Fw: Cygnus Daily Business Update 01 Apr,10
G.V.Sandeep
G.V.Sandeep
DY Manager
Cygnus Business Consulting and Research Pvt ltd
Hyderabad
9849427085
040-23430203-114
Cygnus
Daily Industry News
April 1, 2010
Global Economy
Crude oil prices touch 18-month high
Oil pushed up to a fresh 18-month high, bolstered by talk of fresh inflows from investors at the start of the World's largest refining companies. The move higher came despite a stronger dollar, which often dampens enthusiasm for commodities, and after news of yet another build in U.S. crude oil inventories.
Indian Economy
Rupee edges up as exporters sell dollars
The rupee edged higher in afternoon trade on dollar sales by exporters to take advantage of the higher exchange rate, while buying by oil firms and importers to meet month-end demand also subsided. Over the next 12 months the rupee is expected to climb as buoyant growth in the Indian economy attracts foreign inflows.
Industry News
Agri Commodities
Edible oil cos move FMC for clarity on oilseed contracts
Edible oil industry associations have approached the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) – the regulator of commodities futures trading – and commodity exchange officials to review the delivery specifications in oilseed contracts traded on NCDEX, the country’s premier agri futures exchange. The associations are pitching for a change in the delivery logic in mustard seed contracts from ‘compulsory delivery’ to ‘seller’s option’. Compulsory delivery obliges a seller to give delivery, failing which it has to pay a penalty of 3% of the contract value, 1% of which goes to the buyer. In addition to this, any adverse movement in price for the buyer after contract expiry also has to be borne by the seller. A seller’s option contract, on the other hand, gives the seller the right, but not the obligation to make physical delivery. Based on the industry representations, FMC recently altered the delivery logic for soyabean from compulsory delivery to seller’s option from July when the new series of contracts open. However, the industry now wants the regulator to do the same in the case of mustard seed with immediate effect.
India spices trade up, jeera hits new lows
India's jeera futures fell for a seventh day to reach a new contract low on fresh arrivals, slack overseas demand and hopes of higher output. Prices are likely to fall further. Arrivals may improve further once market reopens after a long break. The trend is also bullish as production this year from Vietnam and India are expected to be lower. At 3.44 p.m., the benchmark April pepper contract was up 1.11 percent at 15,060 rupees per 100 kg. Spot pepper rose 137.2 rupees to 14,794.55 rupees per 100 kg in Kochi, a major trading hub in Kerala. The trend is also bullish as production this year from Vietnam and India are expected to be lower.
Automobile
Maruti 800 driven off roads by stringent emission laws
The small car that changed the way Indians drove and helped put the Indian automobile market into the global big league will stop rolling out of showrooms in major cities from Thursday. It has been driven off the roads by stringent emission laws that the original people's car is unable to comply with any more. Powered by a Suzuki collaboration and steered by Sanjay Gandhi's political ambitions, the Maruti 800 rolled out onto Indian roads 27 years ago. The last of the 27 lakh units were driven out of showrooms in 13 cities on Wednesday, the company having decided that it was not worth pushing for a large investment to upgrade the engine to meet the stricter Bharat Stage IV norms that become mandatory from April 1. BS-IV emission standards come into play in major cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and even Agra.
Banking
Banks get 2 more yrs to meet IFRS norms
The government has given two more years to banks and non-banking finance companies to align their accounting practices with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS). The core group of the ministry of corporate affairs extended the deadline to April 2013 at a meeting on March 29. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and urban co-operative banks with a networth lower than Rs 200 crore have been allowed to follow the current accounting standards, saving them from compliance costs. Convergence with the globally accepted accounting norms is meant for bringing in uniform accounting practices across the globe. It is part of the Indian government’s commitment at the last G20 summit last year. For insurance companies, the new convergence deadline will be April 2012, which is a year after the first tranche of IFRS convergence is due. The core group of the ministry had earlier decided that the convergence process will be in phases. It decided to let off small-sized urban co-operative banks and unlisted NBFCs from the convergence process citing their low exposure to international markets.
Education
From today, every child has a right to education
Nearly eight years after the Constitution was amended to make education a fundamental right, the government today implemented a historic law to provide free and compulsory education to all children in age group of 6-14 years. The 86th Constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right was passed by Parliament in 2002. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, a law to enable the implementation of the fundamental right, was passed by Parliament last year. Both the Constitutional amendment and the new law came into force from today. The new law makes it obligatory on part of the state governments and local bodies to ensure that every child gets education in a school in the neighbourhood. Its implementation will directly benefit close to one crore children who do not go to schools at present. These children, who have either dropped out from schools or have never been to any educational institution, will be enrolled in schools. The Right To Education is being touted by the UPA government as another major achievement after Right To Information Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. As per the government's estimate, there will be a requirement of Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementation of the Act. Sibal said that the government has arranged the required funds for implementing the law. The Act says no school can deny admission to a student and all schools need to have trained teachers. In case of schools not having trained teachers, they will have to comply with the provision within three years.
Gems and Jewellery
Gold futures gain on positive global cues
Gold prices rose for the second day by adding another Rs 62 or 0.38 per cent, to Rs 16,521 per ten gram in futures trading on sustained buying in tandem with a firming global trend. Increased demand in spot market further fuelled the uptrend. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for August contract rose Rs 62 or 0.38 per cent, to Rs 16,521 per ten gram, with an open interest of 593 lots.
ITES
IT to get Rs 600 crore more in UID project
The Prime Minister’s prime project— the Unique ID rollout—is likely to be allocated almost Rs 1,300 crore for distribution among states under its current budgetary provision. But information technology, which will form a key component of the Unique ID project, is likely to get an allocation of Rs 500-600 crore, over and above the current budgetary allocation to Unique ID Authority of India, sources close to the development told ET. The total budgetary provision for UIDAI is Rs 1,900 crore under the Union Budget for this year. The UIDAI has also invited the open source and global developer community to participate in the project. Currently the Authority is seeking client software developed for any of the operating systems in Java, C++ or C# (pronounced C sharp). It is seeking specific modules that can be integrated with the client software through well-defined application programming interfaces (APIs). UIDAI will release the API and system design for developers shortly.
ITSS
China's great firewall blocked search: Google
Google Inc blamed “the great firewall” of China for blocking its Internet search service in the country on Tuesday, but did not know if the stoppage was a Chinese technical glitch or a deliberate move in their face-off over Internet censorship. Whichever it was, the incident underscored the vulnerability of Google’s business in the world’s largest country. Google’s search traffic in China now appeared to be back to normal following its confirmation earlier on Tuesday of reports that many users in China were unable to search on its Hong Kong-based website. In an unusual development, however, Google provided a new statement about the disruptions to its search service that reversed the explanation it had offered just three hours earlier. The company shut its mainland Chinese portal Google.cn last week and rerouted searches to its Hong Kong site in order to offer uncensored search results. Analysts and China experts have been on the lookout for signs that Beijing might clamp down on Google and restrict its services, following harsh official comments in reaction to Google’s new approach to offering Internet search in China.
Scientists develop computer programme to unlock all softwares
American scientists claim to have developed a computer programme that would help anyone to edit unaccessible softwares like Microsoft Word Apple iTunes, and even add customised features to them. The software would also help the user to move programmes from computer screens to mobile devices, which do not have a standard operating system. Microsoft and Apple aren't going to open up all their stuff. But they all create programmes that put pixels on the screen. The UW tool, named Prefab, allows people to personalise programmes based on their needs, according to the report that appeared online in Physorg.com. Prefab takes advantage of the fact that almost all displays are made from prefabricated blocks of code such as buttons, sliders, check boxes and drop-down menus. The tool looks for those blocks as many as 20 times per second and alters their behaviour. It unlocks previously inaccessible interfaces and allows people to add the same usability tool to all the applications they run on their desktop. The system could also translate a program's interface into a different language, or reorder menus to bump up favourite commands. It can also produce more advanced effects like creating multiple previews of a single image in Photoshop. For this, Prefab moves the sliders to different points, captures the output and then displays all of them on a single screen. This could save time by showing a range of effects the user frequently adjusts. The researchers are continuing to develop Prefab and are exploring options for commercialisation.
Life insurance
LIC launches credit card protection service
LIC credit card holders can now report loss any of their cards from anywhere in the world to a 24-hour helpline launched by LIC Cards Services. LIC Cards Services Ltd has launched Card Protection Plan for its credit card customers in partnership with CPP Assistance Services. and it safeguards all of the LIC cardholder's payment cards - credit, debit and ATM cards. Members will also be able to register their non-financial cards such as store cards, loyalty and membership cards. Besides, customers will be able to retrieve important details on lost/stolen documents like passport, PAN and driving licence.
Retail
Govt comes out with norms to curb wholesale trade in garb of retail
The industry ministry has for the first time come out with guidelines for wholesale trade, also known as cash and carry, to ensure that foreign retailers cannot make a backdoor entry into out-of-bound multi-brand retail. A circular clarifying the new rules was issued by the government late on Wednesday, stating the type of sales that will be considered wholesale trading. Bharti Wal-Mart and Metro Cash and Carry are among firms carrying out wholesale trade in India. Under the current norms, foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted only in wholesale trading and single-brand retail. The norms state that the activity will require approval from an appropriate authority, central or state or local, and can be conducted only with entities that have VAT, service tax or excise duty registration. Wholesale trade will also be allowed with entities holding trade and retail licences or permits and institutions having certificate of incorporation or registration as a society or public trust buying for own consumption.
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