Maruti Kizashi gets 400 bookings in first month

Maruti Suzuki's entry into the luxury sedan segment, aptly named ‘Kizashi' (‘omen' in English), may turn out to be a good sign indicative of the small car major's future in the premium segment.

Going by the first response from car buyers, the sports sedan seems to have generated good demand in only a month of launch. The Kizashi has already recorded around 400 bookings and now carries a waiting period of up to three months. Deliveries are to start on March 10.

“We've seen a good surge in demand for the Kizashi and are very happy. Though deliveries will only start by the middle of this month, we have already received about 400 pre-bookings,” said the Maruti Suzuki Chairman, Mr R.C. Bhargava.

The Kizashi's early popularity contrasts with the Suzuki Grand Vitara, a petrol-powered sports utility vehicle (SUV) that hardly created a stir in the diesel-dominated UV market on single-digit monthly sales. Interestingly, both the sedan and the SUV share the same 2.4 litre petrol powerplant.

NO PRODUCTION CONSTRAINT

The New Delhi-based car market leader is now set to order the second shipment of around 350 units for the Kizashi from parent Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. The sedan is manufactured in Sagara, Japan, and imported into India as a completely built unit.

“There's no production constraint, so we can order as many units form Japan as there is demand for the Kizashi. Our first lot of 350 units arrived in January-February and the second lot is likely to be ordered this month,” said Mr Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing), Maruti Suzuki.

He added, “Our initial order book could grow even further as we make cars available for display at the showrooms. There has been a lot of demand for test drives, but we have very few units available, which should change soon.”

Launched on February 2 with a price of Rs 16.5 lakh (manual) and Rs 17.5 lakh (automatic), the Kizashi is pitted against the petrol sedans in the A4 (Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla) and A5 (Honda Accord, Toyota Camry) segments in terms of both features and price. While the Honda Civic sells around 300 units a month, the Accord does sales of close to 200 units.

Though the A4 and A5 segments only have a 3.5 per cent share of the total passenger car market, combined sales in the two segments have grown about 23 per cent this fiscal with the A5 segment itself registering around 48 per cent higher sales.

According to industry experts, with luxury car sales growing on buyers getting richer, Maruti's huge customer base and brand goodwill is likely to push its growth in the premium segment as well. An added benefit is a huge servicing network, which will push sales in smaller towns where many have the resources but, hitherto, no access to luxury products

Tata Motors expects 50 pc jump in LCV sales

Tata Motors Wednesday said it is expecting over 50 per cent jump in the sale of its Ace family light commercial vehicles (LCV) in the current fiscal, on account of robust demand. This translates into upto 2.5 lakh units for sale. 

"Last year, we sold about 1.6 lakh unit of our Ace family. This fiscal we are targeting upto 2.5 lakh unit, including exports," Tata Motors Head (Sales Commercial Vehicles) Sandeep Kumar told reporters here. Tata Motors will launch two light commercial vehicles - Venture and Iris - early next year. 

The Ace family comprises light commercial vehicles Magic, Winger and Ace. These are manufactured at the Panth Nagar facility. The company launched a new variant of its Winger, priced between Rs 6.98 lakh- Rs 7.35 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Airlines should maintain transparency in fares: Regulator

The aviation sector regulator has asked domestic airlines to maintain transparency in publishing fares across various categories.


'In order to maintain transparency in tariff publication, all the scheduled domestic airlines have been directed to furnish a copy of the route-wise tariff across their network in various fare categories, in the manner it is offered in the market, to Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the first day of every calendar month,' said a statement from the regulator.

The watchdog said that it had received 'reports of scheduled domestic airlines charging excessively high tariff for various flights across their network during the high demand period, causing lot of inconvenience to the travelling public and drawing adverse comments on air fares'.

Airlines would also be required to publish air fares on their websites or in newspapers.

'Any significant and noticeable change in the established tariff so filed with DGCA shall be reported to DGCA within 24 hours of effecting such changes,' the statement added.

Sensex sinks over 600 points on Korean hostilities, recovers

A benchmark index of Indian equities market slipped further into the red Tuesday, falling over 600 points in afternoon trade, as Asian markets were jittery on reports of North and South Korean soldiers exchanging fire.The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,841.42 points, fell 614 points or 3.08 percent to 19,342.69 points, from its previous close of 19,957.59 points.

The index, however, recovered in about 20 minutes, to rule 460 points lower at 19,497.17 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty had also slipped 3.07 percent at 5,824.95 points.

Broader markets indices were in the red too, with the BSE madcap index ruling 2.32 percent lower while the BSE smallcap index moved down 2.98 percent.

All of the sectoral indices were in the negative. Realty, consumer durables and metal stocks were among the major losers.

South and North Korea exchanged artillery fire Tuesday soon after dozens of shells fired from the North struck a South Korean island near the countries' disputed western sea border.

The South Korean won tanked over four percent against the US dollar, indicating significant uneasiness in financial markets

Mobile telecom profits may dip due to stringent norms: COAI

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Wednesday indicated that profits of mobile telecom industry may shrink further on account of strict subscriber verification norms and levy of charges on erection of cell towers by the state governments. Lack of infrastructure facilities in rural areas coupled with stringent norms of customer verification before providing services is a deterrent for mobile penetration in most parts of the country, COIA Director-General Rajan S. Mathews said.

Operators spend crores of rupees on customer verification process. Right now, activating one customer includes a minimum expense of Rs 600-700. Also, the state governments have started levying taxes on cell tower.

In Delhi, till recently they (state government) were charging 50,000 per tower. It has now further been enhanced to Rs 5 lakh. These are going to kill our profitability, Mathews said.

Some telecom operators are already incurring losses and the situation may further deteriorate with the new development, he said. "Net margins are currently at 8-10 per cent. This may drop by two-three per cent. Some operators are already in negative," Matthews said.

With the exception of a few companies, most of the operators reported dip in the net in Q2 this fiscal when compared to last year. Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's largest mobile-phone operator, reported a 27 per cent dip in net profit to Rs 1,660-crore in the second quarter earnings.

Similarly, Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd's net profit of Rs 97 crore for the second quarter showed a decline of nine percent, compared to the Rs 107.9 crore net profit it earned in the corresponding period last year.

Last month, the dot draft norms, circulated in consultation with the Home Ministry, had asked all mobile operators to re-verify the documents of over 70 crore mobile connections in the country.

Recently, Mumbai police revealed that 60 pc of prepaid SIM cards were procured using fake documents in the city. The COAI has suggested to the government that the Unique Identification card should be set as bench mark for the customer verification.

"Government is trying to see what they can do. DOT and UID authority may coordinate in this regard for optimising the verification," Mathews said.

According to the data supplied by COAI, Rs 1,50,000 crore investments have been made into the industry so far, with a subscriber base of 700-million. India is one of the lowest-tariff countries. According to analysts, customer acquisition costs, due to Mobile Number Portability that is set to roll out in Haryana from November 25, are likely to rise as the acquiring operator (recipient) is unlikely to collect fees from the customer.

Edelweiss, a leading brokerage house, said (the recipient) will have to scrutinise the application and conduct the verification process at its own cost.

(Manorama)

Gold, Silver hit all time highs on global cues

Surpassing earlier records gold prices touched a new peak at the bullion market here today on frantic buying by stockists and speculators on the back of bullish trend in overseas market. 

The white metal, silver, also continued its record breaking spree on the fourth consecutive day, touching another milestone of Rs 43,000-mark due to highly speculative buying amidst continued industrial support. 

Standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) soared by Rs 270 per 10 grams to end at Rs 20,505 from overnight closing level of Rs 20,235. 

Pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) hardened by Rs 275 per 10 grams to finish at Rs 20,610, as against Rs 20,335 previously. 

Silver ready (.999 fineness) rose by Rs 230 per kg to conclude at Rs 42,955 from Tuesday's closing level of Rs 42,725. 

In New York, gold for December delivery jumped USD 19.80 to USD 1,377.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX yesterday. 

Silver for December delivery gained by 11 cents to USD 27.57 an ounce.

Fidelity Mutual Fund today announced the launch of Fidelity Short Term Income Fund, an open ended income scheme that aims to generate reasonable returns primarily through investments in fixed income securities and money market instruments. The NFO for the fund will be open from 19  - 30 November 2010. Shriram Ramanathan is the fund manager of the Fidelity Short Term Income Fund. The Scheme is benchmarked to the Crisil Short Term Bond Fund Index.

Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Country Head - India, Fidelity Investment Managers, said: "At a time when investors have turned risk averse with hardening interest rates and increasing equity market volatility, we believe that Fidelity Short Term Income Fund could provide reasonable returns even over shorter periods of time. The Fund presents a key building block for the asset allocation plans of retail and high net-worth investors and is in line with our overall objective of helping investors in reaching their financial goals. With this launch, we hope to reach out to a wide section of investors with an investment option that will leverage our expertise in bottom-up credit research to provide better post-tax returns over other interest bearing instruments including deposits."

Shriram Ramanathan, the fund manager for the Fidelity Short Term Income Fund, said: "In the current environment where short term yields have moved up significantly, on a risk-adjusted basis, short term income funds provide a good opportunity for investors to benefit from the higher yields, yet keeping interest rate risk at an acceptably low level. Fidelity Short Term Income Fund with its freshly constructed portfolio of short term instruments with attractive yields and sound credit quality (with thoroughly researched constituents) makes even more investing sense in such a scenario. The Fund has been assigned the Credit Risk Rating by ICRA."

The rating for the Fidelity Short Term Income Fund indicates that the underlying portfolio has the lowest credit risk and the highest degree of safety from credit losses.

The Fidelity Short Term Income Fund will offer Growth and Dividend options. The minimum initial investment is Rs. 5000. The Fund has an exit load of 0.50%, which will be applicable for redemptions within 6 months from the date of purchase or allotment on a first-in-first-out basis.

Investors can invest in the Fidelity Short Term Income Fund even through the SIP route with a minimum amount of Rs. 500 per installment with the total of all installments not being less than Rs. 5000/- In addition, the systematic transfer and withdrawal plans are available in the Fund.

FIL Fund Management Private Limited (FFMPL), Fidelity Investment Managers' Indian asset management company started operations in the country in 2004. Today, with total assets under management of over Rs.8900 crores (AUM as on 29 October 2010) and more than 17 lakh customer accounts, FFMPL is among the fastest growing new asset management companies in India. In addition to offices in 16 cities, it has a significant web presence, which helps investors across India access Fidelity's funds. 

Further, most of its funds are listed on the NSE's Mutual Fund Service System (MFSS) and the BSE's StAR MF Platform, reaching out to investors in over 1500 cities and towns. Fidelity today offers Indian investors a comprehensive range of well-differentiated investment options through its seven equity funds and six fixed income / hybrid funds. For more information, please visit www.fidelity.co.in.

Fidelity Investment Managers is one of the world's leading global investment management companies with operations in 23 countries and more than US$ 231 billion in assets under management (as at 30 September 2010). It provides mutual funds, retirement services, including defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, and specialist institutional mandates to individual and institutional investors outside the Americas. Fidelity Investment Managers' US affiliate, Fidelity Management and Research LLC (FMR) is one of the US' largest mutual fund companies and manages over US$ 1.4 trillion (as at 31 August 2010) in assets.

Fidelity Investment Managers has constant access to the investment analysis carried out by FMR and Pyramis. Central to Fidelity's success is a pioneering spirit, a commitment to innovation that sets new industry standards and an unmatched investment in research, talent, technology and investor education.

(sify)

Stock open higher on drop in jobless claims

Stocks rose in early trading Wednesday after a batch of economic reports offered some hope that the U.S. economy was improving.

The government said first-time claims for unemployment fell 34,000 to 407,000 in the week ending Nov. 20. That was much better than the 435,000 new claims analysts had expected.

A separate report showed that Americans' incomes rose 0.5 percent last month, slightly better than expected. Their spending rose 0.4 percent, up slightly from September.

On the down side, orders for durable goods dropped 3.3 percent. Economists expected no change. Two more reports are due out later on new home sales and consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90, or 0.82 percent, to 11,126, in morning trading.

The Standard&Poor's 500 index gained 9.8, or 0.83 percent, to 1,190. The Nasdaq composite index rose 30, or 1.22 percent, to 2,525.

European stock markets are mostly higher. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks the shares of blue-chip companies in countries that use the euro, rose 0.6 percent.

In corporate news, the world's largest maker of farm equipment reported earnings that beat estimates. Deere&Co. posted a $457.2 million profit in the quarter ending Oct. 31, compared with a loss a year earlier. Tiffany&Co. also reported a rise in profit, fueled by strong sales of jewelry in the U.S. and overseas.

Stocks fell Tuesday after a skirmish between North and South Korea drove investors into Treasurys, gold and other assets considered safe. The Federal Reserve also lowered its forecast for growth through next year.

Stock and bond markets will be closed Thursday for the holiday and stocks will reopen for short sessions on Friday.

MOIL IPO price band fixed at Rs 340-375

The Empowered Group of Minisiters (EGoM) has fixed MOIL (Manganese Ore India) IPO price band at Rs 340-375, reports CNBC-TV18's Aakansha Sethi.

The IPO (initial public offering) will open for subscription from November 26. The company will raise Rs 1238 crore from the primary markets.

The government will offload 20% stake in MOIL, in which Central Government will offload 10% stake and Madhya Pradesh Government will to offload 5% and Maharashtra Government to will offload 5% stake. Retail investors, employees will get 5% discount.

Here is a verbatim transcript of Aakansha Sethi's comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

The price band set is along expected lines although some people were expecting a little bit higher. So possibly on the lower side. But that has been a government strategy to encourage response from retail investors to price it right.

The government is divesting about 20% in this company, 10% from the central government, 5% from the Madhya Pradesh government and 5% from the Maharashtra government. The issue is expected to get the government Rs 1238 crore.

It is a smaller issue as compared to the earlier Coal India issue but nonetheless it is an important one because this is a zero debt company. It has plans of diversification into wind energy as well. It is the only company of its kind in Manganese mining in India.

On government plans to increase participation:

As per government policy throughout all the disinvestment issues this year, we have seen that the government has given a 5% discount to retail investors as well as to employee quota. That is going to continue with this issue as well. So retail investors can look forward to a 5% discount. This is the only IPO now this year, all the other divestment issues coming up will be FPOs, which will be an added incentive.

(MoneyControl)

30th India International Trade Fair to commence on Sunday in the capital

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma will inaugurate the 30th edition of India International Trade Fair (IITF) in the national capital on Sunday at the Pragati Maidan. 

This year at least 23 countries including China, Japan, Korea and several western and eastern countries will showcase their products in the fortnight long trade fair. 

This year the theme of this famous annual trade fair to be held between (November 14 to 27) is 'Clean and Energy Efficient Technology, Products and Services'. 

Entry to the fair will be open exclusively for Business and trade visitors during the first five days. However, the fair will be thrown open for general public from November 19. 

Japan and Uganda are participating for the first time. 

Indian business firms, states and public sector undertakings usually draw a huge crowd every year. But China is likely to emerge one of the major attractions due to cheap products at display. 

This year, Bollywood is coming in a big way, screening some hit films besides the fair would witness renowned artistes perform Gazals and Qawwali to entertain the visitors
.

Reliance Cap Q2 net dips 28% to Rs112 cr

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital on Saturday reported a 28% decline in net profit at Rs112 crore for the second quarter ended 30 September, mainly on account of loss from its general insurance business.

The total income of the company fell to Rs1,299.8 crore during the September quarter, from Rs1,466.4 crore in the year-ago period, a decline of 11%, Reliance Capital said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company attributed the decrease in total income and net profit to lower capital gains and loss from general insurance business.

Of the group companies, Reliance General Insurance (RGI) reported a loss of Rs28 crore in the September quarter on account of high claims from its health portfolio.

The company has narrowed the loss from Rs39 crore in the same quarter of FY10. “RGI has re-priced its health products and also significantly reduced its exposure to the unprofitable Group Mediclaim. This has enabled the company to reduce its losses in Q2 FY11,” the company said.

At the end of the September quarter, the net worth of the company stood at Rs7,963 crore ($2 billion).

The revenues from Reliance Capital Asset Under Management grew to Rs163 crore, from Rs149 crore.

However, revenue from the consumer finance segment of the non-banking financial company fell to Rs312 crore, from Rs345 crore in the year-ago period.

Tata Steel swings to profit, Q2 net at 2,000 crore

Tata Steel, the world's seventh largest steel company, posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,968 crore for the September quarter of FY11, defying street estimates. 

The company earns more than 70% from its European business, Corus, which it acquired in 2007 for $13 billion, and the remaining from India and other south-east Asian countries. Tata Steel's management attributed the improvement in earnings to a mix of volume and value growth and gains from part sale of its investment portfolio. Top company officials explained that while in India it sold more steel at lower prices, in Europe, it clocked lower volumes but at higher prices during the July to September period. Tata steel reported a consolidated loss of Rs 2,720 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal. 

The company's net sales grew 11% from Rs 25,276 crore to Rs 28,091 crore. Other income saw a significant increase to Rs 814 crore compared to Rs 18 crore in the September quarter of FY10. It divested its interest in Malaysia's Southern Steel for $72 million and sold some shares in a couple of Tata Group companies. 

In a parallel development, Tata Steel on Friday said that it plans to raise up to Rs 7,000 crore to knock off some debt—mainly taken to purchase Corus—on its books and to fund steel projects. The largest company within the Tata Group said it plans to spend Rs 15,000 crore this year. Though the company didn't reveal the exact financial instrument it would opt for, but added that it is looking at an equity offering, including shares, with differential voting—it may be recalled that group company Tata Motors was among the first to go for such an issue— global depository receipts, debentures and foreign currency bonds. The company's overall debt at the end of the September quarter was Rs 48,096 crore ($10.7 billion). Its debt-equity ratio is currently at 1.5: 1, and the company's intention is bring it to 1:1. During the first half of FY11, it repaid $600 million of debt. Raw material accounted for 36% of total expenditure, with iron ore being the most volatile. 

Tata Steel's MD HM Nerurkar said that the Indian steel market expects to see robust demand from construction, infrastructure and auto sectors in the coming quarters. To meet the higher demand, it is expanding its steel capacity by three million tonnes in Jamshedpur. 

With regard to its European operations, Tata Steel Europe's MD Karl-Ulrich Kohler said the demand outlook in Europe is uncertain and it would continue to focus on controlling costs. Tata Steel announced the financial results after the close of market hours
.

Obama gets 50,000 jobs; deals worth $10 billion signed

It will make headlines back home in the United States, and after his 'shellacking' in the mid-term polls, Barack Obama could certainly use some good press. And, India Inc seems to be buying into President Obama's 'win-win' mantra.  

Obama today announced that "several landmark" deals worth $10 billion (nearly Rs. 44,000 crore) have been reached between the two countries for creating about 50,000 jobs in the US.

"There is no reason why India cannot be our top trading partner (from 12th position now)... I'm absolutely sure that the relationship between India and the US is going to be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century," President Obama said addressing the US India Business Council meet. "Boeing is going to sell dozens of planes to India and GE is going to sell hundreds of electric engines. The deals are worth USD 10 billion and will create more than 50,000 jobs in the US," he said.
     
Just before the address at US-India Business Council (USIBC) in Mumbai, Reliance Power announced a power equipment deal for 2,400 MW plants from GE and low-cost carrier Spicejet announced a deal to buy 33 new-generation 737 aircrafts from Boeing.

Making his visit against the backdrop of electoral reverses on top of economic difficulties, including a high unemployment percentage, 9.6 percent in October. He talked of the perception elsewhere of India being a haven for call centres and American retail giants being feared in India as putting small Indian shopkeepers out of business, and said these are stereotypes and ignored realities.  

Obama said, "...there still exists a caricature of India as land of call centres and back offices that costs American jobs. That's a real perception. There are many Americans whose only experience with trade and globalisation has been shuttered factories or jobs being shift overseas." The US accounts for about 60 per cent of India's about $60 billion IT and IT-enabled services exports. But the reality, President Obama said, was that jobs were being created in both the countries and said India was emerging as one of the fastest markets in the world with one of the largest workforce.

"Increase in trade and commerce was a win-win proposition for both the nations," Obama said. The US President added, in 2010, trade and investment ties was not just a one-way street, it was a dynamic two-way relationship creating jobs and growth in both the countries.

India-US trade stood at US $36.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal and the two countries aim to double trade in the next five years. Describing India, which receives about 8 per cent of its total foreign direct investment from the US, as a defining and indispensable partner of the 21st century,  President Obama asked India to reduce trade barriers, while committing to reciprocate.

Tata Nano to cost Rs9,000 more from 1 November

Tata Motors today announced an average Rs9,000 increase in the prices of its small car Nano, covering all three variants, beginning 1 November 2010. The company said the increase has been necessitated by the steep increase in input costs over the past two years.
"The average increase is about Rs9,000 (ex-showrooms), with prices varying from city to city and model to model," the company said in a release.
Tata Motors has started open sale of the Tata Nano in Kerala (from August 2010) and Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (from October 2010).
The company has tied up customer financing with 39 banks, NBFC, cooperative and gramin banks for the Nano. Under these tie-ups, the Tata Nano can now be owned at an EMI of less than Rs3000, the company said in a release.


Tata Motors, which unveiled the `Nano' concept in January 2008, announced its commercial launch in March. The Tata Nano is BS-III compliant and comes with an all-new 2-cylinder aluminium MPFI 624 cc petrol engine mated to a four-speed gear box and will be available in three variants.


The Tata Nano is currently manufactured at the company's new dedicated plant, at Sanand in Gujarat. The Sanad facility will produce 350,000 cars at full capacity.


The Nano offers a spacious interior for a small car and can comfortably seat four adults. With a length of just 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, the Tata Nano has the smallest exterior footprint for a car in India but is 21 per cent more spacious than the smallest car available today.

The Nano is available in three variants  - Nano Standard (BSII and BSIII), which is available in three colour options, single-tone seats, and fold-down rear seat; Nano CX (BSII and BSIII), which has five colour options, with heating and air-conditioning (HVAC), two-tone seats, parcel shelf, booster-assisted brakes, fold-down rear seat with nap rest; and the Nano LX: (BSIII), with features of CX plus complete fabric seats, central locking,  front power windows, body coloured exteriors in three premium colours, fog lamps, electronic trip meter, cup holder in front console, mobile charger point, and rear spoiler. Many of these features are not available on current entry-level small cars in the country.

At Rs 16cr, costliest car of the world drives into India

It is the ultimate in exclusivity and holds an aspirational value, even for the growing list of billionaires in India. Bugatti Veyron, the fastest and perhaps the most expensive car in the world, debuted with a jaw-dropping ex-showroom price tag of Rs 16 crore, making India the only market globally to sell the world's cheapest (Nano) and the most expensive car. 

Bugatti drove in the Veyron's 'Grand Sport' model that boasts of a top speed of 407 kmph (bettered only by Veyron's other variant Super Sport that has clocked 431 kmph) and can race from 0-100 kmph in only 2.7 seconds. 

The model joins the list of crore-plus car brands to hit India as companies make a beeline to tap the rapidly expanding list of millionaires and billionaires. Others like Bentley, Maybach and Rolls Royce are already present in India, though the Bugatti's Rs 16 crore price tag dwarfs their range. "Bugatti is not a car, it is a piece of art. And to maintain the exclusivity and the enigma around our cars, we produce only limited numbers of a model," said Guy Caquelin, Bugatti's marketing manager for the Middle East, Europe and India.



Read more about Bugatti and See the gallery of Bugatti at http://masterspick.blogspot.com

Jet Airways registers a profit of Rs 1.24 cr in Q2

Emerging out of its losses, private-carrier Jet Airways today posted a net profit of Rs 1.24 crore in the second quarter, but the Naresh Goyal-led group, including the no-frill carriers, posted a loss of Rs 5 crore, which was much less than before. 

Riding high on the increasing passenger load factor, Jet group's total revenue rose by an impressive 31.2 per cent to over Rs 352 crore, with its international operations accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total earnings and domestic operations accounting for the rest. 

While the full-frill carrier alone reported after tax profit of Rs 1.24 crore, which was way above the net loss of over Rs 40 crore last fiscal, the post-tax losses of its no-frill carrier stood at Rs 5.75 crore compared with Rs 12.4 crore last year. 

The growth in capacity that Jet introduced in the market matched with its revenue earnings. While the average seat per kilometre grew by 22.6 per cent, the revenue per kilometre rose by 23.3 per cent, according to the Q2 results. 

Announcing the second quarter results, Jet CEO Nikos Kardassis said the company not only achieved the best on-time performance, but offered multiple products to suit the unique needs of customers. 

"Our ability to expand market share in a highly competitive market augurs well for the future, as it clearly reveals that Jet Airways is fast emerging as the airline of choice from and to the Indian subcontinent," he said. 

The Jet Group has maintained its leadership position in the Indian aviation industry, with the highest market share of 26.9 per cent for the quarter ending September, while its on time performance stood at 84 per cent for the quarter. 

"With the introduction of new service from Mumbai and Delhi to Colombo and Delhi to Milan by the year end, Jet Airways is set to further consolidate its dominant market leadership as the preferred airline," Kardassis announced. 

While Colombo flights would be launched on November 5, the operations to Milan would begin from December 5. 

Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 90 aircraft, which includes 10 Boeing 777-300 Extended Range planes, 12 Airbus A330-200s, 54 next generation Boeing 737-700/800/900s and 14 ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft. 

While international operations of Rs 186.8 crore accounted for 59.5 per cent of total revenues, the domestic operations worth Rs 127.18 crore accounted for 40.5 per cent. 

The buoyancy in Indian domestic travel market has been fuelled by a healthy GDP growth and increased business confidence, Kardassis pointed out.

ICICI Bank's UK, Canada subsidiaries witness flat growth

Private sector lender ICICI Bank has been witnessing a flat growth from its subsidiaries' operations in the UK and Canada and will be adopting a measured stance when it comes to expanding in these markets that are yet to come out of the global economic slowdown. 

"Our business has been flat from both the markets (Canada and the United Kingdom)," the bank's Chief Executive, Chanda Kochhar, told reporters on a conference call after the announcement of the bank's Q2 results. 

The bank has earned profits of USD 8.5-million and USD 7.5-million from the Canadian and UK subsidiaries respectively, she said. 

In the backdrop of the weak recovery, the bank will be going slow on investments in the markets and also with disbursing advances, Kochhar added. 

Commenting on other subsidiaries, the bank said that its life insurance vehicle ICICI Life maintained its position as the largest private sector life insurer with a 10.9 per cent increase in new business premium to Rs 1,344-crore in the July-September reporting quarter.

BHEL Q2 net up 33% to Rs 1,142 cr

State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) today registered a 33 per cent growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,142.28 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, over the same period last year. 

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 857.88 crore in the July-September quarter last fiscal, BHEL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

Net sales of the Bangalore-based firm rose to Rs 8,328.41 crore from Rs 6,625.21 crore in the same quarter a year ago, it added. 

Shares of BHEL were trading at Rs 2,475 per piece on the BSE , up 0.95 per cent from the previous close.

Reliance Industries Gains, Hindalco Falls; India's Sensex Index Fluctuates

India’s benchmark stock index fluctuated. Reliance Industries Ltd. rose while Hindalco Industries Ltd. fell.

Reliance Industries, the nation’s most valuable company, gained the most in a week. Hindalco, the biggest aluminum producer, dropped for the second day as raw material prices declined.Housing Development Finance Corp., a mortgage lender, lost 1.6 percent ahead of a Nov. 2 Reserve Bank of India monetary policy decision that may increase borrowing costs.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, fell 16.34, or 0.1 percent to 19,924.70 at 12:09 p.m. in Mumbai after swinging between gains and losses at least eight times. The measure, which has lost 1.2 percent this week, is set for its first monthly decline in five.

“The mood is cautious ahead of the next week’s monetary policy” meeting said D.K. Aggarwal, who manages about $100 million as chairman of SMC Wealth Management Services Ltd. in New Delhi.

The gauge has gained 24 percent from a May 25 low and is the best performer this year among the world’s 10 biggest stock markets. Foreign investment into local stocks has risen 70 percent this year, making the Sensex the most valuable benchmark in Asia. On Oct. 14 the index was 19 points short of the record closing high of 20,873.33 and has declined since then.

The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange retreated 0.1 percent to 5,979.35. The BSE 200 Index declined 0.2 percent to 2,534.59.

Reliance gained 1.4 percent to 1,096.85 rupees, the biggest advance since Oct. 21. NTPC Ltd., the biggest power producer, added 1.7 percent to 197.25 rupees.

Hindalco lost 1.1 percent to 214 rupees. Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., the No. 1 copper and zinc producer, decreased 1 percent to 168.75 rupees. Tata Steel Ltd., the biggest producer of the alloy, retreated 1.5 percent to 594.7 rupees.

Copper declined as much as 1.2 percent on the London Metal Exchange on concern that a recent rally in prices slowed purchases in China, the world’s largest consumer. Aluminum in London fell 1 percent.

Tata Motors Ltd., the biggest truckmaker, dropped 2.9 percent to 1158.6 rupees after Chief Financial Officer C. Ramakrishnan said profit margins “will be under pressure” as costs are building up. He was speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18 today.

Housing Development fell 1.6 percent to 681.35 rupees.

The Reserve Bank of India will raise its two main interest rates by a quarter percentage point each, according to most economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Borrowing costs have been increased five times this year to cool inflation.

Overseas investors were net buyers of Indian equities for a 41st day on Oct. 27, the longest streak on record, according to the nation’s market regulator.

Global funds bought a net 977 million rupees ($22 million) of shares, extending this year’s record inflows to 1.135 trillion rupees, the Securities & Exchange Board of India said.

Central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao warned this week that near-zero interest rates in developed nations are fueling “speculative” capital flows into emerging markets, heightening the risk of asset bubbles.