25th October - THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Rohit Singh
Sahil Mahajan
Samir Halder
Section - E

MARKETS
Satyam back on track under new management
Following the restatement of its results for the past two years, Mahindra Satyam is back on track under the new management. The company has started winning new projects across various IT services domains in the multi-year category, which reflects that it is successful in winning back clients’ confidence. Going ahead, the new management is expected to merge its operations with Tech Mahindra, which offers solutions to telecom vertical. This would help in creating a stronger IT solutions company with global footprint across major verticals. Satyam’s current operations are generating cash flows. The company has over 350 active clients and 27,400 employees. Though these numbers are much lower than 617 clients and 46,000 employees reported by the previous management, they reflect that the company is still able to retain a major chunk of its operations despite the accounting fiasco.

Sensex above 20400; Hindalco, Cipla, TCS, HDFC up
MUMBAI: Benchmarks gained momentum as investors took positions across the board on the back of positive earnings season and gains in Asian markets. At 11 am; Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 20424.68, up 258.82 points or 1.28 per cent. The index touched a high of 20448.59 and low of 20199.73. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 6136.55, up 70.5 points or 1.16 per cent. The index touched high of 6151.30 and low of 6094.60. The market has clearly entered a range trade between 6284-5965 in the short-term. Nifty needs to break the range between 5965 – 6165 to get back into a directional trend. Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index gained 1.67 per cent, BSE Bankex advanced 1.22 per cent and BSE Oil&gas Index moved 1.13 per cent higher. Sensex gainers included Hindalco (3.42%), Cipla (2.71%), Sterlite Industries(2.23%), TCS (1.99%) and HDFC (1.88%) .Wipro (-2.54%) and Hero Honda (-0.23%) were the only index losers.

NEWS -

Asia car makers set for rosy earnings on brisk demand
Asia's top automakers including Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor Co will likely post big jumps in quarterly earnings thanks to better-than-expected global car demand and further cost cuts. "Global auto demand was surprisingly good," said Kurt Sanger, auto analyst at Deutsche Securities in Tokyo. "There were concerns that we would be flat to negative, but July-September saw 4-5 per cent global growth in a quarter that people expected no growth." Vehicle sales exceeded expectations in Japan and the rest of Asia, while they were in line in the United States and Europe, Goldman Sachs analyst Kota Yuzawa said.


Japan, India to sign trade, investment deal
The leaders of Japan and India were set to sign a broad economic partnership agreement on Monday, seeking to slash import taxes on a range of goods from auto parts to bonsai plants and boost investment between the two major Asian economies. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , during his three-day visit to Japan, is also pushing for a civil nuclear energy deal with Japan, which has created a dilemma for Tokyo because of India's past atomic tests.PM Singh called a civil nuclear pact, which would enable Japanese companies to export nuclear power generation technology and related equipment to India, a ``win-win proposition'' for both sides, according to Kyodo News agency. Japan will also improve market access on most products in the industrial sector, as well as several agricultural products such as durian, curry, tea leaves, lumber, shrimp and shrimp products. While,India will improve Japan's market access in auto parts, steel panels, and other industrial materials, as well as DVD players, video cameras and industrial machinery. The country will also allow greater access to miniature ``bonsai'' trees, as well as Japanese yam, peach, strawberries and persimmons.

INDUSTRY
Emaar sees no impact from penalty imposed by India
Dubai-based Emaar Properties said it would not be affected by a penalty by Indian authorities, after New Delhi said it would penalise the firm for delays and defects in the constructon of the Commonwealth Games village . "The encashment of the guarantee has no direct impact on Emaar as the guarantee has been issued through the facilities available to the company in India ," said the statement. The $230 million athletes village, built over 63.5 hectares, had come under criticism because of its shoddy construction and was delayed by several months. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had contracted Emaar MGF, the Indian joint venture of the firm, to build the village. DDA were yet to calculate the penalty. The amount would be deducted from an about Rs 2 billion ($44.88 million) bank guarantee given by the developer, she said. Emaar said the Games Village was built to the highest standards of quality and design.

Air Force manual describes shadowy cyberwar world
A new Air Force manual for cyberwarfare describes a shadowy, fast-changing world where anonymous enemies can carry out devastating attacks in seconds and where conventional ideas about time and space don't apply. Enemies can cloak their identities and hide their attacks amid the cascade of data flowing across international computer networks, it warns. Relentless attackers are trying to hack into home and office networks in the U.S. ``millions of times a day, 24/7.''And operating in cyberspace ``may require abandoning common assumptions concerning time and space'' because attacks can come from anywhere and take only seconds, the manual says.



INFOTECH

Spice Mobile launches India's first 3D phone at Rs 4,299
Here is the great news for them who want to buy mobile in the coming days as Spice mobile had announced to launch the India’s first 3D phone in Indian market from April/June 2010 according to IDC. Also they are looking forward to sell 38.63 million handsets in the coming period of time.
"With growing popularity of 3D content and devices, this is one segment we wanted to tap. We have created this new device for people looking for smart mobile phones," Spice Mobility vice president (Marketing) Naveen Paul said.

Wipro admits to performing lower than TCS
India's third largest IT bellwether Wipro Ltd on Friday admitted that its performance during the second quarter (July-Sept) of this fiscal was lower than industry peers TCS and Infosys Technologies sequentially and annually.A day after India's numerouso Tata Consulting Service (TCS) reported a record 11 per cent volume growth on second quarter and 7.2 per cent by Infosys Technologies a week ago, Wipro reported 6.6 per cent only.
Wipro's net profit at Rs 1,285 crore (Rs 12.85 billion) is 10 per cent higher YoY but 2.7 per cent lower sequentially from Rs 1,319 crore (Rs 13.19 billion) in first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal.The company added 2,975 employees during the quarter for IT services business, taking the total headcount to 115,900 from 112,925 at the end of first quarter and 97,891 year ago.

Using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube 'refreshes deskbound employees'
A new Melbourne University research has concluded that Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, as well as music and online video sites like YouTube, are the most productive ways employees can relax at work.
There is also uncertainty, according to the ACTU and human resource experts, as to what constitutes an acceptable Internet site for recreational surfing at work.Brent Coker, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Melbourne who carried out the research, said it was an extension of his findings last year that people who surf the internet for fun - for less than 20 per cent of their work time - were 9 per cent more productive than those who don't. The research was based on a sample of 300 workers with access to the Internet at work.
Apple set to revolutionize TV?
Apple has planned to launch The new Apple TV is tiny - not much bigger than iPhone - and costs just 99 pounds. Its exterior temperature is also far less alarming.The hard drive has been stripped out. To use, it's as simple as a set-top box, with Internet radio, films and your home PC video libraries popping up from a single menu. You just rent, picking from an excellent library of films for 3.49 pounds a go, reports the Daily Mail.You can also watch YouTube, although typing via a remote is an unbearable fiddle that leaves co-viewers fidgeting. Whatever you're watching, though, is colorful and clear - although it's 720p, not Full HD.And it's far better controlling it using an iPhone app than the finicky metal remote.

You could face a net blackout in emergencies
After a series of recent meetings on cyber security held at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) at South Block, all government departments have been asked to jointly work on developing technologies and also invest in enhancing R&D capabilities to enhance the Centre’s control on internet services within the country, officials aware of the development told ET.these steps are aimed at protecting Indian infrastructure from cyber-attacks, but analysts fear that this may lead to greater government controls over the internet as in China.The possibility of the Centre taking charge of the internet during emergencies and cyber wars was discussed at a recent meeting at the PMO, chaired by the National Security Advisor, ShivshankarMenon, with representatives from all intelligence agencies and key department such as IT, telecom, atomic energy, defense and space.
In a distributed denial of service attack, many computers attack on the same server, millions of times in a second. This makes it difficult for a firewall to block a particular IP address since millions of other IP addresses are attacking at the same time. However, switching off the internet might bring some relief temporarily to a country, till vulnerabilities are fixed.

Finance
Retail investors to be allowed Rs 2 lakh in IPO
Retail investors will get to double their bets on initial public offerings as the market regulator is set to raise the limit to Rs 2 lakh, the first revision in five years. And thisproposal had been approved by the board of the Securities & Exchange Board of India on Monday.Some say the hike will enrich the wealthy more than the middle class if it is done without an increase in the overall allocation for the retail segment, which is capped at 35%.
The rate of inflation has more than doubled to 12% in the past five years, according to a SEBI discussion paper, which suggested that hiking the retail limit might be in order. In case of public issues done on a book-building basis, the rules now in place mandate that 35% of the offering should be allotted to retail investors, 15% to non-institutional investors and the remaining 50% to institutions.

Credit appraisal determines your loan eligibility
Acredit appraisal is an important part of determining the eligibility for a home loan, and the quantum of the loan.Each bank has its own criteria to satisfy itself on the credit worthiness of the borrower. The eligibility for the loan that a person can get depends on his credit worthiness, determined in terms of the norms and standards of the bank.Being a crucial step in the loan process, a borrower needs to be careful in planning his financing modes. The credit worthiness, basically, assures the repayment capacity of the borrower - whether the borrower is capable of repaying the loan and dues on time.