Flying to foreign destinations to get more costly

NEW DELHI: Flying abroad this holiday season is set to bite into your budget more than you thought. Air India has increased the fuel surcharge of flights to North America and Europe by $20 (around Rs 1,100) for a one-way ticket and $40 (Rs 2,200) for a return ticket. Flights to Seoul, Bangkok andSingapore will pay $10 (Rs 550) and $20 (Rs 1,100) more for a one-way and return ticket, respectively. The new charge will be applicable on all tickets sold from Wednesday and other airlines are set to follow suit too.
"Airlines hike fuel surcharge in a staggered manner. AI has done it and others will follow suit. But the gap between the announcements may be more this time as Competition Commission of India chief Ashok Chawla is likely to meet Air Deccan founder G R Gopinath this week to see if the latter's complaint of airlines acting as a cartel and hiking fares simultaneously merits an inquiry," said a leading travel agent who did not wish to be identified.
The fuel surcharge hike comes at a time when fares are anyway high on the international side, which unlike domestic air traffic hasn't witnessed a slowdown. "Almost all international flights to and from India till January 15 are full and fares are very high because of the huge demand. For instance, Delhi-New York is around Rs 1 lakh in economy return at the moment while it usually costs Rs 70,000-80,000," said Anil Kalsi of the Society of Foreign Travel Operators (India chapter).

Ravi Grover

BCCI rejects fixing claims of India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal

NEW DELHI: The Indian Cricket board (BCCI) on Sunday refused to accept that the India-Pakistan World Cup semifinal match in 2011 was fixed saying such claims are an insult to Team India.

BCCI president N Srinivasan was reacting to a news published in a British newspaper which claimed that the semifinal game that India won was fixed.

"Such claims are an insult to our team," said Srinivasan.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper had published extracts of a book by sports-betting journalist Ed Hawkins in which he claimed an Indian bookmaker had accurately predicted what would happen in Pakistan's innings against their arch-rivals.

Hawkins said the bookmaker, Parthiv, sent him a Twitter message during the Indian innings correctly calling that when Pakistan batted, they would reach 100 easily then lose two wickets quickly, reach 150 with five down and lose by more than 20 run

HDFC, Jaypee Infra & Karnataka Bank top Tulsian's picks

Market analyst SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com, in his analysis of the day's stocks, explains to CNBC-TV18 that he is positive on Jaypee Infra on plans to monetise its large of tracts of land across Delhi. Tulsian is also positive on Karnataka Bank due to renewed buying and picks HDFCwhose warrants will lapse in August.

Below is an edited transcript of the analysis. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: What kind of targets would you set on both MCX and Financial Technologies ?

A: I think this is the time for profit-booking because in the morning the estimate was about Rs 810 for Financial Technologies. MCX has already seen a huge run up last week while Financial Technologies did not participate in the same proportion. So maybe the time has come to exit.

I won't advise investors to create long positions in Financial Technology because that is available in the F&O space. Courageous traders can take a short position on Financial Technologies of about Rs 800.

Regarding MCX, the time is ripe for profit-booking by short-term investors. They can look to enter maybe on a likely correction of Rs 60-75 in MCX in the next one week or so.

Q: Paper stocks have been quite active. AP Paper is up around 11% and is to announce results next week. Any paper stocks that you would recommend? What's keeping them so active?

A: I have always distanced myself from paper stocks as an investor.

But if you take a call on AP Paper, I don't think that it has anything to do with the announcement of results next week. The results for the last two quarters, after a change of management, have been very horrible and pathetic.

The main reason for this surge is on the buzz of delisting by promoter International Paper who holds a 75% stake. A probable delisting of the stock could trigger the stock to move up. The surge in the stock was also due to accumulation for the last one week.

Regarding West Coast Paper , which was up 6%, there are continuous news reports of a possible sale of stake by the promoters. But I don't think that these news reports are of any relevance because the occurrence of the sale of stake has been denied by the management.

So it is risky to trade in AP Paper and West Coast Paper. It is better to avoid both at the current level.

Q: Jaypee Infra moved up quite well today on talks that the Yamuna Expressway will finally see the light of day by July 17 -18. How much of a run-up do you expect to see in the stock?

A: I am taking this as a very big positive for the stock. The focus should not be on the 165 KM expressway which might yield revenue of Rs 200-250 crore.

The big trigger will be monetisation or increase in the value of the land which the company holds in five tranches of 1,235 acres each with a tranche in Greater Noida, two tranches in Gautam Buddha Nagar, one at Aligargh and one in Agra.

Analysts thumbs down Infosys results; will TCS march ahead?

"From bad to worse" is how Kotak Instutional Equities summed up the disappointing results announcement of Infosys  . The India's second largest software services exporter had missed expectations on several parameters -- First quarter net profit  rose lower-than-expected 33% year-on-year (down 1% sequentially) to Rs 2,289 crore, while revenue was barely in-line at Rs 9,616 crore, up 29% (up 9% quarter-on-quarter).

Analysts on average were expecting Infosys to report a net profit of Rs 2,448 crore on revenue of Rs 9,665 crore.

For the last quarter, its EBIT margin was down to 28% from 29.9% in Jan-March, with clearly some pressure on pricing.

The biggest surprise, though was on the sharp cut in US dollar revenue guidance for the full year.

Majority of analysts had expected Infosys would reduce its FY13 dollar revenues guidance to 6-8% or 7-9% as against earlier forecast of 8-10%.

However, it forecast just 5% growth in USD revenue for the full year, at least USD 7.34 billion this year.

"Infosys missed guidance for the second consecutive quarter and is reflective of poor execution in addition to weak external environment. Credibility of guidance (whatever little was remaining) has been shattered with multiple cuts," said Kotak Instiutional Equities.

In another surprise, Infosys for the first time refused to provide guidance for the second quarter, citing an unclear client spend environment and uncertainties in key markets of US and Europe.

"Poor set of results both quantitatively and qualitatively. We are surprised by 3.5% pricing decline on reported basis. Moreover we belive the decline in pricing is tied to the sharp decline of 5% in fixed price projects and consulting and systems integration also declining by 5%. Further Infosys decision to stop providing quarterly guidance (after a series miss) is also discomforting.," said Spark Capital Advisors.

Infosys had missed its quarterly guidance in six of the last seven quarters, which may have prompted them to refrain from giving any forecast for the July-September quarter, said Viju George of JP Morgan.

"We are disappointed with the revenue outlook, it says atleast 5% but in light of the Q1 performance it seems that even this might be bit of a challenge. So, we will not be surprised if Infosys comes in below that for the year. It's been a difficult time," George told CNBC-TV18, adding the securities firm is likely to revise its estimates downwards.

Other brokerages like Citigroup and Religare also echoed similar disappointment on the company's earnings and guidance cut.

Meanwhile, Infosys' rival and India's top IT company Tata Consultancy Services  will also report its first quarter earnings today post market hours. TCS has outperformed Infosys over the last few quarters and with Infosys failing to meet expectations yet again, the gap between the two could widen further.

Analysts on average expect TCS' profit after tax to grow 11% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 3,250 crore while revenue is seen up by 12% to Rs 14,806 crore.

"if TCS comes out today and maybe even meets expectations...I think you will see money flow towards TCS and probably even increase in the valuation premium," said George of JP Morgan.

"We don't follow TCS but obviously in our view TCS continues to do remarkably well in this difficult environment," said Moshe Katri, MD of Cowen & Co.

While Infosys has struggled some of its rivals have done relatively well, despite the uncertain environment. Accenture last month had reported strong growth. TCS too, at the end of the fourth quarter, at least, had sounded much more positive.

"Going into Q1 I feel much better than what I felt going into Q4...I had commented in January that the discretionary spend is likely to pick-up momentum only a bit later. I think it is beginning to happen. It's eased. We are seeing the projects kicking off. We are seeing the ramp ups," TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran had said post fourth quarter results in April.

So now with the Infosys disappointment behind, investors will be keenly having their eyes and ears pinned on the commentry from the Tata group company.

Infosys shares crashed 10% post the results announcement and at 12:30 hrs, the stock was still down 9% at Rs 2,249.85. TCS shares were down 2.2% at Rs 1,231.30.

As of Wednesday's close, Infosys shares have slipped over 13% so far this financial year, while TCS shares have gained 8% in that period.

Poetry By me

Koi ghazal suna ker kya Karna?
Yoon baat barrha ker kya Karna..?
Tum mere the
Tum mere ho,
Duniya ko bata kar kya Karna..?
Tum ehad nibhao chaahat Say,
Koi rasam nibha kar kya Karna..?
Tum khafa bhi achay Lagtay ho,
Phir Tum ko mana kar Kya karna.

Formula One's success has brought everyone on board

Matching popularity

It was also a harbinger of the fact that motorsport could finally aspire to reach levels of awareness that cricket enjoys in our country - making people sit up and take notice instead of thinking that it is just cars going round in circles.

Racing had become the pulse of the nation during the GP week and it is possible to carry forward that momentum to ensure that motorsport at all levels reaps benefits even after the F1 circus has departed the country.

Even before the chequered flag came down for the Indian GP, it was apparent that the corporate world - everyone from car-makers to apparel companies and even the media - wanted a piece of Formula 1.

It was certainly a good sign, with announcements from car manufacturers, portraying themselves as performance and motorsport-oriented companies, quickly following.

Corporate involvement

Even Hero Motors, who are comparatively new to the world of motorsport following their association with me, have shown further affinity to the sport by bringing in carbon-fibre technology to bicycles.

Mahindra's involvement in MotoGP is well-known and now they have stepped things up a notch by taking development of young Indian riders, good for MotoGP, onto themselves.

These manufacturer-backed racing series will give aspiring racers a chance to see if they have what it takes to perform at a higher level, and help them assess their level of talent, capability and commitment to take up racing as a profession without going into uncharted waters and spending a fortune competing abroad - as was the case when I started out.

Those who perform well in these championships will definitely have further incentive as the manufacturer may choose them to move up the ladder, as almost all carmakers have some involvement in racing at higher levels. So, it is a win-win situation for everyone.

This is extremely critical as, till now, there was no definite progression ladder for a racer to look at and it was more a case of 'take it as it comes'.

But now, with a clear target ahead, the motivation for drivers to push from the get-go will be much higher. That is something which we need to imbibe if we wish to produce world-class drivers.

Track side

However, there is another factor, in addition to success and visibility garnered by the Indian GP, which may have lured these companies into investing in motorsport.

It is the infrastructure, which comes in the form of the Buddh International Circuit.

Our previous two racetracks, in Chennai and Coimbatore, have been great breeding grounds for our racers, including me.

However, corporates prefer working in more sterile and accessible facilities. So, the Buddh Circuit is tailor-made for them, since a venue, which is good enough for Formula 1, should be good enough for anybody.

Apart from these corporate ventures, there is a private effort that deserves a mention as well.

Although a lot has been written and speculated about the prospect of my association with the i1 Super Series, it isn't within the scope of this context.

Chance to learn

The fact is, i1 organisers definitely deserve credit for what they have achieved so far - bringing in some of the most famous names in the history of the sport and mixing them up with Indian talent.

We'll have to wait and see how things turn out once the opening season is past, but for the young drivers, competing against world-class drivers of known quality, it can be a great measure of their own potential and should give them a chance to learn from some of the best in the business.

Rupee ends first week of 2012 on positive note

Breaking straight four weeks of losing string, the Indian rupee rebounded by 39 paise to close the first week of 2012 on a positive note at 52.71/72 against the Greenback in line with smart bounce back in local equities amid sustained dollar selling by exporters and some banks.

Heavy

foreign funds inflows, mainly in debt, as well as equity markets too aided the rupee recovery.

The rupee resumed lower at 53.30/31 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market against the last weekend's level of 53.10/11 per dollar and hovered erratically in a range of 52.62 per dollar and 53.40 per dollar, before ending at 52.71/72 per dollar, a gain of 0.73%.

In the last four weeks, the rupee has fallen by a massive 190 paise, or 3.71%.

Fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters on the back of capital inflows from foreign funds mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

According to the data available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), foreign institutional investors (FIIs) infused over $1 billion in debt markets and pumped in $190 million in equities till January 5.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) Pvt. Ltd said, "Rupee dominated greenback as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were buying in Indian debt market."

"The Dollar index, which tracks its performance against a basket of major currencies, traded bullishly most of the week as Euro, GBP, Yen and other currencies traded weak against the greenback simultaneously.

"It hit a one-year high against a basket of currencies and the euro fell to a 16-month low against the Dollar and sterling as worries about the euro zone's fiscal stability persisted," he added.

In the year 2011, rupee has crashed by Rs 8.4, or 18.79%.

Forex dealers said increased demand for the dollar from importers and concerns over the widening fiscal deficit mainly weighed on the rupee sentiment in last few weeks.

The rupee had touched an all-time low of 54.32 on December 15, 2011, after which the central bank imposed curbs on bank's trading limits to keep down the speculation on the currency.

"The current currency market is completely driven by FII inflows and hence the upside movement in the local unit is temporary as there is no fundamental news driving the movement," Abhishek Goenka, CEO, India Forex Advisors said.

Meanwhile, food inflation entered negative zone at -3.36% for the week ended December 24 against 0.42% in the last week, a good sign for the Indian economy, indicating a reversal in the interest rate cycle.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for US dollar and Euro at Rs 52.7838 and Rs 67.4618 from Rs 53.2660 and Rs 68.9005 last weekend, respectively.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar payable in June ended weak at 150-152 paise fro last weekend's close of 162-164 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in December also settled lower at 250-252 paise from 266-268 paise.

The rupee improved further against the Pound Sterling to end the week at Rs 81.77/79 from Rs 82.04/06 in the preceding weekend and also shot up further to close the week at Rs 67.43/45 per euro from last weekend's level of Rs 68.74/76.

It, however, recovered against the Japanese yen to settle the week at Rs 68.33/35 per 100 yen from Rs 68.64/66.

Stocks: The BSE benchmark Sensex settled the first week of the 2012 on an optimistic note, recovering sharply by nearly 394 points to close at 15,848.80 on sustained buying by foreign funds amid some positive developments at home.

Buying was strong and 12 out of 13 sectoral indices closed in the green, while only BSE-FMCG ended with minor losses. Capital goods, PSUs, banking and metal segments were at the forefront of the rally.

The government last week decided to allow Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) to directly invest in the Indian market from January 15, to attract more foreign funds against the backdrop of significant foreign capital outflows.

Reserve Bank governor D Subbarao also indicated that it may start lowering lending rates on concerns about economic growth.

Food inflation also entered the negative zone at -3.36% for the week ended December 24.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that low inflation and likely reversal of tight monetary policy would boost economic growth prospects.

The government on Friday also stated that it may notify 100% FDI in single-brand in retail segment.

All these positive factors supported the market to close in positive terrain.

The BSE 30-share barometer commenced the new year on a strong note at 15,534.67 against last weekend's close of 15,454.92 and moved in a range of 16,004.69 and 15,358.02, before concluding the week at 15,848.80, a net gain of 393.88 points, or 2.55%.

The NSE broader 50-issue Nifty also flared up by 122.60 points, or 2.65%, to settle the week at 4,746.90.

Last couple of the days of the week saw some selling at the fag end on concerns over the deepening euro-zone problems, showing some hesitancy in the market.

Expectations of a weak Q3 results from some key corporates due to slowdown in economic growth, higher interest rates and input costs also affected the sentiment.

Most of the global markets displayed narrowly mixed trend during the week following Christmas holiday mood.

From the Sensex pack, L&T spurted by 8.68%, Coal India (6.30%), Tata Power (5.39%), Cipla (5.09%), HDFC Bank (5.63%), ICICI Bank (8.89%), BHEL (4.87%), Sterlite Ind (5.30%), Tata Steel (8.22%), RIL (3.15%), Maruti Suzuki (3.77%), Jindal Steel (2.86%), HDFC (2.86%), Infosys Tech (2.62%) and SBI (3.10%).

However, Bajaj Auto dropped by 9.09%), Hero MoroCorp (9.21%), M&M (4.22%), Bharti Airtel (3.50%), DLF (3.52%) and NTPC (2.15%).

Among sectoral indices, BSE-CG jumped by 6.22%, BSE-PSU by 6.18%, Bankex by 6.02% and BSE-Metal by 5.37%.

Total turnover for the week on the BSE and NSE was at Rs 9,684.70 crore and Rs 43,220.19 crore, including figures of special trading on the Saturday.

The National Stock Exchange conducted a special trading session on January 7 for upgrading its futures and options trading infrastructure to improve the processing capability.

To maintain uniformity in trading timetable, the BSE also conducted the special trading session.

Oils and Oilseeds: Edible oils firmed up in the first week of 2012 at the oils and oilseeds market on good demand from retailers and stockists amid restricted arrivals from producing centres.

A firming trend in overseas markets mainly supported the uptrend in edible oil prices.

Meanwhile, castorseeds bold and castoroil commercial dropped further due to lack of enquiries from shippers and soap manufacturers.

Also, reduced demand from industrial users, heavy offloading by stockists and traders led to a fall in prices.

Castorseeds futures edged up owing to renewed export orders.

Linseed oil, however, continued to rule steady in the absence of market moving factors.

In the edible oils section, groundnut oil resumed higher at Rs 1,000 and improved further to all-time high of Rs 1,020, before finishing at Rs 1,015 from preceding weekend's level of Rs 995, showing a smart rise of Rs 20 per 10 kg.

Refined palmolein opened higher at Rs 605 and firmed up further to Rs 613 before ending at Rs 605 from last weekend's level of Rs 601, showing a gain of Rs 4 per 10 kg.

Turning to the non-edible section, castorseeds bold resumed higher at Rs 4,000, but later reacted downwards to close to Rs 3,850 from previous weekend's level of Rs 3,940, disclosing a sharp fall of Rs 90 per 100 kgs.

Castor oil commercial opened at Rs 830, but later dropped to finish at Rs 800 from preceding weekend's level of Rs 818, showing a loss of Rs 18 per 10 kg.

Linseed oil closed unchanged at Rs 860 per 10 kg.

Moving to the futures section, castorseeds for March delivery resumed higher at Rs 3,700 and moved in a range of Rs 3,795 and Rs 3,670, before finishing at Rs 3,690, against last Saturday's closing level of Rs 3,683, showing a modest gain of Rs 7 per tonne.

Bullion: Gold and silver recovered smartly at the bullion market during the week under review.

The yellow metal made a smart comeback this week on renewed buying interest at lower levels and heavy stockists as well as investors offtake well supported by bullish global cues, the fag-end saw a nominal profit-selling.

Silver rebounded after the four-week fall on frantic speculative buying activity amid good industrial backing, though the gains were reduced due to profit-taking on couple of trading session.

On the global front, the precious metals regained the momentum after the extended New Year holidays on renewed safe haven buying mostly on lower dollar amid heightened Iran-US tension, although the positive US economic data kept the prices under pressure and fag-end rebound in dollar resulted profit-taking by the investors.

In New York, gold for February delivery recouped to $1,616.80 an ounce as against previous weekend's level of $1,566.88.

Silver for March delivery rose to $28.68 an ounce as compared to previous weekend's level of $27.92.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed slightly higher at Rs 27,205 and surged to an high Rs 27,835 before closing at Rs 27,700 from preceding weekend's level of Rs 27,190, showing a good gain of Rs 510, or 1.88%, per 10 grams.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) opened higher at Rs 27,335 and rallied further to Rs 27,960, before ending at Rs 27,830 over its previous close of Rs 27,330, showing a rise of Rs 500, or 1.83%, per 10 grams.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) started firm at Rs 51,090 and advanced further to Rs 52,740, before finishing at Rs 51,865 from last Saturday's closing level of Rs 50,970, disclosing a smart gain of Rs 895 or 1.76% per kg.

Fund misappropriation probe against Kiran Bedi on: Police

Probe against former IPS officer Kiran Bedi for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for her NGOs and inflated air tickets are in progress and efforts are on to finalise the investigation at the earliest, the Delhi Police told a court in New Delhi.

"The investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to finalise the investigation at the earliest," the police said in its status report submitted before additional chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal.

The report stated that several documents have been received in response to summons to produce document issued to both Microsoft and Vedanta Foundation several documents.

The police stated that summons were issued to Fly Well Travels for production of documents and details of air tickets purchased by Bedi, but it(the travels) sought more time to provide the details.

The report said, "Fly Well Travels has been located and notice under section 191 CrPC has been served upon it to produce the details of air tickets procured by Kiran Bedi either in her individual capacity or as chief of IVF.

"They were also asked to provide the details of tickets purchased with concession of gallantry medal. They have sought some time to prove the details."

It said Ravi Venkatesan, the then chairman of Microsoft and Jay Motwani, its then manager accounts, have been located as residing in Bangalore and Hyderabad respectively.

"Both have been located and contacted over phone. They will be examined in due course," it said.

It further stated "the CEO of Vedanta Foundation T Ravi Krishnan is in Mumbai who has been requested to join the investigation and will be examined in due course of investigation".

It further said a television news channel has provided the VCD of news broadcasted on November 18, 2011, however, the channel's reply on details of students who had complained against the Bedi-run Navjyoti Community College are still awaited.