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India :Value buying in realty is back

2BHK preferred format, sub Rs 40 lakh segment attracting home buyers Anand Rawani and Neha Dewan NEW DELHI  VALUE buying is back in business. Realty buyers are primarily looking at the sub-40 lakh category to fulfill their dream home aspirations and it is the 2BHK which has emerged as the preferred format for buyers in these times.      SundayET spoke to a cross section of real estate developers, brokers and bankers to assess the ground situation on the kind of housing format and home loan size that is now gaining maximum flavour.      Most developers agree that the current hotselling flavour of the market is apartments ranging between Rs 25 to 40 lakh. According to Rajeev Talwar, group executive director, DLF, it is primarily the 2 and 3 BHKs which are finding buyers. "As far as prices are concerned, the sub-40 lakh is selling well in Bangalore. We have sold 1,200 units in Bangalore since the beginning of February this year. Similarly in Delhi we have sold 2,500 units since the beginning of the Financial Year. We will be coming up with more affordable housing projects across locations over the next three years."      Unitech official pegs it a little lower. As per a Unitech spokesperson, the sub-30 lakh category is faring well in these times. "We have sold flats in Noida, Gurgaon, Chennai, Mohali, Kolkata and Hyderabad in this range. It's mainly the 2 and 3 BHK with sizes between 800-1,000 sq ft respectively. In fact, in the first six months of this year, we have sold over 8 million sq ft of apartments, out of which 40% is in the price range of sub-30 lakh," he said.      Others feel that a combination offered with a study space is working out as an appealing factor. Says Rita Dixit, executive director, Jaypee Greens, "Options in the range of Rs 25-Rs 40 lakh are gathering momentum. Apartments which offer 2 and 3BHK with study space work out well. These typically range between 1,050-1,400 sq ft. Our projects offering such options, such as Classic and Kosmos, are bringing good business."      Not merely the property developers but even realty brokers echoed similar sentiments. Pankaj Jain, executive director of Realistic Realtors, a Delhi-based real estate brokerage firm said, "The 35 to 50 lakh segment is seeing bulk demand across locations. Demand for 2BHK with size ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 sq ft is high as it is an ideal size for a nuclear family."      The home loan enquiries coming to banks bear testimony to the market trend. According to Renu Sud Karnad, Jt MD, HDFC, "The segment where we are seeing a huge demand is in the price range of Rs 30-50 lakh in metros and bigger towns and around Rs 20-25 lakh in smaller towns."      Similarly, in the case of Bank of Rajasthan, where a predominant number of customers are from rural, semi-urban and urban centres, the average ticket size is below Rs 20 lakh. As per the loan portfolio of home loan of Bank of Rajasthan, the sub-Rs 20 lakh loans category constitute almost 95% of the total home loan portfolio.  BULK  DEMAND  The current hotselling flavour of the market is apartments ranging between Rs 25 to 40 lakh  Demand for 2BHK with sizes ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 sq ft is high  Banks seeing home loan disbursement in the range of Rs 30-50 lakh in metros and around Rs 20-25 lakh in smaller towns

Dubai sinks, and Mumbai misses the boat

Talk Of Making City An International Centre Appears To Have Lost Momentum, Post-Global Financial Meltdown IT'S one more opportunity lost for Mumbai. The Centre and the Maharashtra government — which not so long ago had floated the idea of making Mumbai an international finance centre (IFC) — appear oblivious to the developments in Dubai. The state has hardly any plan to market Mumbai even as Dubai is losing its lustre.      A couple of years back, the Centre and the state government had an ambitious plan to make the financial capital an IFC. The idea received a fillip in April 2007 after a special committee, headed by Oxfordbased development consultant Percy Mistry made a strong pitch to elevate Mumbai's status. The state government, then led by Vilasrao Deshmukh, promised to take every possible step to bring Mumbai up to global standards.      Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who first proposed the idea of making Mumbai another Shanghai before the 2004 elections, too took interest in helping the city grow. In August 2007, Mr Singh had even convened a high-level meeting in this regard and advised key government functionaries and regulators to assess the impact on the financial sector and other areas if the Mistry committee report was implemented. In a meeting attended by the then finance minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the chiefs of Reserve Bank of India, Sebi and the insurance regulatory authority, the prime minister also asked them to initiate action in this regard.      All this momentum, however, seems to have been lost in transit. "No one is talking about this now," a minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet said, in the context of the Dubai developments. "I'm not authorised to talk on this since there are a number of issues involved including political ones," he said, but added it was not before the government "at the moment".      There was more silence at state headquarters Mantralaya. After getting a second chance to rule, chief minister Ashok Chavan is struggling to find his feet and is busy tackling more pressing issues. "We are trying to see how can we make the best of the Dubai crisis. There are certain things under way which I would not like to comment upon as of now," Mr Chavan told ET. "There is definitely a concerted effort being made at the state's level to market Mumbai at this juncture," Mr Chavan said, without giving the details.      But top officials from the state administration are not exactly convinced. "On the ground, not a single proposal or initiative is being pushed to strengthen Mumbai," a highly-placed state functionary told ET. He pointed out a slew of measures the Mistry committee had cited as prerequisites before Mumbai could reach international status.      "The Centre had promised that the finance ministry and the Planning Commission would examine how they could extend support to the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to strengthen the city's decrepit infrastructure. We are waiting for the Centre's suggestions," this official said. Besides the Central initiatives, a lot needs to be done at the state level. " The biggest challenge is improving the city's infrastructure. There is not much to show on this front as well," the official said.      Experts have mixed views about Mumbai's potential to emerge as a credible IFC. "India does have a place in the game of international financial centres today, but this story will play out over five to 10 years," says Ajay Shah, professor at NIPFP. "Just because Dubai has collapsed, you can't expect India's emergence as an IFC over the next few days or months. To get there, what India needs is deep reforms of financial and monetary policies, and a lot of that policy agenda faces hostility from the present establishment," he says.      "The recent global economic crisis has taught one important lesson: you can't have city states as IFCs. A crisis of the magnitude seen recently will only happen once in 40 years. But when it happens, you need the fiscal capability of a big economy. This works against city states like Dubai or Singapore, and works in India's favour. If I were to bet on the major IFCs in the next 25 years, they would be London, New York, Mumbai and Shanghai," says Mr Shah.

By ’50, India will have most people

Country will pip China, boast a 1,198m population Viju B | TNN  Mumbai: India is going to be the world's most populous country in the next 40 years, says a report released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday.      India will overtake China by 2050, with a population of 1,198 million people, while China will become the second-most populous nation with 1,417 million people by 2050.      Currently, China is the most populated country in the world with 1,345.8 million people. India comes a close second at 1,198 million.      But China's strict family planning measures, especially the 'one family, one child' policy have yielded results and the rate of projected population growth between 2005 and 2010 is just 0.6%, while India grew at 1.4% in the same period. "India's population will grow for, say, another 25 years and then stabilise. We can see a decline in population after that while China had taken population control measures much ahead of us,'' said Dr D K Mangal, state coordinator of UNFPA.      Infant mortality deaths in India in the past five years were more than double as those in China and Brazil. While 85 males and 95 girls below five years of age died per a 1,000 births in India, in China 25 boys and 36 girls died, and in Brazil, 33 male children and 25 female children died in the same period, the report said.      India's fertility rate was 2.44% while China had a lower fertility rate of 1.77%. "The fertility rate also includes parameters like increase in awareness about family planning and reproductive health and literacy. Many poorer countries in African state have higher fertility rate and also higher infant mortality rate,'' Mangal said.      The per capita energy consumption of India is 510 kilogram while China's average energy consumption is 1,433 kilogram, the UNFPA report said.      India has 30% of its land area under urban cover while China has around 44%.      UNFPA officials said social and economic indicators provides a broad trend about the quality of life of people living in these countries and more importantly, the pattern of consumption.      "The western model of development of looking at the GDP as the only parameter for growth is going to damage the environment in a big way. We need alternative modes of development which are sustainable so that carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced.      Natural disasters like unprecedented floods and droughts are results of global warming and rise in temperature,'' said Vandana Krishna, secretary, department of child and family welfare.

India revs up global auto cos’ engine

After Suzuki & Honda, Hyundai Rides High On Desi Ops As Downturn Impacts Growth Pankaj Doval TNN  New Delhi: The midas touch of India is clearly visible on the financials of global auto majors. Just like Japanese auto majors Suzuki and Honda, which get a sizeable portion of their revenues, sales and profits from their Indian subsidiaries, Korean car giant Hyundai too is increasingly banking on its Indian operations for adding weight to its business as numbers stay uncertain in developed markets due to the recession.      Hyundai, which started operations a decade ago and now enjoys a strong presence in India, said the country is playing a pivotal role in the company's global operations and is expected to contribute more to profits than even from China.      H W Park, the new MD & CEO of Hyundai India, said the Indian subsidiary contributes between 15% and 20% to Hyundai's global turnover. Asked about the profit, he refused to quantify, but said it is expected to be higher than China next year. The Indian subsidiary had been making profits for many years.      Park said unlike China, India has a unique position in Hyundai's operations as factories here not only service the domestic market but also cater to overseas markets in Europe.      "While China only sells domestic, India is used both for domestic and export markets.'' Higher profits, however, could be justified considering that the companies have to operate through a joint venture in China, while in India, solo operations are allowed which mean full repatriation of profits to the parent.      Hyundai, which is currently the second-biggest car maker in India behind Maruti Suzuki, has an annual production capacity of around 6 lakh units, half of which is used to service export markets. The company has earmarked India as one of the hubs for manufacture of compact models like i10, i20 and the Santro and sells the India-made cars to over 100 countries.      While developed markets in Europe and the US remain under pressure, operations in India have been growing. The company's cumulative sales in January-October 2009 period have grown by 12% year-onyear at 4.57 lakh units (4.07 lakh) with domestic sales up 11% at 2.39 lakh units and exports up 13% at 2.17 lakh units.      Hyundai is not the only company to benefit from a strong presence in India.      Suzuki trebled its full-year global net income forecast on the back of strong Indian operations, despite sluggish sales overseas. While home market Japan as well as European countries contracted for Suzuki, India remained the only market to grow, with first half sales here moving up by 24% at 4.7 lakh units against 3.8 lakh units in the corresponding period.      Honda is another company that is reaping benefits of an early entry into India. The company has been gaining due to its strong presence in the two-wheeler market. Its twin two-wheeler joint venture—Hero Honda and fully-owned Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI)—are expected to contribute as much as 40% to global motorcycle production and also a sizeable portion of profits and revenues.  Golden Goose  Indian subsidiary contributes between 15% and 20% to Hyundai's global turnover and profit is expected to be higher than China next year  Suzuki trebled full-year global net income forecast on back of strong Indian operations, despite sluggish sales overseas. India remained the only market to grow  Honda's JV Hero Honda and own operations HMSI are expected to contribute 40% of its global production

Indo-US ties: A 26-Point Agenda

Tarun Das, former chief mentor of The Confederation Of Indian Industry (CII), suggests a charter of action on the eve of PM Manmohan Singh's visit to the US Over five decades of distance and mistrust have been gradually replaced by an evolving friendship and partnership, cooperation and collaboration between India and the US. There is still much distance to travel because mutual suspicions still remain in different corners of the bilateral relationship. The visit of PM Manmohan Singh to the US could be the right time to move ahead, together. Here's an A to Z roadmap for going forward      Aviation: Going beyond the few direct, non-stop flights connecting India and the US, there should be 20 non-stop flights daily connecting cities on both sides.     Business:The target for this,taking trade and investment, should be $100 billion (to move forward to $200 billion). We should have a bilateral investment treaty and an online portal for small enterprises on both sides to connect. The US-India CEO Forum must make these happen.      Climate: There should be collaboration in energy and environment beyond where it is today. A private sector-led Indo-US Climate Change Centre would make sense, adding to the Green Business Centre (GBC) in Hyderabad which focuses on Indo-US cooperation in energy efficiency. C is also for capital markets, for cooperation in financial regulation, corporate governance, insider trading issues, etc.      Defence: A beginning has been made but progress is slow because of concerns and insecurities. This cooperation is critical for international security and must go beyond expanding dialogue, defence purchase by India, joint exercises and a somewhat flexible offset policy against US defence sales to India.      Education: The 100,000 plus Indian students in the US could be raised by 50%. Indian investment in top American universities is desirable. American institutions also need to open in India. There should be cooperation in disabilities training, vocational education, curriculum flexibility and student-level exchanges.      Food: With 60% of India in the villages, the Green Revolution with US partnership in the 60s needs revisiting. This time, the focus should be on R&D, technology, productions, storage, warehousing, distribution, nutrition and high value agriculture. An industry-led Indo-US Institute of Agribusiness Management and Technology makes sense.      Going Green: Green factories, green homes, green schools, green buildings — all of these should drive our environment agenda. The Indian Green Building Council and the US Green Building Council partnership is the foundation for this.     Healthcare: This is beyond medical tourism. India's challenges to provide quality healthcare to a billion-plus means upgrading hospital standards, expanding training,developing R&D,NGO collaboration, all of which represent a massive joint agenda for strong mutual benefits.      Infrastructure: With India set to spend $500 billion on building infrastructure like roads, ports, railway, airports, etc, US participation through investments, sale of equipment, consultancy, and training, is crucial. A joint group on infrastructure needs to go beyond the macro and work on the micro and implement projects.      Judiciary: The American judicial experience, technology and systems would help immensely to clear the backlog of cases and usher in best practices.      Knowledge: This includes technology transfer, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, innovation, nanotechnology, standards, all of which result in deep exchanges and mutual development at lower costs.      Leadership: Partnerships such as the one between Aspen Institute, the US and Aspen Institute, India, should be replicated to help build value-based young leaders using a unique methodology and encompassing all segments of society.      Media: And, of course, entertainment. The film industries of the two countries are the biggest in the world and cooperation is just about beginning. The potential here is huge.      Nuclear: The civil nuclear agreement dominated the bilateral landscape for over three years. It' s now time to implement and establish, jointly, nuclear power plants that will promote clear energy. 0  mnipatient: Or to endure all things,  including listening to each other and not to lecture each other. It will be a new experience for both Indians and Americans. To be patient. To try to understand. To learn to trust.      People: People-to-people links have happened long before the two governments developed links or did business. It needs to be expanded. India centres in American cities are required.      Quest: For R&D, space exploration, underwater exploration, ocean development technology, weather forecasting and much more that need to be central to the bilateral agenda.      Reforms: Both nations need these to happen, in a calibrated way and through consultation and collaboration. It should happen across economy and society. Two open democracies can support each other in minimising mistakes and help make the future more stable.      Security: It's an essential cooperation to deal with terrorism. It involves sharing intelligence and technology, training and equipment.      Training: Good training of both young and the old would empower people of the both countries. It's an enormous area of potential partnership.      United Nations: History shows years of differences between India and the US at UN. It's time now to bridge the gap and help frame consensus on global issues. US support for India for a permanent seat on the UNSC would help move the process.      Visas:Actually,it's more than just visas; it's about freer travel both ways, especially since more and more Americans are relocating to India for work. The vision should be to converge on systems and standards and aim to reach a visa-free regime.      Water: The key to security of people, especially the poor, is access to safe drinking water. In the US, even tap water is safe to drink. Indians must have the same facility and the US can assist.      Xenogogue: This means guide. The two countries must evolve their strategic partnership to a level w here, mutually, the role of guide is performed by each for the other.      Youth: That's the future. The next generation. To harness the young Indians' network and build connectivity with US counterparts and chart out future.      Zenith: Or the peak. President Obama and PM Manmohan Singh can take the Indo-US relationship to a new peak. This is the real possibility.  The A to Z is just a broad framework. The nitty-gritty has to be filled in. That's the task before us.

INDIAis an engine of global growth by virtue of its large population

INDIAis an engine of global growth by virtue of its large population, capabilities and the enormous opportunities it offers, and the world should work towards ensuring the country's growth, said PepsiCo chairperson and chief executive Indra Nooyi in New Delhi on Sunday.      "India is a major player on the world stage and will continue to be so in the next few decades," Ms Nooyi said at the ongoing India Economic Summit.      She also said it was important that the US economy recovered from the current economic crisis and regained its status of the world's growth centre as it is the world's largest consuming country. The US is one of the most resilient countries and it will figure out a way out of this downturn, she said.      "It is in everyone's interest to see that the US continues to be a centre of growth and that the downturn is short-lived," she said.      She said her company was ready for any kind of eventuality, whether its a sharp growth or downturn.      Other honchos also spoke about the resilience of the Indian economy and how the country is emerging as a powerful brand. William D Green, chairman and CEO of Accenture (USA), said India has the opportunity to become a high performance nation.      Summit co-chair and Bharat Forge MD Baba Kalyani said India's growth rate would be 6-7% this year and perhaps reach double digits in the near future. He added that energy, infrastructure, social issues, health and education will be the sectors to focus on. FINGERS CROSSED: Nooyi

INDIANS TOP GLOBAL CONFIDENCE CHARTS

INDIA ROCKS THE WORLD GLOBAL consumer confidence is rebounding, and in the US has risen for the first time since 2007, amid signs the world economy is picking up although spending is still restrained, a survey showed on Wednesday.      Confidence was highest in India, followed by Indonesia and Norway, and was weakest in Japan, Latvia, Portugal and South Korea, although in Korea it had improved markedly, according to a quarterly survey by The Nielsen Company, conducted between September 28 and October 16. "Consumer confidence is rising faster in BRIC countries than other markets, driven by increasing job prospects," Oliver Rust, managing director of Nielsen Hong Kong, said.      In the United States and Europe, high unemployment continued to discourage spending on big-ticket items although confidence had improved as the worst appeared to be over for those economies, New York-based Nielsen said. US confidence rises post-2007  IN THE United States — the world's biggest consumer market — consumer sentiment rose from three months ago for the first time since early 2007. The data contrasts with a Conference Board index of US consumer confidence, released on Tuesday, which showed a sharp deterioration in confidence this month. The US reading in The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence survey at 84 was up 4 points from a similar survey in July but just below the global average reading of 86 and well below India's score of 120 and Indonesia on 115.      "While consumer confidence in the United States edged up 4 index points, that hasn't translated into spending confidence for the vast majority of American consumers," said James Russo, vice-president, global consumer insights at The Nielsen Company. "Clearly, this recovery will be manifested in measured and restrained spending as consumers work to repair their balance sheets." A reading above 100 is considered optimistic. The global average was up four points from a similar survey in July.      Japan and Spain were the only markets in the latest survey to register a decline in confidence from July. Japan's score dropped by 2 points while the reading for Spain — which the IMF has predicted will be the only Eurozone economy to contract in 2010 — fell 4 points to 74. Hong Kong, which pulled out of recession in the second quarter, marked the biggest increase in confidence as its score jumped 14 points from the July survey to 93. — Reuters

India will continue to be a magnet for investments

BofA-ML COUNTRY CHIEF SPEAKS ON REGULATIONS, INDIA INC'S RACE FOR GLOBAL ASSETS     KEVAN Watts, who heads the combined operations of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in the country, says India is a very attractive investment destination from a global perspective. In an interview with ET NOW's senior editor Andy Mukherjee, Mr Watts discusses India's prudent regulatory approach to capital flows and the need for growth with greater income equality. Mr Watts is confident that Indian companies will once again get into the race for buying overseas assets. Excerpts:  You're very bullish on capital flows into India. Why?  There are three reasons. The fundamentals are so positive for India — the demographics, the rate of growth that the economy has been able to sustain over the past decade. Secondly, Indians are sometimes their biggest critics. They are always ready to say what isn't working. But a lot of things are working a lot better.  Such as?  If I look just at my own experience, the Worli sea bridge gets me to airport much faster; it gets me to Bandra-Kurla a lot faster. Sitting at the airport in Mumbai at 4.00 am, waiting for that early morning flight, is a much better experience now than it was five years ago. Thirdly, what's happening in the rest of the world is also very important. And that's probably another reason why I'm in India. The rest of the world, particularly the West, is facing quite a challenging adjustment. We had economies very dependent on consumption, on borrowings. We have to sort out those balance sheets. By comparison, in the global marketplace, India is looking very attractive. India will continue to be a magnet for investments, bearing in mind that you don't want to go overboard in attracting foreign capital. The economy's ability to absorb those funds is a factor.  We don't want too many bubbles.  In fact, you don't want any bubbles; but you can't achieve that. That's too optimistic. But you do need to look at not only attracting foreign capital, but how that capital is put to use. Is it put to use to build the real economy, or is it put to use purely speculatively? You can never entirely separate the two ends of the spectrum.  You talked of a difficult adjustment period for the West. Do you believe the centre of economic activity is gradually shifting eastward to Asia?  No question. There will be inflexion points in that process. The financial crisis that we've lived through — the crisis that my own company Merrill Lynch became a casualty of (I'm not sure being owned by Bank of America is a bad thing, frankly) — is very material to the shift of economic and financial influence. Technology plays an important role in this shift. One of the things that I'm interested in personally is how this wealth that's created by this process gets shared across Asian societies. We really need to work hard to create economic structures that improve people's livelihoods in villages. That's where, I think, technology has an important contribution to make. For example, by bringing local firms like Bharti and ICICI Bank together, you can see the possibility of offering a different kind of service in rural India without building a lot of hard infrastructure.  I can't almost believe my ears. A career investment banker is talking about financial inclusion. That's something new. The world is changing around us, it seems.  I suppose all professions are caricatured. Although financial services and investment banking produce bad outcomes, they produce a lot of good outcomes as well. There has been a lot of focus on the negative aspects of my profession in the past 18 months for understandable reasons,  but I certainly would not believe it justifiable to regard all  investment bankers as participating in the worst excesses.  What are your clients telling you? Have the bruises of the credit crunch healed?  They're healing. Companies are regaining a sense of confidence in the financial system. We're further along than that in India. India has not quite been affected to the same extent as Western economies. Overall, Indian companies are definitely optimistic and looking to the future. Many companies we deal with that are focused on the infrastructure needs in India have very ambitious plans to build very physical things, and a lot of capital has gone into those companies. Their real focus is on execution now — getting it done. We had a period of Indian companies buying companies and assets abroad at the end of the last cycle. That will come back. Whenever you have cataclysmic changes in market levels, M&A activity declines: Buyers and sellers need to get confident again about the price. That takes time.

INDIA GROWTH :MF industry assets touch Rs 7.5L crore

Mumbai/Chennai: The mutual fund (MF) industry has shown a 42% growth in average assets under management (AUM) in the last one year, while in August it grew by about 8% to its highest ever AUM level of Rs 7.5 lakh crore. While industry players admitted that most of the growth came from strong inflows in debt, liquid and money market schemes, 12 of the 35 fund houses saw their AUM grow by over 50% since September 2008—more than the industry average—data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.      One of the discernible traits among a host of fund houses that showed strong growth was either a complete change in management, coming on board of a new partner or some major changes at the top over the last two years.      Among the top 10 fund houses by percentage growth over the last one year, IDFC MF and Religare MF saw complete change of management, Baroda Pioneer MF saw a new partner—Pioneer—coming on board, while Taurus MF, DBS Chola MF and Birla Sun Life MF saw new teams at the top. The exceptions were Kotak MF, HDFC MF and UTI MF—all of which showed over 65% growth based on their own inherent strengths.      Speaking to TOI, Naval Bir Kumar, MD, IDFC MF said the fund house tried to analyse how the growth came and found three main factors that helped it grow since a change of management in June 2008. "The IDFC brand name generated trust among investors. Secondly, the strong focus on our limited number of schemes and their consistent performance even during trying times a few months ago helped us retain our investors,'' Kumar said. "IDFC MF's strong asset quality, including its FMPs, also helped it grow,'' Kumar added. For Birla Sun Life MF, the 67% growth in average AUM since September 2008 came after a new management led by Ajay Srinivasan took over at the helm of affairs for all of Aditya Birla group's financial services business about two years ago.      Religare MF on the other hand took over the assets of Lotus MF in November 2008 when it was facing huge assetliability mismatch and redemption pressure in its FMPs.

INDIA INC GETS OFF TO A FLYING START IN Q1

THREE CHEERS: 850 COS NET UP 13% 

With 4 out of 5 firms in black & quite a few posting astounding nos., the earnings picture looks promising for rest of the year 

INDIA Inc has begun the new financial year on a pleasant note, with four out of five companies making profits in the first quarter. Analysts see better earnings for the rest of the year on falling cost of operations. 
An ETIG study of 850 listed companies saw their net profits rising 13% over the year-ago period after three dismal quarters, helped by falling raw material costs, lower cost of borrowing and modest growth in wage bills. The study did not include banks and public sector oil companies as their fortunes are directly linked to government policies. 
Among the 22 Nifty companies that have declared quarterly results Nifty is the benchmark stock market index that comprises 50 firms the earnings story is even more gripping. These firms together reported a 25% increase in standalone net profit for the quarter over the year-ago period after witnessing modest earnings growth ranging between 3% and 8% in the previous four quarters. 
Some companies that announced spectacular results include cement maker ACC, which posted 85% higher net profit, Mahindra & Mahindra (151%), Grasim (61%), Dr Reddys (120%) and Hero Honda (83%). 
This could set the tone for better earnings in the coming months, with companies and analysts seeing lower cost of operations going forward. We can expect continued increase in profits as companies are unlikely to see input costs going up in the near term, said DR Dogra, deputy managing director of credit rating agency CARE. 
The bottomline performance was boosted by lower raw material costs, which declined 3% for the first time in the past four quarters.

 

WATER WAY

THE MUCH AWAITED BANDRA WORLI SEA LINK PROJECT HAS TRIUMPHED DESPITE FACING MANY HURDLES. THE SEA LINK WILL BE OPENED TO PUBLIC TODAY, REPORTS RAHUL KHILNANI

    Mahim Causeway was the only link connecting the island to the western suburbs till date. It is estimated that almost 1, 40,000 vehicles use this route every single day during peak hours, crossing over 23 signals to reach Worli, causing incessant traffic jams. This, however, is all set to change as the much awaited Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) will open to public today.
    This link aims at alleviation of traffic congestion in Mahim-Dadar-Worli areas besides providing relief at Mahim Causeway.
    The construction of this link, which was conceived in the Wilbur Smith study in 1962 and subsequently recommended
by traffic studies carried out by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, forms the first phase of the Western Freeway extending from Bandra to Nariman point. The project was finally implemented by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
    BWSL begins at the Mahim Interchange and joins the Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan road. The link connects Bandra to Worli sea face by a 4 km long bridge in the sea and an approach road about 1.6 km long on the Bandra side. The bridge includes two cable stayed bridges of lengths 500 m at Bandra with its pylons rising to a height of 128 m above sea level and a 350 m bridge on the Worli side.
    Apart from this the link also boasts of a modern toll plaza of 16 lanes.
    This colossal project costs around Rs 1,634 crores and aims to save fuel to the tune of Rs 260 crore annually.
SALIENT FEATURES
First such sea link in India First Cable Stayed Bridge of 500 mtr length in India 5.6 km long bridge Four lanes on each side Modern toll plaza Separate lane for BEST buses in each direction Height of the main pylon is 130 mtr, which is equivalent to a 60 storied building Weight of the bridge is equivalent to 50,000 African elephants, each weighing at least 5 tones each. 20,00,000 cement bags were used for this bridge The total length of the bridge is approximately equivalent to the circumference of Earth, around 40,000 km 35,000 M tonnes of steel was used in the project It is noted as one of the miracles out of ten by American Journal Business Week The bridge will be extended from Worli to Haji Ali and then to Nariman point. Constructed by contractor M/s Hindustan Construction Co for MSRDC The Hercules, one of the largest water cranes in the world, was used during the final phase of this project.

We have worked on the sea link in such a way that it will be benificial to one an all even in the future
- Er T Raman Executive Engineer, MSRDC

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