and done is we have created a customer centric force team within India which is really looking at customers and working along with the customers to educate them the benefits of having a truck radial. We operate with them in their markets also; for instance in Europe we are competing with the best multinationals over there in Europe.

We have learnt our way on how to compete with the multinationals. I don't see us losing market shares at all in India. This is our home turf we are only going to make it more stronger and stronger as we go up in the ladder. In fact we are even making a decision to expand our truck radial capacity because today truck is running for us at around 85-90 percent utilisation and we see a big wave of radialisation coming in the industry in the years to come. Today radialisation is around 30 percent in truck. We believe in three to four years it will be 50 percent and the company is well poised to look after that growth and that is what we believe we will be able to keep up with and compete with the multinational.

Q: Since you are talking about expansion then you are obviously talking about capital expenditure as well. One of the other concerns is the enabling resolution that you have already had cleared from your board to raise about USD 200 million either by way of debt or equity, do you really need to through with this at this point in time because you are generating enough cash?

A: We have taken an enabling resolution up to USD 200 million. So, we have an expansion programme of around Rs 1500 crore for the truck radial to remain as leaders in the truck market and this is a profitable business for us. So, we are generating double EBITDA margins through selling truck radials and through the Chennai facility. So, that is a positive for us.

We are also looking at restructuring our Kerala unit which are very old units running on old technology. So, we are going into off-highway tyres (OHT) which is industrial, OTR, floatation tyres, agri tyres, which will incur a capex of around Rs 500 crore.

Q: So, altogether about Rs 1,900-2,000 crore.

A: Yes. Rs 2000 crore and this is to be spent over the next three years. So, nothing here and now that we have taken an enabling resolution. This is something that will give us strength to go and do these capital expenditures.

Q: What would you prefer debt or equity because there are concerns on equity dilution?

A: As a promoter I can tell you we are looking at equity coming in.

Q: How much would that mean in terms of dilution?

A: We have not finalised the number right now, we are still studying the market. We are in no rush to go and pick up this USD 200 million.

Q: What would be the tentative timeline that you could look at for this fund raising?

A: We have a one-year window and that is what we are operating in.

Q: The markets are doing well at this point in time, I would imagine that you would want to go through with it sooner rather than later?

A: Not really because I see a huge rush in the market to go and pick up money and you have seen a lot of money has been raised in the past two months. So, I am in no rush. I need to see the right price. That is when Apollo will come out.

Q: You were hoping that Cooper would give you a big leg-up as far as the global tyre pecking order is concerned. That obviously did not go through, so how does that change your aspirations on the global map?

A: I am not in the race of getting up the pecking order.

Q: But you have said that several times over, I want to be in the top 10 [globally] by 2016.

A: I have gone away from that because I have learnt a lot.

Q: What is the target for you -- and I am not talking to you about a short term target, about the next 12 or 24 months because a lot of these things won't even kick-in by then – but is there a five-year target?

A: Right now there is no target in our minds right now because we are just putting these plans into place. Once these plans are totally ironed out then I can come out and say that this is my five-year target.

We are looking at a 2020 target which will be fueled by organic growth and obviously it might [also] be something inorganic we would look at.

Q: But the preferred option at this point in time is organic growth?

A: Yes, 100 percent.

Q: So by 2020 will you be in the top-10?

A: I hope so.

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What's riding on Tata Zest?

Tata Motors finally launched the much awaited Zest this week. The compact sedan is the company's first new passenger vehicle in four years and also the first to be launched under its new strategy to turnaround the company's weak domestic business. Animesh Das finds out if the Zest will be a game changer for Tata Motors.

Tata Motors  finally launched the much awaited Zest this week. The compact sedan is the company's first new passenger vehicle in four years and also the first to be launched under its new strategy to turnaround the company's weak domestic business. Animesh Das finds out if the Zest will be a game changer for Tata Motors.

Tata Motors stock price

On August 11, 2014, Tata Motors closed at Rs 447.40, up Rs 14.40, or 3.33 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 488.05 and the 52-week low was Rs 276.15.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 0.08 per share as per the quarter ended June 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 5592.5. The latest book value of the company is Rs 59.58 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 7.51.

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Talking creativity with FCB's Jonathan Harries

FCB's Vice Chairman and Global Chief Creative Officer, Jonathan Harries was in the country this week. He spoke with Storyboard Editor Anant Rangaswami on setting a global benchmark for creatives in a network, the necessity of right brain and left brain thinking and more.

FCB's Vice Chairman and Global Chief Creative Officer, Jonathan Harries was in the country this week. He spoke with Storyboard Editor Anant Rangaswami on setting a global benchmark for creatives in a network, the necessity of right brain and left brain thinking and more.

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Skymet forecasts good showers for TN AP after 48 hours

A cyclonic circulation is likely to come up over south coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Bay of Bengal region. The northeast-southwest trough extending from south Chhattisgarh to north Tamil Nadu is expected to move further inwards.

As a result, Southwest Monsoon will remain active over Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and south interior Karnataka. Rain will increase over these areas after 48 hours and continue for at least 2 days.

During the weak and break Monsoon conditions also, Monsoon systems have a tendency to appear in the lower latitudes in the Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coast.

Monsoon in Tamil Nadu so far

Tamil Nadu observes less rain during the Monsoon season. However, it was one of the very few pockets that observed a surplus of 4% in June, while the entire country was experiencing scanty or deficit rain.

Being in the rain shadow area, even a minor fluctuation in rainfall amounts either pushes up the deficit figure or pulls it down. This can easily be understood from the fact that June was surplus, while July was deficit by 25%. As of date (from 1st June) the deficit now stands at 3%.

Monsoon in Telangana so far

The Telangana sub-division in southern peninsula has been deficit since the onset of Monsoon in June. In fact, rain deficit has always remained higher than the cumulative deficit of the country.

It is also the worst performer among the eight sub divisions in southern peninsula which include Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, Coastal Karnataka, South Interior Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka and Kerala.

Till 20th July, Telangana was observing a rainfall deficit of 50% but some scattered rain during the last week of July pulled it down to 47%. However, it has again risen to settle at 53% currently.

According to latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, hopefully, this spell of rain will bring down the rain deficit to some extent, though significant rain is expected mainly over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region.

By: Skymetweather.com

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Godrej Ind Q1 profit up 46% on strong operating performance

"Despite delayed monsoon, agri businesses registered sustained momentum in revenues and marked improvement in profitability while Godrej Properties reported healthy financial performance during the quarter with revenues and net profit growing by 49 percent and 16 percent respectively," AB Godrej, chairman explained.

Moneycontrol Bureau

Godrej Industries , which engaged in the businesses of oleochemicals, surfactants, finance & investments and estate management, has started off the year with strong earnings growth across segments. Net profit on a consolidated basis shot up 45.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 77.7 crore led by strong revenue growth and operational performance. Profit in corresponding quarter of last fiscal was Rs 53.3 crore.

Total income from operations grew by 23.7 percent to Rs 2,326.2 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 1,879.8 crore in the year-ago period.

"Despite delayed monsoon, agri businesses registered sustained momentum in revenues and marked improvement in profitability while  Godrej Properties  (wherein Godrej Industries holds 60.76 percent stake ) reported healthy financial performance during the quarter with revenues and net profit growing by 49 percent and 16 percent respectively," AB Godrej, chairman explained.

The chemicals business, which reported 123.5 percent growth in earnings before interest and tax on revenue of Rs 349.50 crore (up 21 percent year-on-year), has benefited from various operational efficiency projects and by the full quarter operations at the new Ambernath facility. AB Godrej expects this trend to continue.

During the quarter, operating profit (EBITDA) jumped 54.3 percent to Rs 125 crore in the quarter gone by and margin expanded by 110 basis points to 5.4 percent.

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Tata Steel shuts Odisha plant due to raw material crunch

The suspension of operations at Sukinda and Bamnipal would mean more than 6,000 job cuts, the company said.

Tata Steel  Ltd has shut down one of its ferro alloys plants in Odisha due to a raw material shortage linked to the suspension of a mining license, the company said in a statement late on Friday.

Tata Steel sourced ore for the 50,000 tonne-per-year Bamnipal plant from its captive chromite mine in Sukinda, operations of which were suspended in May.

The plant was run with available inventory before being shut on Aug. 4. The suspension of operations at Sukinda and Bamnipal would mean more than 6,000 job cuts, the company said.

Also read:  SBI wants external agency to run Bhushan Steel

Tata Steel stock price

On August 08, 2014, Tata Steel closed at Rs 537.55, down Rs 17.9, or 3.22 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 578.60 and the 52-week low was Rs 220.00.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 66.02 per share as per the quarter ended March 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 8.14. The latest book value of the company is Rs 629.60 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 0.85.

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Gold tumbles by Rs 340 on fall in demand, global cues

In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity plunged by Rs 340 each to Rs 28,760 and Rs 28,560 per 10 grams, respectively.

Snapping a three-day rising streak, gold prices tumbled by Rs 340 to Rs 28,760 per 10 grams in the national capital today on selling by stockists against fall in demand at prevailing levels amidst a weak global trend.

Silver followed suit and lost Rs 650 at Rs 44,050 per kg on poor offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Traders said increased selling by stockists against fall in demand at existing higher levels and a weak global trend mainly pulled down gold prices.

Gold in New York, which normally sets the price trend on the domestic front, fell by 0.30 per cent to USD 1,309.10 an ounce and silver by 0.15 per cent to USD 19.91 an ounce.'

In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity plunged by Rs 340 each to Rs 28,760 and Rs 28,560 per 10 grams, respectively.

It had gained Rs 710 in last three sessions. Sovereigns lost Rs 200 at Rs 24,800 per piece of eight grams. In line with a general weak trend, silver ready dropped by Rs 650 to Rs 44,050 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 600 to Rs 43,580 per kg. The white metal had gained Rs 650 in the previous two days.

Silver coins, however, held steady at Rs 77,000 for buying and Rs 78,000 for selling of 100 pieces in restricted deals.

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CBI investigates IDBI Bank loan to Kingfisher Airlines

The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry registered against IDBI Bank for sanctioning a loan to debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines. The investigating agency is enquiring as to how the bank approved a Rs 950 crore loan to Kingfisher Airlines considering the company's negative net worth and credit rating.

Moneycontrol Bureau

After its recent crackdown on Syndicate Bank  - where the Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, arrested its chairman and managing director SK Jain in an alleged bribery case - the CBI has now shifted focus to  IDBI Bank and Kingfisher Airlines .

The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against IDBI Bank for sanctioning a loan to debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines. The investigating agency is enquiring as to how the bank approved a Rs 950 crore loan to Kingfisher Airlines considering the company's negative net worth and credit rating.

Also Read: Were rumours of SpiceJet's demise greatly exaggerated?

CBI sources say: "IDBI Bank did not need the exposure when other bank loans were stressed." Sources also add it was the first exposure to the bank.

State Bank of India  and several other banks have exposure totaling Rs 6,500 crore in Kingfisher Airlines. The loans granted by SBI to KFA is also under the scanner.

Kingfisher Airlines stopped operations from October 1, 2012.

Syndicate Bank stock price

On August 08, 2014, Syndicate Bank closed at Rs 127.85, down Rs 3.2, or 2.44 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 179.10 and the 52-week low was Rs 61.05.

The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 27.93 per share as per the quarter ended June 2014. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 4.58. The latest book value of the company is Rs 189.63 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 0.67.

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Repco Home Finance Q1 net profit rises 11.2%

It had stood at Rs 22.31 crore during the year ago period, Chennai-based Repco Home Finance said in a statement. For the financial year ending March 31, 2014, net profit stood at Rs 110.10 crore.

Repco Home Finance  has registered a 11.2 percent jump in net profit at Rs 24.81 crore for the first quarter ending June 30, 2014.

It had stood at Rs 22.31 crore during the year ago period, Chennai-based Repco Home Finance said in a statement. For the financial year ending March 31, 2014, net profit stood at Rs 110.10 crore.

Total income from operations for the quarter ending June 30, 2014 grew to Rs 156.04 crore from Rs 118.65 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. For the fiscal ending March 31, 2014, total income from operations were at Rs 534.15 crore.

Loans sanctioned during the quarter ending June 30, 2014 amounted to Rs 481.14 crore as against Rs 357.50 crore in the year ago period.

Disbursements for the quarter grew by 24.18 percent to Rs 414.60 crore from Rs 333.88 crore registered during the same period of previous year.  There was a 30.58 percent increase in outstanding loans for the quarter ending June 30, 2014 to Rs 4,892.33 crore from Rs 3,746.71 crore registered in the same period of the previous year.

As of June 30, 2014 total borrowings were at Rs 4,081.51 crore as against Rs 3,057.04 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Gross NPA as on June 30, 2014 was at 2.22 percent, while Net NPA stood at 1.60 percent during the period, the statement added.

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Dena Bank Q1 net slips 57% on lower other income, NPA jumps

Asset quality of the bank deteriorated with the gross non-performing assets (NPA) rising 151 basis points year-on-year (up 88 bps quarter-on-quarter) to 4.21 percent and net NPA increasing by 120 basis points on yearly basis (up 59 bps sequentially) to 2.94 percent in the quarter gone by.

Moneycontrol Bureau

State-controlled lender Dena Bank 's first quarter (April-June) net profit fell 57 percent to Rs 81.5 crore on lower other income and slow growth in net interest income but supported by lower tax cost and flat provisions. The profit in the year-ago period was Rs 189.2 crore.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, increased marginally to Rs 612 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 604.7 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal while other income (non-interest income) dropped 60.5 percent to Rs 144.42 crore from Rs 365.51 crore during the same period.

Asset quality of the bank deteriorated with the gross non-performing assets (NPA) rising 151 basis points year-on-year (up 88 bps quarter-on-quarter) to 4.21 percent and net NPA increasing by 120 basis points on yearly basis (up 59 bps sequentially) to 2.94 percent in the quarter gone by.

During the quarter, provisions were unchanged at Rs 228.1 crore on year-on-year basis but the same declined 60 percent compared to Rs 570.3 crore in previous quarter with the provision coverage ratio at 53.96 percent as on June 2014.

Operating expenses of the bank rose by 15.3 percent to Rs 442.63 crore from Rs 384 crore while tax expenses dropped significantly to Rs 4.17 crore in April-June quarter from Rs 168.9 crore in the year-ago period.

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Adani Ent turns corner, Q1 net at Rs 557 cr; revenue up 43%

Gujarat-based Adani Enterprises , which is engaged in the businesses of power, ports, agro and trading, has turned profitable with the first quarter consolidated net at Rs 556.7 crore on strong revenue growth and operational performance and despite exceptional loss, lower other income, higher finance, depreciation and tax costs. The loss in the year-ago period was Rs 278.3 crore.

"Improved performance has set the direction of growth as we see greater contribution from completed projects in ports, power and mining verticals," said Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group.

Consolidated total income from operations grew by 43.1 percent to Rs 16,524 crore in the quarter ended June 2014 from Rs 11,547 crore in same quarter last year driven by strong growth in trading, power and agro businesses.

Adani Enterprises holds 68.99 percent stake in  Adani Power and 74.99 percent in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone ; hence the above earnings include numbers of both companies.

Exceptional loss represented the liquidated damages amounting to Rs 126.39 crore payable on account of delay in commercial operations date (COD) at Tiroda plant operated by Adani Power Maharashtra, said the company in its filing.

During the quarter, operating profit (excluding forex loss) jumped 52.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,156 crore and margin expanded by 120 basis points to 19.1 percent in the quarter gone by.

With continued focus on leveraging the benefits of increasing scale and operational efficiencies, Ameet Desai (group chief financial officer, Adani Group) expects further boost in operating performance in future.

According to him, power generation business has shown growth due to new capacities coming into operation coupled with enhanced PLF & improved operations. The company expects to achieve thermal power generation capacity of 9,240 MW very soon.

Other income of the company nearly halved to Rs 147.12 crore in the first quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from Rs 288.9 crore while forex loss declined to Rs 217.82 crore from Rs 337.91 crore during the same period.

Depreciation and amortisation expenses jumped 34.41 percent year-on-year to Rs 965.67 crore and finance cost rose 25 percent to Rs 1,453.88 crore and tax expenses shot up 67.84 percent on yearly basis to Rs 149 crore in the quarter gone by.

Segments		Q1FY15 (Rs cr)		Q1FY14 (Rs cr)		%Change
Trading		6786.08		4587.58		47.92
Power		5411.11		2567.2		110.78
Port		818		1277.2		-35.95
Agro		2126		1994.6		6.59
Others		1383.3		1120.08		23.50

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Eicher Motors' Q2 profit may double to Rs 184 cr: Edelweiss

Edelweiss estimates Eicher Motors' revenues to grow 31 percent year-on-year. "Revenue growth is expected to be driven by a sharp 87 percent YoY volume growth in Royal Enfield and 4 percent volume growth in commercial vehicles," it says.

Moneycontrol Bureau

Eicher Motors  will be announcing its second quarter results for calendar year 2014 on Monday. The company has been delivering very strong earnings due to spectacular performance of Royal Enfield division. That trend is likely to continue this quarter as well.

Edelweiss estimates profit after tax to jump 2-fold to Rs 184 crore and revenues to grow 31 percent year-on-year to Rs 2,186 crore during the quarter. "Revenue growth is expected to be driven by a sharp 87 percent YoY volume growth in Royal Enfield and 4 percent volume growth in commercial vehicles," it says.

The company follows January-December (calendar) as its financial year.

Consolidated operating profit margin is expected to expand 60 basis points quarter-on-quarter and 220 basis points year-on-year to 12.1 percent on the back of better operating leverage and benign commodity costs, says Edelweiss.

Analysts expect motorcycle volumes to double in the next three years. Antique expects 0.5 million motorcycles sales in CY16 versus 178000 in CY13.

In Q2CY14, Royal Enfield volumes jumped 87 percent year-on-year to 73,494 units and commercial vehicles volumes rose 4 percent to 11,308 units during the same period.

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'Will intervene when innocents are facing massacre'

President Barack Obama today said the US would intervene everytime it could to prevent "massacre of innocent people", justifying his decision to carry out targeted airstrikes in Iraq against Islamist militants.

"The US cannot and should not intervene everytime there's a crisis in the world. But when there's a situation like the one on this mountain -- when countless innocent people are facing a massacre, and when we have the ability to help prevent it -- the US cannot just look away," Obama said.

Also read: Obama says won't let Islamic militants create caliphate: NYT

"That's not who we are. We are Americans. We act. We lead," he said in his weekly address to the nation.

Thousands of families from the Yazidi minority community are trapped in the Sinjar mountains in north Iraq without food and water after fleeing the rampaging fighters of the Islamic State, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.

Obama said he has directed US military to take action "to protect our American diplomats and military advisers serving in the city of Erbil."

His order to send warplanes back to Iraq, three years after pulling the last US troops out of the country, came after the IS made huge gains on the ground, seizing a dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities.

"Thursday night, I made it clear that if they attempted to advance further, our military would respond with targeted strikes," Obama said. "We have Americans serving across Iraq, including our embassy in Baghdad, and we will do whatever is needed to protect our people."

The US operation began with air drops of food and water for thousands of people hiding from the Sunni extremist militants in a barren northern mountain range.

Many of America's allies backed the US intervention, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of refugees.

"We have begun a humanitarian effort to help those Iraqi civilians trapped on that mountain. The terrorists that have taken over parts of Iraq have been especially brutal to religious minorities ? rounding up families, executing men, enslaving women, and threatening the systematic destruction of an entire religious community, which would be genocide," the US President said.

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13th Meeting of the FSDC Sub Committee - New Delhi

A meeting of the Sub Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held today in New Delhi. Dr. Raghuram G Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, chaired the meeting. The meeting was attended by Dr. Arvind Mayaram, Finance Secretary; Dr. Gurdial Singh Sandhu, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Dr. K.P. Krishnan, Additional Secretary, DEA; Shri U. K. Sinha, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); Shri R. V. Verma, Officiating Chairman, PFRDA, Shri Ramesh Abhishek, Chairman, Forward Market Commission (FMC); Deputy Governors of RBI, Shri Harun R. Khan, Dr. Urjit Patel; Shri R. Gandhi and Shri S. S. Mundra; Executive Director of RBI, Shri Deepak Mohanty; and other officials.

The Sub-Committee reviewed the domestic macro economy and potential risks facing the financial system. A draft roadmap for creating standards and protocol for setting up account aggregation facility for financial assets was deliberated in the meeting.

The Sub-Committee reviewed the major decisions made in the union budget and discussed the road for implementing them. These included one single demat account for all financial assets; introduction of uniform KYC norms and inter-usability of KYC records across the financial sector; strengthening and deepening the markets for corporate bond, currency derivatives and interest rate futures; and participation of DFIs and FIIs in commodity market.

The Sub-Committee also reviewed the functioning of the various Technical Groups which are under its ambit.

Alpana Killawala
Principal Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2014-2015/293

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