RBI reveals loan trends across sectors during the recent past
In September 2009, the Reserve Bank had said bank finance to developers of infrastructure facilities in SEZs would be taken as infrastructure lending, against its 2006 ruling that classified these as commercial real estate (CRE) exposures. In its mid-year review last year, the RBI had hiked the risk weight on commercial real estate loans to 1 per cent from 0.4 per cent. The RBI then cited a more than 40 per cent increase in loans to commercial real estate and also added a note of caution on the fact that nearly 14 per cent of commercial realty assets were restructured by banks.
The RBI made a statement that credit to real estate decelerated sharply during the period mainly on account of the definitional change to the concept of “lending to real estate sector” as mentioned above. In its ‘Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments in 2009-10’ released on Monday, the RBI said real estate loans showed a rise of just 0.9 per cent (or Rs 842 crore) as on February 26, 2010 as against a rise of 58.8 per cent (Rs 33,617 crore) in the same period of last year.
In another interesting development, credit card out standings had fallen sharply by 28.3 per cent (or negative Rs 8,189 crore) during the period ended ended February 2010 as against a rise of Rs 2,122 crore (7.9 per cent increase) in the same period of last year. Many banks and card companies have been going slow on new card additions and started focussing on recoveries.
According to the RBI, the agricultural sector absorbed 18.3 per cent of the incremental non-food bank credit in February 2010 (12.7 per cent last year). Share of personal loans in incremental non-food credit increased markedly to 6.5 per cent by February 2010, from (-) 0.2 per cent in October 2009. Within personal loans, while education loan and housing loan continued to grow over 30 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, the contraction in credit to some sub-sectors such as consumer durables and advances against shares, bonds, etc, moderated.
The share of personal loans in incremental non-food credit increased markedly to 6.5 per cent by February propecia permanent 2010, from (-) 0.2 per cent in October 2009. Due to the revival in credit demand for the banking system as a whole, the credit extended by private banks at end-March 2010 showed some improvement over last year. The loan portfolio of foreign banks, however, contracted. Within services sector, credit growth (y-o-y) for transport operators, computer software, tourism, hotels and restaurants and trade accelerated in February 2010. Also, the share of incremental non-food credit to micro and small enterprises (industry as well as services) increased to 16.4 per cent in February 2010 as compared with 12.4 per cent in February 2009.
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Source: [Indian natural cialis alternatives Express]
RBI takes measures to control inflation, sustain growth
RBI increased the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the portion of deposits bank need to keep with the central bank by 25 basis points. 1 basis point of bp is 1/100th of a percentage point. The CRR increase will take effect on 24 April and absorb Rs12, 500 crore of excess cash from the banking system.
To control the expectations over inflation and sustain economic growth momentum while accommodating Indian government’s borrowings the RBI has also increased the key policy rate by 25bps. It raised the repo rate—at which it lends to commercial banks—by 25 bps to 5.25% and the reverse repo rate—at which banks park excess cash with the central bank—by the same amount to 3.75%. It is expected that there will be no immediate impact on interest rates as there is sufficient liquidity in the banking system.
Some believe the hike in policy rates was lower than what was expected by the traders on the street. Stocks of rate-sensitive sectors rebounded. Real estate was the biggest gainer with the BSE realty index gaining 3.08%. It was followed by the Bankex with 1.53%, while the auto sector index gained 1.19%. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond eased to 7.98% after the RBI announcement, its lowest since 13 April; it ended the day at 8% against its previous close of 8.05%. “Developments propecia works on the inflation front are worrisome,” RBI governor D. Subbarao said, adding that pressure was spreading from food to other areas of the economy, prompting the increase in rates.
With India’s economy “firmly on the recovery path”, shaking off the effects of the global slump, the central purchase cialis bank could now turn its attention to dousing inflation, Subbarao added.
Wholesale price-based inflation touched a 17-month high of 9.9% in March. RBI expects inflation to come down to 5.5% by this fiscal-end.
Despite inflation worries, the central bank is optimistic on the growth front, pegging its forecast for 2010-11 at 8% with an upward bias. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the last fiscal year is estimated in the range of 7.2-7.5%
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Source: [Live Mint]
Brave new moves from Bajaj
Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) has increased its stakes in the Austrian bike manufacturer KTM Power Sports AG to 35.67% from 31.92% with an additional investment of 20 million euros (about Rs 120 Crore).
“KTM Power Sports AG, Europe’s second largest motorcycle manufacturer, has increased its capital by 42.99 million euros by inducting 13.24 million euros through conversion of loans and 29.7 million euros through cash rights issue.
“Bajaj Auto Ltd has invested 20 million euros in this capital increase and consequently has increased its share-holding in KTM from 31.92 per cent to 35.67 per cent,” Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said in a statement. Bajaj will distribute propecia on nhs KTM products in India and in markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Africa.
In other news about best generic cialis the Motorcycle maker, it is turning on its head its sales strategy to remodel itself as a garage of independent brands, a la Hindustan Unilever, its most radical restructuring exercise since the decision to exit scooters.
Bajaj also came out with a new range of RE passenger vehicles, its 3 wheeler brand. The company will distance itself from the parent brand and focus on just four motorcycle brands—Boxer, Discover, Pulsar and KTM—as well as the rear-engine three-wheeler brand, phasing out the rest, said Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj.
Baja has already stopped making XCD, Wind and Caliber. Further investment shall not be made on entry level Platina as they wind down its production and transition into Discover. The entire organization and every operation from marketing and sales to R&D, from accounts to production will re align with 5 brand focus each as a separate vertical and they shall manage all decision.
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Source: [Indian Cars Bikes]
Big Youth Brands staff urban youngsters for sales
Brands with a young and hep image targeting the talented, savvy and well educated Indian urban youth are trying out new ways of staffing. They believe the two existing retail talent pools one which caters to the mass retail cheapest price cialis and the other which tends to luxury do not serve them. Hence they are enlisting DJ’s, fashion technology graduates, yoga instructors etc who are in their twenties to sell their brands. Their aim is to get youngsters, who are interested in rock music, fashion, adventure sports and are part of their target group, to promote and sell their products. “These people can easily understand the needs and aspirations of young consumers, being of the same age group and share the same tastes. Besides, identifying preferences of customers correctly is important for any brand to succeed,” says Darshan Mehta, CEO, and Reliance Brands, which brought Diesel and Timberland Stores to India.
Diesel plans to launch five stores, of which two are up and running. It has already completed around 90% of its hiring for these outlets. Hard Rock Cafe (HRC), on the other hand, runs five stores. Timberland Stores, the global outdoor gear and clothing brand too is gearing up to launch four stores with a front-end employee count of 24 people.
The people employed this way love their work and are strong brand ambassadors. An informal and relaxed environment at these outlets is also the reason for many to join. Though it is difficult for the employers to get a constant stream of such candidates, they believe the talent flow is getting better as time progresses.
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Source: propecia results pictures [Economic Times – India Times]
Intel believes WiMax can power India’s broadband aspirations
As of end February 2010, India has currently 8.59 million broadband subscribers. The government has set a target of 100 million users by the end of 2014.
Intel believes wireless technologies like WiMax will lead the Indian broadband propecia 90 tablets growth story, helping achieve the goal. Talking about the phenomenal grow that’s going to be seen over the next 3-4 years Intel managing director (WiMax programme office–APAC and META business development) Lil Mohan said “India has over 8.5 million broadband customers as of now and the copper line infrastructure is limited. So going wireless is the only option for India and the growth will come from wireless technologies like WiMax”. He expects the bidding process for WiMax to be over by May and that players would commence operations by year-end. “The next few years are big for WiMax and one would see huge growth in numbers. High-speed data access is expected to bridge the urban-rural digital divide and help address concerns of delivering essential services like education, finance and healthcare,” he said.
Asked about end-consumer pricing, he said, “pricing is going to be important as it has been for the telecom industry. It will provide people access to high-speed broadband, which will further bring in growth for the economy.” WiMax (worldwide interoperability for cialis purchase online microwave access) is designed to provide high-speed access to the Internet with much faster data downloads. Intel works with partners like equipment vendors for deployment of the technology and makes chips for the platform.
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Source: [Economic Times - India Times]
Increasing IT adoption in Manufacturing
Uma Balakrishnan, CEO, Axcend Automation & Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, Bangalore (http://bit.ly/F4TAxcend) had interacted with a correspondent from Hindu’s Business Line about the IT adoption of manufacturing in India. She had the following points to make.
Amidst all the sectors, barring probably the construction industry cheapest online cialis which is still nascent in IT adoption, manufacturing is probably in the evolving propecia erectile dysfunction side of the curve. While retail and BFSI adopted early on, mainly because of size/scale of operations, diverse geographies, and direct consumer interface with the using population, manufacturing has shown a mixed trend, Indian manufacturing enterprises that acquired global companies and turned multinational have been early in the increased scale of adoption cycle, while smaller entrepreneurial operations are still very nascent in IT adoption.
Three primary factors drive IT adoption, she elaborates: (a) Sheer size and scale that necessitate moving into IT automated systems, as manually it becomes challenging to run business; (b) external world in the form of clients or statutory regulatory bodies that make the manufacturers align to some best business practices using IT systems; and (c) internal management maturity to leverage IT and gain competitive advantage in business through quality, cost, operational excellence, or shortened time to market with product.
Hit the link below to read an in depth Q&A on this adoption.
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Source: [The Hindu]
Industrial Output back on track in China and India
According to the latest HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI) from HSBC, a London-based banking and financial services organization growth in manufacturing output and new orders recorded the highest expansion in emerging markets how to get cialis without a prescription since Q2 of 2004. The growth, combined with robust service-industries data, outperformed developed nations—reaffirming that emerging markets are the vanguard of global economic recovery. The EMI rose to 57.4 in the first quarter of 2010, which was up from 56.3 in the last quarter of 2009 and significantly higher than six quarters ago, when the index dipped to 43.4. Manufacturing propecia over the counter output rose to 58.6 from 56.5 and services business activity climbed to 56.5 from 56.1. This has been largely due to revival of confidence and corporation and the subsequent expansion.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data shows strong manufacturing growth in India and China in March as business condition strengthens but high input inflation remains to plague both countries. India posted double-digit industrial growth for a sixth straight month in February. India’s industrial output grew 15.1 percent in February—less than expected—after government moves to unwind stimulus measures in the face of rising inflation, official figures show.
Industrial production, which includes mining, manufacturing and power generation, slid from January’s 16.7 percent growth after peaking at 17.6 percent in December, the Ministry of Statistics said. Manufacturing output rose 16 percent in February from a year earlier, while output of capital goods rose 44.4 percent and consumer durables production rose 29.9 percent.
There is a revival of confidence among both consumers and corporations, whether it pertains to job security or profit expectations, which, in turn, is translating into higher spending on durables or plant and machinery.
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Source: [Automation World]
Singapore firm to invest $24m in Education
Singapore-based Raffles Education Corporation Ltd (REC) is going to invest $24 million (Rs.107 crore) to expand its operations in India to offer design skills in multiple sectors. As part of its expansion, the company will set up five more design colleges across the country in Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad this year. It is currently in a joint venture with the New Delhi-based technology driven education firm Educomp Solutions Ltd, REC through which it has opened three design colleges in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in 2009.
“In the long term, we are planning to operate about 20 colleges in India keeping in view the growing demand cialis propecia overnight sublingual for design skills in fashion, interiors, graphics, multimedia, animation and jewellery,” said Raffles chief executive Chew Hua Seng. With foreign faculty, high-end technology and quality infrastructure, REC offers one-year and two-year diploma courses and three-year degree programme. Fee for degree course is Rs.1.5 million (Rs.15 lakh).
“We expect to break-even in three years, with an in-take of 100 students in each college and return on investment in five years,” Chew said. “Though Asian countries have been focusing more on manufacturing, the trend is changing, with design becoming central to economic growth in terms of employment opportunities,” Chew pointed out.
The changing demographic profile of India has encouraged REC to invest in future and meet the demand for design skills in diverse sectors in commensurate with the growth of the manufacturing sector in the country. The 20-year-old REC operates 34 colleges in 31 cities in 12 countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
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Source: [India Edu News]