SBI: profits and shares jump

May 18, 2012 1:12 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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As an investor, does a near 200-fold jump in net quarterly profit catch your eye? Because State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender by assets, reported just that on Friday, with quarterly profit rising to $739m from $3.8m in the same period last year. But then again… Continue reading »

Tags: banking, State Bank of India Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

RBI scurries to support rupee

May 17, 2012 11:41 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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After the Indian rupee took quite a battering on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports on Thursday that the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, is considering selling dollars directly to oil importers in exchange for bonds in a bid to provide some relief to Asia’s worst performing currency. Continue reading »

Tags: currencies Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

Indian rupee hit by global risk aversion

May 16, 2012 9:03 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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The Indian rupee weakened to a lifetime low of 54.46 to the dollar on Wednesday, with analysts blaming global risk aversion as much as weaknesses in the domestic economy for the currency’s downward spiral. Continue reading »

Tags: currencies, eurozone crisis, rupee Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

Bharti Airtel probed

May 15, 2012 3:12 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Shares of Bharti Airtel plunged as much as 5 per cent on Tuesday, when the law enforcement arm of the Indian finance ministry announced it was probing the largest local telecoms operator under the country’s money-laundering laws. Continue reading »

Tags: Bharti Airtel, India telecoms Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

India: prices up even as economy slows

May 14, 2012 8:57 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Any hopes for a sunny headline in the midst of India’s gloomy macroeconomic news were dashed on Monday with the publication of inflation figures showing a jump to 7.23 per cent in April from a year earlier, well above expectations and reversing the downward trend of recent months. Continue reading »

Tags: Indian economy, inflation Posted in Global, India | Permalink

India: better off but still suffering

May 1, 2012 4:23 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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India’s near double-digit growth in the boom years of the last decade has housed and fed millions. And yet…

The number of Indians who consider themselves as “suffering” is on the rise, from 7 per cent in 2008, to 24 per cent in 2011, to 31 per cent this year. What’s going on? Continue reading »

Tags: Brics, Gallup, happiness, Indian society, society Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

India cement: profits, investigations

April 25, 2012 3:30 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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India’s biggest cement companies have defied the gloom in the Indian economy and closed the last quarter on the up. In spite of high fuel prices, transportation costs, interest rates, and constricted demand from the infrastructure sector, the latest results show an average rise in net profit of 22 per cent compared with the same quarter last year for the three biggest players in the industry.

But with the impending conclusion of an investigation over collusion, the industry isn’t exactly celebrating. Continue reading »

Tags: cement, UltraTech Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

China to import rice from India

April 24, 2012 3:53 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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China shrugged off India’s successful launch of an intercontinental missile by reiterating cooperation with its neighbour to the west. True to its word, the world’s biggest producer of rice is now set to import the pride of Indian agriculture: long-grain or basmati rice. Continue reading »

Posted in Asia, China, India | Permalink

Tata Nano picks up some speed

April 24, 2012 9:36 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Tata’s plan to peddle the world’s cheapest car to emerging India backfired when it put too much emphasis on the cost savings and not enough on the (limited) sex appeal.

But despite all odds, there are some in India who are starting to see the attractions of Tata’s ugly duckling, the Nano. Continue reading »

Tags: vehicles Posted in India | Permalink

India: Android outpacing iPhone

April 23, 2012 9:47 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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As Apple wades through patent battles and criticism over working conditions in other parts of Asia, it faces a different kind of resistance in India: a consistently low customer base.

Rival Android-based phones and BlackBerrys overshadow Apple’s flat 2.4 per cent market share as they continue to be increasingly popular with the country’s youth and business markets. Continue reading »

Tags: Android, Apple, phonemakers, RIM, smartphones, telecoms Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

RIL: still big, but slowing

April 20, 2012 3:37 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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It’s shaping up to be a gloomy year for Reliance Industries (RIL), India’s biggest company by market capitalisation. After closing last calendar year with a worse-than-expected performance, the $47bn oil and gas conglomerate on Friday posted a second successive fall in net profits – this time of 21.2 per cent – to $813m, compared with the fourth quarter last year.

Squeezed refining margins and disappointing production from the natural gas fields in the Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast of India caused net quarterly profits to decline, while revenues rose 17 per cent to $16.8bn. Continue reading »

Tags: Reliance Industries Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

Accor eyes opportunities in India

April 5, 2012 3:00 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Accor, Europe’s biggest hotel chain by number of rooms, has joined the ranks of those looking east as a strategy for growth.

The group hopes to tap into the swelling number of business and leisure travelers to and within Asia – which after having hit 650m in 2011, is expected to account for 30 per cent of global traffic by 2014, according to aviation body IATA. Continue reading »

Tags: Accor, hotels, tourism Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

FII taxes in India: as clear as mud

March 30, 2012 2:41 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Pranab Mukherjee, Indian finance minister, announced on Friday that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will be examined for any tax liability, but that their individual non-resident clients will not be forced to pay up or reveal their identities.

The announcement failed to specify whether FIIs themselves – or their India-based brokers – would be pursued over their customers’ possible liabilities – leaving tax consultants still uncertain about Mukherjee’s intentions.

Even though India’s tax rules clearly need an overhaul, this week’s events will do little to improve the country’s reputation among international portfolio investors. Continue reading »

Tags: equities, foreign investment, tax Posted in India | Permalink

StanChart in India: not so hot

February 29, 2012 3:17 pm by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Few escaped the annus horribilis that 2011 was for Indian business, and Standard Chartered doesn’t seem to have made the exit.

Operating profit before tax for the region fell 33 per cent to $804m last year, the bank announced on Wednesday, even as the group’s profit grew 11 per cent on the back of strong performances in greater China and Asean countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Continue reading »

Tags: banking, Standard Chartered Posted in Global, India | Permalink

India’s tablet: reality bites

February 29, 2012 4:00 am by Kanupriya Kapoor

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Reaching for the Aakash (tablet) – which means ‘sky’ in Hindi – may prove to be just that, after a series of performance complaints and development hiccups have hit the Indian government’s pet project to develop the world’s cheapest tablet computer.

Test runs of the $49 device (Rs 2,414), which was launched with much fanfare last year, have revealed slow operating speeds, a short battery life, and a lack of relevant content for the target audience of students. Continue reading »

Tags: digital inclusion, internet, IT, technology Posted in Asia, India | Permalink

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