Thursday, 5 November 2009
Wipro buys part of Yardley retail business for $45 mn
Bangalore, Nov 5 (IANS) Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting,
the FMCG arm of the IT bellwether, Thursday announced the
acquisition of Yardley personal care business in Asia, Middle
East, Australasia and some African markets from the British
based Lornamead group for $45.5 million (Rs. 214 crore).
‘The acquisition of Yardley business is on run-rate
basis of $24 million for this fiscal (FY 2010),’ the
company said in a regulatory filing.
The transaction is expected to be completed by
mid-December.
Lornamead, which bought Yardley from Procter & Gamble
in 2005, will retain Yardley business in Europe and Americas.
The 239-year-old Yardley is a strong heritage global brand
in the personal care with fragrance products, bath and
shower products and skin care.
‘The brand has a strong equity globally in markets, including
Asia, Middle East, Australasia and Africa,’ the company said
in a statement later.
IMF says it got 'good price' for gold from India
|
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund, which
sold 200 tonnes of gold for about $6.7 billion to the
Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday said
it got a "good price," and wants to be similarly
"lucky" in the next phase sale of the precious metal.
The sale price of gold to the RBI is expected to be
under $1,045 per ounce, nearly $200 per ounce
higher than what it would have been anticipated
in mid-September, a senior IMF official told
reporters in a teleconference.
When the IMF Executive Board at its meeting on
September 18 announced to sell 403.3 tonnes of gold
-- one-eighth of the Fund's total holding --
the prevailing market price of the bullion at that
time was about $850 an ounce.
"Obviously, it's a good price relative to the original
assumptions," the IMF official said.
The IMF, in pursuance of the decisions taken at the
G-20 summit in London, had decided to sell about
403.3 tonnes of gold to shore up its finances so that
it can lend money to the poor countries at concessional rates.
"Of course, this is only half the sale that we
have completed, so we don't want to get ahead
of ourselves. We still have another half to go.
I hope we'll still be lucky," he said.
The official said the good price received for its
gold from India would certainly help the multilateral
lending agency to meet its target of stepping up
financing to poor countries.
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund, which
sold 200 tonnes of gold for about $6.7 billion to the
Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday said
it got a "good price," and wants to be similarly
"lucky" in the next phase sale of the precious metal.
The sale price of gold to the RBI is expected to be
under $1,045 per ounce, nearly $200 per ounce
higher than what it would have been anticipated
in mid-September, a senior IMF official told
reporters in a teleconference.
When the IMF Executive Board at its meeting on
September 18 announced to sell 403.3 tonnes of gold
-- one-eighth of the Fund's total holding --
the prevailing market price of the bullion at that
time was about $850 an ounce.
"Obviously, it's a good price relative to the original
assumptions," the IMF official said.
The IMF, in pursuance of the decisions taken at the
G-20 summit in London, had decided to sell about
403.3 tonnes of gold to shore up its finances so that
it can lend money to the poor countries at concessional rates.
"Of course, this is only half the sale that we
have completed, so we don't want to get ahead
of ourselves. We still have another half to go.
I hope we'll still be lucky," he said.
The official said the good price received for its
gold from India would certainly help the multilateral
lending agency to meet its target of stepping up
financing to poor countries.
RBI buys 200 mt gold from IMF to pump up reserves' value
MUMBAI: The purchase of 200 tonnes of gold from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the Reserve
Bank of India will not just diversify the
country’s foreign exchange reserves but also boost
of the value of the reserves.
On Tuesday, RBI announced that it had concluded
the purchase of 200 metric tonne of gold from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), under the Fund’s
limited gold sales programme. The central bank said
that it was an official sector off-market transaction
and was executed over a two-week period during
October 19-30, 2009 at market-based prices.
Gold prices have been moving up faster than the majo
r global currencies — which is expected to boost the
value of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
This is the first time that the Reserve Bank has bought
such a large amount of gold globally. Interestingly,
the market import of gold has dipped sharply this year
on account of high international prices and low demand.
Years ago, confiscated smuggled gold used to be assigned to RBI vaults.
However, with the opening up of the economy,
gold smuggling has virtually stopped. For many
year’s the central bank gold holdings remained
constant at about 11.5 million troy ounce accounting
for 4% its reserves worth $285 billion now.
The recent purchase of close to 6.5 million troy ounce
would raise the share of gold in India’s foreign exchange
reserves to about 6%. The gold is valued at the month end
closing price on the London bullion exchange.
With international gold prices touching a new high every
day, this part of the reserves has seen a sharp appreciation.
In the month of September, reserves rose $485 million only
on account of the rise in valuation of gold in reserves.
In its official release, IMF has said that the total sales
proceeds are equivalent to US$ 6.7 billion or SDR 4.2 billion.
MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn indicated that the proceeds from
the gold sale will help the Fund, step up much-needed
concessional lending to the poorest countries.
As for the central bank, there is no official communication
either being the intent of such a move or its plans for the
purchased gold. But experts say the move could help the
central bank diversify its reserves and would not have
a significant impact on the overall foreign exchange
reserves position, said a former top RBI official.
This is because these purchases are reckoned to be
carried out from the $4.8 billion worth SDR allocation
that the RBI had obtained from the Fund earlier this year.
The IMF had allocated $4.8 billion by way of general
allocation of special drawing rights (SDR) — the reserve
currency with the IMF — in August this year as part of its
SDR 161.2 billion package allocated to member countries.
The value of SDR is a weighted average of a basket of
currencies which includes the US dollar,
the Sterling pound, the yen and the euro.
The weightage to each currency which is revised
at regular intervals depends on their prevailing
relative importance in the global markets.
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the Reserve
Bank of India will not just diversify the
country’s foreign exchange reserves but also boost
of the value of the reserves.
On Tuesday, RBI announced that it had concluded
the purchase of 200 metric tonne of gold from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), under the Fund’s
limited gold sales programme. The central bank said
that it was an official sector off-market transaction
and was executed over a two-week period during
October 19-30, 2009 at market-based prices.
Gold prices have been moving up faster than the majo
r global currencies — which is expected to boost the
value of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
This is the first time that the Reserve Bank has bought
such a large amount of gold globally. Interestingly,
the market import of gold has dipped sharply this year
on account of high international prices and low demand.
Years ago, confiscated smuggled gold used to be assigned to RBI vaults.
However, with the opening up of the economy,
gold smuggling has virtually stopped. For many
year’s the central bank gold holdings remained
constant at about 11.5 million troy ounce accounting
for 4% its reserves worth $285 billion now.
The recent purchase of close to 6.5 million troy ounce
would raise the share of gold in India’s foreign exchange
reserves to about 6%. The gold is valued at the month end
closing price on the London bullion exchange.
With international gold prices touching a new high every
day, this part of the reserves has seen a sharp appreciation.
In the month of September, reserves rose $485 million only
on account of the rise in valuation of gold in reserves.
In its official release, IMF has said that the total sales
proceeds are equivalent to US$ 6.7 billion or SDR 4.2 billion.
MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn indicated that the proceeds from
the gold sale will help the Fund, step up much-needed
concessional lending to the poorest countries.
As for the central bank, there is no official communication
either being the intent of such a move or its plans for the
purchased gold. But experts say the move could help the
central bank diversify its reserves and would not have
a significant impact on the overall foreign exchange
reserves position, said a former top RBI official.
This is because these purchases are reckoned to be
carried out from the $4.8 billion worth SDR allocation
that the RBI had obtained from the Fund earlier this year.
The IMF had allocated $4.8 billion by way of general
allocation of special drawing rights (SDR) — the reserve
currency with the IMF — in August this year as part of its
SDR 161.2 billion package allocated to member countries.
The value of SDR is a weighted average of a basket of
currencies which includes the US dollar,
the Sterling pound, the yen and the euro.
The weightage to each currency which is revised
at regular intervals depends on their prevailing
relative importance in the global markets.
Land disputes is costing India 100 Billion Dollars of Investment !
by Arun Prabhudesai
We very well know the story of Tata Nano Land Dispute.
What was West Bengal’s loss though was Gujarat’s profit.
Nano’s are now coming out of the state.
However, most of the projects are not as lucky as Nano
to get a Land replacement. Did you know that 70% of total
190 projects that were supposed to be implemented have
been stalled due to Land acquisition related disputes.
The ECO Pulse study by ASSOCHAM has revealed this
startling fact.
Most of these projects are basically International companies
needing to set their shop in India.
For e.g: 22 major steel projects in the country worth
USD 82 billion are being held up because of procedural
delays in obtaining environmental impact assessment
clearance and delays in land acquisition mainly due
to public protests. One such project – Arcelor Mittal
which nearly pulled out of building 2 steel plants that
would pump close to USD 20 billion.
The reason – They were unable to acquire land
in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The study also revealed that, there are currently
18 strangled projects of India Inc to the tune
of Rs.244,815.5 crore (Rs.2.45 trillion) remained
on papers, in the form of memorandum of
understanding (MoU) and agreements over
the past three-four years.
If at all these projects had been implemented,
it would have created Jobs for 164,000 people
directly and 270,000 people indirectly !
Although, I do understand that it is important for
farmers to safeguard their lands – But the
compensation offerings are very much in line
with Market & Real Estate conditions.
I am not pointing here that Farmers should get a
raw deal – Its their land, they have right to
decide what to do with their lands.
What I do not understand here is why is
government not intervening.
This is a win-win situation.
If Indian Government takes these
projects seriously, I am sure there
are plenty of solutions available
to overcome these Land disputes.
What is your take?
We very well know the story of Tata Nano Land Dispute.
What was West Bengal’s loss though was Gujarat’s profit.
Nano’s are now coming out of the state.
However, most of the projects are not as lucky as Nano
to get a Land replacement. Did you know that 70% of total
190 projects that were supposed to be implemented have
been stalled due to Land acquisition related disputes.
The ECO Pulse study by ASSOCHAM has revealed this
startling fact.
Most of these projects are basically International companies
needing to set their shop in India.
For e.g: 22 major steel projects in the country worth
USD 82 billion are being held up because of procedural
delays in obtaining environmental impact assessment
clearance and delays in land acquisition mainly due
to public protests. One such project – Arcelor Mittal
which nearly pulled out of building 2 steel plants that
would pump close to USD 20 billion.
The reason – They were unable to acquire land
in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The study also revealed that, there are currently
18 strangled projects of India Inc to the tune
of Rs.244,815.5 crore (Rs.2.45 trillion) remained
on papers, in the form of memorandum of
understanding (MoU) and agreements over
the past three-four years.
If at all these projects had been implemented,
it would have created Jobs for 164,000 people
directly and 270,000 people indirectly !
Although, I do understand that it is important for
farmers to safeguard their lands – But the
compensation offerings are very much in line
with Market & Real Estate conditions.
I am not pointing here that Farmers should get a
raw deal – Its their land, they have right to
decide what to do with their lands.
What I do not understand here is why is
government not intervening.
This is a win-win situation.
If Indian Government takes these
projects seriously, I am sure there
are plenty of solutions available
to overcome these Land disputes.
What is your take?
SPECIAL COURT FOR "SATYAM CASE TRAIL" G.O. NO. 100
By : PJANARDHANA REDDY
The Andhra Pradesh government on 3rd Nov ’09 issued G.O NO. 100 for
setting up a special court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
to try the case of multi-crore rupee scam in Satyam Computer Service
The state Cabinet, at its meeting on October 29, approved
the setting up of a special court based on the request of the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the recommendation
of the high court to ensure a speedy trial of the Satyam case.
Accordingly, state Legislative Affairs and Justice Department
secretary R Ramachandra Reddy issued an order today for
setting up the special court.
Required staff for the special court and expenditure would
be Rs.31.60 laks/year the order stated.
In January, Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to
cooking up the company's account books for several years,
revealing one of the biggest scams in the Indian corporate history.
The CBI, which took over the investigations into the Satyam
scandal in February, filed the chargesheet against Ramalinga
Raju and others in the 14th additional chief metropolitan
magistrate court. Besides CBI, SFIO and SEBI were also
investigating the Satyam fraud.
The CBI had written a letter to the AP government and the
AP High Court requesting that a special court be established
to try to the Satyam case.
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