LIC HOUSING Finance has reported a net profit of Rs 234.2 crore for the quarter ended September 2010 — an increase of 37% over Rs 171 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Profits were driven by healthy growth in loan book, coupled with a leash on expenditure.
According to a statement issued by the company, loans disbursed during the quarter rose 36% to Rs 5,101 crore while sanctions jumped 43% to Rs 7,667 crore. Following the increase in interest income , net interest margins for the second quarter improved to 2.93% compared with 2.44% in the same period of the previous year.
Sequentially, there has been a slowdown in sanction growth. The first quarter of the current fiscal had seen home loans sanctions grow 51%. The company said it is yet to receive the proceeds of sale of shares of LIC Mutual Fund sold to Nomura Asset Management Strategic Investment.
LICHF is due to realise Rs 138.4 crore from the sale. The transaction is pending procedural requirements a statement said. Sources said the money was likely to come in during the second half of the current fiscal.
According to a report by Kotak Securities , strong retail demand for housing is the key growth driver for LIC Housing finance .
The company’s asset quality has also improved sequentially. The outstanding mortgage portfolio as on September 30, 2010, was Rs 43,385 crore against Rs 31,890 crore on September 30, 2009, thus registering a growth of 36%. Gross NPA of the company stood at 0.74% (Rs 319.59 crore) on September 30, 2010, against 1.28% (Rs 408.55 crore) in the September 2009 quarter. Net NPAs were 0.21% (Rs 90.16 crore) against 0.62% (Rs 198.25 crore) for the corresponding dates.
In a statement issued here on Thursday , LIC Housing Finance managing director RR Nair said: “The year continues to be good on all the operational matrices , and we are confident of maintaining the good performance.”
Friday, October 22, 2010
LIC crosses Rs 1,000 crore mark under new ULIP Plans
Country's largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), today said it has crossed the Rs 1,000 crore-mark from its two new unit-linked plans, which were launched after the latest guidelines of the sectoral regulator IRDA took effect last month.
"Life Insurance Corporation of India has crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark under the new ULIP plans, Pension Plus and Endowment Plus. The total premium income under these two plans as at October 18, 2010 was an awesome Rs 1,282 crore approximately," LIC said in a statement.
The new plans were introduced last month. Pension Plus was launched on September 2 and about Rs 150 crore of premium have been collected under it from more than 30,000 policies.
Endowment Plus plan was launched on September 20 and it was LIC's 16th linked product. Over Rs 1,000 crore has been garnered from Endowment Plus alone from over 2 lakh policies, in merely 29 days.
As per new guidelines, effective September 1, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the commission paid to distributors and expenses charged by insurers will no longer be front-loaded. Instead, they will be distributed over the lock-in period of the schemes, which has been raised to five years from three years earlier.
Currently, ULIP products account for over 50 per cent of the total premium collected by the life insurance companies.
(ET)
"Life Insurance Corporation of India has crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark under the new ULIP plans, Pension Plus and Endowment Plus. The total premium income under these two plans as at October 18, 2010 was an awesome Rs 1,282 crore approximately," LIC said in a statement.
The new plans were introduced last month. Pension Plus was launched on September 2 and about Rs 150 crore of premium have been collected under it from more than 30,000 policies.
Endowment Plus plan was launched on September 20 and it was LIC's 16th linked product. Over Rs 1,000 crore has been garnered from Endowment Plus alone from over 2 lakh policies, in merely 29 days.
As per new guidelines, effective September 1, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the commission paid to distributors and expenses charged by insurers will no longer be front-loaded. Instead, they will be distributed over the lock-in period of the schemes, which has been raised to five years from three years earlier.
Currently, ULIP products account for over 50 per cent of the total premium collected by the life insurance companies.
(ET)
Axis MF launches new exchange traded gold fund
Axis Mutual Fund today launched its new open-ended exchange traded fund, Axis Gold ETF, focused on gold-related investment and derivatives.
The fund will allocate a maximum of 100 per cent of its corpus for investment in gold, including derivatives. It might also invest up to 10 per cent of its corpus in money market instruments.
Market sources said Axis MF aims to mop up Rs 300 crore through the new fund offer (NFO), which closes on November 3.
The minimum investment in the Axis Gold ETF NFO is Rs 5,000, Axis MF said in a statement.
"Axis Gold ETF will give investors an opportunity to participate in gold as an asset class. Investors prefer gold in their portfolio as it acts as a shield in times of market turmoil," Axis AMC Managing Director & CEO Rajiv Anand said.
The scheme will be benchmarked against the domestic price of gold. The ETFs will be listed on the National Stock Exchange.
Following its listing, Axis Gold ETF will be the seventh listed gold ETF on the Indian bourses. The total assets under management (AUM) of the six fund houses that had listed gold ETFs on domestic exchanges as of September 30 was over Rs 3,000 crore.
"Performance of gold has been good in the last six years. ETF investment would provide investors liquidity as they can trade in the instrument," Anand said.
The fund will allocate a maximum of 100 per cent of its corpus for investment in gold, including derivatives. It might also invest up to 10 per cent of its corpus in money market instruments.
Market sources said Axis MF aims to mop up Rs 300 crore through the new fund offer (NFO), which closes on November 3.
The minimum investment in the Axis Gold ETF NFO is Rs 5,000, Axis MF said in a statement.
"Axis Gold ETF will give investors an opportunity to participate in gold as an asset class. Investors prefer gold in their portfolio as it acts as a shield in times of market turmoil," Axis AMC Managing Director & CEO Rajiv Anand said.
The scheme will be benchmarked against the domestic price of gold. The ETFs will be listed on the National Stock Exchange.
Following its listing, Axis Gold ETF will be the seventh listed gold ETF on the Indian bourses. The total assets under management (AUM) of the six fund houses that had listed gold ETFs on domestic exchanges as of September 30 was over Rs 3,000 crore.
"Performance of gold has been good in the last six years. ETF investment would provide investors liquidity as they can trade in the instrument," Anand said.
Nifty lackluster; Wipro, Sesa Goa, Axis Bank down
Benchmarks were witnessing a sluggish session due to lack of buying activity after a sharp rise a day ago. Subdued opening of European markets also kept the markets under check.
At 1 pm, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 6097.60, down 3.95 points or 0.06 per cent. The index touched a high of 6121.10 and low of 6079.70.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 20228.66, down 31.92 points or 0.16 per cent. The index touched a high of 20351.74 and low of 20222.97.
BSE Midcap Index inched 0.32 per cent higher and BSE Smallcap Index climbed 0.51 per cent.
Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE IT Index gained 1.17 per cent and BSE Oil&gas Index advanced 0.40 per cent. BSE Realty Index fell 1.10 per cent and BSE FMCG Index declined 0.94 per cent.
TCS (5.29%), Siemens (3.32%), Power Grid (1.23%),Ranbaxy Laboratories (1.01%) and Reliance Communications (1.01%) were the top Nifty gainers.
TCS beat market expectations by reporting quarterly revenues of $2 billion for the first time, widening its lead over sector rival Infosys and also narrowing the historic margin gap. Net profit rose 32% to Rs 2,169 crore for the July-September quarter, and operating margins improved to 28% — the best TCS has managed over the past few years.
Wipro (-5.03%), Sesa Goa (-2.80%), Axis Bank (-2.24%), DLF (-1.98%) and HCL Tech (-1.88%) resisted the upmove.
Meanwhile, Wipro, India's third largest software services firm, missed forecasts with a 10 per cent rise in second-quarter profit as higher salaries and currency volatility hit margins, but the company said strong outsourcing demand would boost IT revenue.
The company forecast IT services revenue of $1.32 billion to $1.34 billion for the third quarter ending in December, up 3.5 to 5.5 per cent from the second quarter. On average, analysts had expected the firm to forecast a four to five per cent increase in IT services revenue.
Market breadth was positive on the NSE with 1717 advances against 1540 declines.
European markets were witnessing some profit booking. FTSE 100 was down 0.27 per cent, CAC 40 slipped 0.37 per cent and DAX declined 0.18 per cent.
At 1 pm, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 6097.60, down 3.95 points or 0.06 per cent. The index touched a high of 6121.10 and low of 6079.70.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 20228.66, down 31.92 points or 0.16 per cent. The index touched a high of 20351.74 and low of 20222.97.
BSE Midcap Index inched 0.32 per cent higher and BSE Smallcap Index climbed 0.51 per cent.
Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE IT Index gained 1.17 per cent and BSE Oil&gas Index advanced 0.40 per cent. BSE Realty Index fell 1.10 per cent and BSE FMCG Index declined 0.94 per cent.
TCS (5.29%), Siemens (3.32%), Power Grid (1.23%),Ranbaxy Laboratories (1.01%) and Reliance Communications (1.01%) were the top Nifty gainers.
TCS beat market expectations by reporting quarterly revenues of $2 billion for the first time, widening its lead over sector rival Infosys and also narrowing the historic margin gap. Net profit rose 32% to Rs 2,169 crore for the July-September quarter, and operating margins improved to 28% — the best TCS has managed over the past few years.
Wipro (-5.03%), Sesa Goa (-2.80%), Axis Bank (-2.24%), DLF (-1.98%) and HCL Tech (-1.88%) resisted the upmove.
Meanwhile, Wipro, India's third largest software services firm, missed forecasts with a 10 per cent rise in second-quarter profit as higher salaries and currency volatility hit margins, but the company said strong outsourcing demand would boost IT revenue.
The company forecast IT services revenue of $1.32 billion to $1.34 billion for the third quarter ending in December, up 3.5 to 5.5 per cent from the second quarter. On average, analysts had expected the firm to forecast a four to five per cent increase in IT services revenue.
Market breadth was positive on the NSE with 1717 advances against 1540 declines.
European markets were witnessing some profit booking. FTSE 100 was down 0.27 per cent, CAC 40 slipped 0.37 per cent and DAX declined 0.18 per cent.
Wipro Sept qtr profit up 9.75% to Rs 1285 cr
Bangalore headquartered IT service provider, Wipro Ltd, posted a 9.75 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1284.9 crore in the second quarter ending September 30 as compared to Rs 1170.7 crore reported in the corresponding period last year.
Net income from sales rose to Rs 7730.5 crore in this period, up 12 per cent over the same period last year.
Operating profit of the company witnessed a growth of 6.8 per cent to Rs 1356.4 crore as compared to Rs 1269.8 crore reported last year.
The IT services business, which contributed 74 per cent of the total revenue during the second quarter, added 29 new clients, the company release said.
“We saw strong momentum in demand as customers tried to catch up with the under-investment in IT in the previous years. We continue to enhance our investments in transformational capabilities, client partners and domain solutions,” Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro said.
While the macro-economic environment continues to remain uncertain, there is higher degree of confidence at the micro level, he added.
Coal India IPO subscribed 15.28 times
The initial public offer (IPO) of India's largest coal producing company Coal India (CIL) has seen huge response from investors and has received bids for more than USD 53 billion worth of equity shares as against issue size of USD 3.5 billion on last day.
The issue has been subscribed more than 15.28 times, including major contribution from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) followed by non-institutional investors (NIIs) and retail investors.
For the reserved portion of QIBs (which closed on Wednesday and was subscribed 24.7 times), foreign institutional investors put in bids for USD 27.5 billion worth of equity shares followed by domestic financial institutions and mutual funds with USD 10 billion and USD 1.4 billion, respectively. (USD 1 = Rs 44)
The reserved portion of non-institutional investors was subscribed 25.4 times and retail 2.31 times while employees' portion was subscribed just 0.1 times.
Institutional investors have gone all out for Coal India with the IPO getting highest-ever demand received by an Indian issue. QIB generated demand for CIL was at Rs 1,73,398 crore with 100% margin while Rs 1,88,923 crore with 10% margin in case of Reliance Power IPO, which launched in 2008. In case of Reliance Power, QIBs' portion had subscribed 30.68 times.
A price band of the issue is at Rs 225-245 a share. Prasad Baji of Edelweiss Securities said that the market needs to treat CIL as an utility play. According to him, CIL’s fair value is at Rs 316 per share as coal prices are unlikely to come down in India. "Our assessment of fair value is Rs 316 based on a DCF valuation. Even on EV/EBITDA basis we are getting at Rs 300 price so there is some amount left on the table in this issue," he said.
However, Paresh Jain of Angel Broking differs. According to Jain, CIL’s fair value is at Rs 294 per share, which is based on the DCF valuation methodology. "We feel that the downside from the issue price is capped. There are no anchor investors in this particular issue. Most of the long only issue funds that need a good chunk of the stock would have to come and purchase it from the open market. That would give a boost to your stock price. I would advice investors to hold on to the stock because clearly our country is deficit in coal. Going forward as you see the washeries coming in, you will see earnings growth much faster 2013 onwards," he reasoned.
It would be the largest ever IPO by an Indian company. All issue proceeds will be received by the selling shareholder (GoI), which stake will be 89.99% post the issue. The offer shall constitute 10% of the post offer paid-up equity share capital of company.
However, Baji says, 26% mining profit share is a key risk, not just for Coal India but for the entire mining space. "In case of Coal India, there are certain mitigating factors. They spend 4% of their revenues on social activity. There is some case here that the management has been speaking to set it off against any kind of distribution of profits." he explained.
Book running lead mangers to the issue are Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, Deutsche Equities (India) Private Limited, DSP Merrill Lynch Limited, ENAM Securities Private Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited and Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited.
The issue has been subscribed more than 15.28 times, including major contribution from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) followed by non-institutional investors (NIIs) and retail investors.
For the reserved portion of QIBs (which closed on Wednesday and was subscribed 24.7 times), foreign institutional investors put in bids for USD 27.5 billion worth of equity shares followed by domestic financial institutions and mutual funds with USD 10 billion and USD 1.4 billion, respectively. (USD 1 = Rs 44)
The reserved portion of non-institutional investors was subscribed 25.4 times and retail 2.31 times while employees' portion was subscribed just 0.1 times.
Institutional investors have gone all out for Coal India with the IPO getting highest-ever demand received by an Indian issue. QIB generated demand for CIL was at Rs 1,73,398 crore with 100% margin while Rs 1,88,923 crore with 10% margin in case of Reliance Power IPO, which launched in 2008. In case of Reliance Power, QIBs' portion had subscribed 30.68 times.
A price band of the issue is at Rs 225-245 a share. Prasad Baji of Edelweiss Securities said that the market needs to treat CIL as an utility play. According to him, CIL’s fair value is at Rs 316 per share as coal prices are unlikely to come down in India. "Our assessment of fair value is Rs 316 based on a DCF valuation. Even on EV/EBITDA basis we are getting at Rs 300 price so there is some amount left on the table in this issue," he said.
However, Paresh Jain of Angel Broking differs. According to Jain, CIL’s fair value is at Rs 294 per share, which is based on the DCF valuation methodology. "We feel that the downside from the issue price is capped. There are no anchor investors in this particular issue. Most of the long only issue funds that need a good chunk of the stock would have to come and purchase it from the open market. That would give a boost to your stock price. I would advice investors to hold on to the stock because clearly our country is deficit in coal. Going forward as you see the washeries coming in, you will see earnings growth much faster 2013 onwards," he reasoned.
It would be the largest ever IPO by an Indian company. All issue proceeds will be received by the selling shareholder (GoI), which stake will be 89.99% post the issue. The offer shall constitute 10% of the post offer paid-up equity share capital of company.
However, Baji says, 26% mining profit share is a key risk, not just for Coal India but for the entire mining space. "In case of Coal India, there are certain mitigating factors. They spend 4% of their revenues on social activity. There is some case here that the management has been speaking to set it off against any kind of distribution of profits." he explained.
Book running lead mangers to the issue are Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, Deutsche Equities (India) Private Limited, DSP Merrill Lynch Limited, ENAM Securities Private Limited, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited and Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited.
Wipro consolidated Q2 net up 9.75% y-o-y
Wipro today reported 9.75% growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 12,849 million for the second quarter ended September 30.The company had a net profit of Rs 11,707 million in the September quarter of the previous fiscal (2009-10), Wipro said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The total income has increased from Rs 70,349 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009 to Rs 78,727 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2010, representing a rise of 12%.
Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, commenting on the results said, ``We saw strong momentum in demand as customers tried to catch up w ith the under-investment in IT in the previous y ears. We continue to enhance our investments in Transformational Capabilities, Client Partners and Domain Solutions. While the macro-economic environment continues to remain uncertain, there is higher degree of confidence at the micro level. For the quarter ended December 31, 2010, we expect Revenues from our IT Services business to be in the range of $1,317 million to $1,34 3 million, a sequential increase of 3.5% to 5.5%.``Suresh Senapaty, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer of Wipro, said, ``We saw a strong volume growth of 6.6% driven by higher offshore mix. The Operating Margins for IT Services declined during the quarter due to the impact of employee progressions, Restricted Stock Units grants and lower foreign exchange realizations.``
Highlights:
> IT Services Revenues were Rs. 57.4 7 billion (USD 1.29 billion), representing an increase of 15% over the same period last year.
> IT Services Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) was Rs.12.75 billion (USD 286 million), representing an increase of 7% over the same period last y ear.
> IT Services recorded a 6.6% volume grow th in the quarter.
> IT Services added 29 new clients in the quarter.
Net addition of 2,975 employees in the current quarter in IT Services.
> IT Products recorded sequential grow th in Revenues of 29% in the current quarter.
> Consumer Care and Lighting Revenue grew 20% over the same period last year and EBIT grew 13%.
Shares of Wipro gained Rs 6.75, or 1.46%, to trade at Rs 469.75. The total volume of shares traded was 128,805 at the BSE (Thursday).
Infosys to invest $100 m in China operations
It bellwether Infosys is looking at investing around $100 million in its Chinese operations over a period of time and would strengthen the employee count there to 4,000 from the existing 2,850, said MD & CEO S Gopalakrishnan . The company is planning to offer midterm promotions to its around 12,000 employees this month. “Promotions and hikes will now be a part of our routine cycle. We had already given promotions in April. While attrition in the past two years had gone down to single digits, from last quarter to this quarter we have observed that it is down. We believe stability would happen next quarter,” he said. On UK’s move to scale down IT budgets, he said, “Globally, even though we have come out of recession, the growth is muted. Problems that were there on the business side have now moved to governments. So, governments are looking at austerity measures.”
Vodafone to spend $500 m on 3G equipment
Vodafone Essar will spend $400 million to $500 million on its third-generation services electronic equipment before they are launched in the first quarter of 2011, Marten Pieters, chief executive officer said. The company will fund it through bank loans and by issuing some new shares to its existing shareholders, Vodafone Group and Essar Group, Mr Pieters said on the sidelines of a company demonstration of the 3G services it will be launching.
In May, Vodafone Essar — India’s third-largest telecom operator by subscribers — paid Rs 11,618 crore for spectrum, or radio frequency, in nine services areas. The company paid such a high price because of an artificial scarcity of bandwidth, Mr Pieters said. Vodafone’s services will be launched in a phased manner. Beginning from metro areas Delhi and Mumbai, 3G services will be rolled out in all circles including Chennai, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East) and West Bengal, Sanjoy Mukerji, director (business operations) of Vodafone Essar said.
Mr Pieters said Vodafone is in talks with quality and long-term operators — including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular — to offer 3G services in areas where it does not have 3G airwaves. The end objective of these tie-ups will be to allow customers to seamlessly experience 3G across the country, irrespective of whether it is a Vodafone circle or another operator, Sunil Sood, the company’s other director of business operations said.
Mr Mukerji said 3G services would be competitively priced, adding that every bouquet of services would be priced differently according to use and location. For example, video calling may be priced higher in a remote location than in cities with adequate mobile access.
In an interview with ET, Vodafone Group’s chief executive Vittorio Colao had said: “I don’t think 3G services here will imply all you can use plans — these are being withdrawn from European and US markets. In India, the amount of frequencies are less and it is not compatible with such plans. Data will be segmented and the plans will be tailor-made for different segments of the population.”
Vodafone is likely to be one of the later private players to launch these services. Tata DoCoMo is expected to announce that it will begin offering its high-speed services from the first week of November. State-run telecoms are already providing 3G services in select circles.
In a highly-competitive Indian telecom market, 3G services are being considered the next revenue generator after regular value- added services. Consumers may take time to adopt data services that would be priced much higher than existing voice tariffs, which have recently seen radical reduction. “These (3G) services should push up average revenue per user,” said Mr Mukerji without detailing the potential increase. Vodafone expects 10% of 2G network users in India to switch or upgrade to 3G in a year, depending on the proliferation of 3G enabled handsets, he said.
In India, data users make up less than 10% of the company’s existing consumer base and are expected to increase as 3G usage will be an upgrade from voice calls and not in its place. Only 2% of Vodafone’s global 3G consumer base uses video calling, a trend that may find only lower numbers in India.
Last week, Vodafone Essar gave a three-year contract, estimated to be $500 million, to Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks to roll out 3G network. Vodafone owns 67% in Vodafone Essar. India’s Essar Group holds the rest and has an option sell its entire stake to Vodafone for $5 billion by May 2011.
(source - ET)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Sensex trades in narrow range; tech gains
The Sensex was trading at 20693, up 5 points and the Nifty was at 6234, up 0.95 points. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; were up 0.3-0.5%. The October futures were trading at 35 points premium.
Top gainers - Tata Steel was trading at Rs 654.90, up 2.64%; Wipro was at Rs 494.10, up 2.36%; Infosys was at Rs 3,192.55, up 1.31%; Jaiprakash Associates was at Rs 136.25, up 1.08%; Jindal Steel was at Rs 726.30, up 1.03%; Sesa Goa was at Rs 372.40, up 3.69% and Ambuja Cements was at Rs 145.20, up 1.36%.
Top losers - BPCL was trading at Rs 733.15, down 3.65%; L&T was at Rs 2,027.40, down 2.44%; Reliance Communications was at Rs 184.45, down 1.42%; NTPC was at Rs 205.25, down 1.35%; Reliance Power was at Rs 164.25, down 1.26%; Cipla was at Rs 336.30, down 0.94% and ONGC was at Rs 1,367.25, down 0.86%.
New Listings
Sea TV Network was trading at Rs 109.60, up 9.60% over issue price of Rs 100 a share.
Ashoka Buildcon was trading at Rs 347.40, up 7.22% ove IPO price of Rs 324 a share.
Bedmutha Industries was trading at at Rs 112.90, up 10.69% over issue price of Rs 102 a share.
In midcap space, United Bank, Rashtriya Chemical, Chambal Fertiliser, National Fertiliser and Allcargo Global were up 4.5-7.5% while Honeywell Automation, Apollo Hospital, IBN18 Broadcast, UTV Software and M&M Financial lost 2.5-4.7%.
In smallcap space, Cosmo Films, Sujana Metal, India Glycols, Gulf Oil Corp and Indian Hume Pipe rallied 6-13% while Subhkam Capital, Kanani Industries, Kajaria Ceramic, Supreme Petro and Gateway Distripark fell 3.6-5%.
About 1655 shares advanced while 1627 shares declined on BSE. Nearly 146 shares were unchanged
At 12:50 hours IST - the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading in a narrow range of 20650-20750, which was around its previous closing value. Technology (ahead of Infosys numbers on Friday), FMCG, select metal and auto companies' shares along with Reliance Industries, DLF, Tata Power and Dr Reddys Labs were quite supportive to the benchmarks.
However, consistent selling in capital goods, power, financial, telecom and PSU oil & gas companies' shares capped almost all gains.
Axis Bank Q2 net profit up 38% to over Rs 735 cr
Private sector lender Axis Bank today reported a growth of 38.28 per cent in its net profit at Rs 735.14 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.
It had a net profit of Rs 531.64 crore in the July-September quarter of the 2009-10 fiscal, Axis Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The bank reported total income of Rs 4,657.49 crore for Q2, 2010-11, up 18.63 per cent from Rs 3,925.94 crore in the year-ago period.
Axis Bank's revenue from treasury segment went up by 22.45 per cent to Rs 5,746.18 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as against Rs 4,692.74 crore in the same quarter of 2009-10.
Its revenue from the corporate or wholesale banking segment during the last quarter was Rs 2,722.44 crore, a growth of 37.42 per cent, over Rs 1,981.06 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal, Axis Bank said.
The lender's retail banking segment had a revenue of Rs 2,173.31 crore during Q2 -- a rise of 10.54 per cent over Rs 1,966.15 crore in the year-ago period.
It had a net profit of Rs 531.64 crore in the July-September quarter of the 2009-10 fiscal, Axis Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The bank reported total income of Rs 4,657.49 crore for Q2, 2010-11, up 18.63 per cent from Rs 3,925.94 crore in the year-ago period.
Axis Bank's revenue from treasury segment went up by 22.45 per cent to Rs 5,746.18 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as against Rs 4,692.74 crore in the same quarter of 2009-10.
Its revenue from the corporate or wholesale banking segment during the last quarter was Rs 2,722.44 crore, a growth of 37.42 per cent, over Rs 1,981.06 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal, Axis Bank said.
The lender's retail banking segment had a revenue of Rs 2,173.31 crore during Q2 -- a rise of 10.54 per cent over Rs 1,966.15 crore in the year-ago period.
Cadila launches Parkinson's generic drug in the US market
Drug firm Cadila Healthcare today said it has launched generic Pramipexole tablets, used for treating Parkinson's disease, in the American market.
The company's subsidiary Zydus Cadila has launched the Pramipexole tablets in the strengths of of 0.125 mg, 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg and 1.5 mg, Cadila Healthcare said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The sale of Pramipexole tablets in 2010 is estimated to be USD 632 million according to healthcare information solutions company NDC Health, Cadila said.
Pramipexole's patent, which has expired, was held by German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim.
Parkinson''s disease is a progressive disorder marked by muscle rigidity, weakness, shaking, tremor, and eventually difficulty in walking and talking.
Cadila has 56 approvals and has filed for 113 Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) before the US health regulator.
Shares of Cadila Healthcare were trading at Rs 695 on the BSE in the afternoon trade up 0.86 per cent from its previous close.
The company's subsidiary Zydus Cadila has launched the Pramipexole tablets in the strengths of of 0.125 mg, 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg and 1.5 mg, Cadila Healthcare said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The sale of Pramipexole tablets in 2010 is estimated to be USD 632 million according to healthcare information solutions company NDC Health, Cadila said.
Pramipexole's patent, which has expired, was held by German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim.
Parkinson''s disease is a progressive disorder marked by muscle rigidity, weakness, shaking, tremor, and eventually difficulty in walking and talking.
Cadila has 56 approvals and has filed for 113 Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) before the US health regulator.
Shares of Cadila Healthcare were trading at Rs 695 on the BSE in the afternoon trade up 0.86 per cent from its previous close.
Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson to supply 3G gear to Vodafone India unit
Vodafone Essar said on Wednesday Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson will supply 3G telecom equipment to the country's third-biggest mobile carrier as it rolls out the premium services.
Vodafone Essar, majority owned by Vodafone, did not disclose financial details of the deal, but said in a statement Nokia Siemens would be its equipment supplier for six telecoms zones, while Ericsson had been selected for three others, including the lucrative Mumbai and Delhi zones.
Vodafone Essar won 3G radio airwaves in an auction earlier this year in nine of India's 22 telecoms zones. The company said it would provide services including video telephony, mobile broadband, and mobile TV on the third-generation network.
Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Huawei last month won 3G gear deals from top Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel.
Last week, Bharti Airtel also named Ericsson and Huawei as its network partners for its Bangladesh mobile operations.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
US sues American Express, Master, Visa cards
incentives, and information to consumers to encourage the use of payment methods that are less costly.
The complaint accuses American Express, MasterCard and Visa of maintaining rules that prohibit merchants from encouraging consumers to use lower-cost payment methods when making purchases.
For example, the rules prohibit merchants from offering discounts or other incentives to consumers in order to encourage them to pay with credit cards that cost the merchant less to accept, it said.
"With on Tuesday's lawsuit we are sending a clear message: We will not tolerate anticompetitive practices," said Attorney General Eric Holder.
"We want to put more money in consumers' pockets, and by eliminating credit card companies' anticompetitive rules, we will accomplish that," he said.
The Department of Justice said, credit card acceptance costs US merchants approximately $35 billion each year.
Those costs are collected in the form of a "swipe fee" they pay every time a credit card is used.
American Express has the highest merchant fees of any credit card network.
Merchants pass on these billions of dollars in fees to all their consumers in the form of higher retail prices.
"By preventing merchants from rewarding consumers when they use less expensive credit cards to make a purchase, American Express, MasterCard and Visa have inhibited merchants' ability to reduce card acceptance costs, and therefore their retail prices to consumers," the Justice Department said in its statement.
The proposed settlement requires MasterCard and Visa to allow their merchants to offer consumers an immediate discount or rebate or a free or discounted product or service for using a particular credit card network, low-cost card within that network or other form of payment.
Reliance Life targets Rs 12k-cr premium in 5 years
Reliance Life Insurance , a part of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group , is targeting a new premium income of Rs 12,000 crore in five years, a top company official said.
"We are growing 20 per cent each year. We intend to earn a premium income of Rs 12,000 crore in five years time," president and executive director of Reliance Life, Malay Ghosh said.
Launching Reliance Life's maiden health insurance product in the city today, Ghosh said in the current fiscal, the target premium income is Rs 5,000 crore.
In FY10, the company earned a new premium of Rs 3,921 crore.
Ghosh said that from the health insurance product, the company is eyeing a premium of Rs 150 crore in the first year, which is likely to touch Rs 2,000 crore over the next five years.
Out of Rs 12,000 crore, life insurance premium would be around Rs 10,000 crore.
Referring to health insurance, Ghosh said that the maximum age which a person can take a cover was 75 years.
"As per wish of chairman Anil Ambani, we are thinking whether this can be made lifelong. We need to have the relevant data for that," he said.
"We are growing 20 per cent each year. We intend to earn a premium income of Rs 12,000 crore in five years time," president and executive director of Reliance Life, Malay Ghosh said.
Launching Reliance Life's maiden health insurance product in the city today, Ghosh said in the current fiscal, the target premium income is Rs 5,000 crore.
In FY10, the company earned a new premium of Rs 3,921 crore.
Ghosh said that from the health insurance product, the company is eyeing a premium of Rs 150 crore in the first year, which is likely to touch Rs 2,000 crore over the next five years.
Out of Rs 12,000 crore, life insurance premium would be around Rs 10,000 crore.
Referring to health insurance, Ghosh said that the maximum age which a person can take a cover was 75 years.
"As per wish of chairman Anil Ambani, we are thinking whether this can be made lifelong. We need to have the relevant data for that," he said.
Aegon Religare targeting Rs 500 crore premium in 2010-11
Adopting a multi-pronged strategy, Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company is targeting a total premium of Rs 500 crore this fiscal. The strategy encompasses raising capital, cutting costs, increasing the number of products, branches and agents, and expanding the online presence.
The company is also planning to rope in a bank as an investor so as to grow the business manifold, using the bancassurance model.
Aegon Religare is a three-way joint venture between the Netherlands-based Aegon (holding 26 per cent equity), and India's Religare Enterprises (44 per cent) and Bennett and Coleman (30 per cent).
Come December, the company plans to automate its underwriting process with a software acquired from a reinsurance company.
"The automation of policy underwriting process will start this December. This would result in cutting costs and speeding up the underwriting process," a company official told IANS.
According to him, the company's total expense will be around 15 per cent lower than what was budgeted through outsourcing activities- processing proposal forms, printing and dispatching of policies.
At a time when other players are closing down their branches and sending out people, Aegon Religare is doing the opposite.
"We have increased our network by 47 branches to 98 this year and plans to increase that number to 120 by the end of this fiscal. We will also be hiring around 600 persons this year," Chief Marketing Officer Yateesh Srivastava told IANS.
He said all the branches have a mandate to break even in three years time so that the company can achieve the same by 2016.
Aegon Religare will also be increasing its individual agency force by 8,000 to 20,000 by the end of this fiscal.
According to Srivastava, the individual agents bring in 40 per cent of the total business and rest is shared by corporate agents (35 per cent), direct sales force (20 per cent) and five per cent online sales.
On the product space, Aegon Religare has filed with the insurance regulator for approval a policy for children and a policy that guarantees the net asset value (NAV).
The company has also filed a single and regular premium unit linked insurance policy (ULIP) to be sold purely online.
Asked about the company's premium earning last month post the new ULIP regulations, Srivastava said: "We would have earned new business premium of around Rs 20 crore as against around Rs 33 crore earned in August."
"Before the new guidelines we had five ULIPs. The insurance regulator has approved only two ULIPs under the new rules," he said.
The absence of child and pension policies has hit the company to the tune of 30 per cent. "Around 10 per cent of our premium used to be from child policy and 20 per cent from pension policy," Srivastava said.
About the plans to bring in a bank as a shareholder, a company official told IANS: "We have done several things new and our costs are low. In order to take the business to the next level at low cost, a bank as one of the promoter will be ideal."
The Rs 820-crore company may get further capital infusions so as to take the total capital base to around Rs 1,000 crore by the end of this fiscal.
Sidbi lines up Rs 350 cr for Bandhan’s women
Small Industries Development Bank of India , or Sidbi, has extended a Rs 350-crore line of credit to Bandhan Financial Services to on-lend to poor women. Bandhan said it will use the fund to lend to 3.5 lakh new borrowers this fiscal. Sidbi has also committed to offer another `50 crore to Bandhan in the form of subscription to the latter’s proposed non-convertible debentures (NCD).
Bandhan, the country’s fourth-largest microfinance institution (MFI) by portfolio size, has received `150 crore from Sidbi earlier this week as part of the first tranche of the `350-crore credit facility. The MFI said it will draw the balance amount preferably in the fourth quarter of 2010-11.
Both Sidbi and Bandhan have confirmed the development. Sidbi is the lone institutional investor in the Kolkata-based MFI. This is the largest funding support from Sidbi to us, Bandhan founder chairman and managing director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told ET. In 2009 and 2008, Sidbi had lent `250 crore and `100 crore, respectively, to Bandhan.
Of late, the state-run development bank has stepped up its funding support to MFIs as part of its endeavour towards the country’s mirco-credit development.
Mr Ghosh said Sidbi has pegged the rate of interest for the loan at 10.5% a year, which is a very competitive rate in a rising interest rate market. The loan is offered for 3-5 years. In comparison, Sidbi had offered `250 crore to Bandhan in 2009 at 12% per year for five years. Sidbi chief general manager Ram Nath said Sidbi follows a rating based model to fix its lending rate.
Regarding the `50-crore NCD, the Bandhan chief said they will raise the refund once regulatory issues concerning the use of such instruments by an NBFC-turned MFI get resolved by the Reserve Bank of India . It is learnt that the banking regulator has in-principle allowed Bandhan to consider the resource as Tier-II capital.
Bandhan has 32-lakh borrowers at present and it plans to increase the tally to 40 lakh by March 2011. It has an outstanding exposure of `2,000 crore and it aims to grow it to `3,200 crore by the end of 2010-11.
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