SUPREME COURT DIRECTIONS...TO SEBI..SAHARA

Apex court raps SEBI for not taking action against Sahara group firms PTI

NEW DELHI, FEB 6:In fresh trouble to Sahara group, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India is free to freeze accounts and seize properties of group’s two companies for defying court orders by not refunding Rs 24,000 crore to investors. The apex court also pulled up SEBI for not taking action against the companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC) — according to its August 31, 2012 order, which had asked the market regulator to attach properties and freeze bank accounts of the companies.

The Supreme Court issued notice to the group to respond within four weeks why contempt action should not be initiated against the companies for not complying with its order. “What steps are you taking? You are not taking any action. The judgment tells you what to do but you are not doing it,” a Bench, comprisingJustices K.S. Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar, said. The market regulator submitted that it is taking action and issued notice to the companies and approached the civil court in Mumbai for freezing bank accounts. Not satisfied by its contention, the Bench said that issuing notice is not enough and that SEBI has to follow the apex court’s last year’s order. The Bench also made it clear that the proceedings pending before it on contempt plea against the companies would not come in the way of SEBI taking action against the group. The apex court had on August 31 last year directed the two companies to refund around Rs 24,000 crore to their investors within three months with 15 per cent interest per annum for raising the amount from its investors in violation of rules and regulations.

Sahara’s take The Sahara group, on the other hand, justified its stand on not refunding the amount and said that large portion of the amount has already been redeemed to investors before the judgment was delivered. Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the companies, said that nothing is due and it is difficult to deposit Rs 10,000 crore. The apex court was hearing market regulator SEBI’s contempt petition against SIREC and SHIC. Earlier, the Group had on December 5 got nine weeks’ time from the Supreme Court to pay back Rs 24,000 crore with 15 per cent interest to over three crore investors in its two companies, with an immediate upfront payment of Rs 5,120 crore. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir had ordered the Group to immediately hand over a demand draft for Rs 5,120 crore to SEBI and said the balance amount shall be deposited with the market regulator in two instalments to be cleared by early February. SIREC had collected Rs 19,400.87 crore on March 13, 2008 and SHICL had collected Rs 6,380.50 crore. But the total balance on August 31 is Rs 24,029.73 crore after premature redemption. The group might have to fork out around Rs 38,000 crore, which includes the principal amount of Rs 24,029.73 crore and interest of around Rs 14,000 crore.

Respite for investors The apex court had on August 31 last year directed Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation to refund around Rs 24,000 crore to their investors within three months with 15 per cent interest per annum. This was for raising the amount from investors in violation of rules and regulations. The Bench made it clear that if the companies fail to comply, SEBI could take recourse to all legal remedies, including attachment and sale of properties, freezing of bank accounts etc for realisations of the amounts.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/apex-court-raps-sebi-for-not-taking-action-against-sahara-group-firms/article4386214.ece?homepage=true

ZTE to shut R&D In India.....

5 FEB, 2013, 04.00AM IST, KALYAN PARBAT,ET BUREAU 

ZTE Corporation to shut R&D operations in India

KOLKATA: ZTE Corp, China's second biggest telecom equipment maker by revenue, is shutting down its R&D operations in India and sharply scaling down its services business in the country to optimise costs amid reduced gear sales, top executives aware of the development told ET.
The Chinese networks vendor, it is learnt, has quietly reduced a majority of its near-60 strong research staff and asked the few remaining team members, earlier on the company's rolls, to opt for contract service. The sharp reduction was effected after ZTE India recently merged its R&D set-up in Bangalore with its Indian Engineering & Service Centre (IESC), which offers engineering support services for multiple telecom projects.
But the impact on the company's services business is likely to be even more severe than R&D as contracts dry up amid reduced networks gear spending by mobile phone companies. Five senior executives in the rank of vice president to project director in the services and enterprise sales divisions have put in their papers last month. They include Dinesh Sharma and Shabbir Ahmed -- both key members of ZTE's team managing Bharti Airtel's LTE networks -- and Ashish Vaishya, a director and member of the services vertical managing BSNL's cell networks.
Rajneesh Sharma, who was one of the seniormost executives in charge of PSU and enterprise sales, has also quit last month, executives who declined to be named said. The latest to leave is Arvind Rangnekar, who was project director in the services division, they added. In a clear indication of the shape of things to come, ZTE has also asked about 100 of its 180-odd Chinese expats in its Indian arm to relocate to China and other global markets where the company has a presence. These expats were primarily involved in the engineering services and solutions business in India. "The move is aimed at cutting down ZTE India's expat-related outflows as part of a drastic cost-optimisation exercise," said an executive aware of matters.
ZTE India did not respond to ET's specific queries on the winding up of its R&D operations, the spate of top level exits or the mass relocation of expat Chinese executives. But executives familiar with the matter claim the latest developments have been triggered by an ongoing management rejig following the recent change in ZTE's India leadership team with ex-services business head Xu Dejun replacing Cui Liangjun as the new chief executive.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/zte-corporation-to-shut-rd-operations-in-india/articleshow/18342553.cms

FACE BOOK FACTS..

NEW DELHI, FEB 4: 

Social networking site Facebook on Monday turned nine. The social network started just as a college network, but today it is one of the most widespread networks with more than a billion active users worldwide.While the company has grown fast there are concerns with respect to future revenue earnings.Started by Mark Zuckerburg on February 4, 2004 with the help of his four friends -- Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin – in a dorm of Harvard University, it became a huge success among the students.Called thefacebook.com in its initial days, it got rechristened to just Facebook and Zuckerburg expanded the network to other universities in March 2004. In 2005, it started for High Schools and next year, it became open for all.The company became public in May 2012 with an initial offering of $100 billion through its listing on Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

ONGOING DEBATESThere have been ongoing debates about the future of Facebook; with the naysayers claiming that the platform's ride on the hype cycle is bound to slow down, as is the case with anything that rides on popularity. Some say, people will just get bored of the routine of sharing and liking.“You are nine today #Facebook, but you are yet to travel nineyears to turn from a juvenile to matured,” Shobhit Daga tweeted.However, industry commentators are bullish over the social networking sites future. “Nine years is a long time on the Internet. Facebook has not only survived that long, but also steadily grew. A company with rather humble beginnings outgrowing products created by the Yahoo! and Google, no less, means the company is doing something right,” Rizwan Memon wrote in techtree.com Headquartered in California, the company has recorded 618 million users daily on average, as of December 2012 and 680 million monthly active users on mobile products. In India, there are around 65 million active users from a total of 130 million Internet users and with its availability in 10 regional languages, the numbers are only growing.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/going-on-9-can-facebook-sustain-like/article4379211.ece

Rajasthan Royals faces Rs 100-cr ED penalty.....

Rajasthan Royals faces Rs 100-cr ED penalty for forex violations PTI

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, FEB 4: 

IPL team Rajasthan Royals faces a penalty of approximately Rs 100 crore from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged violation of forex laws. The move comes barely two months before the sixth edition of the high-profile league gets underway.

The agency, which issued the penalty notice after a two years of investigations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), has sent out three separate notices to the IPL franchise totalling to Rs 98.5 crore plus some other similar notices earlier, sources said.

While a Rs 50-crore penalty has been slapped on Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd (JIPL) and its directors, owners of Rajasthan Royals, Rs 34-crore notice for evasion of forex duties has been issued against EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius and its directors.

A fresh notice of Rs 14.5 crore has been issued against ND Investments, UK, and its directors.

To appeal

The franchise said it “intends to launch a full appeal” against the ED order.

“Rajasthan Royals has today received an order from the Enforcement Directorate in respect of alleged breaches of FEMA. We are discussing the contents of the order with our lawyers and intend to launch a full appeal against the order,” the franchise said in a statement.

“We will not be making any further statement on this matter at this time,” it added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/rajasthan-royals-faces-rs-100cr-ed-penalty-for-forex-violations/article4378283.ece?homepage=true

ROOT CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR HDIL?

What caused the flash crash at HDIL?

Mounting debt, slowing sales and rising inventory were at the heart of HDIL's woes

Raghavendra Kamath / Mumbai Feb 05, 2013, 00:33 IST

Mumbai-based property developer HDIL's stock, once the darling of investors, came crashing down last month. It lost nearly 40 per cent of its value from Rs 120.85 on January 21 to Rs 74.65 on January 24 as investors worried about the ability of the company to sort out its finances. The fall had the company’s vice-chairman & managing director, Sarang Wadhawan, burning up the phone lines as he tried to calm anxious investors by addressing their concerns. But the damage was done.

The immediate trigger for the fall was Wadhawan's decision to sell one per cent, or five million shares, of HDIL to raise Rs 57 crore in order to meet the payment obligations for land bought in south Mumbai in 2010. While on the face of it, it may seem like an innocuous move, there were plenty of other factors at work here.
Collateral damageFor one, why did the promoter have to sell shares for a paltry Rs 57 crore? Was the company facing a financial crunch? Then there was the larger issue of promoters pledging their shares.
The promoters have pledged almost 98 per cent of their shares to banks and financial institutions as collateral in exchange of loans or working capital, raising concern about the company’s high debt.
“If 10 to 20 per cent stake is pledged, it is normal, but when 98 per cent is pledged, it becomes a problem,” says AK Prabhakar, senior vice-president (equity research) at Anand Rathi Financial Services.
Investors, therefore, went into a tizzy with the likes of Citigroup and Credit Suisse off-loading major chunks of their shares.
Macquarie Equities Research, which hosted the conference call after the crash, says: "We hosted the management call where 140 clients dialed in to seek answers. While the management has tried to give a rational explanation, our interaction with investors reveals that they need more clarity before confidence is restored.”
What went wrong? The real estate sector has been struggling with uncomfortably high debts and slowing sales for some years now. Among large companies, the promoters of Parsvnath Developers have pledged over 93 per cent of their shares, while the promoters of Unitech have pledged 76.71 per cent as on December 2012. HDIL, analysts say, is facing its own peculiar problems: delay in getting cash from buyers, lower launches, delays in the MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Project) project and high debt. Payments from pre-sales are often delayed, which means the company is booking sales, but money isn't coming into its coffers. Mostly developers pre-sell property to fund projects and, therefore, any delay in payments hurts their cash-flows and forces them to borrow more. As a result, HDIL had Rs 868 crore debtors (mostly dues from customers) on inventories worth Rs 11,671 crore. For a company whose annual turnover was Rs 2006 crore in FY 2012, the amount of debtors and inventories is unusually high. It has a consolidated debt of around Rs 4,000 crore. Its cashflows was at Rs 814 crore in FY 2012, and it spent Rs 624 crore on interest payment and Rs 953 crore towards payment of long-term debt.

Sectoral woesAmong the bigger Mumbai realty companies, with the exception of Indiabulls Real Estate, HDIL's inventories and debtors is the highest. Indiabulls had a debtors of Rs 930 crore, inventories of Rs 5110 crore and net sales of Rs 1,391 crore in FY 2012. The country’s largest developer, DLF, had inventories worth Rs 16,175 crore and debtors of Rs 1,765 crore on total sales of Rs 9,629 crore in FY 2012.
Poor cash collection has been at the centre of HDIL's problems, says Param Desai, an analyst with Nirmal Bang Securities. He says even in selling land parcels (called FSI sales), the company faced the same problem as payments are linked to approvals. The company was selling land parcels in various parts of the city in the last two years to generate cash flows and reduce debt. But the delay in approvals by the municipal authorities and the overall slowdown in the market have crimped cash generation. HDIL was able to launch less than 1.8 million sq ft in Mumbai metropolitan region as against six to seven million sq ft in FY 2010 and FY 2011.
However, the company is hopeful that with the improvement in the approval process in Mumbai, its launches and receivables will improve. At the conference call, it had said that the recent launches at Kurla in Mumbai and Virar had seen 30 per cent sales. “Three of our projects are nearing completion which will get cash flows of Rs 250 crore,” Hari Prakash Pande, vice-president, finance, had said at the conference call.
However, that may not be enough to pull the company out of the abyss. Its main cash cow, the MIAL project, where it is rehabilitating slum dwellers and getting transferable development rights (TDR) has been stuck forever as the government is yet to come out with the eligibility criteria for the resettlement of slum dwellers and the slum dwellers have not shifted to the residential units allotted to them in lieu of their land. Companies get TDRs in lieu of rehabilitation and redevelopment of slums, which they are free to use for development or sell in the market. HDIL hopes to get additional 30-40 million sq ft of TDR from the project, say analysts. However, the size of the project may get curtailed and if that happens, it will hit the company's TDR generation, says international brokerage Nomura in a recent report.
There are headwinds on the revenue side too. TDR prices have fallen from over Rs 3,000 per sq ft in third quarter of FY 2011 to little above Rs 2,000 per sq ft as of third quarter of FY 2012.“Their balance sheet is leveraged and MIAL is a long gestation project which is squeezing the liquidity when pick up is not happening,” says Rikesh Parikh, vice-president, markets strategy and equities at Motilal Oswal Securities. “They have to monetize assets and show execution,” Parikh adds.
The company is working to reduce its debts by 15-20 per cent by March 2013, but its success hinges on its ability to improve cash collection from FSIs. “Net debt has only declined marginally over the last twelve months even though bulk of the monies on the FSI (floor space index) sale at Goregaon and Popular Car Bazaar has already been received,” says a November 12 report by Jefferies analyst Anand Agarwal.
The story is no different for its peers. For instance, DLF, has earned net cash flows of Rs 2,519 crore in FY 2012, but spent Rs 3,012 crore on interest payments and Rs 5,053 crore on long-term payments.
However, analysts are keenly awaiting the third quarter results to get a sense of where the company is headed. "In our view, visibility on how critical it is to do the land purchase during what seems to be a lean liquidity period for the company will be key in determining the outcome. Most of these details will probably be out only in the 3Q results," wrote JP Morgan analysts in a report last week.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/what-causedflash-crash-at-hdil/501062/

Indian pharma- HUGE OPPORTUNITY UNFOLDING...

US exports may drive top Indian pharma companies to grow 20% in 2013 PTI: MUMBAI, FEB 03 2013, 14:06 IST

Mumbai: Top Indian pharma players will continue to grow strongly at over 20 per cent in 2013, primarily led by exports to the US market, India Ratings said in its outlook for the sector.

"We believe that top players of the sector will continue to grow strongly in 2013 (over 20 per cent per annum), primarily led by exports. "Of the export markets, Indian pharma will focus on the US market which presents significant opportunities for the next two years for generics, due to patent cliffs and recent changes in healthcare policies," said the India Ratings report on outlook for Indian pharmaceuticals for 2013. Patent expiry opportunities, coupled with efforts to contain healthcare spends, are likely to drive the generic market in developed countries. Affordability and availability will make a case for generics usage in the branded generic developing markets.

As per IMS Health, global generic spending is expected to increase to USD 430 billion by 2016 from USD 242 billion in 2011.

India Ratings said R&D spends may continue to increase in 2013 as well as Indian players have started targeting complex chemistry products. R&D spends have increased over the last few years as pharma players have built robust portfolios of products approved by USFDA. Most companies also have a strong pipeline of products awaiting approval, it said. Robust new product pipelines may bear fruit in 2013 on commercialisation. Incremental capex requirements, however, are likely to remain modest in the year as many companies benefit from existing infrastructure which would be sufficient for expected increase in operations, according to the agency.

Observing that the growth drivers for domestic pharma market would remain intact, India Ratings said the decision of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) 2011 to increase the number of drugs under price control will not have any major impact on the sector's profitability. The pharma industry has also performed well on exports front, too, with exports having been increased from Rs 386 billion in 2008 to Rs 775 billion in 2012. A rise in demand for generics in developed markets will be led by patent expiries and an expansion of generics usage due to efforts taken to control healthcare costs by governments, according to the report. Rising income levels and increasing access to healthcare facilities will continue to drive demand for generics in 'pharmerging' markets like China, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, Romania, Egypt, Ukraine, Pakistan and Vietnam, the report said. India Ratings believes that earnings for the export- oriented and generic-focused Indian pharma sector will continue to rise with strong growth prospects in global generics market. On the back of increasing demand for generics, exports from India, which contribute 60 per cent of the pharma sector revenue, have grown at a CAGR of 19 per cent over 2008-2012. In January to October 2012, exports were Rs 620 billion, up about 28 per cent year-on-year. "We expect this trend to continue," India Ratings said. It believes that the US market will remain the Indian pharma sector's main focus area in the short to medium term.

"This is mainly driven by the sheer size of generic opportunities in the US market. The US generic market size is about USD 100 billion and may grow at a CAGR of 8-9 per cent in the medium term on account of patent expiries coupled with pro-generic healthcare policies," the agency said.

During 2013-2015, opportunities on account of patent expiries will amount to around USD 125 billion. Indian players with robust product portfolio, filings and necessary manufacturing infrastructure are well placed to capitalise on this upcoming opportunity. The R&D spends of Indian pharma companies have been increasing year-on-year. "On the back of large investments, the companies have built a strong pipeline of products to be sold in the US. During 2011, Indian pharma companies' filings were 51 per cent of the total ANDA (abbreviated new drug applications) filings compared with 49 per cent in 2010 and 45% in 2009. "Also, Indian companies' share of ANDA approvals increased in 2012 at 37 per cent (33 per cent in FY11). Total ANDAs of Indian companies approved by USFDA in 2012 was 178 (out of a total of 476) versus 144 (431)in 2011, according to India Ratings.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/us-exports-may-drive-top-indian-pharma-companies-to-grow-20-in-2013/1068707/0

Asian Development Bank POSITIVE ON INDIA...

ADB upbeat on India posting 8-9% growth

K. R. SRIVATS

NEW DELHI, FEB. 1: 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is confident that the Indian economy would recover to 8-9 per cent growth levels in the medium and long term, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said. The Government’s recent policy stance of consolidating the fiscal situation and steadily reducing fiscal deficit in the coming years would help the economy realise its full potential over the medium term, Kuroda said here on Friday. He, however, said that more reforms and better infrastructure would be key for economic recovery. Noting that the Indian economy had slowed down in the recent years, Kuroda pointed out that other Asian economies, including China, had also experienced slowdown Although several Asian economies recovered in 2010-11 due to fiscal and monetary support, they were affected in the subsequent year (2011-12). This was partly due to the aftermath of the sharp recovery from the bottom and also the worsening crisis in the Euro Zone.

EURO ZONE IMPACT

Last year, the Euro Zone recorded “negative growth”. This had affected India, China and many other countries. Kuroda felt that external risks remained for Asian economies, but were less pronounced than last year. The Euro Zone is likely to have some ‘negative growth’ this year also, according to various economic think-tanks and research outfits. “If the Euro Zone crisis worsens, the impact on developing Asia will be significant. But we don’t expect significant worsening of Euro Zone crisis. Some risks are there,” he said. Kuroda pointed out that India had experienced significant slowdown of investment and this may have been caused by several factors, including monetary tightening and delay of deregulation measures. “Now that the central bank (RBI) has reduced interest rates and the Government has initiated several initiatives, I am quite sure economy will recover in coming months,” he said. Kuroda met Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday to discuss the upcoming 46{+t}{+h} Annual Meeting to be held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida from May 2-5. This will be the third time that ADB will hold its annual meet in India. The first meeting was in 1990 in New Delhi and second in 2006 in Hyderabad.

To a query on the RBI’s growth-inflation balancing act, Kuroda said ADB expected inflation in India to be around seven per cent this fiscal. “This seven per cent level is still high. The inflationary trend must be carefully monitored. If inflationary pressures continue to decrease, then interest rates could be reduced further, which would facilitate stronger recovery in coming months,” he added.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/adb-upbeat-on-india-posting-89-growth/article4369529.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

LIC BOOKED PROFITS....!!!

LIC cuts stake in 27 Nifty firms; sells shares worth Rs 8,000 crore PTI

NEW DELHI, FEB 3: 

State-run insurance giant LIC has lowered its holdings in as many as 27 of the 50 blue-chip firms forming the market benchmark index Nifty, while selling shares worth an estimated Rs 8,000 crore.

Amid stepped-up share purchase by FIIs and an uptrend in the stock market, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) appears to have booked profits in many blue-chip stocks, shows an analysis of shareholding data of Nifty companies for the three-month period ended December 31, 2012.LIC holds shares worth about Rs 2.33 lakh crore in all the Nifty companies put together, but it lowered its holding in a total of 27 Nifty companies during the quarter.The cumulative value of LIC holding in these 27 companies fell by little over Rs 8,000 crore during the quarter shows the analysis of changes in their shareholding patterns.Individually, LIC is estimated to have sold shares worth Rs 500-1,000 crore in each of Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, L&T, HDFC, Wipro, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddys and Bajaj Auto.The insurance behemoth also trimmed holdings in Ambuja Cements, Cipla, TCS, Lupin and Asian Paints. A marginal decline was also witnessed in its stakes in companies such as IDFC, Hindustan Unilever, Grasim, ACC, BPCL, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Power.On the other hand, LIC further ramped up its stake in a total of 14 Nifty constituents with purchase of shares worth an estimated Rs 4,000 crore.The major companies where LIC has raised its stake include Infosys, RIL and Cairn India. Other such companies are ITC, Power Grid Corp, NTPC, Siemens, Bharti Airtel and Hero MotoCorp. The state-run insurer also marginally hiked its exposure in Ultratech, Gail India, Ranbaxy, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Technologies, while its shareholding remained almost unchanged in companies like ONGC, Tata Steel, BHEL and Reliance Infra.Among the Nifty companies, LIC’s holding in terms of value is estimated to be highest in ITC (Rs 27,326 crore), followed by RIL (Rs 21,659 crore), ONGC (Rs 17,764 crore), SBI (Rs 17,058 crore), L&T (Rs 16,800 crore), and ICICI Bank (Rs 10,006 crore).Nifty is a well-diversified 50-stock index accounting for 22 sectors of the economy. The index represented about three-fourth of the free float market capitalisation of all the stocks listed on NSE as on December 31, 2012. The insurance major appears to have mainly booked profits in select stocks from sectors like banks, pharma, auto, refineries and metal. 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/stock-markets/lic-cuts-stake-in-27-nifty-firms-sells-shares-worth-rs-8000-crore/article4375025.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

Telcos' future positive...GOOD DAYS TO COME...

2 FEB, 2013, 04.00AM IST, RANJIT SHINDE,ET BUREAU 

Telcos' future positive, but near-term pressure on margin to stay

The latest quarterly performance of the three publicly-listed telecom companies — Bharti Airtel, Idea CellularBSE -0.67 % and Reliance CommunicationsBSE -1.69 % (RCOM) — shows early signs of a pick up in data-driven revenue, helped by higher number of subscribers using data. 
Besides, operators are in the process of consolidating voice-based business by reducing the number of accounts that do not meet regulatory requirements. This has resulted in improved per user parameters. This, coupled with tariff hikes by telcos a few weeks ago, highlights a positive undertone about future revenue and profit growth. 
However, the near-term pressure on margins is expected to continue as companies would strive to cut debt burdens, reduce interest outgo, and rationalise network operating costs. The pressure on profitability was visible from the performance of operators in the December 2012 quarter. The three operators reported a drop of 30-70 basis points (bps) in margin at earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin level. This is despite a moderate revenue growth. 
For Bharti, though revenue remained flat sequentially, it rose by over 3% after adjusting for one-time gain recorded in the previous quarter. Idea's revenue rose by 5% and RCOM's by 2%. If telcos are able to implement tariff hikes in the coming quarters across circles, that would support margins. 
The probability of such an increase may not be ruled out considering tapering competitive pressure with the exit of some of the operators in the past few quarters.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news/by/industry/telecom/Telcos-future-positive-but-near-term-pressure-on-margin-to-stay/articleshow/18298489.cms

A START-UP- $1.3 Bn--JUST 4 YEARS..

2 FEB, 2013, 10.27AM IST, SRUTHIJITH KK,ET BUREAU 

How 2 grads launched a super property rent site startup AirBnB; valued at $1.3 bn in 4 years

NEW DELHI: Since time immemorial, whenever two out-of-work college grads sit on a couch faced with the reality that they have no money to pay the following month's rent, it has usually ended in bad poetry, binge drinking or sheepish calls to parents.

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia tackled the problem differently. The solution they came up with one weekend in October 2007 in their San Franciscoapartment evolved into a company that was valued in July 2011 - less than four years from that cold and difficult weekend - at nearly $1.3 billion. Gebbia and Chesky, along with Nathan Blecharczyk, are co-founders of AirBnB, an Internet service that allows property owners to rent out homes or spare rooms. The service, once considered a non-starter - why would people let strangers into their homes? - is now one of the world's hottest startups. It has more than 200,000 listings in 192 countries. 
From tiny spaces with little more than a couch, to private islands, tree houses, houseboats, igloos and palaces in Rajasthan, AirBnB has opened up extraordinary variety and a hospitality experience rooted in local cultures. Users who experience AirBnB and the kindness of strangers integral to it are loath to go back to the tyranny of standardised hotel rooms. There are more than 4,500 listings in India. But behind the success of this startup, as Gebbia narrated to ET while we sat in the gardens of an AirBnB-listed Chhattarpur farmhouse, is a story replete with lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs. 
Gebbia and Chesky had been friends from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2006, Gebbia persuaded Chesky to move to San Francisco to "start something". In October 2007, even as the duo had nearly run through their savings, their landlord increased the rent by 25%. "Our situation was bad. We had no money to pay the next month's rent," Gebbia says. They did not even have a business idea. 
Y-Combinator Gave Big Help 
The Industrial Design Society of America holds a specialised conference around the world once in 20 years. They picked San Francisco in 2007. The week Gebbia read the landlord's missive with a sense of impending doom, San Francisco was abuzz with an acute shortage of hotel rooms for the IDSA conference.They rented out space in their living room that weekend. Gebbia coded and put up a small website advertising their living room. For $80, you got room, airport pickup and breakfast. They pulled out three airbeds from storage. Hence, the name AirBnB."That weekend, we had the time of our lives with our guests. We went to the conference, we took them to our friends' parties, to local cafes," Gebbia says. As he says it, it was these three guests (including a 32-year-old Indian design student, Amol Surve) who wrote to them and urged them to turn this into something. "They wanted a repeat experience. They said, 'We are going to London, do you know anybody there who is offering space similarly?'". When the duo decided to turn the idea into a larger service, they needed a serious tech hand. "Brian asked me if I knew anyone who could handle the tech side. And I said, 'Yes, the guy who was my flatmate before you!'" Nathan Blecharczyk was in the same computer science class at Harvard University that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of. As it happened, he was in San Francisco and had quit his job two weeks before. 
The website they built together came to national attention in August 2008, when 100,000 people landed up in Denver, Colorado, for the Democratic National Convention where Senator Barack Obama accepted the party nomination as its presidential candidate. Denver only had 30,000 hotel rooms. When democrats started using AirBnB to host other democrats, it became a story. "First it was a story in Denver, then CNN called, then theNew York Times, and then The Guardian from London. We were suddenly talked about," Gebbia says. But the euphoria was shortlived. After a spurt of activity, growth plateaued. The website stagnated at weekly revenue of $200. "At this point, we were surviving on our credit cards," Gebbia says.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/emerging-businesses/startups/how-2-grads-launched-a-super-property-rent-site-startup-airbnb-valued-at-1-3-bn-in-4-years/articleshow/18297803.cms

DIFFICULT TO STAY ABOVE 20000-SENSEX

3 FEB, 2013, 06.57AM IST, NARENDRA NATHAN,ET BUREAU 

Market may continue to witness weak trends

After remaining close to the psychological 20,000 mark in the last few weeks, Sensex has finally closed below it in a decisive manner. The importance of this lower closing is high because it occurred on the first day of new F&O cycle. So don't be surprised if the market weakness continued in this week as well. 

With the US economy contracting after a gap of 3 years, US Fed had no option but to continue with the loose monetary policy in its last week's meeting and this helped the Dow Jones to cross the 14,000 market first time since 2007. Though the weak dollar has helped to increase the value of Rupee also a bit, the gain is already negated by the rise in international crude oil prices (ie Brent variety is already at $116 now). Markets fell despite RBI delivering as per the expectations (ie cut the repo rate and CRR by 25 bps each). What damped the market sentiment was RBI's hint about future rate cuts - ie RBI wants the Govt to bring fiscal deficit under control before delivery more rate cuts. The debt market also fell increasing the 10 year GOI paper yield from 7.83% to 7.91%. With the credit policy already over, the next focus will on the budget. Major data worth watching in this week includeHSBC Markit Services PMI data, Import / export data and IIP data. While most of the very big companies have already declared their results, some interesting results are still expected in this week. And these include results fromBank of BarodaBSE -0.03 %, United Spirits, NHPC, Apollo Tyres, Tech MahindraBSE 0.54 %, Godrej IndustriesBSE -0.48 %, CiplaBSE 1.58 %, MRF, ACC, Ambuja Cement, Tata Chem and Hindalco.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/market-may-continue-to-witness-weak-trends/articleshow/18309423.cms

US STOCKS RALLY CONTINUES.....

'Great rotation' a Wall Street fairy tale? Reuters / New York Feb 03, 2013, 00:30 IST

Wall Street’s current jubilant narrative is that a rush into stocks by small investors has sparked a ‘great rotation’ out of bonds and into equities that will power the bull market to new heights.
That sounds good, but there’s a snag: The evidence for this is a few weeks of bullish fund flows that are hardly unusual for January.

Late-stage bull markets are typically marked by an influx of small investors coming late to the party - such as when your waiter starts giving you stock tips. For that to happen you need a good story. The 'great rotation,' with its monumental tone, is the perfect narrative to make you feel like you're missing out.

Even if something approaching a ‘great rotation’ has begun, it is not necessarily bullish for markets. Those who think they are coming early to the party may actually be arriving late.
Investors pumped $20.7 billion into stocks in the first four weeks of the year, the strongest four-week run since April 2000, according to Lipper. But that pales in comparison with the $410 billion yanked from those funds since the start of 2008.
“I’m not sure you want to take a couple of weeks and extrapolate it into whatever trend you want,” said Tobias Levkovich, chief US equity strategist at Citigroup. “We have had instances where equity flows have picked up in the last two, three, four years when markets have picked up. They've generally not been signals of a continuation of that trend.”
The S&P 500 rose five per cent in January, its best month since October 2011 and its best January since 1997, driving speculation that retail investors were flooding back into the stock market.
Heading into another busy week of earnings, the equity market is knocking on the door of all-time highs due to positive sentiment in stocks, and that can't be ignored entirely. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ended the week about four per cent from an all-time high touched in October 2007.
Next week will bring results from insurers Allstate and The Hartford, as well as from Walt Disney, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Visa.
But a comparison of flows in January, a seasonal strong month for the stock market, shows that this January, while strong, is not that unusual. In January 2011 investors moved $23.9 billion into stock funds and $28.6 billion in 2006, but neither foreshadowed massive inflows the rest of that year. Furthermore, in 2006 the market gained more than 13 per cent while in 2011 it was flat.
Strong inflows in January can happen for a number of reasons. There were a lot of special dividends issued in December that need reinvesting, and some of the funds raised in December tax-selling also find their way back into the market.
During the height of the tech bubble in 2000, when retail investors were really embracing stocks, a staggering $42.7 billion flowed into equities in January of that year, double the amount that flowed in this January. That didn't end well, as stocks peaked in March of that year before dropping over the next two-plus years.
Mom and pop still wary
Arguing against a ‘great rotation’ is not necessarily a bearish argument against stocks. The stock market has done well since the crisis. Despite the huge outflows, the S&P 500 has risen more than 120 per cent since March 2009 on a slowly improving economy and corporate earnings.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news//great-rotation/wall-street-fairy-tale/500856/