India Inc mops $4.2 bn via IPOs in '08

A turbulent stock market notwithstanding, India Inc has raised more than four billion dollars through IPOs in 2008, but had it not been for Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power, this amount would have been just about one-fourth.

The 4.2-billion-dollar raised through 21 IPOs since the beginning of 2008 marks an increase of 62 per cent from 2.6 billion dollars raised through 50 deals in the same period in 2007, according to global deal data provider Dealogic.

However, excluding the Reliance Power IPO, that mopped up a record three billion dollars, the Indian IPO market fell by 52 per cent in volume in 2008 as against the same period in 2007, Dealogic said.

About four billion dollar raised through IPOs in the first quarter of 2008 is also the second highest for a quarter in the Indian capital’s history after over five billion dollar raised in fourth quarter of 2006.

Besides, Deutsche Bank has been ranked as the leading bookrunner of the Indian IPOs, accounting for 16 per cent market share so far in 2008, it added.

Reliance Power IPO issue managers were ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank, Enam Financial Consultants, ICICI Bank, JM Financial, JP Morgan, Kotak Mahindra Finance and UBS.

Although, firms managed to raise 4.2 billion dollars this year also witnessed three IPO withdrawals including that of Emaar MGF, Wockhardt and SVEC Constructions.

The three IPOs had to be withdrawn because of the low response received from investors due to meltdown in the secondary Markets and weak global cues.

Other successful IPOs in the first five months include state-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Future Capital Holdings, Anu Laboratories and Gammon Infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, a host of firms have filed their draft prospectus with market regulator SEBI recently for entering the capital market and experts believe the coming months may lead to improved situations in the primary Markets.

Around four draft offers have been filed by firms in May itself which include -- Adani Power, retail firm Gini and Jony, Infinite Computer Solutions and Triveni Infrastructure Development Company.

Besides, in April, six firms including Bharat Oman Refinery, Rites Ltd and VRL Logistics had filed their draft offers with the regulator.

Employment grows @ 2.78% in '98-05 period

Employment generation in the country has increased considerably in the eight-year period ending 2005 as compared to 1990-98, says Economic Census released by the government Thursday.

The employment grew at the rate of 2.78 per cent in 1998-2005, which is much higher than the 1.75 per cent recorded during 1990-98, the fifth Economic Census report said.

The report, compiled by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), said that Jammu and Kashmir emerged as the state with maximum employment growth of 6.82 per cent followed by Andhra Pradesh (5.87 per cent), Kerala (5.86 per cent) and Haryana (5.35 per cent).

The report further said, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh were the two main employment-providing states followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh provided maximum employment in the rural areas (13.14 per cent of the total rural employment), followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, UP, Kerala and Maharashtra.

Among the urban-employment providers, Maharashtra topped the list providing the maximum employment at 14.10 per cent of total urban employment.

Referring to the non-agricultural activities, the report observed that such activities in the rural areas were more compared to urban areas, evident by the fact that number of non-agricultural establishments in rural areas was 19.83 million as against 15.92 million in the urban areas.

In non-agricultural activities, the manufacturing sector scored the maximum with 25.48 million workers engaged in it.

This was followed by retail trade (25.14 million workers) and education (7.49 million workers).

Other major area of employment was farming of animals, which employed 9.2 million workers.

Also, the report observed, number of establishments grew significantly during the period. Rural areas showed a higher growth rate (5.37 per cent) compared to urban areas (3.69 per cent).

Pointing out that there was positive growth in all the states except Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands, the report said highest growth rate in establishments was marked in Mizoram, Tripura, Kerala and Tamil Nadu which grew above 8 per cent.

Interestingly, Delhi and Goa registered a negative growth rate in rural areas, while Bihar, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and A&N Islands saw a negative growth in urban areas, the report said.

Fuel price hike decision by May 31

A decision on raising retail fuel prices and partly compensating revenue losses of oil firms will be taken by Saturday, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday assessed the problems caused by the spike in crude prices.

"Hopefully, by day after tomorrow, we will have a solution," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters after a meeting with the Prime Minister and key ministers in New Delhi.

A meeting of the Cabinet, which was to have taken up the matter, has been postponed, he said.

Any hike in prices would be accompanied by a duty rejig to help state-run oil Companies curtail revenue losses that are pegged at Rs 225,000 crore for this fiscal on account of crude prices touching a record level in the global market.

"The Prime Minister and Finance Minister saw papers of revenue losses and the price increase in the international market. They realised very much that we need to help (PSU oil Companies) on a war-footing," Deora said.

Singh would also discuss the issue with Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Petroleum Minister said, adding that these decisions (price hike) were outside his jurisdiction.

The Petroleum Ministry has been pushing for a combination of duty cuts and price hike (Rs 10 per litre in petrol, Rs 5 a litre in diesel and Rs 50 per LPG cylinder) to bail out PSUs IOC, HPCL and BPCL that are on the verge of running out of cash in the next 2-3 months to import crude.

"Somethings have been agreed at today’s meeting, but I cannot say what the Cabinet will decide," Deora said after the meeting that was attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary T K Nair.

Mumbai world's 4th most expensive office mkt

India’s top two cities, Delhi and Mumbai, continue to be amongst the ten most expensive office Markets of the world in the league of other places like London, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris and Singapore.

According to a latest study by realty consultant CB Richard Ellis, Mumbai has been ranked 4th in the list of 50 most expensive office Markets, slipping from its last year’s second position. On the other hand, Delhi moved up a place to 7th from last year’s rankings.

"The drop is not due to rentals in Mumbai falling, but because of a significant increase in rentals in London and Moscow," CB Richard Ellis Chairman and Managing Director (South Asia) Anshuman Magazine said.

He said the positions of Mumbai and Delhi were still very high and was reflective of the tight supply of prime office space and of demand remaining constantly active.

London topped the list of most expensive office Markets, followed by Moscow and Tokyo. In May, the monthly rentals in Mumbai and New Delhi were recorded at 210.97 dollar per sq ft and 145.16 dollar per sq ft respectively. The rentals in London stood at 299.54 dollar a sq ft in a month, the consultant estimated.

Paris, Singapore and Dubai also found places in the list at 8th, 9th and 10th positions respectively.

Besides, Mumbai also found a berth at 8th place in the list of world’s top 50 fastest growing Markets in terms of occupancy costs with 40.7 per cent rise in the last one year.

The top three positions were held by Ho Chi Minh City (94.4 per cent), Moscow (92.7 per cent) and Singapore (86 per cent) respectively, CBRE said.

Bangalore and New Delhi were also included in the list with 22.6 per cent and 15.3 per cent increase in cost, which in turn placed the cities in 22nd and 45th positions, it added.

IOC Q4 net loss at Rs 414 cr

State-run Indian Oil Corp on Wednesday announced a standalone net loss of Rs 414.27 crore for the quarter ended March 31, against a net profit of Rs 1,502.69 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The total income of the company rose to Rs 71,792.82 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs 53,818.75 crore in the same period a year-ago, IOC said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company’s board has declared a dividend of 55 per cent for the year 2007-08. That is, for every share of face value Rs 10 the shareholder would get a dividend of Rs 5.50.

For the year ended March 31, 2008, IOC reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,912.74 crore, against a net profit of Rs 7,867.45 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income rose to Rs 2,32,558.62 crore in FY’08, from Rs 2,02,694 crore in the year-ago period.

IOC announced a standalone net profit of Rs 6,962.58 crore for FY’08, a 7.16 per cent decline over the previous fiscal. The firm had a net profit of Rs 7,499.47 crore in FY’07.

The total income rose to Rs 2,49,169.16 crore in FY’08, from Rs 2,17,533.82 crore in the year-ago period.

Shares of IOC closed at Rs 428, up 1.53 per cent on the BSE.

BCCI moves HC against Rediff's online game

The Madras High Court has ordered notice to Web portal Rediff.com and its owner Mr Sandeep Goyal, on a petition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), seeking the court to restrain the former from using the domain name indianfant asyleague.com, in an online cricket game in Rediff.com.

The BCCI moved the court yesterday praying for restraining the respondent from using the trademark or domain name Indian Fantasy League and a logo depicting a batsman playing a shot in the game, as they were deceptively similar to BCCI’s Indian Premier L eague (IPL) trademark and the logo.

Justice Mr M Sathiyanarayanan, before whom the case came up, posted to June 10, for further hearing in the case.

The BCCI also sought a direction to Mr Goyal and Rediff.com to render a true and faithful account of all profits earned by them by using the impugned trademark "IFL" as well as the logo, and claimed damages to the tune of Rs 10 lakh.

The cash-rich IPL has just entered its last stages, with all semifinalists being spotted with Chennai Super Kings’ win over Deccan Chargers last night. - PTI

6th Pay Commission: Arrears payment in instalment suggested

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) wants the Government to pay its employees in phased manner and deposit part of the estimated arrear of 18,000 crore in their Provident Fund while implementing the Sixth Pay panel report to m inimise its impact on inflation.

"Since the payment of arrears in cash could result in marginal rise in inflation rate due to spurt in demand for various products, EAC has said that the Government should consider depositing part of the arrears due to employees in provident fund and pay the remaining amount in a phased manner," official sources said.

The Council headed by noted economist and former Reserve Bank Governor, Dr C Rangarajan, is of the opinion that the payment of arrears in one go could result in further rise in prices, especially of manufactured goods and consumer products.

"The Government had paid the arrears in a phased manner while implementing the report of previous Pay Commissions, so it can consider it again," Dr Rangarajan had earlier told PTI.

The council, which advises Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh on important economic matters, had earlier said the inflation rate could come down to 5 to 5.5 per cent after about four months following good monsoon and measures taken by the Government.

Inflation, however, has already crossed 8 per cent mark, and the analysts fear that it could soon touch 10 per cent mark if the hike in international crude oil prices is partly passed on to the consumers. - PTI