Nik's Diary
The Indian markets opened in
the red, tracking negative opening in most of the Asian markets as a sharp
rebound in the yen, a commodity-price slump and caution ahead of a slew of
Chinese economic data pulled investors to the sidelines. Chinese economic data
came in weaker than expected, as the first quarter GDP came in at 7.7% against
7.9% growth in the fourth quarter. Also, China’s industrial production for
March came at 8.9% yoy vs an estimate of 10%. The US markets ended modestly
lower on Friday following weak March retail sales and consumer sentiment data.
The Commerce Department released a report showing that retail sales fell by
0.4% in March after surging up by a revised 1.0% in February. Adding to the
negative sentiment, Reuters and the University of Michigan released a report
showing an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in the month of April
with the consumer sentiment index falling to 72.3 from 78.6 in March.Meanwhile,
Indian markets snapped two days of gains on Friday, with IT stocks coming under
selling pressure after Infosys projected a modest revenue growth of 6-10% for
the current fiscal, lower than Nasscom's estimate for 12-14% industry growth. A
stronger rupee, soft consumer price inflation numbers and better-thanexpected
industrial output data failed to lift investor sentiment.
TTMT
global sales down 16.6% yoy in March 2013
Tata Motors Group global sales in March declined 17
percent year-on-year to 1.17 lakh units, as continued sluggish demand for
medium and heavy commercial vehicles in India and a slump in passenger car
sales offset growth at its luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit. Its global sales of
CVs, which include the Tata, Tata Daewoo in Korea and Tata Hispano
Carrocera range, fell 5 percent from a year ago to 60,799 units.
Passenger vehicles were down 27 percent to 55,722 units. It must be noted that
sales last year included that of Fiat cars sold in India. The two companies
have since ended their sales and distribution joint venture. Meanwhile, Jaguar
Land Rover wholesales last month gained 17 percent to 42,682 units. Jaguar
sales surged 43 percent to 7,621 units and Land Rover sales were up 13 percent
to 35,061 units. JLR had earlier this week reported global retail sales in
March rose 16 percent to 53,772 units. Tata Motors shares closed down little
over a percent at Rs 275.15 on NSE on Friday. Source:
Moneycontrol
Hero MotoCorp announces five year warranty on all its two-wheelers
Country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp BSE -0.31 % has
announced a warranty of five years on all its models. The warranty
will be of five years or 70,000 km on motorcycles, whichever is earlier and
five years or 50,000 km on scooters, whichever is earlier, the company said in
a statement. "Staying true to our splendid legacy, all Hero two- wheelers will now have a 5-year
warranty. Hero MotoCorp is the first manufacturer in the country to offer this
benefit," Hero MotoCorp Senior VP (Marketing and Sales) Anil
Dua said. The company said initiatives like
this have resulted in strong customer commitment and trust in
Hero. "This unequalled assurance of five years when purchasing Hero's
two-wheelers, will further strengthen Hero's position in the market-place as
the undisputed leader," it said. Hero MotoCorp currently has over
5,000 customer touch points across the country, including authorised
dealerships, state-of-the-art automated workshops, spare part outlets and authorised
representatives of dealers, it added. Source:
Economictimes
JK
Lakshmi says initial loss estimates loss for Chattisgarh plant at `120cr
After
getting mining lease (ML) to start its cement production operation in
Chhattisgarh, it took nearly 25 years for the JK Lakshmi Cement to activate the
proposal. A major unrest simmering
against the company over the years spilled out in open on April 5. Villagers
agitating for employment in the company stormed into the under-construction
cement plant of the company in Durg district and set it on fire in the first
incident of such magnitude in Chhattisgarh. The JK Lakshmi Cement was awarded mining lease to explore limestone in
267.95 hectare of area in Dhikudiya village of Durg district in 1985 by the
erstwhile Madhya Pradesh government. The ML was issued in company's former name
Straw Products Ltd that was later changed to JK Lakshmi Corporation limited. The company however did not take any initiative on the
ML it was granted. Since there was no progress, the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh
government cancelled the ML on June 3, 1997-after nearly 12 years of permitting
the company to explore limestone and set up cement plant proposed about five km
from the mine. "The JK Lakshmi
cement missed the opportunity as people at that particular time were supporting
industries in the region," a senior state government official told
Business Standard. In between 1991 and 1994, three major cement plants started
its commercial production in Chhattisgarh. It included Lafarge (then Tata cement),
L&T and Grasim. But JK Lakshmi
Cement failed to make any progress in its plan to start operation in
Chhattisgarh. The company moved to the Mines Tribunal challenging the Madhya
Pradesh government order and got its quashed on February 8, 2002 after
Chhattisgarh got bifurcated. In
2008, the Chhattisgarh government reinstated the ML with a set of conditions.
However, it took another two years for the company to ink a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the state government for setting up 2.7 Million Tonne
in the area. The JK Lakshmi Cement was the last to sign MoU on July 2010 and
since then the state government had not inked any agreement with the core
industry. "The company could
have easily set up the plant then as land was not a big issue at that point of
time," convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan Alok Shukla said. In 80s
and 90s, only trade union related issues were going against the industry and
there was no problem in putting up a facility, he added. The LK Lakshmi Cement did not respond to the query
sent for its version for the delay. Source:
Business Standard
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