Results are here....

Forthcoming Results for Q2:

October 21, 2010
ACC	Corporation Bank	Indiabulls Fin	Pennar Inds	Subuthi Finance
AKZOINDIA	Dairyfield	Indowind Ener	Peoples Invest	Sun Pharma Adv
Allahabad Bank	DIC India	Info Edge India	Persistent Sys	Supreme Petro
Alstom Projects	Eclerx Serv	JM Financial	PH Capital	TCS
Ambuja Cements	Esab India	JRG Securities	Prime Sec	Technocraft
Arunoday Mills	Flex Foods	KAR Mobiles	Rajratan Global	TVS Motor
Asahi Songwon	Foseco India	Mahindra Forg	Sasken Comm	Wipro
Austin Engr	Fresenius Kabi	Monotype India	Silver Smith	XPRO India
Bajaj Corp	Gopal Iron	Multibase India	SKF India	Zenith Fibres
Camlin Fine	GS Auto	Novartis India	South Indian Bank	Zensar Tech
Chromatic India	Hind Syntex	Oil Country Tub	Sterlite Tech
October 22, 2010
Acrow India	Cat Tech	Intec Cap	Nivi Trading	SOUTHERN ISP
Ador Fontech	Chennai Petro	IPCA Lab	Paushak	Tamil Nadu News
Ador Multi	D B CORP	Jayant Agro	Piramal Health	Taneja Aero
Ajanta Pharma	Daiichi Kark	JSL Stainless	Plastiblends	Tata Elxsi
AP Paper	Danlaw Tech	Kabra Extr	Poly Medicure	TECIL Chemicals
Apte Amalg	Deep Inds	Kakatiya Tex	Ram Kaashyap	THANGAMAYIL
Aptech	Dewan Housing	Kale Consl	Rane Brake	Thomas Cook
Aries Agro	Dynavision	Kalyanpur Cem	Ravalgaon Sugar	Tilaknagar Inds
AVT Nat Products	Emco	Kirloskar Ferro	Redington India	Tips Inds
Bafna Pharma	English Indian	Kirloskar Oil	Reliance Chem	Torrent Cables
Bank of India	Envair Elect	KSB Pumps	Sagar Cements	Triton Valves
Bank of Maharashtra	FAG Bearings	Liberty Phos	Sangam India	TT
Bhagwandas Met	Fairfield Atlas	Libord Info	Savant Info	Vardhman Tex
Bhansali Engr	Finolex Inds	Libord Sec	Shree Rani Sati	Vijaya Bank
Binani Cement	Fulford India	Mahindra & Mah Fin	Simmonds Marshall	Wipro
Binani Inds	Geometric	Mirc Elect	SKS Microfinance
Biocon	Global Boards	Modern India	Smartlink Net
Borosil Glass	Indian Bank	NIIT	Sobha Dev
October 23, 2010
Ador Welding	Diamines & Chem	GMR Inds	Nilkamal	Sumeru Inds
Agarwal Hold	Dr Reddys Lab	Gujarat Ambuj Ex	Nucleus Soft	Surya Fun City
Ahmedabad Steel	E Com Infotech	Hydro S&S Inds	Patels Airtmp	Torrent Pharma
Andhra Sugars	Edelweiss Cap	Ishita Drugs	Piramal Life	Uflex
Artson Engr	Enkei Castalloy	Jasch Inds	Safari Inds	Vantage Corp
Avanti Feeds	Facor Alloys	Jog Engineering	Sakuma Exports	Velan Hotels
Axis It&T	Ferro Alloys	KBS Capital	Shalimar Paint	Vivimed Labs
Bhageria Dye	Fineline Circ	Mangalam Cem	Shantivijay Jew	Woolite Merc
Bharat Forge	Finolex Cables	Menon Bearings	Solvay Pharma	Yuken India
Cheslind Tex	Force Motors	National Oxygen	Somany Cerm
Confidence Petro	Garware Wall	Natural Cap	Span Diag
October 24, 2010
Mayur Floorings	Onmobile Global

Good Results so far...

* Kotak Bank consolidated Q2 net up 21%
Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) on Wednesday reported a21 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs. 364 crore for the quarter ended September, helped by a healthy rise in advances. The lender's net profit stood at Rs. 299.77 crore in the second quarter of the last fiscal.

* Hindustan Zinc Q2 net up 1.47% on high demand
Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc on Wednesday posted 1.47 rise in profit at Rs. 948.72 crore for the second quarter of the current fiscal, as against the year-ago period, on improved demand and rising prices. Hindustan Zinc had a net profit of Rs. 934.95 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

* YES Bank Q2 profit soars 58% to Rs. 176cr
* Canara Bank net up 11% to Rs. 1,008 cr
* Nifty slips below 6000, metals lose lustre
* Yahoo profit rises, but revenue is flat
* Flush with cash, will Apple go shopping?
* Bajaj Q2 PAT grows 69% to Rs. 682 cr
* Goldman Sachs tops forecasts, earns $1.74 bn
* Cadila Healthcare Q2 net up 30% to Rs. 170 cr
* Alembic Q2 net up 63% to Rs. 21 cr
* HDFC Bank Q2 net up 33% at Rs. 912 cr
* BankAm posts $7.7 billion loss on special charge
* Coca-Cola Q3 net income up 8.4%
* Bajaj Auto Q2 net profit soars 69%
* Sensex gathers steam as ICICI Bank, RIL rise
* Cadila Healthcare Q2 net up 29.5%
* Sesa Goa rises 2% after good Q2 numbers

India, China not playing for '2nd place': Obama

Insisting that the US cannot afford to cut its education budget, President Barack Obama has said it has to compete with countries like India and China which are "not playing for a second place" and voiced opposition to tax breaks to the American firms shipping jobs overseas.

Obama, who was here for an election rally ahead of the November polls in support of Governor Deval Patrick, said the Republicans want to cut education spending by 20 percent to help pay for a 700-billion-dollar tax break that only the wealthiest 2 percent Americans will ever see.

The Republicans may think that a cut in education spending is a "good idea" but countries like India and China don't, he said.

"We see an America where every citizen has the skills and training to compete with any worker in the world. The other side might think it's a good idea to cut education by 20 percent, but you don't think it's a good idea. You know who else doesn't think it's a good idea -- China, and South Korea, and Germany, and India," Obama told an audience of about 8000 Saturday.

He said these countries are boosting education spending, not cutting back. "They understand that whoever is able to train their young people will be able to out-compete any other country in the world. Those countries are not playing for second place. And the United States doesn't play for second place. We play for first."

Obama said it was for this reason that tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that used to go to big banks are now going where they should -- to students and families.

"That's why we want to make our new college tax credit permanent, which will be worth 10,000 dollars in tuition relief for every student in America," he said.

Stressing that taxpayers should never again pay a bailout for Wall Street's mistakes, Obama said he will "fight the efforts of some in the other party to privatise Social Security, because as long as I'm President, nobody is going to take the retirement savings of a generation and hand it over to Wall Street.

"That's why we won't go back to the days when insurance companies and Wall Street banks had free rein to run roughshod over the middle class."

Obama further said the country's future must be "driven by American innovation and American ingenuity."

He said tax breaks should be given to small businesses, US manufacturers and clean energy companies that are creating jobs in the US "because I don't want to see all the solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars built in Europe or in Asia."

"We don't want to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas," he said.

GDP to grow by 9.2% in 2010-11: CMIE

The Indian economy is expected to grow by 9.2 percent in 2010-11 following impressive growth in the manufacturing and services sectors, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said here.

"We maintain that the Indian economy will grow by 9.2 percent in 2010-11, as we expect impressive growth in the manufacturing and services sectors as well," CMIE said in a statement.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) dropped dramatically to 5.6 percent in August, after growing by 13.8 percent in July. It had recorded a growth of 11.2 percent in the June quarter, but we believe that the growth was much higher than 11.2 percent, CMIE said.

This is because sales revenues of the manufacturing companies rose by 23.8 percent, while the rate of inflation in manufactured products (including petroleum products) was 8.2 percent, implying that sales volumes grew by about 14.4 percent.

The IIP has a very old base year (1993-94), outdated weights and a fixed frame of products and companies, and had miscalculated industrial growth for the preceding two years (2008-09 and 2009-10) as well. It is therefore imperative that the index is corrected at the earliest to enable meaningful analysis, CMIE said.
In August, the rate of inflation touched a six-month low of 8.5 percent. It was calculated as per the new series released on 14 September with 2004-05 as the base year. A moderation in the prices of primary food articles, manufactured food products and paper & paper products helped keep inflation in check.

We expect WPI-based inflation to moderate to 7.9 percent in 2010-11, as compared to our earlier projection of 8.5 percent based on the old series, it said.

CMIE expects that the agricultural production to grow by 7.2 percent pc in 2010-11.

The withdrawal of the southwest monsoon has been delayed this year, and the plentiful rain across large parts of the country has encouraged farmers to bring more land under cultivation.

As of October 7, kharif sowing was completed across 1,022 lakh hectares, which was 64 lakh hectares more than the acreage reported in the corresponding period of 2009.

Cumulative rainfall for the season (June-September) is 102 percent of the long period average, according to the India Meteorological Department's end-of-season report.

Agricultural production is therefore expected to grow by a healthy 7.2 percent in 2010-11, after recording a 6.6 percent decline in the preceding fiscal, CMIE said.

FDI inflows down by about 60% in Aug

Reflecting fragile recovery in world's major economies, foreign direct investment into India dipped for the third consecutive month, by about 60 percent to USD 1.33 billion in August.
The FDI inflows in August 2009 were USD 3.26 billion.

Contrary to smart recovery in the domestic economy and a rebound in exports, overseas investment show a slackening trend in the current fiscal, an official said.

For the April-August period of 2010-11, FDI inflows declined by 35 percent to USD 8.92 billion compared to USD 13.8 billion in the same period last year, the official said.

According to experts, weak global economic recovery is one of the reasons for declining FDI in India.

"The main reason for the decline in FDI is slump in the major western economies like the US and Europe...," international trade expert with India's prestigious Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Rakesh Mohan Joshi said.

Crisil chief economist DK Joshi said: "This is not a good news for Indian economy. This reflects that global economic recovery is still fragile and some impact of that would be reflected in our FDI."

Foreign investment in July 2010 was at USD 1.78 billion, a dip of 49 percent and in June international inflows were at USD 1.38, a dip of 46 per cent over the year ago period.

The sectors which attracted foreign investment, included services, telecommunication, construction activities and computer software and hardware, the official said.

The country received maximum investment from countries like Mauritius, the US, the UK, Singapore, the Netherlands and Japan.

The government has recently floated discussion papers for public comments to liberalise FDI in multi-brand retail and defence sector.

The foreign investment remained low-key despite a recent UNCTAD survey showing that India would remain the second most important FDI destination for transnational corporations during 2010-2012, next only to China.

In its latest 'World Investment Prospects Survey 2010-2012', the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said transnational corporations remain buoyant about investment prospects in China, India and Brazil.

FDI for 2009-10 at USD 25.88 billion was lower by 5 percent from USD 27.33 billion in the previous fiscal.

India's external debt rises to $273.1 billion

India's external debt rose 4.1 percent or USD 10.8 billion to USD 273.1 billion in the first quarter of current fiscal due to a sharp increase in short-term trade credits, commercial borrowings and multilateral government borrowings.

The short-term debt increased by USD 5.4 billion to USD 57.8 billion, accounting for 21.2 percent of the total debt, while the long-term debt rose to USD 215.2 billion at the quarter ended June 30, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin.

Almost all the components of external debt registered increase during the first three months of fiscal 2010-11. Commercial borrowings and loans under external assistance (multilateral and bilateral debt) increased by USD 2.5 billion and USD 2.3 billion respectively.

The share of commercial borrowings continue to be the highest at 27.3 percent in the total external debt followed by short-term debt (21.2 percent), NRI deposits (17.6 percent) and multilateral debt (16.4 percent).

The valuation effect reflecting the appreciation of the US dollar against other major international currencies and the Indian rupee resulted in a decline of USD 1.3 billion in India's external debt during the reporting quarter.

"Excluding the valuation effects due to appreciation of US dollar against other major international currencies and the Indian rupee, the increase in external debt worked out to USD 12.1 billion over the quarter," the RBI said.

IMF projects India's economic growth at 9.7% in 2010

The International Monetary Fund has projected the Indian economy will grow by 9.7 percent in 2010 and 8.4 percent in the next fiscal, driven by robust industrial production and macro-economic performance.

However, neighbouring China is expected to grow at an even faster rate of 10.5 percent in 2010 and 9.6 percent in 2011, driven by domestic demand, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

Advanced economies, on the other hand, are projected to grow by just 2.7 percent in 2010 and 2.2 percent in 2011, the IMF report said, adding that global trade is forecast to expand by 4.8 percent in 2010 and 4.2 percent in 2011, with a temporary slowdown during the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011.

"India's macroeconomic performance has been vigorous, with industrial production at a two-year high. Leading indicators -- the production manufacturing index and measures of business and consumer confidence -- continue to point up," the IMF said.

"Growth is projected at 9.7 percent in 2010 and 8.4 percent in 2011, led increasingly by domestic demand. Robust corporate profits and favorable external financing will encourage investment," it said.

"Recent activity (10 percent year-over year growth in real GDP at market prices in the second quarter) was driven largely by investment and the contribution from net exports is projected to turn negative in 2011 as the strength in investment further boosts imports," the IMF said.

According to the World Economic Outlook report, growth in emerging Asia economies stands at about 9.5 percent, with robust demand from China, India, and Indonesia benefiting other Asian economies.

In China, a major fiscal stimulus, a large expansion of credit and a number of specific measures to boost household income and consumption increased domestic demand growth to almost 13 percent in 2009, contributing to a large decline in the current account surplus.

The recovery is now well established, and a transition from public stimulus to private-sector-led growth is underway, it said.

Latin America has also recovered strongly, with real GDP growth at about 7 percent.

The recovery in Latin America is being led by Brazil, where real GDP growth has been close to 10 percent since the third quarter of 2009 and the economy is now showing signs of overheating, the report said.

A number of other economies have also returned to solid growth. However, Mexico is lagging behind, partly because of its strong trade linkages with the United States.

Growth in Mexico recently picked up on the back of strengthening exports to the United States, but the output gap remains large.

The World Economic Outlook projects that the output of emerging and developing economies will expand at a rate of 7.1 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, in 2010 and 2011.

"The global recovery remains fragile, because strong policies to foster internal rebalancing of demand from public to private sources and external rebalancing from deficit to surplus economies are not yet in place," it said.

Advance tax numbers indicate good show by finance, auto cos

Advance tax collections for the second quarter, July-September, 2010-11 indicated Wednesday that while sectors like banking, finance and auto have done well, cement and pharma were down as compared to last year's numbers.

As for individual corporate, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro paid Rs 1,306 crore and Rs 280 crore respectively, higher than Q2 FY10.

RIL had paid Rs 1,157 crore in the year-ago period, indicating that it is steaming ahead. L&T's had paid Rs 210 crore in Q2 FY 10.

Similarly, Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Hindalco's tax outgo doubled to Rs 140 crore.

However, it was a mixed bag from the Tata Group as Tata Power Rs 60 crore and Tata Motors Rs 95-crore paid less to the exchequer vis-a-vis last year.

Country's financial capital Mumbai, which contributes a major chunk of direct tax collection, clocked over 13 percent growth, which a top Income Tax official said was below expectations.

"Our expectations were more...some companies in sectors like cement are not showing good numbers," chief commissioner of Income Tax Mumbai, PP Srivastava, told PTI here, after the advance tax collections for September quarter ended Wednesday.

The Mumbai region of Income Tax Department has been assigned a direct tax collection target of Rs 1,50,480-crore for the current financial year, which is 35 per cent of the all India collection target of Rs 4,30,000-crore.

Asked if the target (Mumbai circle) would be met, Srivastava said that "we are hopeful. However, we will have to take extra measures to achieve it."

IT-major Tata Consultancy Services paid Rs 260 crore in advance tax as compared to the previous year's Rs 220 crore, while the payment by Tata Chemicals remained unchanged at Rs 60 crore.

Driven by high growth, advance tax payments in the auto sector were good.

Bajaj Auto paid Rs 243 crore in Q2 FY11, as against last year period's Rs 170 crore, while Mahindra & Mahindra paid Rs 158 crore, up from Rs 112 crore, the source said.

Barring some names, the banking and financial sector witnessed high tax payouts, led by State Bank of India (Rs 1,924 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 600 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 600 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 206 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 308 crore) and Yes Bank (Rs 105 crore).

Home-loans lender HDFC shelled out Rs 400-crore this quarter, as against Rs 320 crore in the year ago period.

Life Insurance Corporation's payout increased by Rs 128 crore to Rs 1,067-crore, while in the case of General Insurance Corporation, it almost doubled to Rs 92-crore.

The sector which appears to have suffered the most in Q2 FY11 since last year is cement, as payouts by a majority of companies in this segment have fallen sharply.

From last fiscal's Q2 of Rs 150 crore, Ambuja Cement's advance tax payment fell to Rs 90 crore, while UltraTech's payout more than halved to Rs 60 crore.

Cement major Lafarge's advance tax payment declined from Rs 67 crore to Rs 40 crore. In the case of ACC, its advance tax payment plummeted to Rs 60 crore from last fiscal's Q2 of Rs 150 crore.

Consumer electronics major, Videocon, saw its advance tax outgo increase to Rs 35 crore, from last year's Rs 30 crore while state-owned fertiliser company RCF showed a decline to Rs 19 crore from Rs 33 crore in Q2 last fiscal.

Biscuit maker Parle saw its advance tax outgo increase by Rs 3 crore to Rs 12 crore this quarter and Johnson and Johnson paid Rs 22 crore, up from last year's Rs 18 crore.

Two pharma majors -- Lupin and Cipla -- have registered lower payouts at Rs 45 crore and Rs 65 crore respectively as compared to Rs 50 crore and Rs 75 crore, respectively, in the year-ago period.

In the media and entertainment space, Zee Entertainment's payout almost doubled to Rs 60 crore from Rs 32 crore in the year-ago period.

RBI may raise key rates tomorrow to tame inflation: Experts

RBI is likely to raise policy rates by up to 25 basis points in its mid quarterly policy review Thursday to tame inflation, which is still ruling near the double-digit mark, said experts.

Inflation, as per the revised index was 8.51 percent in August, although it was 9.5 percent according to the old index.

Even finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, while responding to decline in inflation, which under the new series fell by 1.3 percentage points during August, had said, "there is no room for complacency... we must continue to be vigilant and be prepared with the instruments of fiscal and monetary policy to use them as and when the need arises."

Citigroup said in its research report said, "given trends in both macro and sectoral data, coupled with the RBI saying that policy rates are still far from a normal position, we expect the RBI to raise both repo and reverse-repo rates by 25 bps in its review on September 16."

The government, Tuesday, came out with a new wholesale price index series that measured inflation in August at 8.5 percent based on 2004-05 prices.

Although the August figure is lower than that of July which was at 9.8 percent, experts believe the supply and demand side pressures still remain and RBI should hike its short-term lending (repo) and borrowing (reverse-repo) rate to control money flow.

RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn also expressed concern, saying "the inflation rates that the economy is now experiencing, both from the supply and the demand sides, are clearly a matter of great concern. It is incumbent on the government and the central bank to use all the means at their disposal to rein inflation."

This is the first time that the Reserve Bank is coming out with a mid-quarter economic policy review.

"The RBI will go in for a rate hike as robust growth in industrial output and healthy economic growth would give the RBI enough cushion to make money expensive," Deloitte Principal Economist Shanto Ghosh said.

The RBI has raised interest rates four times this year, upping key policy rates by 100 basis points as it tries to combat high inflation in Asia's third-largest economy.

In its first quarter monetary review in July, the central bank had raised short-term lending and borrowing rates by 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent, respectively.

Following the increase, the repo rate stands at 5.75 percent and the reverse repo rate at 4.50 percent.

India's GDP grew by 8.8 percent in the first quarter, against 6 percent in the April-June period last fiscal.

Furthermore, industrial output expanded by 13.8 percent in July from 7.2 percent in the corresponding month last year.

Inflation in August at 8.5%; FM says no room for complacency

The government Tuesday claimed a 1.37 percentage point dip in the politically sensitive inflation, as a new series measured it at 8.5 percent in August, but the Finance Minister said there was no room for complacency.

Although the drop is substantial, when measured using the old series, inflation during the month under review works out to 9.5 percent, down from 10 per cent in July.

"Even though the good news of lower inflation is reported today, yet there is no room for complacency... (government) will continue to bring it down further," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier this year said he expects inflation to drop to 6 percent by December.

Mukherjee indicated Tuesday that the RBI could take some action in its mid-quarter review of monetary policy on September 16.

"Some international commodity prices have shown some recent inflationary tendency, especially the wheat prices worldwide... (which) have risen sharply following production shortfall in Russia and Ukraine," he said.

The fall in August inflation, however, came on the back of lower prices of food items like vegetables, cereals and pulses and sugar.

Mukherjee further said that "we must continue to be vigilant and be prepared with the instruments of fiscal and monetary policy to use them as and when the need arises."

Releasing the new series, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, "We hope that it (inflation) will come down. There are various steps taken by the government. Food inflation has been a cause of concern."

The new inflation series with 2004-05 as the base year has 241 more items than the old series with 1993-94 as the base year, which only reflected the price rise in 435 articles.

Edibles and non-edible items widely used by the middle class, like ice-cream, mineral water, microwave ovens, washing machines, gold and silver are reflected in the new WPI inflation series.

According to analysts, overall inflation, which is still close to 9 percent, may prompt the RBI to increase key policy rates by 25 basis points during its review later this week.

Deloitte Principal economist Shanto Ghosh said, "In an absolute sense, inflation is high. Unless there is significant softening in prices across the board, it will be a tough challenge for the government to meet the 5.5 percent inflation target."

RBI panel to review repo, reverse repo process

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said its committee on monetary policy will review the operating procedure with respect to repo, reverse repo auctions; width of the interest rate corridor; and frequency and timing of reverse repo and repo auctions.
In its quarterly policy review in July, the RBI had announced its plan to set up a panel to monitor the operating procedure of the monetary policy, including liquidity adjustment facility.
Rate corridor is the spread between repo rate -- the rate at which the RBI infuses liquidity -- and reverse repo rate -- the rate at which liquidity is drained out.
The panel will look at monetary policy in the light of global practices and domestic experience.

The terms of reference include:
* whether there is a need for a rate corridor at all
* whether its width should be fixed or variable
* what are the tools necessary to enable the corridor to function efficiently.

The committee will be headed by Deepak Mohanty, executive director, RBI.
The panel will also compare its monetary policy with operating methods of other central banks, the RBI said.
The RBI had introduced repo and reverse repo rates in June 2000 when it had started the liquidity adjustment facility.
Besides interest rates, other tools such as cash reserve ratio (CRR), open market operations (OMO) and market stabilisation scheme (MSS), have served the monetary policy management well, the RBI said.

"However, India's increasing integration with the global economy, large volatility in capital flows and sharp fluctuations in government cash balances have posed several challenges to liquidity management by the Reserve Bank, particularly in effectively signalling the monetary policy stance," the RBI said, explaining the rationale behind forming the panel.
The committee will also the assess the role of Bank Rate, which has been unchanged since April 2003 and is considered defunct now as no real interest rates are linked to this rate.
Bank Rate was used to signal change in interest rates over medium to long term, while repo and reverse repo rates are short-term rate tools.

Inflation to come down in coming months: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday expressed hope that inflation, which is close to the double digit mark, will come down in the coming months.

"Let us hope, it (inflation) will come down in the coming months. I am not an astrologer," he told reporters here.

The overall inflation stood at 9.97 percent in July and the figure for the month of August is expected next week. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation has been over 10 percent for five straight months till June.

For the week ended August 21, food inflation stood at 10.86 percent.

When asked about ONGC disinvestment, the Prime Minister said, "it is an ongoing process. I don't know which company will be divested. We have an able Finance Minister who is dealing with the subject."

The government is aiming to mobilise Rs 40,000 crore from disinvestment during the current fiscal.

On inflation, the Prime Minister had last month said that the government is making every possible effort to control "high inflation" and insulate poor from its adverse impact.

While addressing the National Development Council meeting in July, Singh had said that inflation would come down to around 6 percent by December this year.

"I know that in the last few months high inflation has caused you difficulties. It is the poor who are the worst affected by rising prices, especially when the prices of commodities of every day use like foodgrains, pulses, vegetables increase."

"It is for this reason that we have endeavoured to minimise the burden of increased prices on the poor," Singh said while speaking on the 64th Independence Day.

The opposition BJP and the Left parties have attacked the government over surging food prices. The Parliament was disrupted for a week during the monsoon session on the issue.

After which an understanding was reached between the two sides and a resolution was adopted in the two Houses asking the government to take further steps to control price rise.

Chances of double dip recession in US raised: Roubini

Economist Nouriel Roubini has come out with yet another chilling prediction. Roubini warns that the chances of a double dip recession in the US have increased as the second half of the year is expected to be even worse, reports ONE OF THE NATIONAL NEWS CHANNEL.

“Compared to six months ago when the probability of double dip was very low, right now, I expect it to be very high,” Roubini warned.

“Growth in Q2 has been revised downwards from 2.4% to 1.6%, given the construction numbers will be revised down to 1.2%,” he added.

He reasoned that based on the data the second half of the year is going to be worse than the first half 2 because all the tailwinds will become headwinds. He is concerned that if we finish Q2 with 1.2% then the second half will be worse.

“Once the growth rate is 1%, you are already in a growth recession, and then the risk is that the financial markets are going to have a downturn,” Roubini said.

Bull of the week: Stock that rallied 62% in 5 days

EIH Associated Hotels gained 9.98% or Rs 20.95 to close at Rs 230.85. It touched a 52-week high of Rs 230.85. There were pending buy orders of 43,187 shares, with no sellers available.

Why the run up?

On August 30, 2010, Energy major Reliance Industries controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, announced its foray into the hospitality sector by acquiring a 14.12% in EIH for a total cost of Rs 1021 crore. The stake buy worked out to Rs 184 per share. The acquisition at Rs 184 per share represented almost a 20% premium to its price of Rs 151 on the day. EIH holds 75% controlling stake in EIH Associated Hotels.

On September 01, 2010 , Reliance, bought an additional 0.68% in EIH Ltd, raising its holding to 14.8% in the hotel chain.

Reliance's 14.8% stake in EIH, just shy of the 15% level that triggers a mandatory open offer to buy an additional 20%, could mean the company is not keen to take management control of the hotel chain.

ITC, which holds 14.98% stake in EIH, reiterated that it would not make a hostile bid for EIH.

Analajit Singh, Chairman of Max India, who also holds under 5% stake in EIH, was also interested in hiking his stake in the company. However, talks failed over differences in valuations.

DTC introduced in LS; tax relief lower than original proposal

New Delhi: The government Monday introduced Direct Taxes Code (DTC), offering much lower benefits than in the original proposal that seeks to increase tax exemption on income from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2 lakh and fix the corporate tax at a flat 30 percent.

As per the Bill, income from Rs 2-5 lakh will be taxed at 10 percent; Rs 5-10 lakh at 20 percent and 30 percent thereafter.

The changes, when they take effect, will help save up to Rs 41,040 for people earning more than Rs 10 lakh a year.

The exemption on savings and as also payment of interest up to Rs 1.5 lakh on housing loan has been retained in the proposed DTC Bill.

While senior citizens will continue to enjoy greater tax exemption, women tax payers will lose their special status under the proposed Direct Taxes Code.

The Bill proposes to raise the tax exemption limit for senior citizens above 65 years to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum from Rs 2.4 lakh at present.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tabled the Bill in the Lok Sabha and it has been referred to select committee of Parliament for scrutiny.

Similarly, the exemption limit for senior citizens, is sought to be raised marginally to Rs 2.5 lakh from Rs 2.40 lakh now.

Currently, income from Rs 1.6-5 lakh attracts 10 percent tax; from Rs 5-8 lakh, 20 percent and beyond Rs 8 lakh, 30 percent.

The proposed tax slabs are much lower than originally suggested in the draft DTC bill -- 10 percent for Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, 20 per cent from Rs 10-25 lakh and 30 per cent for income above Rs 30 lakh.

According to estimates, an individual tax payer earning more than Rs 10 lakh would save up to Rs 41,040 annually.

The legislation also proposes to increase MAT from 18 percent to 20 percent of book profit of a company. It seeks to levy dividend distribution tax at 15 percent.

India to become fastest growing economy by 2015: Morgan Stanley

Favourable demographics, structural reforms and the effects of globalisation will help India to get past China to become world’s fastest growing economy by 2013-15, Morgan Stanley has said.

“Over the next two years, India should start matching China’s GDP growth of around 8.5-9.5%, barring another global financial crisis.

More importantly, we think that by 2013-15, India will start outpacing China’s GDP growth notably,” Morgan Stanley economists Chetan Ahya and Tanvee Gupta reportedly concluded in a research paper.

While China’s growth rate will likely to slow down to 8 percent from about 10 percent by 2015, they added.

China has maintained an average growth rate of ten percent over 30 years.

However, China economy and its per-capita income will be well ahead of India, it added. India will need another 10-11 years to match the per-capita income of China’s 2009 levels of USD 3,750, the research paper said.

Notably, China has recently overtaken Japan as the second-biggest economy in the second quarter.

India is the eleventh largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) while China is now the second largest economy in the world with a nominal GDP of USD 4.99 trillion.

India’s nominal GDP stands at USD 1.250 trillion.

Industrial growth slides to 13-month low

After months of rapid double digit growth, the Indian industry seems to be cooling off as industrial growth slipped into single digits in June. The fall in industrial production was because of a combination of statistics and a slight moderation in the pace of growth.

Leading industry lobbies, however, voiced no worries and said the drop in production to single digit was due to a high base effect.

'The fall in industrial production was on expected lines as it largely reflects a higher base in the same period last year,' said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

India's industrial production grew at a much slower rate of 7.1 per cent in June, compared to 11.5 per cent in the previous month. Manufacturing output rose 7.3 per cent while mining and electricity grew at 9.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

While a high base effect was expected to weigh on the index of industrial production this month, the data came in towards the lower end of expectations leaving policy makers disappointed.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said industrial growth of 7.1 per cent in June, was below his expectations and it could have been better.

"I would say no if its 8.5% GDP growth then industrial growth should be faster than that," said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The disappointment came in from the capital goods sector where output grew by just over 9 per cent sharply below the 34 per cent growth seen in May.

Growth in consumer durables growth also slowed marginally over last month but remained at a healthy 27.4 per cent.

However, economists feel that a slight moderation in industrial growth may continue over the next few months.

"Global demand coming off, domestic supply side constraints and adverse base effect are all pointing towards a moderation in IIP growth going forward as well. 6-8 per cent is the rough range where IIP growth rate will continue over the next 6 months or so,” said Sonal Varma, an economist with Nomura.

The slip in industrial growth may not do much to change the perspective of policymakers. With the reserve bank maintaining that inflation remains a key concern, more hikes in interest rates still seem inevitable.