Rupee moves up by 4 paise to 44.39 vs dollar PTI | Apr 29, 2011, 11.50am IST

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee moved up by 4 paise to 44.39 per US dollar in early trade on Friday on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters in view of the persistent fall of the dollar in overseas markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the domestic currency opened steady at 44.43/44 per dollar, but moved up to 44.39 per dollar before quoting at 44.41/42 at 103 hours.

It moved in a range between 44.39 and 44.47 in morning deals.

Banks and exporters preferred to reduce their dollar positions on the back of the sustained fall of the dollar in the New York market, a forex dealer said.

The US Dollar fell for the sixth straight day yesterday in the New York market, as stocks inched up and gave currency traders more reason to shift out of perceived safe havens.
NAME- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA
PGDM 2nd sem (210-12)

PAC setback for RBI governor Subbarao TNN | Apr 29, 2011, 04.05am IST

NEW DELHI: Questions over Duvurri Subbarao's role in the 2G spectrum scam could be a setback to the former IAS officer's chances of getting a second term in the Reserve Bank of India in September.

In fact, the names of economic affairs secretary R Gopalan and chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu have already started doing the rounds as a possible successor. Both joined the finance ministry afterPranab Mukherjee moved into North Block in late 2008.

Apart from having been in charge of the financial sector department in the ministry, Gopalan was a public sector bank employee before joining the IAS. Basu is an economist who is on leave from Cornell University.

When Subbarao moved to Mumbai in September 2008, he was given a three-year term and he was widely expected to get a two-year extension. Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Subbarao's predecessor on Mint Road, had served a five-year term while Bimal Jalan's three-year term had been extended though he decided to resign midway to become a Rajya Sabha member.

The draft PAC report, which was not accepted by all the committee members, had said Subbarao should be asked to explain why he did not raise questions over telecom ministry's move to ignore finance ministry's recommendations.

Officials said there was no formal proposal to either extend the present governor's tenure or find a replacement. A final call would be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee closer to the expiry of Subbarao's term.

In 2008, in a first, a committee headed by P Chidambaram, then finance minister, with C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's economic advisory council, as a member shortlisted possible candidates and zeroed in on Subbarao.

Though Subbarao is seen to have handled the impact of the global financial crisis well, he has publicly opposed the government on at least two issues. The first area of difference was the establishment of a joint committee of regulators for dispute resolution that is headed by the finance minister. Similarly, he was severely critical of the government's decision to set up the Financial Stability & Development Council, which is again headed by the finance minister.

On both occasions, however, he was placated by the government after signals from the North Block that RBI governor is the first among equals when it comes to financial sector regulation.

After Chidambaram's departure from the finance ministry, the government has stayed away from reappointments in regulatory agencies with former Sebi chairman C B Bhave and former RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat being examples. At least two senior finance ministry officials - revenue secretary P V Bhide and finance secretary Ashok Chawla - were not given extensions and were allowed to retire just a month before the budget was presented.

In case of banks and financial institutions, too, the government has decided that any reappointment will take place only after the incumbent's performance is reviewed by a specially-appointed panel.

NAME-- DEEPAK KUMAR JHA

PGDM 2ND (2010-12)

Gold hits new high at Rs 22,470, silver up by Rs 3,400

NEW DELHI: Gold set a new record at Rs 22,470 per 10 grams today on brisk buying by stockists and jewellers for the upcoming 'Akshaya Tritiya' and marriage season, driven by a record rally in global markets. Silver also surged Rs 3,400 to Rs 72,000 per kg.

The white metal had hit a record level of Rs 74,300 on April 25.

Traders said Akshaya Tritiya festival (May 6), which is considered auspicious for buying gold, bolstered trading sentiments for the yellow metal.

The market also received support as the gold advanced to a record high in international markets, after the US Fed pledged to keep interest rates near zero to bolster the recovery, weakening the dollar and boosting demand for precious metals as a store of value.

Gold in the Asian region gained 0.4 per cent to reach a never-seen-before level of USD 1,533 an ounce. Silver also strengthened by 0.6 per cent to USD 48.13 an ounce, approaching the record level of USD 49.79 set on April 25.

The Fed signalled yesterday that it will maintain monetary stimulus and kept its target rate for overnight lending between banks at zero to 0.25 per cent, while ending USD 600 billion of bond purchases on schedule in June.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity surged Rs 275 each to Rs 22,470 and Rs 22,350 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereigns followed suit and rose by Rs 100 to a new peak of Rs 18,300 per piece of eight grams.

Silver ready staged a strong come back and spurted by Rs 3,400 to Rs 72,000 per kg and weekly-based delivery jumped up by Rs 3,195 to Rs 70,695 per kg.

Silver coins, too, zoomed up by Rs 3,000 to Rs 77,500 for buying and Rs 78,500 for selling of 100 pieces. 

 

GAURAV KUMAR

PGDM-2nd Semester

finance news

Wipro Q4 net up 14% at Rs 1,375 cr, announces 200% dividend

 

MUMBAI: The country's third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.

Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.

"We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

IT services, which contributed 76 per cent to the company's revenues in FY'11, stood at $1,400 million, a sequential increase of 4.2 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent.

The company said it expected its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of $1,394 million to $1,422 million for the first quarter ending June 30, 2011. IT revenue forecast is based on an exchange rate of 44.29 rupees to a dollar, in line with current rates.

The IT revenue forecast reflects a decline of 0.4 percent at the low end to a rise of 1.6 percent at the top end when compared to the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31.

"I am disappointed by their guidance. They have forecast flattish growth in the first quarter compared to expectations of about 2.5 to 3 percent growth," said Shradha Agrawal, a sector analyst with Batlivala & Karani Securities in Mumbai.

"It will make the task of matching the growth rates of rivals tougher for them."

Wipro's IT business, which develops software applications, integrates IT systems and manages call centres for clients such as Citi, Cisco and Credit Suisse, accounts for about three-quarters of its revenue.

The IT services segment hired 2,894 people this quarter and 14,314 people during the financial year, taking the total headcount to 1,22,385 employees as of March 31, 2011. It added 68 new customers for the reporting quarter and 155 new customers during the year.

"The business environment is positive and we are focusing on growth by directing investments on momentum verticals. We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins," Wipro Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4 , FY2009-10, up 18.33 per cent.

For the fiscal ended March, 2011, the company has registered a net profit of Rs 5,297.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,593.1 crore during the previous fiscal, up 15.34 per cent.

Net income from sales in the 2010-11 fiscal grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 31,098.7 crore from Rs 27,157.4 in the previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,337.6 crore for the quarter, a growth of 8.15 per cent vis-a-vis the same period last year. 

GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM 2ND SEM

NIIT's Pawar appointed Nasscom chairman

NEW DELHI: Technology industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) sees a strong revival of demand that could not only help meet, but exceed growth expectations for 2011-12.

Newly-appointed Nasscom chairman for 2011-12, Rajendra S Pawar , said in an interaction with ET: "We are coming back to growth levels seen prior to the slowdown and in the near term we see lot of headroom to catapult this growth.''

When asked whether this means Nasscom will revise its 15-17% growth target for the year for the $70-billion technology and business services sector, Pawar said, "It's too early to comment, but we are on track to exceed this target.''

Pawar, 60, co-founder and chairman of education software company, NIIT , took over as Nasscom chairman from Harsh Manglik. Nasscom also appointed N Chandrasekaran as vice chairman of its executive council. Chandrasekaran is CEO & MD of TCS , the largest Indian technology services company.

As chairman of the executive council, Pawar will lead and assist Nasscom in catalysing the growth of the Indian ITBPO industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations. Towards this end, Pawar wants to focus on two areas. First, how Nasscom can facilitate growth of the small and mid sized companies.

"There are lots of SMEs focused on software products, telecom, internet space, driven by IP. By the end of this decade, we see quite a few of them becoming very big,'' Pawar said.

 

GAURAV KUMAR

PGDM-2nd Semester 

Wipro Q4 net up 14% at Rs 1,375 cr, announces 200% dividend

MUMBAI: The country's third largest software exporter Wipro on Wednesday reported a growth of 13.77 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 1,375.4 crore.

Last year, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.9 crore for the fourth quarter.

"We have made good progress in creating a leaner, simpler and more customer-centric organisation structure. We believe our business strategy along with the new structure will deliver industry leading growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

IT services, which contributed 76 per cent to the company's revenues in FY'11, stood at $1,400 million, a sequential increase of 4.2 per cent and a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent.

The company said it expected its revenues from the IT services business to be in the range of $1,394 million to $1,422 million for the first quarter ending June 30, 2011. IT revenue forecast is based on an exchange rate of 44.29 rupees to a dollar, in line with current rates.

The IT revenue forecast reflects a decline of 0.4 percent at the low end to a rise of 1.6 percent at the top end when compared to the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31.

"I am disappointed by their guidance. They have forecast flattish growth in the first quarter compared to expectations of about 2.5 to 3 percent growth," said Shradha Agrawal, a sector analyst with Batlivala & Karani Securities in Mumbai.

"It will make the task of matching the growth rates of rivals tougher for them."

Wipro's IT business, which develops software applications, integrates IT systems and manages call centres for clients such as Citi, Cisco and Credit Suisse, accounts for about three-quarters of its revenue.

The IT services segment hired 2,894 people this quarter and 14,314 people during the financial year, taking the total headcount to 1,22,385 employees as of March 31, 2011. It added 68 new customers for the reporting quarter and 155 new customers during the year.

"The business environment is positive and we are focusing on growth by directing investments on momentum verticals. We have announced wage hikes effective June 1, 2011, which would have an impact on the operating margins," Wipro Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said.

Net income from sales for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 8,302.4 crore as against Rs 7,016.1 crore in Q4 , FY2009-10, up 18.33 per cent.

For the fiscal ended March, 2011, the company has registered a net profit of Rs 5,297.7 crore, compared to Rs 4,593.1 crore during the previous fiscal, up 15.34 per cent.

Net income from sales in the 2010-11 fiscal grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 31,098.7 crore from Rs 27,157.4 in the previous fiscal.

On a standalone basis, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 1,337.6 crore for the quarter, a growth of 8.15 per cent vis-a-vis the same period last year. 

GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester

All UBI branches to sell National Pension System

MUMBAI: The pension regulator today said banks are reluctant to distribute new national pension product despite higher returns that it gives in the long-run.

"Only about eight per cent or 4,000 branches out of over 50,000 bank branches are selling New Pension System (NPS)," Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority ( PFRDA )) chairman Yogesh Agarwal said.

Agarwal was here at the launch of special NPS facility developed by Union Bank of India under which UBI will distribute NPS through all its branches.

"Due to poor distribution and very low commission, NPS could not take off. We have around 20 lakh members, besides around 6 lakh corporate accounts. Out of this, 12 lakh are Central employees and 6 lakh state staff. The corpus is still small at around Rs 9,000 crore," Agarwal said.

He urged other banks to come forward to distribute it, as NPS distribution has not really picked up despite over six years into operations.

"Pension fund gives the best return. It gives nearly 30 percent more return than insurance or MFs," he said.

He also pointed out though banks were asked to switch to NPS from April 2010, no tangible rise in membership is visible as yet.

On the other hand, UBI said after piloting NPS distribution at 27 of its branches, all its 3,000-plus branches will be selling NPS now,

"This is part of our overall objective of offering the complete suit of banking and financial products from under one-roof," UBI Chairman and Managing Director M V Nair said.

The contributory NPS was launched by the Centre for its employees in January 2004. In May 2009, it was extended to other people in the 18-55 age bracket.

As a part of its social and economic inclusion programme, the Centre also launched a rural pension scheme--NPS Swavalamban in September 2010. 

GAURAV KUMAR
PGDM-2nd Semester