Nik’s Diary
The Indian market opened flat to negative mirroring
the negative opening of most of the Asian markets. US markets ended slightly higher Tuesday after
mixed economic data and before major earnings releases, while further losses
for Apple Inc. weighed on the technology sector. The early weakness on Wall
Street was partly due to worries about continued gridlock in Washington
regarding the debt ceiling. While President Barack Obama has indicated that he
will not debate raising the debt limit, Republicans have called for any
increase in the debt ceiling to be tied to additional spending cuts. Meanwhile,
a report showed that retail sales rose by 0.5% (Estimate – 0.2%) in December
following a revised 0.4% increase in November. A separate report from the Labor
department showed a slightly bigger than expected drop in producer prices in
December. Indian shares rose for a second straight session yesterday led by
gains in rate sensitive realty and banking stocks on increasing bets that the
RBI is going to have a rate cut later this month.
Bharti Airtel
replaces India CEO Sanjay Kapoor; Gopal Vittal to take over
BhartiAirtel's Chief Executive
for India and South Asia, Sanjay Kapoor, will quit in March amid speculation that the proposed reorganisation of India's
largest telecom company forced his hand. He will be replaced by GopalVittal, group director (special projects), who will take over as
the India CEO from March 1, the company announced on Tuesday. While this is Vittal's second
stint with Airtel, he has spent a large part of his career at Hindustan
Unilever and will be the first MNC manager to occupy the corner room in the
homegrown telecom company. He is expected to aggressively lead Bharti's data
and value-added services initiatives. Vittal was heading the home and personal
care business of Hindustan Unilever before he rejoined Bharti
AirtelBSE
-0.32 % last year. His former boss and HUL CEO Nitin
Paranjpe welcomed his elevation. "I
am delighted for Gopal. Having worked with him for several years, I have no
doubt that he will bring to bear his clarity of thought and strategic
understanding of issues in this challenging role as CEO," Paranjpe told
ET. As this newspaper had reported in October last year, BhartiBSE
-0.32 % AirtelBSE
-0.32 % is planning to combine its Indian and African
operations under a global CEO. Manoj
Kohli, the joint MD of Bharti and chief executive of its African operations, is
learnt to be the front-runner to head the combined entity. It is believed that
Sunil Mittal, the company's founder, was keen to appoint Vittal as the CEO of
the Indian operations and transfer Kapoor to Kenya to replace Kohli. A person
familiar with Kapoor's thinking said he was not willing to move to Africa as he
considered the transfer a clear demotion. In addition, Kapoor did not want to
report to Kohli, as both are currently at the same rank. The Indian operations
account for 75 per cent of revenue with the rest coming from Africa. The Bharti spokesperson and
Kapoor did not reply to ET's specific queries on these issues. While industry
executives say Kapoor is parting with the company he worked for a
decadeand-a-half on a less-than-cordial note, Mittal was generous in his praise
for his one-time protege. "Sanjay
has had an enviable performance track record, strategic disposition, business
acumen and is an inspirational leader. I wish Sanjay all the very best in his
future endeavours," said the Bharti Airtel chairman. Bharti shares rose 5 per cent
on Tuesday to close at Rs 345, the highest since March 5, 2012. But executives
close to the company said the shares surged on expectations of a new round of
cellphone tariff hikes, and not because of the management changes. Kapoor was
elevated to head Bharti's India and South
Asia operations
in March 2010. The telecom industry has had a rough ride in the past three
years with a bruising price war and rising borrowings, because of astronomical
3G bids, impacting the profitability of all telcos. The near $10-billion debt taken
by Bharti to fund the Zain Africa acquisition has added to its interest costs.
Bharti's delayed response to the aggressive pricing tactics of its competitors
had resulted in the company's revenue market share, which was as high as 34 per
cent in June 2009, sliding to 29 per cent in March 2012, before recovering to
about 31 per cent at present. Source:Economic Times
TTMT’s global sales down sharply in December 2012
Tata Motors today said its global
sales decreased 13.88 per cent in December 2012 to 8,968 units over the same
period in the previous year. The company had sold 1,14,920 units during the
corresponding month in 2011. Sales of luxury brands from Jaguar Land Rover were
at 2,282 units in December last year, Tata Motors said in a statement. While
sales of luxury sedans of Jaguar brand stood at 5,444 units, Land Rover sales
were at 26,838 units, it added. The company said total passenger vehicles sales
stood at 46,925 units in December, 2012, a fall of 23.16 per cent from 61,066
units in the same month previous year. Commercial vehicle sales were down by
3.36 per cent to 52,043 units from 53,854 units in the the same month 2011.
Tata Motors group's global sales comprise Tata, Tata Daewoo and Hispano
Carrocera range of commercial vehicles, Tata passenger vehicles, along with the
distributed brands in India ,
Jaguar and Land Rover. Source: NDTV
Maruti Suzuki to hike car prices by up to
`20,000
Maruti
Suzuki India Ltd said it would increase the prices of all its cars by up to Rs. 20,000.
It said the announcement would come on Wednesday and the hikes would take
effect from Thursday. The
company had said in December that it would be compelled to increase the prices
in the new year as adverse currency fluctuations had made imported components
dearer. India ’s
largest car company, Maruti, sells a variety of cars, starting from M800 to
imported Kizashi. Maruti is likely to be followed by other car manufacturers
which had announced similar intentions last month.Though it is a common
practice at the start of every year, the hike comes at a time when the car
industry is staring at a decline in sales for the first time in almost a decade."The
price hike across all models will be upto Rs. 20,000," said Mayank Pareek, chief operating
officer (marketing and sales), MSIL. "On average, the increase will
be around 2.5%."The current round of hikes will not, however, include the
Wagon R.Source: Hindustan
Times
Petrol price hiked by 35 paise with effect from tonight
Petrol price
was tonight hiked by about 35 paise per litre in line with firming raw material
cost.Petrol will cost Rs 67.56 per litre in Delhi with
effect from midnight
tonight, industry sources said. Prices vary from city to city due to differential local
sales tax or VAT rates. This is
the first revision in rates of petrol, which was deregulated by the government,
since November. Petrol price was cut twice in October and November -
first by 56 paise and then by 95 paise per litre.Source: Economic Times
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