25 tips to manage through the slowdown

9. Renegotiate contracts
If you already service and input contracts in place, take a good look at all of them and see whether there is scope for a renegotiation on rates. Can you do with a lower level of service on service contracts? If deployment of manpower is included in these contracts (like manning point-of-sale positions) can you do with fewer people? If sales is down, obviously you can. What about your courier and other delivery mechanisms? Maybe you can do with a slightly longer delivery window. Can increasing the delivery window from, say, three days all-India to five get you a lower rate?

Managed service contracts and annual maintenance contracts are another set that should be up for closer scrutiny. Can the service windows be relaxed to reduce costs?

And while at it, be prepared to renegotiate contracts others have signed with you. Now that you know about it, be prepared beforehand, at least for key clients, with what you can offer and, whereever possible, try and ensure that you do not end up with nasty surprises like the cancellation of a critical order.

10. Can mergers make your business stronger?
Typically we tend to consider a merger as one of our last options. The problem with this approach is that, firstly, we will be negotiating with our backs to the wall, and, more importantly, at a point when the valuation will be at its lowest. So, without being emotional or superstitious about it, it is important that we do not keep this option for the last minute.

Basic questions to have an answer in hand include: Who are the possible suitors? What are they likely to be looking for? How all can a merger improve your business ? Can a part of the business be merged/sold? What level of control of ops are you willing to accede?

What about establishing a few initial contacts with the prospects if you do not already have them?

11. Reduce travel and overnight stay
Travel has just become way more costlier, and airports have moved far away from the city in at least two cities, Hyderabad and Bangalore. What this means is that you are going to be spending more time and money on travel and overnight stay. All the more reason why in tough times such as these you should look at saving on both time and money.

Three tools come to mind immediately that help achieve this objective. Audio conferencing, Web conferencing, and video conferencing. Actually, all three are variations of the same theme – remote conferencing. All telecom service providers have phone bridge services that multiple people can join in at the same time and hold a conference. One person has to setup the conference and others dial into a given number to join the call. Here at DARE, we have tried voice bridges for both national and international voice conferences. Our experience is that this works best for groups of under 10 people if all are expected to be talking. If, however, only one person is going to be talking at any given time, the number of callers logged in can be really large without any problems. Web conferencing as offered by Webex, among others, lets you share your desktop with other participants. This is useful if you have to run a presentation or you have to demonstrate a software application. Web conferencing applications also support text chat. Typically, you combine a Web conference with an audio bridge for best results. Video conferencing is capital intensive to set up afresh, but there are third party networks like the one run by Reliance. The only problem is that you have to move to their Webworld to conduct the video conference. One of the limitations of video conferencing is that it is not easy to interconnect different systems. Which means you cannot easily dial out to clients’ video conferencing system from yours and have a conference. Therefore, if your travel is mostly for client meetings, then video conferencing may not be a cheaper alternative.

And while on the topic of travel and stay, what about sharing rooms?

Sabsebolo is a recently launched free conference service by Yogesh Pate and Sabeer Bhatia. It enables as many as 10 parties to listen to or participate in a conference call you make – for free. Besides this free service, they also provide paid plans and business plans and fax to email service. Binesh Kutty at the DARE blogs

12. Reduce printing and posting costs
If your business involves printing and posting a large volume of bills every month, consider emailing them as PDF. This saves you printer costs, paper costs, electricity and postage costs, not to speak of manpower and time costs. Many banks and telecom service providers today offer both printed and electronic versions of their bills to customers; but may small businesses and single entrepreneur initiatives have gone a step further and completely done away with paper bills. No reason why you should not join them. And while at it, add a line at the bottom to each PDF bill to show your concern for the environment with a message like: “Save the environment; please do not print multiple copies of this bill unless it is absolutely essential .”

On the subject of printing, have you considered reducing the quality of paper that you use for your marketing literature and for bill printing? A small reduction in the quality of paper used – a reduction in grammage or a shift from art paper to normal paper will result in substantial savings while having no effect on your business’ image.

Another point we have already touched upon is whether you really have to use that costly courier? Can a cheaper local courier work out? If you have to absolutely deliver printed material, what about sending electronic documents to your local offices for printing and local delivery instead of printing and couriering from a central office? Savings in courier costs could be significant.

What about documents for internal customers: your employees? Why not save some paper there by putting them up on an intranet? Don’t have one? You can create one for free on Ning. And here is something that most organizations do anyway – recycle ink cartridges.

13. Implement open source software
There is a saying that when times get tough, open source gets going. Why? The logic is simple: IT budgets are amongst the first to get cut and at the same time the pressure from software companies (who have their own huge targets) to license software goes up. The way out? Open source.

How usable is open source? A majority of the Websites in the world run on Apache, an open source software. Tomcat and Jboss are widely used application servers. The DARE Website is implemented on Joomla, another open source software. The emailing system for the Website runs on yet another open source software – PHP List. We use another open source software LimeSurvey . This article is written using OpenOffice.org, an open source office suite. Some of my article concepts are developed using Freemind and open source mind mapper. Some of my basic graphics work is done using Paint.Net. We run our network asset management on SpiceWorks, and use many other open source tools for network monitoring and management.

If you are considering this approach, then there are a few things that you must keep in mind. Open source does not necessarily mean free. There are implementation and maintenance costs that you will have to pay. And many open source software have paid versions that are more feature rich or offer assured support. The biggest cost differential comes in the per-seat licensing fee. Most paid software operate on such a basis. Most open source application software do not either charge a license fee or charge a low fee. That is where your savings actually come from.

14. Reduce telephone costs
Communication costs are never insignificant for any business. If you have a lot of international calling to do, have you checked out Skype phones or services like World Phone that give you cheaper international telephony?

For calls within the country, did you know that you get better rates with closed user groups?

Soruce: http://www.dare.co.in/strategy/business-essentials/25-tips-to-manage-through-the-slowdown/Page-2.htm

25 tips to manage through the slowdown

The Sensex is down to half of what it was six months back. The world’s top investment banks no longer exist, and the US and European governments are rolling out the mother of all financial rescue packages. So, how are you affected? Unless you are in the export or BPO businesses, the slowdown may not yet have manifested in loss of business.

What will first become obvious is delayed payments and delays in signing new deals.

As I write this, the full impact of the financial meltdown is yet to reveal itself, particularly in India. Is it just a a slowdown? Is it a recession? Is the worst over, or will there be further shocks? All these questions are still up in the air. Clearly, we have not seen the end of this. We will have to wait for the next cycle or two of corporate results to assess the full extent of the situation. Meanwhile, how does one tide over these uncertain times? We have put together a list of things to do and to keep a close watch on. Reducing costs is, of course, the most obvious — so much so that it does not merit a mention as a separate item. The question is, where does one reduce costs and how does one go about it? This is what we shall answer in some detail in the following pages.

1. Reassess your business plan
The first thing to do is to completely reassess your businesses plan to figure out where and by how much you will be impacted. Figure out which input costs have gone up and by how much. Which are the target markets in turmoil? How are your key clients affected? By how much will their order position be affected?

Even if you have just finished wrapping up your half-yearly budgets, recast them if you expect dramatic changes. It is absolutely imperative that you understand the extent of impact the current scenario is going to have on your business.

2. Become cash flow and cash positive
With banks freezing working capital loans and lines of credit, it important to manage your cash flow tightly. For this, you first need to have a clear assessment of your potential cash flows. If there are negatives in the monthly cash flow, how do you make it positive? Is there any money you can collect a little faster to improve cash flow during bad months? Which payments can you defer or delay? Which are the clients you need to watch closely in order to ensure that there are no nasty surprises by the month end?

Add potential investors turning coy to banks freezing credit, and you can be out in the deep end if you are a startup or are bleeding. Therefore, an added question is, how fast can you turn cash positive? Do all that you can to turn positive as fast as you can. Here I am talking about operational income and expenses, and not profits, which take into consideration things like depreciation.

3. Manage key clients
Most businesses follow the 80/20 rule when it comes to their clients. Eighty percent of your revenues will come from 20 percent of your clients. Identify this 20 percent. How healthy are they now? Reassess their ability to pay on time. Take them into confidence. Can you help them a bit more in these troubled times without hurting yourselves? Is there some way your business can help them reduce costs and reach markets faster? Can you find a new use for their products or services? In short, do everything you can to not only retain them, but also increase business from them, as getting a new big client is not going to be as easy. On the other hand, ensure that you are amongst the first to know if they are in trouble.

4. Identify expenditure that can be deferred
Identify all non productive and long-gestation-period expenditure, and see which can be deferred. Non-productive expenditure start with small ones like redecorating the office. Capital investments include purchase of new offices or land, setting up new factories, plant and machinery, and so on. Decisions on which capital expenditure is to be deferred will flow from a revised business plan. Another set of capital expenditure that can be deferred is the purchase of computers , which we discuss separately.

5. Convert capital expenditure to monthly payouts: Lease
There are capital items that cannot be deferred as expenditure that is critical to the continuation of business. Can you convert at least some of the new capital expenditure into a monthly payout by going the lease route? Almost everything from plant and machinery to office space to computers to cars and software can be leased today. Using the lease route does away with the need for lumpsum payouts and to that extent reduces the drain on your cash flows, as well as the need to organize new loans. There are organizations that will help you lease anything and everything, and there are those that specialize in specific items.

General purpose leasing firms tend to look only at providing the cash flow for your equipment, while the specialists also take care of maintaining and managing equipment. To give a casual example, India Leasing will organize the finances for purchasing, say, printers and cars, which you have to separately own and maintain, while Black Magic Toners will lease manage and maintain printers, while Leaseplan will do the same with cars.

Have you considered a sale and leaseback option for assets you already own, where you sell these assets to a leasing company and then lease it back yourselves? This will release some cash for short-term needs.

6. Barter
This is something that most businesses do not consider. There is a healthy ecosystem out there for bartering goods and services. You can offer an exchange for goods and services you produce for those you need, including advertisement space. Thus, when you cut down your advertising budget, you can still get advertising space by offering to barter.

Net4barter and Tradex are organisations that will organize a barter for you for a fee. Craigslist, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites are also good places to get barters going.

7. Collect smarter
There is something that one tends to forget in the hurry. With payment schedules being stretched, you will obviously put a lot of focus behind overdue payments. But what about
advances? What about collecting some of the dues before they actually become payable?

One of the techniques that I saw being used during the dotcom slowdown was to offer discounts for payments made in advance and for collections done before due date. Such discount offers made to selected clients or even on selective deals could help in managing during critical cash flow situations.

8. Leverage the Web and mobile
One of the first items you will cut (or defer, if that is the term you prefer) from your budgets will be advertising expenditure. When the total available budget is reduced, you should also take a fresh look at your media mix. And you should take a long hard look at Web-based advertising options.

You may already be doing click-through advertising on Websites. Have you considered leveraging social networks for recruiting employees as well as customers? Have you looked at blogs? What about setting up employee blogs to improve customer touch points (and reduce costs for reaching out to the customer)?

SMS in bulk can be very cheap. Have you considered that as a response mechanism in place of printed letters and phone calls? Have a new deal to advertise? What about using SMS and email to get the word out? Somewhere inside your organization there is a treasure trove of email IDs and cellphone numbers. They are there in visiting card holders, in customer feedback forms, in registration and warranty cards, in emails and printed letters that customers send you, in your investor database, and so on. If you have not done it yet, now is a good time to get all of them organized and put to use.

Soruce: http://www.dare.co.in/strategy/business-essentials/25-tips-to-manage-through-the-slowdown.htm

Arjun tanks' comparative trials with T-90s this summer

NEW DELHI: Army and DRDO will jointly carry out comparative trials of indigenous 'Arjun' tanks with Russian-made T-90s this June, increasing prospects of the former's induction in the force soon.

The trials would pave the way for the army to finally accept Arjun tanks for induction, over 36 years after the project was commissioned by the government, defence ministry sources said on Friday.

"The comparative trials of Arjun tanks with the Russian-made T-90s would take place this summer in June, before the army gets to induct the indigenously developed tanks," a defence ministry source said.

These trials will come exactly a year after the summer trials of Arjun tanks in the Rajasthan deserts had "failed", compelling Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh to suspect "sabotage" to be behind the tanks performing below expectations during the trials.

The trial in June, sources said, would be the first of the series under which the army and the DRDO would test and compare technologies and capabilities of the two tanks.

"During the summer trials of the two tanks in June, they will be subjected to various other comparative tests in the following months and it is likely to be completed by June 2010," the source said.

After the trials, the army and the DRDO would carry out a detailed analysis of the tests to determine which of the two tanks was better, sources said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Arjun_tanks_trials_with_T-90s_soon/articleshow/3987151.cms

Arjun tanks' comparative trials with T-90s this summer

NEW DELHI: Army and DRDO will jointly carry out comparative trials of indigenous 'Arjun' tanks with Russian-made T-90s this June, increasing prospects of the former's induction in the force soon.

The trials would pave the way for the army to finally accept Arjun tanks for induction, over 36 years after the project was commissioned by the government, defence ministry sources said on Friday.

"The comparative trials of Arjun tanks with the Russian-made T-90s would take place this summer in June, before the army gets to induct the indigenously developed tanks," a defence ministry source said.

These trials will come exactly a year after the summer trials of Arjun tanks in the Rajasthan deserts had "failed", compelling Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh to suspect "sabotage" to be behind the tanks performing below expectations during the trials.

The trial in June, sources said, would be the first of the series under which the army and the DRDO would test and compare technologies and capabilities of the two tanks.

"During the summer trials of the two tanks in June, they will be subjected to various other comparative tests in the following months and it is likely to be completed by June 2010," the source said.

After the trials, the army and the DRDO would carry out a detailed analysis of the tests to determine which of the two tanks was better, sources said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Arjun_tanks_trials_with_T-90s_soon/articleshow/3987151.cms

Childbirth: One mother dies every 7 mins

NEW DELHI: Avoidable complications during child birth are killing 78,000 women in India every year. This means on an average, one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth every seven minutes.

On the other hand, one million children born in India are dying every year even before they become 28 days old. A child born in India is 14 times more likely to die during the first 28 days than one born in the US or UK.

These are some of the shocking findings of UNICEF's `State of the World's Children 2009' report released on Thursday.

According to the report, an Indian woman is 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in America or England. For every mother who dies, 20 others suffer pregnancy-related illness. Around 10 million women annually experience such adverse outcomes.

Despite an increase in institutional deliveries, 60% of pregnant women still deliver their babies at home.

In India, more than two-thirds of all maternal deaths occur in a handful of states -- UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Assam.

In UP, one in every 42 women faces risk of maternal death, compared to 1 in 500 women in Kerala.

As far as neonatal deaths (within the first 28 days of life ) are concerned, the worst-off states include Orissa (52 deaths per 1,000 live births), MP (51), UP (46), Rajasthan (45), and Chhattisgarh (43).

The report points out that babies whose mothers die during the first six weeks of their lives are more likely to die in the first two years of life. "For every 100 children born in the world, 20 are from India. For every 100 children who die globally, 22 die in India," UNICEF India chief Karin Hulshof said.

According to her, the health and survival of mothers and their newborns are intrinsically linked. "Many of the same interventions that save maternal lives also benefit their infants. Even though India has cut its under-five mortality rate from 117 per 1,000 live births to 72 between 1990 and 2007, neonatal deaths contribute to 50% of these under-five deaths," Karin added.

According to the report, three-quarters of all maternal deaths in India occur from complications either during delivery or in the immediate post-partum period.

A quarter of the world's unattended deliveries take place in India, which is one of 10 countries which together account for two-thirds of births not attended by skilled health workers.

The report also points to India's shameful statistics regarding breastfeeding. Experts say universalisation of early breastfeeding, within one hour of birth, would reduce neonatal mortality in India by 22% while universalisation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life would avert nearly 16% of young child deaths.

However, the report says only one in four children are breastfed within one hour of birth.

Annually, around 6 million children born in India have low birth weight.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Childbirth_1_mother_dies_every_7_mins/articleshow/3985176.cms

Childbirth: One mother dies every 7 mins

NEW DELHI: Avoidable complications during child birth are killing 78,000 women in India every year. This means on an average, one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth every seven minutes.

On the other hand, one million children born in India are dying every year even before they become 28 days old. A child born in India is 14 times more likely to die during the first 28 days than one born in the US or UK.

These are some of the shocking findings of UNICEF's `State of the World's Children 2009' report released on Thursday.

According to the report, an Indian woman is 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in America or England. For every mother who dies, 20 others suffer pregnancy-related illness. Around 10 million women annually experience such adverse outcomes.

Despite an increase in institutional deliveries, 60% of pregnant women still deliver their babies at home.

In India, more than two-thirds of all maternal deaths occur in a handful of states -- UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Assam.

In UP, one in every 42 women faces risk of maternal death, compared to 1 in 500 women in Kerala.

As far as neonatal deaths (within the first 28 days of life ) are concerned, the worst-off states include Orissa (52 deaths per 1,000 live births), MP (51), UP (46), Rajasthan (45), and Chhattisgarh (43).

The report points out that babies whose mothers die during the first six weeks of their lives are more likely to die in the first two years of life. "For every 100 children born in the world, 20 are from India. For every 100 children who die globally, 22 die in India," UNICEF India chief Karin Hulshof said.

According to her, the health and survival of mothers and their newborns are intrinsically linked. "Many of the same interventions that save maternal lives also benefit their infants. Even though India has cut its under-five mortality rate from 117 per 1,000 live births to 72 between 1990 and 2007, neonatal deaths contribute to 50% of these under-five deaths," Karin added.

According to the report, three-quarters of all maternal deaths in India occur from complications either during delivery or in the immediate post-partum period.

A quarter of the world's unattended deliveries take place in India, which is one of 10 countries which together account for two-thirds of births not attended by skilled health workers.

The report also points to India's shameful statistics regarding breastfeeding. Experts say universalisation of early breastfeeding, within one hour of birth, would reduce neonatal mortality in India by 22% while universalisation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life would avert nearly 16% of young child deaths.

However, the report says only one in four children are breastfed within one hour of birth.

Annually, around 6 million children born in India have low birth weight.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Childbirth_1_mother_dies_every_7_mins/articleshow/3985176.cms

Stocks to open higher on positive global cues; TCS in focus

MUMBAI: Stocks are likely to open higher on Friday with global markets stabilising. The Nifty may claw back to the 2800 level given the magnitude of the fall in the previous session. On a stock-specific note, TCS' lower-than-expected rise in quarterly profit late Thursday may have a sentiment impact on its shares.

Technology major Tata Consultancy Services posted a net profit of Rs 1,362 crore for the quarter ended December 31, up 2.68 per cent year-on-year. Revenues stood at Rs 7,277 crore for the reporting quarter, up 24.13 per cent year-on-year. The company has declared a dividend of Rs 3 per share. Market conditions were tough as global economic turmoil crimps outsourcing demand and puts pressure on fees, the company said.

US stocks ended slightly higher on Thursday amid optimism the government will act to prevent the year-long recession from deepening, offsetting news that Bank of America was seeking fresh government aid, which fueled worries about the health of the financial sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.67 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 8,212.81. The S&P 500 Index gains 1.12 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 843.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index adds 22.20 points, or 1.49 per cent, to 1,511.84.

Asian markets were trading higher mirroring Wall Street. The Nikkei was up 1.5 per cent, Topix gained 1.2 per cent, Hang Seng rose 0.23 per cent and Straits Times climbed 0.79 per cent.

Back home, Indian equities shed overnight gains Thursday as investors booked profits and created fresh shorts after sentiments turned bearish on deteriorating global market conditions.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 9,046.74, down 323.75 points or 3.45 per cent from Wednesday. The index touched an intra-day low of 8946.62 and high of 9123.78. National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 2736.70, down 3.48 per cent or 98.6 points. The broader index touched a low of and high of 2701.75 and 2832.30 during the day.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 484.33 crore amid volatile market sentiment, that led the benchmark Sensex sharply lower. However, domestic institutional investors continued their investment in the market and invested in shares worth Rs 175.12 crore.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Mkts_to_open_higher_on_positive_global_cues/articleshow/3987084.cms

Oil prices fall more than 10%

NEW YORK: Oil prices fell more than 10 percent on Thursday to a one-month low as thickening economic gloom added to expectations that world energy demand would keep shrinking.

US crude fell $3.74 to $33.54 a barrel by 1:30pm EST (1830 GMT), after falling as low as $33.20 -- the lowest since Dec. 19. London Brent fell 90 cents to $44.18 a barrel, maintaining an unusual premium to the US benchmark.

The losses came after US data showing the number of US workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week and US foreclosure activity jumped 81% in 2008, suggesting the recession is deepening. "We have gotten more dire economic news and the notion is that 2009 will not result in any significant turnaround, with sentiment mounting that may happen in 2010 instead," said Jim Wyckoff, independent energy analyst in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The gloomy global economic outlook prompted OPEC on Thursday to forecast a fall of 180,000 barrels per day in world oil demand this year, 30,000 bpd steeper than its previous forecast.

Earlier in the week, the US Energy Information Administration forecast a world consumption drop of more than 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year.

US refiners, facing slumping demand from consumers and businesses, have been putting crude oil into storage instead of into processing units, pushing stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub -- the delivery point for US crude futures -- to record highs. The brimming inventories at Cushing have upended US crude's relationship with Brent, driving the higher-quality grade well below its European counterpart.

The American Petroleum Institute on Thursday said US demand for crude oil and petroleum products slid 5.9 percent in December from a year earlier, with demand in 2008 dropping at the fastest rate in almost three decades due to high energy prices and the slumping economy. US oil prices struck a peak of $147 a barrel in July but have tumbled since because of the economic crisis.

"The considerable uncertainty about the course of the recovery implies the potential for further deterioration in world oil demand growth this year," OPEC said in its Monthly Oil Market Report. This could build a case for the producer group to cut output again after already reducing supply by about 4 million bpd since September to try to halt the oil price slide.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Oil_prices_fall_more_than_10/articleshow/3986979.cms

Indian rupee gains

Date : Jan-15-2009 09:50
The Indian rupee On Wednesday firmed up on the back of hopes for fresh Capital inflows after the Indian stock market surged by breaking its past four day losing trend. The rupee closed at 48.85/86 per dollar stronger than its previous close of 49.11/12.

On supply concerns, sugar prices shoot 50% in a year

Date : Jan-15-2009 17:28
Since January 2008 the price of sugar has grown by 50%. In order to contain this inflationary trend in sugar prices, the government is expected to take a decision on raw sugar imports (on a tonne-to-tonne basis) within a fortnight and increase domestic supply manifold. Wholesale sugar price between time span of January 1, 2009 and January 9, 2009 in Kolkata was Rs 120 per qtl, in Mumbai it was Rs 156 per qtl and in Delhi it was just Rs 40 per qtl. The surge in the prices of sugar in the beginning of 2009 was due to low output of 180 lakh tonnes in 08-09 sugar year as compared to earlier estimates of around 220 lakh tonnes.

The government is likely to allow import of raw sugar on a tonne-to-tonne basis soon to meet the shrunken supply situation. The food ministry is likely to take a decision within a fortnight. As per NCDEX data wholesale price for sugar registered a significant growth of 50% over the period prior to January 2008 in Mumbai. In Kolkata it surged 45% and in Delhi it shot up as much as 46% during that period.

Insurers'' investments in the IT space, not an issue: IRDA

Date : Jan-15-2009 12:13
J Hari Narayan, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) chairman isn’t too agitated about investments made by insurers in the IT space, despite intense World Bank heat on Satyam and Wipro. The AA rating is good enough for insurers to take coverage in IT companies, says the Narayan.

Insurers are required to hold on to the AA (double A) rating for investing in equities of any company and that is satisfactory even for IT companies. Wipro’s blacklisting by the World Bank is no cause for jitters. The company was blacklisted a few years back. Hence there should not be any worries," IRDA chairman said.

We have called for information on the exposure of insurers in Satyam. The Wipro case and other companies that may have been blacklisted is no call for concern, at least for now, he added.

At IRDA, we don’t intend to introduce any upper investment limit in so far as exposure in the IT sector by insurance companies goes. Insurers will keep investing as per existing guidelines, said Hari Narayan.

HDFC MF declares dividend for its 90 days plan

Date : Jan-15-2009
HDFC Mutual Fund has announced January 19, 2009 as the record date for declaration of dividend under dividend option of HDFC Fixed Maturity Plan -90D October 2008 (2), on face value of Rs 10 per unit. The Fund house has decided to offer dividend under retail plan and wholesale plan. The fund house has decided to distribute 100% of surplus available as on record date. The NAV under retail plan as on January 12, 2009 was Rs. 10.2567 per unit and Rs 10.2587 per unit for wholesale plan. HDFC Fixed Maturity Plan -90D October 2008 (2), which was launched in October 2008 is a close-ended income scheme. The objective of the scheme is to seek to generate regular income through investments in debt/ money market instruments and government securities.

124 arrested in wake of Mumbai attacks, says Pak

Pakistan on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to root out extremists on its soil, saying it had so far arrested 124 people in a crackdown on banned groups in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik, the country's point man on counterterrorism, said those arrested were members of an Islamic charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which New Delhi has blamed for the Mumbai carnage.

"We are very, very serious" about fighting extremism, Malik told a press conference, saying the anti-terror fight was the "only option" for Pakistan.

The people arrested are members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, one of the country's biggest charities, but which is widely viewed as the political wing of LeT, banned in Islamabad after an attack on the Indian parliament in late 2001.

The crackdown came in response to a UN Security Council resolution passed last month, describing Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terror group.

Malik said that Islamabad needed more information from India in order to proceed with its own investigations into the Mumbai attacks and eventual prosecution of suspects.

"This is the time that Pakistan and India need to stick together," he said. "We'll be needing more information."

Soruce: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=8e3b64d0-7536-4ca2-b154-92cafe8df433&&Headline=124+arrested+in+wake+of+Mumbai+attacks%2c+says+Pak

Markets tumble, Sensex below 9,000

MUMBAI: Equities opened sharply lower on Thursday dragged down by weak overseas markets. All sectoral indices took a sharp hit with realty and IT stocks leading declines.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex plummeted 377.39 points to 8993. National Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nifty slumped 119 points to 2719 from Wednesday’s close.

Nortel Networks Corp, North America's biggest telephone equipment maker, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, hoping to save a once highflying business whose decade-long decline has accelerated with the global economic crisis. The filing marks a crucial stage in the slow deterioration of one of Canada's most prominent companies.

However, the bankruptcy filing of networking vendor Nortel is expected to have only a marginal impact on Indian IT companies. The telecom giant is a long-time outsourcer to Indian service providers. The top three Indian IT service providers - Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro — as well as a few smaller firms like Sasken Technologies are vendors to Nortel. TCS, which is set to announce its third quarter results on Thursday, said its exposure to Nortel was very minimal and less than 1% of its revenue.

Meanwhile, US stocks fell to six-week lows on Wednesday on worries about deeper losses at banks worldwide and as US retail sales data pointed to a deepening recession. US retail sales dropped for a sixth month with a 2.7 per cent slump in December, the Commerce Department said yesterday, twice the drop economists had estimated.

The Dow lost 248.34 points, or 2.94 per cent, to 8,200.22; while the S&P 500 slid 29.12 points, or 3.34 per cent, to 842.67 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 56.82 points, or 3.67 per cent, to 1,489.64.

Asian stocks fell, dragging the regional stock benchmark to the lowest in five weeks, after Japanese machinery orders and US retail sales dropped at more than double the pace economists expected. The Nikkei dropped 2.5 per cent, Topix fell 2.46 per cent, Hang Seng lost 4.67 per cent Straits Times dipped 3.13 per cent.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/?in_leftnav

Inflation eases to 5.24% against 5.91% week ago

NEW DELHI: Inflation declined for the tenth consecutive week on Thursday to 5.24% for the week ended January 3, primarily due to decline in prices of food articles.

Inflation, measured by movements in wholesale prices, dipped by 0.67 percentage points from 5.91 per cent in the previous week. It stood at 4.26 per cent a year ago.

The index of the food articles group declined by 0.6 per cent as prices of fruit and vegetables fell by three per cent, and gram, barley, condiments and spices by one per cent each.

However, the index of manufactured goods declined one per cent. Among manufactured items, paper and paper products declined by 0.4 per cent, and chemicals and chemical products fell by 1.2 per cent.

The index of fuel declined by 0.2 per cent due to lower prices of aviation turbine fuel (8 per cent) and light diesel oil (3 per cent).

However, naphtha became expensive by three per cent, and among food items jowar, tea, urad moong and rice moved up by one per cent each, and masoor by two per cent.

Inflation has been declining after it touched a peak of 12.91 per cent in August last year.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Inflation_eases_to_524/articleshow/3982305.cms

J&K vigilance chief is new NIA head

Radha Vinod Raju, Special Director General of Police in Jammu and Kashmir, was on Thursday appointed as Director General of the newly established National Investigation Agency (NIA).

A 1975-batch IPS officer, 59-year-old Raju, who heads the vigilance department in the militancy-hit state, will be the head of the NIA till January 21, 2010, an official spokesperson said.

He was selected for the coveted post considering his wide knowledge and experiences in investigating high-profile cases, including assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram recommended Raju's name which was signed by Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has issued orders relieving Raju so as to enable his deputation to the Centre. He was to retire on July 31, this year.

Raju, who has served in various capacities in CBI and returned to his parent cadre after being promoted as Additional Director in the investigating agency, also had a stint in the vigilance department.

Serving as head of the Vigilance Bureau in Jammu and Kashmir earlier, Raju streamlined the department which was in shackles due to the ongoing militancy.

The government had also sought views on it from various investigating and intelligence agencies, including the CBI, Intelligence Bureau and newly constituted National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO). MORE

A Bill for the formation of the much-talked about National Investigation Agency was cleared by Parliament in December last year.

As per the proposal, NIA will have concurrent jurisdiction which empowers the Centre to probe terror attacks in any part of the country, covering offences, including challenge to the country's sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijacking of aircraft and ships, and attacks on nuclear installations.

The organisations, from which views have been elicited, have favoured an Indian Police Service official to head NIA.

The ground staff of the agency in the national capital could be drawn from existing central staff and security organisations while in the states, permanent deputation from the state police could be taken, they said.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=78fbf468-e449-4678-b70a-d653005d2f8b&SectionName=HomePage

Govt rules out bailout package for Satyam

The government on Thursday ruled out any bailout package for crisis-ridden Satyam Computer, but assured to do everything required to save jobs under the framework of its responsibilities.

"This is a decision that the new board of Satyam would take. This government is not going to directly or indirectly subsidise wrong doing and fraud in Satyam," Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a Petrotech-2009 conference.

When asked, is government not in favour of bailout package for Satyam as such, Kumar said that the new Satyam board "... Are the ones to decide. The government would try and support within the framework of its responsibilities and do whatever it can to preserve and save jobs and to protect the good name of India in corporate sector".

He said, "The government will try to ensure to the extent possible that the brand equity of the country and Stayam in terms of its intellectual capital is preserved and the jobs are secured to the extent possible".

The minister said, "I do believe that Satyam aberration should not in any way take away from the great success story of India in the IT sector."

Earlier speculation was rife that the government is considering a package of up to Rs 2,000 crore to bail out Satyam Computer. But shortly after the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's review meeting on Satyam on Tuesday, there was media speculation that government would be considering a financial assistance ranging between Rs 500 crore and Rs 2,000 crore but

However, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who attended PM's review meeting, had said that the government was open to consider a financial package for Satyam Computer.

The official sources had also indicated that the government appointed Satyam board had written a letter to the finance ministry raising concerns about the liquidity crunch in the troubled company.

Satyam has 53,000 employees and needs over Rs 500 crore a month to meet the staff cost. Satyam had plunged into a deep crisis following the founder-chairman B Ramalinga Raju's admission that he fudged the company accounts to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore.


Soruce: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=63ad1a16-af36-4332-92ca-5a8bc4422e4aSatyamsinks_Special&&Headline=Govt+rules+out+bailout+package+for+Satyam

Pak to formally respond to India's dossier in a week

Pakistan will formally respond within a week to India's dossier on the Mumbai attacks by describing the information provided in it as "scanty and insufficient" and by renewing its offer for a joint probe into the terrorist strike, a media report said on Monday.

"The Pakistani response is almost prepared after prolonged consultations in Islamabad among the Foreign Office, interior ministry and other security agencies and it is being given a finishing touch," a senior official who did not want to be named told the pro-establishment The Nation daily.

The response will be handed over to India in a week after it is approved by the President and Prime Minister, he said.

The dossier had been thoroughly examined and the Pakistani response could be summarised by saying that "the Indians would be told to extend concrete evidence to Islamabad and not information", the official said.

The response will also describe "the so-called Indian evidence as scanty and insufficient," the daily said.

Pakistan would repeat its offer for a joint probe into the Mumbai attacks with "a plea that it was the only workable solution" to the standoff between the two countries, he said.

The official declined to share details of the Pakistani response but said that it described the "Indian information (as) not something that could be produced as admissible before the court as a piece of evidence".

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in his address to parliament on Tuesday, had said material provided by India constituted information and not evidence.

Reacting strongly to Gilani's statement, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday accused Pakistan of evasiveness.

Meanwhile another Pakistani official said instead of indulging in a blame game, India should accept Pakistan's offer of a joint investigation. He said if Pakistan were not serious in cooperating with India on the Mumbai attacks, it would not have made such an offer.

The official added that the world community too is asking for joint work by Pakistan and India to trace those involved in the Mumbai attacks.

Soruce: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=0bc2dfbe-f221-4d59-b3fd-1344e1998362SabreRattling_Special&&Headline=Pak+to+formally+respond+to+India's+dossier+in+a+week