Air India May Shed 7,000 Jobs as Workers Retire, Union Says

July 29, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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National Aviation Co. of India Ltd., the state-owned parent of Air India, may shed as many as 7,000 jobs through retirements over the next three years as it seeks its first profit, according to the company’s biggest union.

National Aviation’s board is due to discuss a restructuring plan on July 25 and paring some of the more than 30,000 workers may help in meeting a government-set cost-cutting target. The company has been unprofitable cialis erectile dysfunction every year since its formation in 2007 as it struggles to combine two carriers and loses customers to Jet Airways (India) Ltd. acomplia canadian pharmacies and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

About half of National Aviation’s workforce will reach the retirement age of 60 years old, over the next five years, said Abraham, who will address the July 25 board meeting. The union has a “progressive” attitude toward restructuring, he said  Internationally focused Air India was combined with domestic carrier Indian Airlines to form the company about three years ago.

Ground-handling Venture

National Aviation plans to transfer as many as 3,000 ground-handling staff to a newly formed venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services Ltd. to pare costs.The company had total debts of 152 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) as of June last year, according to the government. On July 14, it extended the deadline for banks to bid on the refinancing of $1.15 billion of debt.

National Aviation has a 17 percent share of India’s domestic air-travel market, trailing Jet and Kingfisher, according to the aviation ministry.The company received 8 billion rupees in the form of new equity from the government last fiscal year. A further 12 billion rupees was also set aside for the airline operator in the budget for the current year, according to the ministry of civil aviation.

The government has said that National Aviation must cut costs by 15 billion rupees and boost sales by 12 billion rupees before it will consider injecting more funds into the company.

Source:[Business week]

A guage of Organized Crime in the Satyam Case

July 29, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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Ramalinga Raju and his family pocketed Rs 2,743 crore from the Satyam Computers fraud while stakeholders of the company lost a whopping Rs 14.162 crore, CBI sources have revealed.J L Negi, a RBI general manager on deputation to the CBI, said that the CBI used forensic accounting tools to detect evidence of the fraud.

The CBI  discovered that  manual entries were incorporated to  facilitate fraudulent sales. Fake transacations were made using computers that could not be tracked. These fictious invoices were generated by a set of few people who were paid off by the promoter.63 invoices valued at Rs. 430.66 crore were raised. Rs. 31.18 crore was booked as exchange profit by the company on account of these fictitious sales
Orders flew in from  non –existing companies  like  Mobitel, Cellnet, E –care, Synony, Northsea, Autotech and Hargreaves. Fictitious domains   were created in rediffmail  to show as if it originated from these customers.  63  fake invoices valuing Rs. 430.66 crore were raised and  31.18 crore was booked as exchange profit by the company  as  sales during the fraud period.

The directors, sponsored  by Raju, got  stock options at Rs. 2 against the market price of best cialis Rs. 500 and acted as  rubber stamps  with not even a single instance of dissent recorded .

In 1991, the promoters held 18.78% shares ,while  as on December 2008, the  promoters  share holding was  only  2.18% . Shares were sold through various brokers and  benami transactions  and amount received by the promoters was Rs. 767.73 crore .The promoters received dividend to the extent of Rs. 27.08 crore for the year 2007- 08  and 2008 – 09  where  the actual profit after adjustment of fake revenue was Rs. 176.12 crore in 2007-08 and 269.16 crore in 2008-09.  As per Company Law section 205, the promoters were not eligible to get the dividend .
The promoters acquired  6000 acres of land  floating 327 front companies  with most of them having Raju’s  gardener, cook  and domestic helps on  board of directors.  A consolidated   935  properties on 5757.30  acres of land worth Rs. 3454.91 crore  were acquired by the Raju’s during the fraud period. Land purchase spanned over  Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bangalore and Nagpur

On the basis of false and fabricated board resolutions the company had availed short term loans and advances of  1493.84 crore  from HDFC, HSBC, Citi Bank,  BNP Paribas,  ICICI Bank, Fincity/Higrace and Elem Investments Pvt. Ltd. The loan amount  was   raised against promoters shares  and used to pay salaries, acquisitions , payments and  dividends.  Interest of 37.62 crore against loans  was paid and  majority of loans were  not shown in the account books .An equivalent amount was shown as amount being transferred from the accounts maintained at BOB New York. The fictitious sales were reported  as realised and shown as deposited in the account of the company maintained with BOB, New York

The CBI  revealed that minimum protocols were not followed by the auditors . V.P.S. Gupta  the Chief Auditor was given stock option to  off-load  the shares and received Rs. 5.30 crore.

Against an actual bank balance of  Rs  139.78 crore  the company showed a balance of Rs 5160 .34  crore .The company  had  accounts with 36 banks in India and 7 banks overseas. The certificate shown to the auditors did not carry details of Fixed Deposit Number buy cheap generic acomplia .  Accrued interest  of Rs 375.53 crore on fictitious FDRs was  shown against an  actual interest of  7.42 lakh .

37 of Raju’s companies had given advances  amounting to Rs. 1425 crore to Satyam . Of  this ,  only Rs 194.60 crore has been  returned back to 15 companies . The company  claimed  false overseas tax payments amounting to Rs  329.59 crore  to claim deductions in India.

Raju and his associates now face  the following  charges  under various sections of IPC :
120-B   Criminal conspiracy to commit an offence read with-
409  -    Criminal breach of trust
420  -    Cheating
467  -    Forgery of a valuable security
468 -     Forgery for the purpose of cheating
471-      Using as genuine a forged documents which is known to be forged
477-A   Falsification of accounts
A team of 25 officers and another 40 investigators filed the chargesheet in benchmark  45 days  Negi said ,and added “there will be one more chargesheet in this case apart from the supplementary chargesheet that has already been filed. The agencies including the Enforcement Directorate  , are working on the properties that need to be attached  under Prevention of   Money Laundering   Act.  This includes those purchased with the proceeds of the crime.

Source:[Governance now]

Catch-22 situation for ITC

July 29, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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Not many companies have the luxury of being a monopoly (Despite the pricing in Cigarettes) in a sector in which most direct forms of advertising are banned. ITC is one such company. For the quarter ending June 30, 2010, the net profit of ITC went up by 21.8% to Rs 1,070.3 crore. This increase in profit was on the back of the operating profits (or the earnings before interest and taxes) of the cigarette business going up by 16% to Rs 1,305 crore. The operating profits of other divisions like hotels, paper and agri business also went up significantly to contribute to the overall cialis generic best price increase in profits.

With diversification into other areas of businesses and right timing with it: agri business, foods, soaps and detergents big time.This meant an operating margin of 9.1%.The foods, soaps and detergents business of ITC, which forms a major part of the non-FMCG cigarette business, continues to lose money. For the June quarter, the non FMCG business lost Rs 89.25 crore, down from Rs 99.77 crore during the same period last year  .

For this quarter, the cigarette business brought only 42.5% of the total net revenue, in comparison to 46.2% during the same period last year.Given ITC’s near monopoly in the cigarette business in India, the kind of margins it enjoys are mind-boggling. The operating margin for rimonabant sale the cigarette business during the quarter stood at 52.5%. Now compare that to the 9 odd percent margin enjoyed by the agri business.

This means all the cash being thrown by the cigarette business is being deployed at extremely low margins to build newer businesses. Over the years there has been talk of bidi smokers migrating to cigarette smoking, and now there is talk about more women starting to smoke as the economy progresses.

Whether that happens, remains to be seen. In the meanwhile, it’s a real catch 22 situation for the company.

Source:[dna India]

Good Show in Past no guarantee against future Global Crisis

July 7, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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Emerging market economies (EMEs) like China and India might not have been affected much during the recent global financial crisis due to a number of reasons, but in the period ahead, their trade and financial integration with advanced markets is expected to grow further. Thus, such strong showing in the face of external shocks is unlikely to be guaranteed in the future, cautioned the Reserve Bank of India’s ‘Report on Currency and Finance’, released on Thursday.

If such a crisis repeats itself, it would be   challenging for emerging and developing countries to gradually put in place an effective social security system. The report further cautioned that the Indian economy is vulnerable to external demand shocks, with a large impact on output and employment. Empirical evidence suggests that with high global growth, the pull factor operating on India’s exports could be sizeable. Research suggests that 42 % of the manufacturing exports are accounted for by employment intensive sectors like leather and manufactures, textile and textile products, gems and jewellery and handicrafts.

The most direct impact of the global commodity cycle on the economy comes through the prices of primary commodities which can be disastrous for acomplia effects side the poor during such a crisis. It is thus most important that the Government develop an effective cialis 5 mg daily social security system at the earliest.

Source: [Financial Express]

Exports growth better than Imports growth in May

June 23, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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The Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, told reporters, “There is some degree of recovery on the export front. But don’t get carried away by the numbers as the growth is driven by a strong base effect. It is not the time to pop the champagne as exports are not yet out of the woods.”

India’s exports remained positive for the seventh successive month though the growth in May was lower than that in the same month last year. Following the global financial crisis in 2008, exports had fallen for 13 consecutive months, before turning positive in November 2009.  Improving demand in western markets propelled exports to grow by 35% in May discount acomplia to $16.1 billion while propecia for baldness imports grew by 30.8% to $27.4 billion, resulting in a trade deficient of $11.3 billion. “The good news is that labour intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery and leather are doing well. But readymade garments has shown negative growth (-7 per cent growth),” Dr Khullar said. He said the increase in oil exports was due to the growing refining capacity and increasing external demand. Dr Khullar said a sector-wise analysis is on to find out the sub-sectors doing well and those that are not. The Government has set an export target of $200 billion for this fiscal year.

Analysts and senior government officials feel that the European crisis may not affect exports as much it did during the slowdown. India’s chief statistician, Dr Pronab Sen remarked, “What will affect us is the slowdown in international demand. If international trade comes down, it’ll impact us, but the effect won’t be too large.”

Source: [The Hindu Business Line]

Mukesh Ambani addresses shareholders

June 23, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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“Ahead of India are the best ever years in our country’s history. India is set to become the fastest growing economy within the coming few years. And Reliance is well-placed to be at the vanguard of India’s epic leap forward.” said Mr. Mukesh Ambani , chairman, Reliance Industries in his annual address to shareholders.

“It took three decades for Reliance to create an enterprise value of over $80 billion – that is, over Rs. 370,000 crore. However, I feel hopeful and confident that Reliance can accomplish value creation of a similar magnitude in less than a decade.” he said while talking about the company’s future.  During his address he covered company issues which were the focus of the media in the past one year as well as milestones achieved in the various segments of the  business. The emphasis was as usual on the future while conveying pride for the past.

He considered the   Supreme Court verdict in May 2010, on the oil and gas allocation and pricing issues with ADAG, a positive development as it upheld in most parts, the stand of Reliance Industries Limited. With regards to  the global economy,  he thought, it had only partially recovered acomplia diet pill from the financial meltdown of 2008 and even though there are dark clouds on the horizon caused by the current debt-crisis in Europe, Reliance  Industries Limited was strong and ready for a big surge forward. Talking about Business and financial performance he said, “Once again, it was a record year in terms of revenues and profits for Reliance. In a difficult macro-economic and product-market context, Reliance posted a 37% increase in turnover to reach Rs. 200,400 crore. We are the first private sector company in India to cross sales of Rs. 200,000 crore. Reliance exported products to the extent of Rs. 110,176 crore, an increase of 24% over the previous year and is India’s largest exporter. “

He revealed that the primary focus of the ‘Reliance Parivar’ will be to create new fountainheads of value creation within India, while continuing to expand the existing flanks of value creation. He concluded his address with these words, “It is said that an ignited mind is a restless mind that is unstoppable in the pursuit of its goal. Similarly, an ignited corporation is a self-energized body that sets out to outperform itself. Today Reliance is an ignited corporation that is determined to make an even greater contribution to India’s prosperity and all-round transformation. As Reliance sets on this transformational track, I would like to seek the blessings of our Founder-Chairman, of all our esteemed shareholders and all my well herbal propecia wishers.”

Source: [Business Rediff]

Indian companies created 60,000 jobs in U.S.

June 23, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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Although India has become synonymous with outsourcing, Indian companies created nearly 60,000 jobs in the U.S during 2004-09 through nearly 500 investment and acquisition deals worth $ 26.5 billion.

This fact was highlighted in a report, ‘How America Benefits from Economic Engagement with India,’  released by influential Congressman Jim McDermott in the presence of India’s Deputy Ambassador to the U.S, Arun Singh. The report, jointly produced by University of Maryland, India-U.S. World Affairs Institute and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, gives a comprehensive analysis of America’s economic engagement with India during the period 2004 to 2009.  The study comes on the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama ending tax incentives to U.S. companies that move jobs outside the country. Instead, his government would route the incentives to those creating jobs inside the U.S. This report now makes a strong case for the argument diet pill acomplia that the job creation happens for both the sides of the Indo-US economic relationship.

During 2004-2009, 90 Indian companies made 127 Greenfield investments worth $ 5.5 billion, and created 16,576 jobs in the U.S.  propecia affiliate ‘Greenfield investments’ are investments made to start a new venture by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up. The top three destination states for Greenfield investments were Minnesota, Virginia and Texas, in that order. During 2004-09, 239 Indian companies made 372 acquisitions in the U.S. The five U.S. industrial sectors that received the most Greenfield investment were metals, software and IT services, leisure and entertainment, industrial machinery, equipment and tools, and financial services, accounting for almost 80 per cent of total Greenfield investment in the U.S.

Source: [The India Daily]

The Jobs of the Future

June 1, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
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Predicting the jobs or skills that will be in demand years from now is a tricky task for many teens, young adults and their parents. Luckily, there are rich sources of information on the Web, in books, and in most people’s communities; the challenge is to sift through them all.  A recent study predicted an upswing in the following careers:  Occupations with the largest percentage growth expected through 2018:

  • Biomedical engineers 72%
  • Network systems analysts 53
  • Home health aides 50
  • Personal and home-care aides 46
  • Financial dosage propecia examiners 41
  • Medical scientists 40
  • Physician assistants 39
  • Skin-care specialists 38
  • Biochemists and biophysicists 37
  • Athletic trainers 37

Source: Labor Department “Occupational Outlook Handbook”

The forecasts have limitations. The Labor Department’s macroeconomic model works on two noteworthy assumptions—that the economy will rebound to long-term growth and that there won’t be any more big shocks like the recent  recession

All that leaves much to the resourcefulness, imagination and research skills of young people weighing a career choice. The first step would be to explore and try out various fields in order to figure out what kind of work one loves and do well. The next is to learn about broad career fields that are likely to grow; the government’s handbook lists job-by-job career-information contacts, such as professional associations or industry groups

Networking with people in your pertaining industries might help.

Follow the discussion on this topic on LinkedIn

Source: buying acomplia online [Online Wsj]

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