DNA India talks about elagaan

1. MONEY TOP NEWS
Bangalore,
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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Tax pundits make Weak PC sales
shuts the door
hay with e-filing
Close to 45
on Windows
Microsoft posts
first-ever drop in
Windows sales;
The world's largest soft-
ware maker, whose operating
systems power the vast ma-
jority of the world's person-
lakh income tax al computers, offered little
assessees are revenue dives 17% hope for a turnaround in
technology until next year,
A RING FOR YOUR EARS: This orb made in ring form has expected to file Reuters. New York despite recent optimism
flexible organic light emitting diode that displays caller id, from rival International
calendar items and voice-to-text info, and if you want to returns online Microsoft Corp posted the Business Machines Corp and
answer a call, simply take the ring off your finger, twist first-ever drop in annual chip maker Intel Corp.
it into its headset shape, and hang it on your ear Pranav Nambiar. BANGALORE sales of Windows and its Investors have overlooked
for hands-free talking. quarterly revenue negative news
For many years, filing IT fell a steeper-than- from compa-
‘ITC NOT TO EXIT UNITED BREWERIES returns was a dreaded affair. expected 17%, as nies like Dell
CIGARETTE BIZ’ PROFIT UP 54% But not anymore. Apart from its business con- Inc, which
Kolkata: ITC chairman Mumbai: Liquor major the Saral form, a gamut of tinued to be sells its wares
e-filing portals now promise hurt by the directly to
Y C Deveshwar on Friday United Breweries net
to make it a cinch. weak global PC customers
said the company would profit increased 54% to
And street-smart account- and server and which
not exit its once bread and Rs 355.5 crore for the
ants and web-savvy techies markets. warned last week
butter cigarette business, quarter ended June 30
have also found it the easiest “Our busi- of profit margin
although it would continue from Rs 225.9 crore in the
way to make hay while the I-T ness continued contraction and
diversifying into more same period a year ago.
sun shines. With the D-day— to be negatively im- weak demand from
new areas of business. Total sales by the
July 31 — fast approaching, pacted by weak-
Replying to shareholders company stood at Rs 5,564.5
e-filing portals like ness in the global
REPORT corporate buyers of
PCs. “We still see
queries at the 98th annual
general meeting of the
crore during the period
under review, growing
e-lagaan.com, taxyogi.com, services division, 3i Infotech. portals are more user-friend- start off with it, things will PC and server mar- CARD conditions being
taxsmile.com and taxspan- Going by this year’s response, ly “It follows a questionnaire
. become much simpler in the kets,” said Chris challenging for the
company here, he said: by 17.24% from the Q4 profit at
ner.com, have increased their industry insiders expect this format that is easy to navigate subsequent years. Liddell, chief fi- balance of this cal-
“We want to diversify, previous corresponding $3.04 bn
sales pitch. to increase to 45 lakhs.This even for people who are not fa- However, old habits die nancial officer at endar year,” Lidell
but also not give up the quarter’s figure of
The filing is undertaken would effectively mean that miliar with finance,” he said. hard. A CA, who did not want Microsoft. “In light Analysts’ added. “At least se-
established business of Rs 4,746.2 crore. Interest
solely by individuals with around 10% of the tax returns E-Lagaan.com was to be named, said though of that environ- forecast quentially, we are
cigarettes.” The non- charges paid went up in
the help of instructions pro- will be filed electronically. launched about two months some people have taken to e- ment, it was an $4.28 bn seeing a little bit
cigarette portfolio of the first quarter to
vided on the website. After “E-filing takes a few min- back by a group of chartered filing, hard copies are still the excellent achieve- of growth. While
ITCs business, which Rs.170.7 crore from Sales dipped
filing your returns on these utes to complete. There is no accountants (CAs) and engi- order of the day . ment to deliver over r things are not neces-
includes hospitality and Rs.127.1 crore. Earnings to $13.1 bn
sites, one can make need for filing or submitting neers. It is getting around “It will take time before peo- $750 million of
of sarily getting better,
s
apparels, contributes more per share stood at Rs1.39
payments online and post returns with IT authorities. 2,000 hits daily. “E-filing is ple warm up to the idea as in- operational savings
ings they may have bottomed
the
than 51% of the net from Rs 0.87 in the corre-
printouts as documentary As it saves time and money e- , much cheaper than using the formation safety is an issue. compared to the prior prior out,” said Liddell.
out,”
turnover. sponding previous period.
proof to the post office in filing is becoming very popu- services of a CA for physical And Indians have a strong year quarter.” Microsoft reported fiscal
Micr
Bangalore’s Electronic City. lar,” Jaganathan added. filing. While our services bond of trust with their CAs,” The news sent Microsoft fourth quarter net profit
“Around 27 lakh income- Around 60% of the users are come as cheap as Rs 149, a CA he said. shares down 8% and took the dropped 29% of $3.04 billion,
‘CRISIS FAILED TO SUPPLY CREDIT’ tax assessees filed their tax in the 22-32 years age bracket can charge you several times Moroever, e-filing portals shine off a big US stock mar- compared with $4.297 billion,
returns via electronic route in as the adoption of technology higher,” added Rungta. Ban- cannot help you evade tax un- ket rally earlier in the day in the year-ago quarter. Sales
T he financial crisis of the past two
years show the financial system
“failed in its most basic responsibility”
the last assessment year (08-
09), up from 10 lakhs in the
is higher among youth, he
added.
galore-based tax expert AG
Krishnan said e-filing is a
like a CA, who will also advice
you on many other nuances,
that had driven the Dow fell 17% to $13.1 billion, miss-
Jones industrial average DJI ing analysts' average estimate
previous year,” said Ravi According to GL Rungta, matter of habit and though he quipped. above 9,000 points. of $14.48 billion.
to supply credit and protect Jagannathan, CEO, consumer director, eLagaan.com., these users might have trouble to N_PRANAV@DNAINDIA.NET
consumers It took the federal banking
time to get consensus on supervisory
guidance imposing even general
standards on subprime mortgage. Sobha gets nod to redo Reliance Jewels gets Slim refinery
margins
- Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary
Rs 500 cr prop-up
FORTIS Q1 NET
SWELLS TO RS 7 CR
New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare
BOSCH NET DIPS
14% AT RS 188 CR
Mumbai: Auto-component
Rs1,900-cr debt math Sobia Khan. BANGALORE
slump RIL Q1
net by 11.5%
Sobia Khan. BANGALORE crore and Rs 460 crore in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance
Ltd (FHL) has recorded more maker Bosch on Friday re- FY10 and FY11 respectively Retail Ltd (RRL) plans to add PTI. MUMBAI
than seven-fold growth in ported a fall of 14% in its net Banks and financial institu- as per rescheduled time- more sparkle to its jewellery
net profit at Rs 7.55 crore profit for the quarter ended tions, which lent close to Rs lines, Sobha will pay an eas- format — Reliance Jewels. Reliance Industries (RIL)
during the first quarter 2009- June 30 to Rs 188.27 crore, 1,900 crore to the city-based ier Rs 450 crore and Rs 690 The retail major is looking to on Friday reported 11.5%
10, as against Rs 94 lakh dur- over the corresponding peri- real estate player Sobha De- crore in the same period, an invest Rs 500 crore to add 25 fall in net profit at Rs 3,636
ing the same quarter last fis- od a year ago. The company velopers Ltd, have agreed to analyst said. more stores to the existing 18 crore for the first quarter of
cal.Consolidated Q1 sales of had a net profit of Rs 219.72 reschedule part of its debt, The company is looking to under this format by the end the this fiscal on falling re-
FHL, which operates a net- crore during the April-June
work of 28 hospital in India quarter in the last financial
bringing some relief to the mop-up anywhere between Rs of this financial year. The Plans to launch 25 fining margins and reduc-
realty group. 1,200 – 1,400 crore by selling its stores will measure anywhere tion in fuel demand in the
and abroad, were up 27% at year (2008-09), Bosch said in a Confirming the deve- land parcels at a premium. between 3,000 – 8,000 sft.
stores by the end of time of global recession.
Rs 188.54 crore as against the filing to the BSE.Bosch fol- lopment, Sobha Developers’ These parcels totalling up to Bijou Kurien, president and this financial year The company’s profit
same period in 2008-09. It lows a January-December fi- managing director J C Shar- 475 acres were valued between chief executive, lifestyle, RRL, was Rs 4,110 crore in the
had sales of Rs 148.35 crore nancial year. Total income ma said, “The company has Rs 600-800 crore sometime said “Reliance Jewels has RRL is also looking step up same period last fiscal. The
in Q1 2008-09. The company also fell to Rs 1,311.33 crore in managed to reschedule a sub- or rescheduled its near-term back, according to market been a major revenue driver presence in the $900-million decline in profit for the
said all the hospitals of FHL April-June 2009-10 from Rs stantial part of its loan port- debt to match its expected sources. However, Sharma re- for us in the lifestyle space.” organised optical wear mar- June quarter is the third
performed “exceedingly 1,335.67 crore of the same pe- folio.” However, he did not cash flows. The realty major fused to give any specific de- The firm, which has presence ket which is growing at 15-20% straight fall for the refin-
well” with Escorts Heart riod a year earlier. Shares of elaborate on the same. is currently paying an aver- tails on the same. in Bangalore, Jamshedpur y-o-y Vision Express is a joint
. ing major. RIL earned $7.5
Institute and Research Cen- Bosch rose 3.26% from its “Almost all the financial age rate of interest of around Sobha recently raised and Hyderabad, took its store venture between Reliance Re- on turning every barrel of
tre (EHIRC), Delhi, and For- previousclose and were at Rs institutions have realigned 13% and has an annual in- around Rs 530 crore by dilut- tally to 18 from the existing 12 tail and Dutch optical retailer crude oil into fuel in the
tis Escorts, Jaipur, recording 3,550 in afternoon trade on loans and our target is to terest outgo of Rs 240 crore . ing close to 22.5% equity during the last six months. Pearle Europe. April-June quarter as op-
a 50% jump in revenue. the BSE. bring down the debt to equi- It also has fixed overheads of through a qualified institu- This company is also looking Reliance plans to take the to-
ty ratio of 0.5 by this fiscal Rs 60 crore. “We are looking tional placement (QIP). to expand the footprint of oth- tal stores under the Vision Ex-
spotlight
from the current 0.85,” he at operational improvements The company intends to er formats like Reliance Time- press to 102 by March 2010 from
added. Of the total debt of Rs and plan to bring down the use Rs 410 crore of the QIP Out and Reliance Vision Ex- the present 22. By 2015, the
WWW.SLASHGEAR.COM
1,900 crore, Sobha will be able debt through land monetisa- proceeds to reduce part of the press. Reliance Time Out, a number will go up to 500 out-
to repay Rs 1,130 crore on eas- tion, QIP and private equity debt, a report by Enam one-stop stationery shop, will lets. Reliance Time Out, Vision
ier timelines. deals,” Sharma said. Securities said. have 15 stores by this year- Express and Reliance Jewel
Sobha has also refinanced Instead of paying Rs 960 K_SOBIA@DNAINDIA.NET end. According to Kurien, come under the RRL fold.
Porsche fires CEO in prelude to VW buyout
Carter Dougherty “The merger with Volkswagen is a Audi today Porsche can also continue
,
done-deal now,” said Ferdinand Du- its independent development under
Porsche on Thursday fired Wendelin denhoeffer, director of the Center for the aegis of Volkswagen and preserve
Wiedeking, the high-profile CEO who Automotive Studies at the University its own identity Porsche's board ap-
.”
rejuvenated the nearly bankrupt mak- of Duisburg-Essen. proved a 5 billion euro, or $7.1 billion,
ers of sports cars in the early 1990s Alluding to Audi, the premium capital increase and said that the “ul-
,but stumbled as a huge debt load tor- brand that Volkswagen turned into a timate goal” was to create an “inte-
pedoed plans to take over the much profitable franchise in US and else- grated car manufacturing company”
POCKET WONDER larger Volkswagen concern, which where, the CEO of Volkswagen, Mar- out of Porsche and Volkswagen. Mukesh Ambani
Manufactured by HP, the IPAQ K3 this smart phone is a will now absorb Porsche instead. tin Winterkorn, outlined plans for a If Volkswagen is going to buy up posed to a gross refining
complete package with the AT & T branding. In a meeting Porsche also green- Porsche that could rely on the larger Porsche's shares as a prelude to full in- margin of $15.7 a barrel in
The full QWERTY phone has a 2.43-inch AMOLED touch lighted plans for its new CEO, Michael company's economies of scale while tegration in the larger company Qatar
, the period a year ago.
screen, 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G and WiFi Macht, to complete an investment by protecting its brand in the eyes of its may simply wait and invest in Volk- Refining accounted for
the government of Qatar as a prelude customers. swagen itself as part of the process, 65% of its revenue, though
It comes with a RAM size of 256 MB and a 3.5mm
to the creation of an integrated auto- “We can call on our considerable analysts said. Porsche said Thursday revenue from refining
headphone socket
mobile company that would make experience in the integration of that Wiedeking would walk away with dropped 22.72% to Rs
The smartphone is priced at $199.99 and will reach the Porsche the 10th brand in Volkswa- proud and successful brands rich in a 50-million euro severance package, 25,180 crore from Rs 32,587
stores by November 30 gen's stable tradition,” Winterkorn said. “Like Wendelin Wiedeking or more than $71 million. NYT crore in the same period
last year.
General insurers’ growth more than halves
Turnover is down by
22.89% to Rs 32,056 crore
compared to Rs 41,579
crore in the year-ago peri-
od. RIL, which shed the
only-for-exports tag for its
old. Jamnagar refinery in
In the quarter Also in a marked trend, grown faster than the industry April, converted 7.96 mil-
ended June, gross public sector general insur- COVER DRIVE at 10% and 17% respectively If-
. lion tonnes of crude oil
ance companies have grown fco Tokio has also registered a into product against 8.13
Public sector companies have gained market share from
written premium their gross written premium
the established private players in the last two quarters
positive growth of 4%. MT in Q1 of last fiscal.
during Q1, while established Reliance General, once the Exports halved to 2.7
grew 6% to private players have seen a The four state-owned firms registered a 7% growth and fastest growing general insur- MT as demand in US and
Rs 9,260 crore de-growth. almost all the established private insurance firms barring er, has hardly grown its gross Europe dipped.
The four state-owned firms a couple, registered a de-growth premium income in Q1, while Export revenues
Nandini Goswami. KOLKATA registered a 7% growth and al- Established private players have seen a de-growth of players such as ICICI Lombard dropped by a massive
most all the established pri- around 8% in the June quarter and Bajaj Allianz General have 38.5% to Rs 17,433 crore in
On the back of the economic vate insurance firms barring seen a de-growth of 21% and Q1, the company said,
downturn and cut down in a couple, registered a de- 13% respectively Tata AIG Gen-
. adding that it sold higher
premium rates in the de-tar- growth. Collectively, estab- Insurance, however, regis- ness”, the source said. eral saw a de-growth of 10% in volumes of naphtha, diesel
iffed regime, growth in the al- lished private players have tered a de-growth of 2%. Public sector companies the first quarter. and gasoline domestically .
most Rs 30,000 crore general seen a de-growth of around 8% The public sector insurers, have gained market share from Owing to their late entry pri-
, Basic earning per
insurance industry more than in the June quarter. Newer pri- which saw a dent in their pre- the established private players vate companies such as Future share, an indicator of the
halved, to just 6% in the first vate players, however, have mium income in the earlier in the last two quarters. Generali and Universal Sompo profitability of the com-
quarter of the current fiscal. grown, given their low base. phases of deregulation have re- If statistics are anything to have seen high growth num- pany’s share, for the quar-
Growth in Q1 last year was Among nationalised gener- versed the trend, said an in- go by then the first quarter has
, bers. HDFC Ergo, which re- ter was Rs 23.1 against Rs
over 15%. al insurers, United India grew dustry observer. “Renewals in shown some disturbing trends structured its business at a lat- 28.3 for the same period
Data available with DNA by 14%. Oriental Insurance business and strong marketing for established private players er stage, grew gross written last year, it said.
Money suggests that gross and New India Assurance efforts like tie-ups in motor and in the market except for 3-4 premium by 247% in the April- RIL closed down 1.20 %
written premium in the June grew their premium by 10% health have helped them recoup players, like Royal Sundaram June quarter. at Rs 2,013.75 on the BSE.
quarter grew to Rs 9,260 crore. and 7% respectively. National some of their lost share in busi- and Cholamandalam have G_NANDINI@DNAINDIA.NET