Wipro first quarter net jumps 31 percent

Wipro has registered a jump of 31 percent in its net profit for the fist quarter of this fiscal as compared to the same duration last year. The company has recorded net profit of Rs 13.19 billion [Rs 1, 319 crore] for the quarter ended on June 2010.

The IT company has said that its revenue also has increased by 16 percent to Rs 72.36 billion [Rs 7,236] in the first quarter of this fiscal, when compared to the same period of last fiscal.
Net income, under the International Financial Reporting Standards, has gone up to $284 million and total revenue went up to $1.56 billion. The company’s global IT services have recorded revenue of $1.2 billion, which is a 16.6 percent on year-to-year growth. The revenue is equivalent to Rs 55 billion.

Toyota plans to set engines and transmissions unit worth Rs 500-crore in India

On Tuesday, the leading car manufacturer Toyota Motors made an announcement of a Rs 500-crore investment to set a unit in India to produce engines and transmissions for its latest compact car Etios.

The Japanese company’s subsidiary Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Ltd (TKAP) is going to make investment for the huge project.

Hisashi Suzuki, managing director, TKAP said, “Though TKAP is more of a global source for R-type manual transmissions, with the addition of these two new products, we will continue more towards employment of local labour and develop local suppliers.”

The new plant aims to produce 100,000 engines from the third quarter of 2012 and 240,000 transmissions are expected to be produced per year from early 2013.

Hiroshi Nakagawa, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “The Etios has been designed specifically for the Indian market and domestic production of engines and transmission will enable us to provide the best quality product at a competitive price.”

The Etios and sedan were introduced during the Delhi Auto Expo this year.

Reliance Communication merger on cards to raise funds

Reliance Communications is considering the options of either to merge with South Africa’s MTN or to find a strategic partner in order to raise funds. According to the reports, Reliance wants to raise funds for its foray into 3G mobile and wireless broadband access. Both the company had planned for partnership in 2008 also but it could not materialize for certain reasons.

On Thursday, the South African company said that it had received the merger proposal from Reliance Communications and it will be examined.

On Wednesday, Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat also had said that it was likely to buy a stake in an Indian mobile operator, though its name was not disclosed. Reports that it was planning to buy a stake in cash-hungry Reliance Communication.

BSNL staff call off strike on government assurance

Employees and executives of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Tuesday called off their indefinite strike after the government assured them that plans for disinvestment in the telecom company will be referred to a group of ministers (GoM).

“The employees have been assured that the issue concerning disinvestment will be referred to a GoM. The GoM would consult before taking any decision in regard to disinvestment of BSNL,” Telecom Minister A. Raja told reporters.

The strike lasted for a few hours as the employees stopped work around 6 a.m. Tuesday at all BSNL offices in the country.

The employees unions are opposed to the BSNL management’s decision to accept the Sam Pitroda Committee report which has recommended a 30 percent divestment in the company and voluntary retirement for 100,000 employees.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set up the Pitroda panel with HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Telecom Secretary P.J. Thomas as members to review the functioning of the company and suggest ways to improve its financial health.

The unions have also demanded to regularise 1,500 Indian Telecom Services (ITS) officers in the company who have been on deputation for the last 10 years. They feel this will make them accountable.

BSNL operates telecom services across the country other than Delhi and Mumbai, where state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) offers the services.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu first to get the Nokia’s new cheap range of handsets

Nokia has introduced a new range of handsets including four cheap mobile phones that offer basic operations of calling and messaging. All these phones are under the range of Rs 3000.

The 4 phones- Nokia 2690, Nokia 1800, Nokia 1616 and Nokia 1280 have foremost hit the markets of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Nokia 2690 is priced at Rs 2749 that supports a 1.8-inch screen, 3.5-mm audio jack, Bluetooth with A2DP, multimedia player, Flash Light 3.0, stereo FM radio and a VGA resolution camera. You can get this mobile phone in four different colors.

While Nokia 1800 is slim with a full-chrome navigation pad. This handset has 1.8-inch screen, storage space to 500 phonebook entries and FM radio. It is also available in 4 colors for Rs 1800.

Nokia 1616 has all the functions same as Nokia 1800 apart from a 3.5-mm audio jack included in this phone that is priced for Rs. 1600.

The Nokia 1280 is the cheapest phone among the all handsets which features 1.36-inch monochrome screen surrounded by plastic body. Users can store 500 phonebook entries, support FM radio and a 3.5-mm audio jack. You can get this phone in four colors for Rs 1300.

So pay less and enjoy talking with Nokia…….

Bharti-Wal-Mart soon to launch 15 new stores in India

Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer across the world that permitted to run only business is all set to start its 15 new stores in India in next three years.

Recently after Amritsar, a Wal-Mart store has been launched in Chandigarh.

Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have been collaborated to form Bharti-Wal-Mart that has started its cash-and-carry outlet in Punjab’s Zirakpur outer of Chandigarh.

“We have several learning from our first store, which we are inculcating in our second store. First is the direct-from-farm initiative… 20% of our products is brought directly from the farm,” said Raj Jain, chief executive officer, Bharti-Wal-Mart.

Considering India as the beneficial destination for the company, Scott Price, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Asia, said: “Considerable sourcing happens from Punjab… we think India offers huge opportunity.”

Sensex outperforms global indices, gains 2.4 percent

Benchmark indices of Indian equities outperformed their global peers over the week, even though the rally ran out of steam in the last two days.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up 411.61 points or 2.4 percent to end at 17,578.23 points Friday.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted gains to end the week at 5,262.8 points, up 124 points or 2.5 percent.

Mid-to-small size scrips were bought more, the BSE broader market indices showed. The midcap index closed 0.94 percent up and the smallcap index 0.74 percent higher.

The top gainers in the Sensex were Reliance Industries (up 6.9 percent), Hindalco (up 6.4 percent), Tata Steel (up 6 percent), Cipla (up 5.5 percent) and Hindustan Unilever (up 4.4 percent).

Among the top losers were ONGC (down 2.6 percent), Maruti Suzuki (down 2.3 percent), ACC (down 2.1 percent), HDFC (down 0.8 percent) and BHEL (down 0.2 percent).

Data with market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds bought scrips worth $796.57 million during the week.

According to the BSE, the sectors that attracted interest were metals (up 3.6 percent), oil and gas (up 3.5 percent) and IT (up 3.3 percent).

Other Asian markets put up modest gains during the week, with the Japanese Nikkei adding 0.68 percent to its previous week’s tally to touch 10,824.72 points.

The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rose 0.76 percent at 21,370.82 points, while the Chinese Shanghai composite index gained 1.8 percent at 3,067.75 points.

In Europe, London’s FTSE rose 0.43 percent over the week to end at 5,650.12 points, while the German DAX ended 0.63 percent higher at 5,982.43 points.

The French CAC 40, however, closed flat over the previous weekly close.

In the US, Wall Street ended the week with moderate gains. Benchmark indices such as the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.1 percent at 10,741.98 points, the Nasdaq gained 0.29 percent, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 moved up 0.86 percent.

Hours after closing bell here, the Reserve Bank of India hiked key policy rates — repo and reverse repo — by 25 basis points each Friday in a bid to tame rising inflation.

The move had an adverse effect on the US markets, which slipped soon after the announcement. Analysts are expecting a selling spree when Indian stock markets open Monday.

India’s food inflation rises marginally

India’s annual food inflation rose slightly to 17.87 percent for the week ended Feb 20 from 17.58 percent the week before, though the government had said that prices had started easing and would fall further following a good winter crop.

According to official data released Thursday, prices of essential items continued to move up, with pulses dearer by 35.23 percent, potatoes by 27.69 percent, vegetables by 15.45 percent and wheat by 14 percent.

The limited data on wholesale price index released by the commerce and industry ministry

also showed a rise in the index for primary articles by 15 percent and that for fuel, power, light and lubricants going up 9.59 percent.

India’s annual rate of inflation, based on the wholesale prices index, had risen to 8.56 percent in January from 7.31 percent in the previous month, primarily due to galloping food prices.

After the government hiked auto fuel prices, it is feared that food prices would rise further in the coming months.

Both houses of parliament Wednesday witnessed stormy scenes as opposition members demanded a rollback of petrol and diesel price hikes, saying they would have a cascading effect on the already high prices of essential commodities.

The price rise of some essential food items over the 52-week period:

- Pulses: 35.23 percent

- Potatoes: 27.69 percent

- Vegetables: 15.45 percent

- Milk: 15.28 percent

- Wheat: 14 percent

- Cereals: 11.58 percent

- Onions: 11.14 percent

- Fruits: 10.41 percent

- Rice: 9.62 percent

Sensex pares losses, closes 44 points down

A benchmark index for Indian equities markets Thursday made up some of the intra-day losses and closed 44 points lower than its previous close.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,013.68 points, shut shop at 16,955.41 points (provisional), 44.6 points or 0.26 percent lower than its previous close at 17,000.01 points.

It had slipped more than 100 points earlier Thursday afternoon.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended trade at 5,077.6 points against the previous close at 5,088.1 points – a loss of 0.21 percent or 10.5 points.

Broader markets, however, saw some buying interest with the BSE midcap index ending 0.8 percent higher and the BSE small cap index 0.77 percent up.

Sensex rallies 225 points, helped by RIL gains

A benchmark index for Indian equities Wednesday shut shop 225 points higher, helped by gains in heavyweight scrip Reliance Industries, which moved up over 3.8 percent.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,778.29 points, ended at 16,997.91 points (provisional), 225.35 points or 1.34 percent higher than its previous close at 16,772.56 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed at 5,089.1 points against the previous close at 5,017 points, a gain of 1.44 percent or 72.1 points.

Broader markets too closed in the green with the BSE midcap index ending 1.56 percent higher and the BSE small cap index 1.28 percent up.