MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--U.K. telecommunications company BT Group PLC (BT) is planning to sell a part or all of its stake in India's Tech Mahindra Ltd. (532755.BY) and has mandated investment banker Credit Suisse Group (CS) for the deal, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
"The firm [BT Group] is looking at various options to exit its current holding of Tech Mahindra," one of the people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires, without elaborating. Both people didn't want to be named.
At least two private-equity investors are keen to purchase at least a part of BT's stake in Tech Mahindra, the second person said, but didn't name the interested buyers.
BT Group spokesman Dan Thomas said the company doesn't comment on rumours and speculation.
"BT has operations and investments worldwide which we regularly review. India remains a critical market both for BT and our customers," Thomas said via email.
The U.K. company owns a 30.9% stake in the Indian outsourcing firm, he added.
India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (500520.BY) holds 42.77% of Tech Mahindra, stock exchange data showed.
Tech Mahindra spokesman Prasenjit Roy said in response to an emailed query that the company doesn't comment on market speculation.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Russian tycoon offers coal mines to NMDC
India's largest iron ore miner NMDC has been offered to buy coal mines in Russia's Siberian region for $400 million by Intergeo, which is owned by tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, a media report said.
Intergeo, a mining subsidiary of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group private equity fund is in talks with India's largest iron miner National Mineral [ Get Quote ] Development Corporation (NMDC) to sell the Yakutia-based Kolmar coal company, leading business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.
"NMDC, Asia's third iron ore producer, is currently conducting due diligence of Kolmar, and will formulate its offer by December 1," Intergeo CEO Maxim Finsky was quoted as saying by the daily.
The Kolmar will hold IPO to attract investors if NMDC refuses to acquire it, it added. Intergeo expects to raise the amount of $400 million through Kolmar sale, USD 100 million more than the company paid for the asset, Kommersant writes.
NMDC had earlier said it was in talks to buy coking coal mines from Kolmar in Russia to feed its proposed steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka [ Images ]. However, when contacted, a top NMDC official said, "We have nothing to offer at this moment."
NMDC CMD Rana Som had earlier confirmed that talks are on, but said that Kolmar's coal mines were one of the many coal assets NMDC is looking at and nothing has yet been finalised.
The PSU has been trying to acquire mining assets overseas for the last few years to secure raw material supplies for its steel making business.
NMDC along with two other companies had submitted a $230-million non-binding bid to buy 70 per cent stake in an Australian mine owned by Perth-based Atlas Iron.
Also, the company is looking for acquiring coal assets through International Coal Ventures Ltd--the consortium of five leading PSUs, including SAIL [ Get Quote ], NTPC and RINL. The firm is also looking at developing iron ore mines in Africa in joint venture with world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal.
It is also in partnership talks with Japan's [ Images ] Nippon Steel for a Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) project in Karnataka, and with Kobe Steel for another project in Andhra Pradesh. The company has proposed to set up a 2-million tonne per annum (mtpa) plant in Karnataka. Besides these JVs, NMDC plans to commission its 3-mtpa integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh by 2014.
The miner is investing Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) to augment its annual iron ore production to about 41 million tonnes from around 22 million tonnes at present.
Intergeo, a mining subsidiary of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group private equity fund is in talks with India's largest iron miner National Mineral [ Get Quote ] Development Corporation (NMDC) to sell the Yakutia-based Kolmar coal company, leading business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.
"NMDC, Asia's third iron ore producer, is currently conducting due diligence of Kolmar, and will formulate its offer by December 1," Intergeo CEO Maxim Finsky was quoted as saying by the daily.
The Kolmar will hold IPO to attract investors if NMDC refuses to acquire it, it added. Intergeo expects to raise the amount of $400 million through Kolmar sale, USD 100 million more than the company paid for the asset, Kommersant writes.
NMDC had earlier said it was in talks to buy coking coal mines from Kolmar in Russia to feed its proposed steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka [ Images ]. However, when contacted, a top NMDC official said, "We have nothing to offer at this moment."
NMDC CMD Rana Som had earlier confirmed that talks are on, but said that Kolmar's coal mines were one of the many coal assets NMDC is looking at and nothing has yet been finalised.
The PSU has been trying to acquire mining assets overseas for the last few years to secure raw material supplies for its steel making business.
NMDC along with two other companies had submitted a $230-million non-binding bid to buy 70 per cent stake in an Australian mine owned by Perth-based Atlas Iron.
Also, the company is looking for acquiring coal assets through International Coal Ventures Ltd--the consortium of five leading PSUs, including SAIL [ Get Quote ], NTPC and RINL. The firm is also looking at developing iron ore mines in Africa in joint venture with world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal.
It is also in partnership talks with Japan's [ Images ] Nippon Steel for a Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) project in Karnataka, and with Kobe Steel for another project in Andhra Pradesh. The company has proposed to set up a 2-million tonne per annum (mtpa) plant in Karnataka. Besides these JVs, NMDC plans to commission its 3-mtpa integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh by 2014.
The miner is investing Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) to augment its annual iron ore production to about 41 million tonnes from around 22 million tonnes at present.
Rice Climbs for a Sixth Day on Speculation About Smaller Crops
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Rice gained for a sixth day in Chicago on speculation that adverse weather may curb production in the U.S., the world’s third-biggest exporter of the grain, and the Philippines, the largest importer.
No rain has fallen in parts of Arkansas, the biggest U.S. rice producer, in the past 60 days, National Weather Service data show. Plants in the Philippines may have been “severely affected” by Typhoon Megi, the strongest to hit the country this year, the Department of Agriculture said today.
“The big story in rice is the extremely poor field yields in” U.S. growing regions, said Dennis DeLaughter, owner of Progressive Farm Marketing and a rice grower based in Edna, Texas. “We are now hearing 20 percent loss and going up.”
Rice futures for January delivery advanced 9 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $14.07 per hundred pounds at 11:21 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have climbed 12 percent this month. A higher close today would mark the contract’s longest winning streak in more than two months.
The Philippines may lose 600,000 metric tons from its rice crop, Agriculture Undersecretary Antonio Fleta said yesterday. Potential crop losses may boost the island archipelago’s import needs by 500,000 tons, pushing prices higher in Chicago and Thailand, Chookiat Ophaswongse, former president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said yesterday.
Thai rice prices may rise by as much as $20 a metric ton, Chookiat said.
Crop losses may widen in areas affected by the typhoon, potentially increasing import needs and pushing global prices higher, said Kiattisak Kanlayasirivat, a director at Novel Commodities SA’s Thai office, which trades about $600 million worth of rice every year.
No rain has fallen in parts of Arkansas, the biggest U.S. rice producer, in the past 60 days, National Weather Service data show. Plants in the Philippines may have been “severely affected” by Typhoon Megi, the strongest to hit the country this year, the Department of Agriculture said today.
“The big story in rice is the extremely poor field yields in” U.S. growing regions, said Dennis DeLaughter, owner of Progressive Farm Marketing and a rice grower based in Edna, Texas. “We are now hearing 20 percent loss and going up.”
Rice futures for January delivery advanced 9 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $14.07 per hundred pounds at 11:21 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have climbed 12 percent this month. A higher close today would mark the contract’s longest winning streak in more than two months.
The Philippines may lose 600,000 metric tons from its rice crop, Agriculture Undersecretary Antonio Fleta said yesterday. Potential crop losses may boost the island archipelago’s import needs by 500,000 tons, pushing prices higher in Chicago and Thailand, Chookiat Ophaswongse, former president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said yesterday.
Thai rice prices may rise by as much as $20 a metric ton, Chookiat said.
Crop losses may widen in areas affected by the typhoon, potentially increasing import needs and pushing global prices higher, said Kiattisak Kanlayasirivat, a director at Novel Commodities SA’s Thai office, which trades about $600 million worth of rice every year.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Why People Distribute Apta Tree Leaves on Dussehra and Vijayadasami day?
In North and Western parts of India people distribute leaves of Apta, or Apati, tree leaves on Dussehra and Vijayadasami day. In this ritual, Apta tree leaves symbolically represents gold or sona. People present Apta tree leaves to friends, relatives and neighbors and wish happy Dasara. There is an interesting story on why Apati tree leaves are presented on Dussehra.
Legend has it that a young man named Kautsa in Ayodhya once after attaining education from Guru Varatantu asked his Guru to accept a Guru Daskhina – a present offered by students to Guru after completing their studies.
Guru Varatantu at first said he did not want any Dakshina. But young Kautsa insisted that He should take a Dakshina.
Guru Varatantu to get rid of Kautsa asked him for 14 crore (140 million) gold coins. One hundred million for each subject taught.
The student then went to Lord Ram who was ruling Ayodhya and asked for the gold coins needed to pay his Guru Dakshina. Lord Ram promised to help Kautsa and asked him to wait near the Shanu and Apta Tree in his village
In three days time, Lord Ram with the help of Lord Kuber, the God wealth, showered gold coins from the leaves of Shanu and Apati Tree. The leaves of the trees became gold coins.
Kautsa collected the coins and gave 140 million gold coins to Guru Varatantu. The rest of coins were distributed to the needy by Kautsa. This happened on a Dussehra day. To commemorate this event even today people collect leaves of Apta tree and present it as sona or gold.
Legend has it that a young man named Kautsa in Ayodhya once after attaining education from Guru Varatantu asked his Guru to accept a Guru Daskhina – a present offered by students to Guru after completing their studies.
Guru Varatantu at first said he did not want any Dakshina. But young Kautsa insisted that He should take a Dakshina.
Guru Varatantu to get rid of Kautsa asked him for 14 crore (140 million) gold coins. One hundred million for each subject taught.
The student then went to Lord Ram who was ruling Ayodhya and asked for the gold coins needed to pay his Guru Dakshina. Lord Ram promised to help Kautsa and asked him to wait near the Shanu and Apta Tree in his village
In three days time, Lord Ram with the help of Lord Kuber, the God wealth, showered gold coins from the leaves of Shanu and Apati Tree. The leaves of the trees became gold coins.
Kautsa collected the coins and gave 140 million gold coins to Guru Varatantu. The rest of coins were distributed to the needy by Kautsa. This happened on a Dussehra day. To commemorate this event even today people collect leaves of Apta tree and present it as sona or gold.
Alstom's India Growth May Outpace Economy on Rail Buildup
Alstom SA, the world’s second- largest trainmaker, said Indian sales growth may surpass local economic expansion as the government works on a 14 trillion rupee ($317 billion) plan to expand and modernize railroads.
The company has to be prepared for India growth “which is equal to if not higher than GDP,” Sunand Sharma, 61, Alstom’s local head, said in an Oct. 15 interview at his office in Noida, near New Delhi. He declined to give specific sales numbers.
Alstom, which also makes power-plant systems, expects to eventually get a third of India sales from transportation as the government expands the railroads 10 percent a year to support economic growth. The Paris-based company has been shortlisted with General Electric Co., Bombardier Inc. and Siemens AG as a possible partner in an Indian trainmaking venture and is considering building a rail-car plant in the country.
“India is an opportunity but not without hiccups,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist at SMC Global Securities Ltd., which manages $100 million in assets in New Delhi. “For companies, it may be better to sacrifice profit margin for scale because whoever comes in now will have first- mover advantage.”
The planned trainmaking venture will produce about 120 electric locomotives a year, according to the rail ministry. Bids have to be submitted by Oct. 25, A.K. Saxena, a ministry spokesman, said by phone Oct. 15 in New Delhi. He declined to say when a decision will be made.
Railway Expansion
Indian Railways, the state-owned rail operator, has proposed to add 25,000 kilometers (15,534 miles) of new lines by 2020, compared with the 10,000 kilometers added in the past six decades, according to the rail ministry. The nation’s economy, Asia’s third-largest, will probably expand at a 9 percent annual pace by the year ending March 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in June.
Alstom may build an Indian rail-car factory after last month winning a 14.7 billion-rupee contract from Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. to supply 168 carriages, Sharma said. He declined to say where the factory may be built or when a decision will be made.
Alstom’s India operations have mainly focused on the power sector to date. Alstom Projects India Ltd., a subsidiary, generated 97 percent of its 20.4 billion rupees of sales in the year ended March from its power division and the rest from transportation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alstom has other ventures and businesses in India. Sharma declined to comment on local sales numbers.
Alstom’s power operations may boost India sales to more than 1 billion euros a year from several hundred million euros, Denis Cochet, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Alstom’s power division, said Oct. 12.
The company is building two factories with Pune, India- based Bharat Forge Ltd. that will make equipment for so-called super-critical power plants, which use less energy and generate higher pressure for greater efficiency than traditional plants. The factories will start operations in phases from April 2012, Bharat Forge said in its annual report for the year ended March.
The company has to be prepared for India growth “which is equal to if not higher than GDP,” Sunand Sharma, 61, Alstom’s local head, said in an Oct. 15 interview at his office in Noida, near New Delhi. He declined to give specific sales numbers.
Alstom, which also makes power-plant systems, expects to eventually get a third of India sales from transportation as the government expands the railroads 10 percent a year to support economic growth. The Paris-based company has been shortlisted with General Electric Co., Bombardier Inc. and Siemens AG as a possible partner in an Indian trainmaking venture and is considering building a rail-car plant in the country.
“India is an opportunity but not without hiccups,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist at SMC Global Securities Ltd., which manages $100 million in assets in New Delhi. “For companies, it may be better to sacrifice profit margin for scale because whoever comes in now will have first- mover advantage.”
The planned trainmaking venture will produce about 120 electric locomotives a year, according to the rail ministry. Bids have to be submitted by Oct. 25, A.K. Saxena, a ministry spokesman, said by phone Oct. 15 in New Delhi. He declined to say when a decision will be made.
Railway Expansion
Indian Railways, the state-owned rail operator, has proposed to add 25,000 kilometers (15,534 miles) of new lines by 2020, compared with the 10,000 kilometers added in the past six decades, according to the rail ministry. The nation’s economy, Asia’s third-largest, will probably expand at a 9 percent annual pace by the year ending March 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in June.
Alstom may build an Indian rail-car factory after last month winning a 14.7 billion-rupee contract from Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. to supply 168 carriages, Sharma said. He declined to say where the factory may be built or when a decision will be made.
Alstom’s India operations have mainly focused on the power sector to date. Alstom Projects India Ltd., a subsidiary, generated 97 percent of its 20.4 billion rupees of sales in the year ended March from its power division and the rest from transportation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alstom has other ventures and businesses in India. Sharma declined to comment on local sales numbers.
Alstom’s power operations may boost India sales to more than 1 billion euros a year from several hundred million euros, Denis Cochet, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Alstom’s power division, said Oct. 12.
The company is building two factories with Pune, India- based Bharat Forge Ltd. that will make equipment for so-called super-critical power plants, which use less energy and generate higher pressure for greater efficiency than traditional plants. The factories will start operations in phases from April 2012, Bharat Forge said in its annual report for the year ended March.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Indian Exchanges to Start Pre-Open Session, Express Says
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange will start a 15-minute pre-trading session from Oct. 18, the Indian Express reported, citing Ravi Narain, managing director of the National Stock Exchange.
The session will be a call auction, where participants place orders before the opening of trade and will run from 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., the newspaper said.
The two bourses will introduce the session on a “pilot” basis, and only stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and S&P CNX Nifty Index will be available for trading, the newspaper said.
The session will be a call auction, where participants place orders before the opening of trade and will run from 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., the newspaper said.
The two bourses will introduce the session on a “pilot” basis, and only stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and S&P CNX Nifty Index will be available for trading, the newspaper said.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Billionaire Jhunjhunwala-Backed Delta Plans Casinos in Sri Lanka
Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala- backed Delta Corp. plans to open casinos in Sri Lanka in the next six months to tap a surge in tourist arrivals to the island nation after the end of a 26-year civil war.
Casino operator-Delta, which also develops property and runs an aircraft charter service, will spend 10 billion rupees ($225 million) in the next three years in opening casinos in the region as well as at home in Sikkim, Daman, and Goa, Chief Financial Officer Hardik Dhebar said in an interview in Mumbai. Gambling is not allowed in most Indian states.
Delta wants to benefit from a revival in Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals, which surged 47 percent in the first eight months of the year, according to the nation’s tourism agency. Shares of companies including John Keells Holdings Plc and Aitken Spence & Co. have more than doubled as tourist incomes boosts earnings at their hotels and resorts.
“We have not even scratched the surface yet” for casino opportunities in the region, Dhebar said. “Sri Lanka is in a hurry to start speed up the process of development and is taking steps to ensure investment flows into the country.”
Delta shares, which have risen 84 percent this year, rose 2 percent to a record 83.8 rupees in Mumbai at 11:08 a.m.
Faster economic growth in India and Sri Lanka is helping boost salaries in the region increasing demand for leisure spending, Dhebar said.
India’s economy grew 8.8 percent in the quarter ended June 30, the fastest pace in two-and-a-half years. Sri Lanka’s $42 billion economy may grow as much as 8 percent in 2010, the central bank said on Sept. 21. The nation’s troops defeated the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May last year, ending their 26-year quest for a separate homeland helping attract tourists and investors to the nation.
Billionaire Jhunjhunwala and investor Radhakrishna Damani bought an 11 percent stake in the company last month. Jhunjhunwala, with $1.15 billion in assets is India’s 57th richest man, according to Forbes magazine.
Casino operator-Delta, which also develops property and runs an aircraft charter service, will spend 10 billion rupees ($225 million) in the next three years in opening casinos in the region as well as at home in Sikkim, Daman, and Goa, Chief Financial Officer Hardik Dhebar said in an interview in Mumbai. Gambling is not allowed in most Indian states.
Delta wants to benefit from a revival in Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals, which surged 47 percent in the first eight months of the year, according to the nation’s tourism agency. Shares of companies including John Keells Holdings Plc and Aitken Spence & Co. have more than doubled as tourist incomes boosts earnings at their hotels and resorts.
“We have not even scratched the surface yet” for casino opportunities in the region, Dhebar said. “Sri Lanka is in a hurry to start speed up the process of development and is taking steps to ensure investment flows into the country.”
Delta shares, which have risen 84 percent this year, rose 2 percent to a record 83.8 rupees in Mumbai at 11:08 a.m.
Faster economic growth in India and Sri Lanka is helping boost salaries in the region increasing demand for leisure spending, Dhebar said.
India’s economy grew 8.8 percent in the quarter ended June 30, the fastest pace in two-and-a-half years. Sri Lanka’s $42 billion economy may grow as much as 8 percent in 2010, the central bank said on Sept. 21. The nation’s troops defeated the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May last year, ending their 26-year quest for a separate homeland helping attract tourists and investors to the nation.
Billionaire Jhunjhunwala and investor Radhakrishna Damani bought an 11 percent stake in the company last month. Jhunjhunwala, with $1.15 billion in assets is India’s 57th richest man, according to Forbes magazine.
RIL's crude reservoirs not performing as per predictions
NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries has seen crude oil production falling by more than 31 per cent from its MA oilfield in the predominantly gas-rich KG-D6 block off the east coast.
"The reservoir is not performing as per its predictions," a source in know of the development said. "Production has dropped from about 32,000 barrels per day achieved in May to around 22,000 bpd currently."
A company spokesperson declined to comment on the issue. Currently six wells are on production in MA field in the eastern offshore KG-DWN-98/3 (or KG-D6) block. RIL, which commenced commercial oil production from MA field in September 2008, had in its field development plan (FDP) envisaged a plateau oil output of 34,041 bpd in the 2nd year of production and 28,684 bpd in the 3rd year.
So far, the maximum production level of about 32,000 bpd was achieved for few days only during May 2010, thereafter oil production has declined gradually.
Besides crude oil, the MA oilfield produces 7-8 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas. This output together with Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields, take natural gas production from the KG-D6 block to around 60 mmscmd.
Even D1 and D3 fields have seen a two-year delay in reaching plateau output of 80 mmscmd. The fields are now estimated to hit the peak production towards end of 2012.
The source said RIL has been forced to cut output at MA oilfields because of sudden rise in water and gas production from the wells meant to produce crude oil.
Increase in gas production means the natural pressure of the reservoir, which helps push oil up to shore, is dropping. If gas comes out too quickly, crude oil, even though lying in the well pit, cannot be produced.
RIL, he said, has informed the oil regulator DGH that it will not recklessly produce oil at the cost of reservoir. It will judiciously produce from existing wells and look at raising output only by drilling at least two additional wells.
Sources said RIL and its minority partner, Canada's Niko Resources , had installed a floating production system (FPSO) to produce oil from MA fields. The FPSO, designed to process 60,000 bpd of oil, is also grossly underutilised due to the lower level of oil production.
RIL was studying the pressure at the oil and gas reservoir, he said adding the company plans to drill 2-3 more wells on D1 and D3 fields. These will be besides what the company was doing in MA field.
"The reservoir is not performing as per its predictions," a source in know of the development said. "Production has dropped from about 32,000 barrels per day achieved in May to around 22,000 bpd currently."
A company spokesperson declined to comment on the issue. Currently six wells are on production in MA field in the eastern offshore KG-DWN-98/3 (or KG-D6) block. RIL, which commenced commercial oil production from MA field in September 2008, had in its field development plan (FDP) envisaged a plateau oil output of 34,041 bpd in the 2nd year of production and 28,684 bpd in the 3rd year.
So far, the maximum production level of about 32,000 bpd was achieved for few days only during May 2010, thereafter oil production has declined gradually.
Besides crude oil, the MA oilfield produces 7-8 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas. This output together with Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields, take natural gas production from the KG-D6 block to around 60 mmscmd.
Even D1 and D3 fields have seen a two-year delay in reaching plateau output of 80 mmscmd. The fields are now estimated to hit the peak production towards end of 2012.
The source said RIL has been forced to cut output at MA oilfields because of sudden rise in water and gas production from the wells meant to produce crude oil.
Increase in gas production means the natural pressure of the reservoir, which helps push oil up to shore, is dropping. If gas comes out too quickly, crude oil, even though lying in the well pit, cannot be produced.
RIL, he said, has informed the oil regulator DGH that it will not recklessly produce oil at the cost of reservoir. It will judiciously produce from existing wells and look at raising output only by drilling at least two additional wells.
Sources said RIL and its minority partner, Canada's Niko Resources , had installed a floating production system (FPSO) to produce oil from MA fields. The FPSO, designed to process 60,000 bpd of oil, is also grossly underutilised due to the lower level of oil production.
RIL was studying the pressure at the oil and gas reservoir, he said adding the company plans to drill 2-3 more wells on D1 and D3 fields. These will be besides what the company was doing in MA field.
L&T sells 2.4% in Satyam for Rs 295 cr
MUMBAI: Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro has sold 2.4 per cent stake in Mahindra Satyam in September, the outsourcer said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Larsen raised Rs 295 crore ($66.3 million) from the stake sale and now holds 2.16 per cent in Satyam. It had last sold a third of its holding in the outsourcer in November 2009 for about $66 million.
L&T had built a 12 per cent holding in Satyam, but the expansion of share capital following the takeover meant it held 6.9 per cent in Mahindra Satyam.
Last April, L&T lost the race for control of Satyam to Tech Mahindra Ltd, a unit of India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Larsen raised Rs 295 crore ($66.3 million) from the stake sale and now holds 2.16 per cent in Satyam. It had last sold a third of its holding in the outsourcer in November 2009 for about $66 million.
L&T had built a 12 per cent holding in Satyam, but the expansion of share capital following the takeover meant it held 6.9 per cent in Mahindra Satyam.
Last April, L&T lost the race for control of Satyam to Tech Mahindra Ltd, a unit of India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
PlayStation celebrates its 15th birthday in Europe
The Sony PlayStation today reached 15 years since its launch.
The original PlayStation was released in Europe on 29 September 29 1995. It was Sony’s big break into the gaming industry, taking on established giants such as Nintendo and Sega.
It was a phenomenal success, becoming the first-ever games console to sell more than 100 million units.
Some of the most iconic games to come from the console include Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and Grand Theft Auto.
The PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 followed Sony’s initial landmark console, both finding great success in the gaming market.
The PlayStation Hub
Meanwhile, the PlayStation Hub in Dublin has seen more than 2,000 gamers walk through its doors since its launch 10 days ago.
The state-of-the-art gaming hub is located at 50 South William Street in Dublin city centre and offers gamers the chance to play upcoming new games for the PS3, such as Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 3, and lets them test out the PlayStation Move.
“We are delighted that the PlayStation Hub has proven so popular during the first two weeks of opening,” said Niall O’Hanrahan, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland.
"Gamers of all ages are enjoying the opportunity to game for free in Dublin city centre and we hope they continue to enjoy the experience over the coming weeks."
The original PlayStation was released in Europe on 29 September 29 1995. It was Sony’s big break into the gaming industry, taking on established giants such as Nintendo and Sega.
It was a phenomenal success, becoming the first-ever games console to sell more than 100 million units.
Some of the most iconic games to come from the console include Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and Grand Theft Auto.
The PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 followed Sony’s initial landmark console, both finding great success in the gaming market.
The PlayStation Hub
Meanwhile, the PlayStation Hub in Dublin has seen more than 2,000 gamers walk through its doors since its launch 10 days ago.
The state-of-the-art gaming hub is located at 50 South William Street in Dublin city centre and offers gamers the chance to play upcoming new games for the PS3, such as Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 3, and lets them test out the PlayStation Move.
“We are delighted that the PlayStation Hub has proven so popular during the first two weeks of opening,” said Niall O’Hanrahan, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland.
"Gamers of all ages are enjoying the opportunity to game for free in Dublin city centre and we hope they continue to enjoy the experience over the coming weeks."
Ayodhya case verdict today, nation on high alert
With the central and state governments having taken adequate security measures ahead of the verdict on the title suits in the Babri Masjid-Ram-janmabhoomi case in Lucknow on Thursday, Home Minister P Chidambaram expressed confidence there would be no trouble after the judgment. Chidambaram said he did not “foresee any problems” as almost all political parties, religious groups and those associated with the dispute, have said they would respect the verdict of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court.
"The India story is a much bigger story and young people recognise the bigger story should not be derailed over the dispute over a piece of land,” he said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Notwithstanding the confidence that there would not be any problems after the judgment, Chidambaram said the government had taken the necessary measures and deployed adequate security forces all over the country.
Regarding the Uttar Pradesh government’s demand for more central forces, Chidambaram said he had convinced the state that the 1,90,000 police personnel at its disposal would be enough.
For other parts of the country, government officials said the Centre had placed paramilitary forces at 16 locations — half of them near Indian Air Force stations — to enable quick movement of forces if an emergency breaks out.
Chidambaram said the ban on bulk messaging would continue till further orders. It was imposed recently after reports of some elements spreading mischievous messages pertaining to the Ayodhya dispute.
Chidambaram said as a lawyer, he expected one or more parties would appeal to the Supreme Court on aspects of the judgment they did not find in their favour.
Among the security measures taken by state governments, Karnataka has ordered all educational institutions in the state to be closed on Thursday and Friday. The state government has also place d a ban on any kind of celebration of the Ayodhya verdict.
"The India story is a much bigger story and young people recognise the bigger story should not be derailed over the dispute over a piece of land,” he said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Notwithstanding the confidence that there would not be any problems after the judgment, Chidambaram said the government had taken the necessary measures and deployed adequate security forces all over the country.
Regarding the Uttar Pradesh government’s demand for more central forces, Chidambaram said he had convinced the state that the 1,90,000 police personnel at its disposal would be enough.
For other parts of the country, government officials said the Centre had placed paramilitary forces at 16 locations — half of them near Indian Air Force stations — to enable quick movement of forces if an emergency breaks out.
Chidambaram said the ban on bulk messaging would continue till further orders. It was imposed recently after reports of some elements spreading mischievous messages pertaining to the Ayodhya dispute.
Chidambaram said as a lawyer, he expected one or more parties would appeal to the Supreme Court on aspects of the judgment they did not find in their favour.
Among the security measures taken by state governments, Karnataka has ordered all educational institutions in the state to be closed on Thursday and Friday. The state government has also place d a ban on any kind of celebration of the Ayodhya verdict.
Mahindra Satyam: Start of a new innings
There was a lot of excitement from analysts when Mahindra Satyam declared its audited FY09 and FY10 results after nearly two years. For the year ended March 2010, they reported a loss of Rs 124.60 crore on net sales of Rs 5,481 crore for. For year ended March 2009, the restated earnings showed a net loss at Rs 8,176.8 crore on net sales of Rs 8,812.6 crore.
On CNBC-TV18, three key people, Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, CP Gurnani, CEO and S Durgashankar, CFO of Mahindra Satyam took us through the numbers in detail and analysed this mix bag of numbers and what the road ahead was for Mahindra and Satyam.
Below is a verbatim transcript of their interview. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Now that the FY09 and FY10 numbers are done with, can you specifically tell us how much longer would it take for the merger details and what are the loopholes that you need to figure out before the merger goes through?
Nayyar: Our intention was declared on April 13th the day we acquired or we were declared as winners of Mahindra Satyam. That intention is there but we cannot start the merger proceedings till our accounts are current and these will happen when we give up first and second quarter results which will be somewhere by November 15th.
Thereafter we will be in a position to initiate the merger proceedings which are long, which are elaborate, which requires going to the two high courts, which requires appointing of accountants for purposes of determining the swap ratio, then the swap ratios have to be proved by the board of the two respective companies and by their AGMs and then finally we will merge.
Q: Coming to clients – there has been a lot of traction, there have been exits but you have been adding clients. Tell us how strong the traction is looking in terms of the kind of contracts that are coming in right now. Are we seeing big bang contracts coming in or are they probably a smaller size of about USD 20-30 million deals?
Gurnani: The company was over the last 500 days in a revival phase and now it is in the recovery phase and in that revival phase a lot of effort was made to retain existing customers, to also build up on a roadmap for growth because if I go too early into the growth phase, the chances of Mahindra Satyam being successful but very limited.
The fundamental fact is that every CFO - when a company like a Coke or a state firm insurance or Caterpillar closes the doors on you when they say because you don’t have a statement of accounts and our risk officer considers it a risk because he has no other way of knowing whether the company is sustainable or not whether its stable or not. I think that phase is behind us.
To us this announcement of our results on September 29 is frankly a very big historic moment for us. Now we can go back aggressively and assertively into the market where we can start now talking about it. So big bang projects, till yesterday were not available to us. I do not expect them to happen overnight but fundamentally we believe that it is a sheer and a firm step to recovery.
Q: Give us a number as to the kind of deals that are coming in? A rough estimate of the kind of deals that we will see and across what verticals?
Gurnani: The fundamental fact is that our deal flow was relatively slower than others in the industry because we were also in a situation where we were differently placed. So it’s not fair for me to say what kind of a deal flow. That phase that we have just closed on September 29, was a phase in which the effort was more on revival, the effort was more on assurance and now is a phase on full recovery, full growth and for the next 18 months my full-time activity would be to focus on growth.
Q: In terms of the overall revenue contribution – geography wise, can you breakup as to what are the key geographies you are looking at. Obviously US, UK being very important but if you can give us numbers as to how the revenue contribution as per geography has been broken up so far?
Durgashankar: Our main contributors are US and Europe. It is around two-thirds from the US and around 15-20% from Europe.
Q: What are the other geographies that are leading to growth?
Durgashankar: You can see we have covered substantial part. There is Asia-Pacific, so by and large after that it will be smaller numbers.
Q: Coming to the employee count – by FY10 there is 27,000 employees. You did point out that you are going to campuses; you have been giving out hikes. Can you give us an estimate of the kind of projection intake that you would be looking at for FY11?
Nayyar: I presume we will be going to the campuses for about 3,000 more youngsters to join our company.
Q: Aside from that?
Nayyar: Aside from that there will be hiring at the experienced level also. We have not quite decided 3,000 maybe under estimate, we may have to go to a higher number but we are just working at the details.
Q: You pointed out that there has been through FY09 and FY10 voluntary as well as involuntary attrition, can you throw some more light on that?
Nayyar: You know what the numbers were when the fraud was under unraveled, you know what the numbers are now, and the difference is the attrition numbers. What was voluntary and what was not voluntary. I do believe we now have a right sized company that we are focused in reaching the competencies which we have started. The company has been reorganized in a fashion to make sure that they continue to remain the cutting edge of Satyam and that is what we are working at.
Q: Is there a number that you can give us as to how many were voluntary and involuntary for the two years?
Gurnani: I don’t think we are declaring that number because it is one of the most painful things that we went through as individuals since acquiring the company was the involuntary separations. The fundamental fact is that we have been used to growing the companies, we have been used to treating all our employees as our family members.
This separation was not an easy process. We tried easing it in a form and shape that it causes the least amount of separation pain because overall the economy wasn’t doing all that great at the time when we went through this. We decided as a management team that we will try and not talk about the involuntary part and we will also not talk about the numbers.
Q: Can you tell us in a nutshell, how was the right sizing exercise carried out?
Gurnani: If you recall, the alarm bells went out on December 16, 2008. Between December 16 and April 13, almost 190 accounts had walked out of the door or made it clear their intentions to walk out of the door. Having coming in that kind of an environment, right sizing was not only in terms of employees, it was in terms of trying to right size the operating metrics, it was the right sizing of infrastructure and it was the right sizing of communication networks. Many things that you develop and create over a period of time, to get that to an optimum level has been a fairly long and tedious journey.
Nayyar: And at times painful.
Q: Coming to your liabilities that are there right now, the Rs 1,230 crore figure that 37 creditors are asking including Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, what is the status with these creditors? You have already said that this is unattainable – can you throw some light as to there has been any kind of discussion with them?
Nayyar: There have been no discussions with them. We believe that these are unattainable claims. They are going to court and the matter has already been taken cognizance off and so is the matter is sub-judice, I cannot talk about it any further. We will meet them in court.
Q: In terms of the UPAID transaction amount that was paid, has it been added to the P&L as yet or if not then by when are we expecting?
Nayyar: As soon as the money is transferred, we will make the necessary – but the provision has been made.
Q: Also talking about the class action lawsuits, what is the exact damage? What is the status with them, have there been discussions with them or are you willing to wait?
Nayyar: A class action suit normally has a life of about four years. We are going through that process; it is only a year and a half. I suspect this game will continue till about two-three years more. I am not very worried about it.
Q: Are there any more accounts left to be restated, any other details that need to be restated till the merger?
Nayyar: We have restated everything which had to be done. It is done and over with.
Q: Give us a final view on by when are we expecting a revival roadmap for Satyam and approximately what are the key areas that you have pointed out, obviously we are looking at a turnaround by when are we looking at a complete turnaround?
Gurnani: I think a complete turnaround will be when my growth percentage, when my utilization and when my profit percentages start getting into line with the industry. Ultimately whatever I might give you as a roadmap; the results have to speak for themselves.
What I am stating in front of you is exactly a plan or a roadmap which was submitted to the board of Tech Mahindra, which had representatives from Mahindras and independent directors about how this company would go through the stages of revival, growth and how we will start optimizing it for profit.
Q: What is the capex charted out for the next because you said that you will be expanding in Hyderabad, Chennai and couple of other areas?
Nayyar: I think at the moment it is about Rs 150 crore or so.
On CNBC-TV18, three key people, Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, CP Gurnani, CEO and S Durgashankar, CFO of Mahindra Satyam took us through the numbers in detail and analysed this mix bag of numbers and what the road ahead was for Mahindra and Satyam.
Below is a verbatim transcript of their interview. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Now that the FY09 and FY10 numbers are done with, can you specifically tell us how much longer would it take for the merger details and what are the loopholes that you need to figure out before the merger goes through?
Nayyar: Our intention was declared on April 13th the day we acquired or we were declared as winners of Mahindra Satyam. That intention is there but we cannot start the merger proceedings till our accounts are current and these will happen when we give up first and second quarter results which will be somewhere by November 15th.
Thereafter we will be in a position to initiate the merger proceedings which are long, which are elaborate, which requires going to the two high courts, which requires appointing of accountants for purposes of determining the swap ratio, then the swap ratios have to be proved by the board of the two respective companies and by their AGMs and then finally we will merge.
Q: Coming to clients – there has been a lot of traction, there have been exits but you have been adding clients. Tell us how strong the traction is looking in terms of the kind of contracts that are coming in right now. Are we seeing big bang contracts coming in or are they probably a smaller size of about USD 20-30 million deals?
Gurnani: The company was over the last 500 days in a revival phase and now it is in the recovery phase and in that revival phase a lot of effort was made to retain existing customers, to also build up on a roadmap for growth because if I go too early into the growth phase, the chances of Mahindra Satyam being successful but very limited.
The fundamental fact is that every CFO - when a company like a Coke or a state firm insurance or Caterpillar closes the doors on you when they say because you don’t have a statement of accounts and our risk officer considers it a risk because he has no other way of knowing whether the company is sustainable or not whether its stable or not. I think that phase is behind us.
To us this announcement of our results on September 29 is frankly a very big historic moment for us. Now we can go back aggressively and assertively into the market where we can start now talking about it. So big bang projects, till yesterday were not available to us. I do not expect them to happen overnight but fundamentally we believe that it is a sheer and a firm step to recovery.
Q: Give us a number as to the kind of deals that are coming in? A rough estimate of the kind of deals that we will see and across what verticals?
Gurnani: The fundamental fact is that our deal flow was relatively slower than others in the industry because we were also in a situation where we were differently placed. So it’s not fair for me to say what kind of a deal flow. That phase that we have just closed on September 29, was a phase in which the effort was more on revival, the effort was more on assurance and now is a phase on full recovery, full growth and for the next 18 months my full-time activity would be to focus on growth.
Q: In terms of the overall revenue contribution – geography wise, can you breakup as to what are the key geographies you are looking at. Obviously US, UK being very important but if you can give us numbers as to how the revenue contribution as per geography has been broken up so far?
Durgashankar: Our main contributors are US and Europe. It is around two-thirds from the US and around 15-20% from Europe.
Q: What are the other geographies that are leading to growth?
Durgashankar: You can see we have covered substantial part. There is Asia-Pacific, so by and large after that it will be smaller numbers.
Q: Coming to the employee count – by FY10 there is 27,000 employees. You did point out that you are going to campuses; you have been giving out hikes. Can you give us an estimate of the kind of projection intake that you would be looking at for FY11?
Nayyar: I presume we will be going to the campuses for about 3,000 more youngsters to join our company.
Q: Aside from that?
Nayyar: Aside from that there will be hiring at the experienced level also. We have not quite decided 3,000 maybe under estimate, we may have to go to a higher number but we are just working at the details.
Q: You pointed out that there has been through FY09 and FY10 voluntary as well as involuntary attrition, can you throw some more light on that?
Nayyar: You know what the numbers were when the fraud was under unraveled, you know what the numbers are now, and the difference is the attrition numbers. What was voluntary and what was not voluntary. I do believe we now have a right sized company that we are focused in reaching the competencies which we have started. The company has been reorganized in a fashion to make sure that they continue to remain the cutting edge of Satyam and that is what we are working at.
Q: Is there a number that you can give us as to how many were voluntary and involuntary for the two years?
Gurnani: I don’t think we are declaring that number because it is one of the most painful things that we went through as individuals since acquiring the company was the involuntary separations. The fundamental fact is that we have been used to growing the companies, we have been used to treating all our employees as our family members.
This separation was not an easy process. We tried easing it in a form and shape that it causes the least amount of separation pain because overall the economy wasn’t doing all that great at the time when we went through this. We decided as a management team that we will try and not talk about the involuntary part and we will also not talk about the numbers.
Q: Can you tell us in a nutshell, how was the right sizing exercise carried out?
Gurnani: If you recall, the alarm bells went out on December 16, 2008. Between December 16 and April 13, almost 190 accounts had walked out of the door or made it clear their intentions to walk out of the door. Having coming in that kind of an environment, right sizing was not only in terms of employees, it was in terms of trying to right size the operating metrics, it was the right sizing of infrastructure and it was the right sizing of communication networks. Many things that you develop and create over a period of time, to get that to an optimum level has been a fairly long and tedious journey.
Nayyar: And at times painful.
Q: Coming to your liabilities that are there right now, the Rs 1,230 crore figure that 37 creditors are asking including Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, what is the status with these creditors? You have already said that this is unattainable – can you throw some light as to there has been any kind of discussion with them?
Nayyar: There have been no discussions with them. We believe that these are unattainable claims. They are going to court and the matter has already been taken cognizance off and so is the matter is sub-judice, I cannot talk about it any further. We will meet them in court.
Q: In terms of the UPAID transaction amount that was paid, has it been added to the P&L as yet or if not then by when are we expecting?
Nayyar: As soon as the money is transferred, we will make the necessary – but the provision has been made.
Q: Also talking about the class action lawsuits, what is the exact damage? What is the status with them, have there been discussions with them or are you willing to wait?
Nayyar: A class action suit normally has a life of about four years. We are going through that process; it is only a year and a half. I suspect this game will continue till about two-three years more. I am not very worried about it.
Q: Are there any more accounts left to be restated, any other details that need to be restated till the merger?
Nayyar: We have restated everything which had to be done. It is done and over with.
Q: Give us a final view on by when are we expecting a revival roadmap for Satyam and approximately what are the key areas that you have pointed out, obviously we are looking at a turnaround by when are we looking at a complete turnaround?
Gurnani: I think a complete turnaround will be when my growth percentage, when my utilization and when my profit percentages start getting into line with the industry. Ultimately whatever I might give you as a roadmap; the results have to speak for themselves.
What I am stating in front of you is exactly a plan or a roadmap which was submitted to the board of Tech Mahindra, which had representatives from Mahindras and independent directors about how this company would go through the stages of revival, growth and how we will start optimizing it for profit.
Q: What is the capex charted out for the next because you said that you will be expanding in Hyderabad, Chennai and couple of other areas?
Nayyar: I think at the moment it is about Rs 150 crore or so.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
India court orders closure of Vedanta smelter
Vedanta, the London-listed company founded by billionaire Anil Agarwal, has suffered a fresh blow in India, where a court has ordered the immediate shutdown of its massive copper smelter in the south citing violation of environmental laws in a sensitive coastal area.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Madras High Court came a month after India’s environment ministry rejected Vedanta’s plans to mine bauxite in the eastern state of Orissa, and during a sensitive time as New Delhi is considering whether to allow Vedanta to take a $9.6bn controlling stake in Cairn India, a rival which operates lucrative and strategically important oilfields in the northern state of Rajasthan.
The copper smelter in question is the Tuticorin plant in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has been operating for more than 12 years and which Vedanta has been planning to expand.
Critics had argued that the Tuticorn smelter – which is owned by Vedanta’s subsidiary Sterlite Industries – had caused unacceptable levels of air and groundwater pollution less than 25km from the Gulf of Mannar national marine park, one of the most bio-diverse coastal regions in Asia.
In their verdict, judges said the smelter was emitting noxious air pollution, that the plant’s effluents were hazardous and caused high levels of heavy metals, arsenic, and fluorides in the groundwater, and that the entire plant site was now “severely polluted.”
The judges also ruled that the plant’s location, being so close to the marine park, violated the company’s operating permissions from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control board, which specified the smelter should be located at least 25 kms away from any ecologically sensitive area.
The judges were quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the “unabated pollution” caused by the company should be stopped, at least for now, to protect “Mother Nature”.
Established in 1996, the Tuticorn smelter has annual capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes, and the company has been aiming to double that by the middle of next year.
Sterlite’s copper business generated around $2.8bn in revenues last year, according to the annual report.
Company executives said they were awaiting a full text of the judgement before deciding how to proceed. “The Tuticorin smelter has been operating for more than 12 years and has been in compliance with necessary rules and regulations,” the company said in an emailed statement to local journalists.
India has been stepping up its efforts to more tightly enforce environmental regulation and laws, amid growing concern about the ecological cost of its current development drive.
Lafarge, the global cement giant, recently had its plan for an integrated $187m cement plant in the sensitive Himalayas blocked by an environmental watchdog.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Madras High Court came a month after India’s environment ministry rejected Vedanta’s plans to mine bauxite in the eastern state of Orissa, and during a sensitive time as New Delhi is considering whether to allow Vedanta to take a $9.6bn controlling stake in Cairn India, a rival which operates lucrative and strategically important oilfields in the northern state of Rajasthan.
The copper smelter in question is the Tuticorin plant in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has been operating for more than 12 years and which Vedanta has been planning to expand.
Critics had argued that the Tuticorn smelter – which is owned by Vedanta’s subsidiary Sterlite Industries – had caused unacceptable levels of air and groundwater pollution less than 25km from the Gulf of Mannar national marine park, one of the most bio-diverse coastal regions in Asia.
In their verdict, judges said the smelter was emitting noxious air pollution, that the plant’s effluents were hazardous and caused high levels of heavy metals, arsenic, and fluorides in the groundwater, and that the entire plant site was now “severely polluted.”
The judges also ruled that the plant’s location, being so close to the marine park, violated the company’s operating permissions from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control board, which specified the smelter should be located at least 25 kms away from any ecologically sensitive area.
The judges were quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the “unabated pollution” caused by the company should be stopped, at least for now, to protect “Mother Nature”.
Established in 1996, the Tuticorn smelter has annual capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes, and the company has been aiming to double that by the middle of next year.
Sterlite’s copper business generated around $2.8bn in revenues last year, according to the annual report.
Company executives said they were awaiting a full text of the judgement before deciding how to proceed. “The Tuticorin smelter has been operating for more than 12 years and has been in compliance with necessary rules and regulations,” the company said in an emailed statement to local journalists.
India has been stepping up its efforts to more tightly enforce environmental regulation and laws, amid growing concern about the ecological cost of its current development drive.
Lafarge, the global cement giant, recently had its plan for an integrated $187m cement plant in the sensitive Himalayas blocked by an environmental watchdog.
PM to launch Unique Identification Numbers today
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will launch the issue of Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) nationally by distributing the first set of numbers among the villagers in Maharashtra's Nandurbar District on Wednesday.
The Unique ID Authority of India started working in August 2009. The Government had committed to issuing the first set of Unique ID numbers in 12 to 18 months.
In the ensuing period of last one year, the infrastructure for this complex project has been set up. With the launch date for the project scheduled for September 29, the Unique ID Mission has achieved its goal of on-time delivery.
The goal of the UID Mission is to deliver Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) to every resident in the country. In addition, it aims to establish a cost-effective, ubiquitous authentication infrastructure to easily verify these identities online and in real-time.
Today there are a large number of residents, especially the poorest and the most marginalized, who face challenges in accessing various public benefit programs due to the lack of possessing a clear identity proof.
The Aadhaar number will ease these difficulties in identification, by providing a nationally valid and verifiable single source of identity proof.
The UIDAI will ensure the uniqueness of the Aadhaar numbers through the use of biometric attributes (Finger Prints and Iris), which will be linked to the number. This will help agencies and service providers across India clean out duplicates and fakes from their databases.
The elimination of duplicate, ghost and fake identities across various schemes is expected to substantially improve the efficiency of the delivery systems by ensuring that the leakages are reduced and the benefits reach the right people.
The Aadhaar number will also enable the delivery of various services at the grass root level in a cost effective and efficient way. An example of such an Aadhaar-enabled service is in banking for the poor.
With the Aadhaar number, residents will be able to easily fulfill the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements of banks. They will be able to verify their identity through the Aadhaar number to banks both in person or remotely, using a mobile device.
As a result, banks will be able to provide branchless banking services to hard-to-reach rural regions, and the use of electronic transactions will further bring down costs. Similarly, electronic transfers of benefits and entitlements can be enabled through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
India will be the first country to implement a biometric-based unique ID system for its residents on a national scale.
The national launch of Aadhaar will herald a new chapter in the efforts of the Government in enabling inclusive growth and bringing in greater efficiency and transparency in governance.
Aadhaar has the potential to fundamentally transform the service delivery and governance in the country.
The Unique ID Authority of India started working in August 2009. The Government had committed to issuing the first set of Unique ID numbers in 12 to 18 months.
In the ensuing period of last one year, the infrastructure for this complex project has been set up. With the launch date for the project scheduled for September 29, the Unique ID Mission has achieved its goal of on-time delivery.
The goal of the UID Mission is to deliver Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) to every resident in the country. In addition, it aims to establish a cost-effective, ubiquitous authentication infrastructure to easily verify these identities online and in real-time.
Today there are a large number of residents, especially the poorest and the most marginalized, who face challenges in accessing various public benefit programs due to the lack of possessing a clear identity proof.
The Aadhaar number will ease these difficulties in identification, by providing a nationally valid and verifiable single source of identity proof.
The UIDAI will ensure the uniqueness of the Aadhaar numbers through the use of biometric attributes (Finger Prints and Iris), which will be linked to the number. This will help agencies and service providers across India clean out duplicates and fakes from their databases.
The elimination of duplicate, ghost and fake identities across various schemes is expected to substantially improve the efficiency of the delivery systems by ensuring that the leakages are reduced and the benefits reach the right people.
The Aadhaar number will also enable the delivery of various services at the grass root level in a cost effective and efficient way. An example of such an Aadhaar-enabled service is in banking for the poor.
With the Aadhaar number, residents will be able to easily fulfill the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements of banks. They will be able to verify their identity through the Aadhaar number to banks both in person or remotely, using a mobile device.
As a result, banks will be able to provide branchless banking services to hard-to-reach rural regions, and the use of electronic transactions will further bring down costs. Similarly, electronic transfers of benefits and entitlements can be enabled through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
India will be the first country to implement a biometric-based unique ID system for its residents on a national scale.
The national launch of Aadhaar will herald a new chapter in the efforts of the Government in enabling inclusive growth and bringing in greater efficiency and transparency in governance.
Aadhaar has the potential to fundamentally transform the service delivery and governance in the country.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Roller Coaster Ride for Satyam Stock
It’s been a roller coaster ride for the shares of Satyam Computer Services, now known as Mahindra Satyam, over the past month ahead of the company’s release of its first financial statements in two years.
The stock of the beleaguered-but-recovering software company has traded in a band between 79 rupees ($1.75) and 113.80 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange in the month since Aug. 27 and has surged 17.2% in last month. In comparison, the 30-stock benchmark Sensex advanced 10.2% in the same period.
The company couldn’t declare results for the past two fiscal years after its founder, B. Ramalinga Raju, confessed in January 2009 that the firm’s balance sheets were a sham, and that he had been overstating the profits of the Bombay and New York-listed firm for years to the tune of more than $1 billion.
On Wednesday, the company will disclose results for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2010. The company is also in the process of restating its accounts for the past six to seven years, providing the first accurate look at the firm’s performance in years.
The firm’s American depository receipts took a pummeling on Friday, ending 24% down, after the Hyderabad-based company—once India’s fourth largest software exporter—said last week that it plans to de-list from the New York Stock Exchange as it expects to miss the Oct. 15 deadline to file financial statements with U.S. regulators.
On Monday Satyam closed down 3.7% at 96.45 rupees ($2.14) on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex ended 0.4% higher.
“Generally the market should be a bit wary as not too much is known about the performance,” said a Mumbai-based analyst, who asked not to be named.
Citigroup expects Satyam to post net profit of 6.18 billion rupees ($136.9 million), or 5.30 rupees ($0.12) a share, on revenue of 52.14 billion rupees for the 2010 fiscal year ended March 31, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization, or Ebitda, margins at 13%.
The bank expects this fiscal year net profit at 9.15 billion rupees or 7.80 rupees a share, on revenue of 59.11 billion rupees, with Ebitda margins not more than 19%.
Market players expect stock to be range bound till the results are declared.
The recent run-up in the shares of the company is due to “over optimism” and expectations of a double-digit margin performance, said another analyst.
“I don’t see any fundamental trigger for the stock to go up from these levels,” he added.
The company will also report results for this year’s April-June and July-September quarters on or before Nov. 15.
The stock of the beleaguered-but-recovering software company has traded in a band between 79 rupees ($1.75) and 113.80 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange in the month since Aug. 27 and has surged 17.2% in last month. In comparison, the 30-stock benchmark Sensex advanced 10.2% in the same period.
The company couldn’t declare results for the past two fiscal years after its founder, B. Ramalinga Raju, confessed in January 2009 that the firm’s balance sheets were a sham, and that he had been overstating the profits of the Bombay and New York-listed firm for years to the tune of more than $1 billion.
On Wednesday, the company will disclose results for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2010. The company is also in the process of restating its accounts for the past six to seven years, providing the first accurate look at the firm’s performance in years.
The firm’s American depository receipts took a pummeling on Friday, ending 24% down, after the Hyderabad-based company—once India’s fourth largest software exporter—said last week that it plans to de-list from the New York Stock Exchange as it expects to miss the Oct. 15 deadline to file financial statements with U.S. regulators.
On Monday Satyam closed down 3.7% at 96.45 rupees ($2.14) on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex ended 0.4% higher.
“Generally the market should be a bit wary as not too much is known about the performance,” said a Mumbai-based analyst, who asked not to be named.
Citigroup expects Satyam to post net profit of 6.18 billion rupees ($136.9 million), or 5.30 rupees ($0.12) a share, on revenue of 52.14 billion rupees for the 2010 fiscal year ended March 31, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization, or Ebitda, margins at 13%.
The bank expects this fiscal year net profit at 9.15 billion rupees or 7.80 rupees a share, on revenue of 59.11 billion rupees, with Ebitda margins not more than 19%.
Market players expect stock to be range bound till the results are declared.
The recent run-up in the shares of the company is due to “over optimism” and expectations of a double-digit margin performance, said another analyst.
“I don’t see any fundamental trigger for the stock to go up from these levels,” he added.
The company will also report results for this year’s April-June and July-September quarters on or before Nov. 15.
Michael Douglas’ ‘Wall Street 2′ tops weekend box-office with $19m
Washington, Sep 27 (ANI): Michael Douglas’ return as the formerly “greed is good”-hyping Gekko in ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ topped the weekend box office with an estimated 19 million dollars.
And the film is the cancer-stricken actor’s first No. 1 opener since 2001’s ‘Don’t Say a Word.
However, the film is co-star Shia LaBeouf’s sixth No. 1 movie since just 2007.
However, the 100 million dollar, 3-D-priced ‘Legend of the Guardians’ got off to a non-flying second-place start, with 16.3 million dollars.
Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’- last weekend’s No. 1-got bumped to third with 16 million dollars, reports E! Online.
Rounding up the top five were ‘Easy A’ and ‘You Again’ with 10.7 million and 8.3 million dollars respectively.
Here’s a complete look at the weekend’s top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 19 million dollars
2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, 16.3 million dollars
3. The Town, 16 million dollars
4. Easy A, 10.7 million dollars
5. You Again, 8.3 million dollars
6. Devil, 6.5 million dollars
7. Resident Evil: Afterlife, 4.9 million dollars
8. Alpha and Omega, 4.7 million dollars
9. Takers, 1.7 million dollars
10. Inception, 1.2 million dollars (ANI)
And the film is the cancer-stricken actor’s first No. 1 opener since 2001’s ‘Don’t Say a Word.
However, the film is co-star Shia LaBeouf’s sixth No. 1 movie since just 2007.
However, the 100 million dollar, 3-D-priced ‘Legend of the Guardians’ got off to a non-flying second-place start, with 16.3 million dollars.
Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’- last weekend’s No. 1-got bumped to third with 16 million dollars, reports E! Online.
Rounding up the top five were ‘Easy A’ and ‘You Again’ with 10.7 million and 8.3 million dollars respectively.
Here’s a complete look at the weekend’s top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 19 million dollars
2. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, 16.3 million dollars
3. The Town, 16 million dollars
4. Easy A, 10.7 million dollars
5. You Again, 8.3 million dollars
6. Devil, 6.5 million dollars
7. Resident Evil: Afterlife, 4.9 million dollars
8. Alpha and Omega, 4.7 million dollars
9. Takers, 1.7 million dollars
10. Inception, 1.2 million dollars (ANI)
Google Doodle: 12th birthday cake for search engine
Google has marked its 12th anniversary with a 'doodle' painting of a cake by 89-year-old Los Angeles artist Wayne Thiebaud.
Users visiting the search engine's home page are greeted with a picture of a cake whose candle represents the 'L' in the Google logo.
The California-based company was first incorporated as a privately held corporation on 27 September 1998.
Thiebaud's work, reproduced by permission of VAGA, Visual Artists and Galleries Association, includes many cakes, most painted in the 1950s and 1960s.
He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his work is earlier than the likes of Andy Warhol.
It is a more straightforward 'doodle' than the recent ball game animation that distracted millions of internet users.
Before that, Google marked the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the "buckyball", a spherical dome of exotic molecules of carbon, with a special moving design.
The animated logo replaced the logo's middle O letter with an orange ball. It then formed into the "buckyball", which is a form of carbon composed of 60 atoms.
By scrolling their mouse across the logo, users could twist and turn the ball, which has replaced the search engine's usual logo on its home page.
The new interactive doodles follow one produced in May to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pac-Man.
That design, which went public on Friday, May 21, 2010, was the first doodle to be fully interactive. The Pac-Man character could be moved by using the arrow keys on the user's keyboard.
Google Doodles have become newsworthy in their own right after the technology firm started using the customised versions of its logo to mark what it considered significant occasions.
The first of them was used in August 1998 when Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the firm's founders, designed one for the Burning Man Festival.
In October 1999, it produced a Halloween doodle: the first after the firm switched to a new logo.
The first "Christmas card" doodle was presented in 1999, on Christmas Day, featuring a snowman and flakes drifting onto the name.
Mother's and Father's Day doodles appeared in May and June 2000 respectively before the firm started noting more esoteric and, let's face it, interesting occasions.
On October 7, 2009, it did "Google" as a bar code to recognise the anniversary of its invention in 1948 by Bernard Silver, which some saw as a significant shift away from human language and towards machine language.
On Saturday, June 5, 2010, a hologram replaced the logo to honour Dennis Gabor, the inventor of holograms.
Most recently the firm marked the 71st anniversary of the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz with a doodle of Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow walking down the Yellow Brick Road towards a landscape with "Google" on it. Perhaps it's a metaphor.
Mary Shelley, the British author of Frankenstein, had the 213th anniversary of her birth celebrated by a spooky Google Doodle late last month.
Users visiting the search engine's home page are greeted with a picture of a cake whose candle represents the 'L' in the Google logo.
The California-based company was first incorporated as a privately held corporation on 27 September 1998.
Thiebaud's work, reproduced by permission of VAGA, Visual Artists and Galleries Association, includes many cakes, most painted in the 1950s and 1960s.
He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his work is earlier than the likes of Andy Warhol.
It is a more straightforward 'doodle' than the recent ball game animation that distracted millions of internet users.
Before that, Google marked the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the "buckyball", a spherical dome of exotic molecules of carbon, with a special moving design.
The animated logo replaced the logo's middle O letter with an orange ball. It then formed into the "buckyball", which is a form of carbon composed of 60 atoms.
By scrolling their mouse across the logo, users could twist and turn the ball, which has replaced the search engine's usual logo on its home page.
The new interactive doodles follow one produced in May to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pac-Man.
That design, which went public on Friday, May 21, 2010, was the first doodle to be fully interactive. The Pac-Man character could be moved by using the arrow keys on the user's keyboard.
Google Doodles have become newsworthy in their own right after the technology firm started using the customised versions of its logo to mark what it considered significant occasions.
The first of them was used in August 1998 when Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the firm's founders, designed one for the Burning Man Festival.
In October 1999, it produced a Halloween doodle: the first after the firm switched to a new logo.
The first "Christmas card" doodle was presented in 1999, on Christmas Day, featuring a snowman and flakes drifting onto the name.
Mother's and Father's Day doodles appeared in May and June 2000 respectively before the firm started noting more esoteric and, let's face it, interesting occasions.
On October 7, 2009, it did "Google" as a bar code to recognise the anniversary of its invention in 1948 by Bernard Silver, which some saw as a significant shift away from human language and towards machine language.
On Saturday, June 5, 2010, a hologram replaced the logo to honour Dennis Gabor, the inventor of holograms.
Most recently the firm marked the 71st anniversary of the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz with a doodle of Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow walking down the Yellow Brick Road towards a landscape with "Google" on it. Perhaps it's a metaphor.
Mary Shelley, the British author of Frankenstein, had the 213th anniversary of her birth celebrated by a spooky Google Doodle late last month.
Tata Steel, JSW May Raise Prices 4% on Increasing Farm Demand, RBS Says
Tata Steel Ltd., Steel Authority of India Ltd. and JSW Steel ltd., the nation’s top producers, may raise prices by as much as 4 percent next month because of lower imports from China and a surge in rural demand, RBS Equities (India) Ltd. said.
Prices, which rose an average 4 percent in September, are likely to gain for the second consecutive month, said Rahul Jain, an analyst at RBS in Mumbai. The bulk of demand may come from farmers who are expected to spend more during the festival season after a robust monsoon, said Nikhil Agarwal, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities India Ltd. in New Delhi.
An above-average monsoon, the main source of irrigation for the nation’s 235 million farmers, is expected to produce a record crop this year, boosting agricultural incomes and sales of homes, tractors and motorcycles. China’s move to restrict power supplies to mills will likely diminish exports to India, lifting demand for Indian-made steel.
“Indian steelmakers lost out to imports in the first five months of this fiscal year,” said Jain, who has a “buy” rating on shares of Tata Steel and Steel Authority and a “hold” rating for JSW. “In China, there are efforts to lower output, which may lead to a drop in shipments to India.”
Tata Steel shares rose 1 percent to 629.95 rupees on Sept. 24, while Steel Authority gained 0.8 percent to 205.95 rupees. JSW Steel advanced 1.5 percent to 1,275.80 rupees.
Diwali Demand
India’s steel demand, which grew 7.6 percent last fiscal year, is forecast to grow 10 percent in the year ending March 31, helped by demand for automobiles and spending on roads and ports, G.K. Basak, executive secretary of steel ministry’s joint plant committee, said on Sept. 6. Sales of cars, motorcycles and houses start increasing from September and peak on the day of Diwali, the festival of lights, usually in November.
“Higher international prices and estimated demand in India leaves room for some price increase in October,” JSW Marketing Director Jayant Acharya said on Sept. 23.
Benchmark world hot rolled coil prices rose 3.6 percent this month, according to Steel Business Briefing.
The monsoon this month in India has been 122 percent of the 50-year average as of Sept. 14, in contrast with last year when rains were the least since 1972. The nation may have a record corn crop in excess of 20 million metric tons in the year through June 2011, according to Adani Enterprises Ltd., the country’s biggest non-state trader of farm goods. The wheat harvest may be a record 82 million tons.
Construction companies, which stopped work in northern and western India due to excessive rains, will restart, adding to the demand, Kim Eng’s Agarwal said. India’s passenger-car sales jumped 33 percent from a year ago to a record in August.
The rise in demand since September has led to a drop in inventory levels of steelmakers, RBS’s Jain said.
Steel Authority’s inventory fell 11.3 percent to 496,127 tons as of Sept. 22 from 559,061 tons on Aug. 15, while deliveries rose 66.2 percent. JSW also expects a 100,000-ton drop in inventory by Sept. 30 from the June 30 level, Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Pai said on Sept. 23.
Prices, which rose an average 4 percent in September, are likely to gain for the second consecutive month, said Rahul Jain, an analyst at RBS in Mumbai. The bulk of demand may come from farmers who are expected to spend more during the festival season after a robust monsoon, said Nikhil Agarwal, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities India Ltd. in New Delhi.
An above-average monsoon, the main source of irrigation for the nation’s 235 million farmers, is expected to produce a record crop this year, boosting agricultural incomes and sales of homes, tractors and motorcycles. China’s move to restrict power supplies to mills will likely diminish exports to India, lifting demand for Indian-made steel.
“Indian steelmakers lost out to imports in the first five months of this fiscal year,” said Jain, who has a “buy” rating on shares of Tata Steel and Steel Authority and a “hold” rating for JSW. “In China, there are efforts to lower output, which may lead to a drop in shipments to India.”
Tata Steel shares rose 1 percent to 629.95 rupees on Sept. 24, while Steel Authority gained 0.8 percent to 205.95 rupees. JSW Steel advanced 1.5 percent to 1,275.80 rupees.
Diwali Demand
India’s steel demand, which grew 7.6 percent last fiscal year, is forecast to grow 10 percent in the year ending March 31, helped by demand for automobiles and spending on roads and ports, G.K. Basak, executive secretary of steel ministry’s joint plant committee, said on Sept. 6. Sales of cars, motorcycles and houses start increasing from September and peak on the day of Diwali, the festival of lights, usually in November.
“Higher international prices and estimated demand in India leaves room for some price increase in October,” JSW Marketing Director Jayant Acharya said on Sept. 23.
Benchmark world hot rolled coil prices rose 3.6 percent this month, according to Steel Business Briefing.
The monsoon this month in India has been 122 percent of the 50-year average as of Sept. 14, in contrast with last year when rains were the least since 1972. The nation may have a record corn crop in excess of 20 million metric tons in the year through June 2011, according to Adani Enterprises Ltd., the country’s biggest non-state trader of farm goods. The wheat harvest may be a record 82 million tons.
Construction companies, which stopped work in northern and western India due to excessive rains, will restart, adding to the demand, Kim Eng’s Agarwal said. India’s passenger-car sales jumped 33 percent from a year ago to a record in August.
The rise in demand since September has led to a drop in inventory levels of steelmakers, RBS’s Jain said.
Steel Authority’s inventory fell 11.3 percent to 496,127 tons as of Sept. 22 from 559,061 tons on Aug. 15, while deliveries rose 66.2 percent. JSW also expects a 100,000-ton drop in inventory by Sept. 30 from the June 30 level, Chief Financial Officer Rajeev Pai said on Sept. 23.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Satyam to delist ADRs from NYSE
MUMBAI: IT firm Mahindra Satyam said on Friday it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange in mid-October due to non-compliance, adding that it would likely miss its deadline to report financial results for fiscal year 2009.
Satyam shocked investors in January 2009 when the firm's former chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju said its profits had been overstated and assets falsified in a fraud allegedly worth over $1.5 billion.
The company on Tuesday said its board will review its audited financial results for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 on Sept. 29, which analysts say will take it closer to a merger with parent Tech Mahindra. Tech Mahindra, which bought Satyam in April 2009 and is operating it as an independent company, has said it can only merge the firm into the parent after the restated results for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 are announced.
Satyam's auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers had said all Satyam audit reports from 2000 through 2008 should no longer be relied upon, after the revelation of the fraud. Analysts do not expect the company to restate numbers earlier than the 2008/09 fiscal year (April-March). Satyam, which once ranked as India's No. 4 outsourcing firm, has not reported results beyond the September quarter in 2008.
Satyam faces class action lawsuits from shareholders in the United States, which were filed after a sharp plunge in its New York-listed shares following the revelation of the fraud. The company has also received legal notices claiming a refund of 12.3 billion rupees ($265 million) by 37 companies, which Mahindra Satyam has said are "legally untenable".
Last December, Satyam agreed to pay $70 million to Britain's Upaid Systems Ltd to settle a patent suit and in August won a New York court ruling to withhold taxes on the payment.
Satyam shocked investors in January 2009 when the firm's former chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju said its profits had been overstated and assets falsified in a fraud allegedly worth over $1.5 billion.
The company on Tuesday said its board will review its audited financial results for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 on Sept. 29, which analysts say will take it closer to a merger with parent Tech Mahindra. Tech Mahindra, which bought Satyam in April 2009 and is operating it as an independent company, has said it can only merge the firm into the parent after the restated results for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 are announced.
Satyam's auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers had said all Satyam audit reports from 2000 through 2008 should no longer be relied upon, after the revelation of the fraud. Analysts do not expect the company to restate numbers earlier than the 2008/09 fiscal year (April-March). Satyam, which once ranked as India's No. 4 outsourcing firm, has not reported results beyond the September quarter in 2008.
Satyam faces class action lawsuits from shareholders in the United States, which were filed after a sharp plunge in its New York-listed shares following the revelation of the fraud. The company has also received legal notices claiming a refund of 12.3 billion rupees ($265 million) by 37 companies, which Mahindra Satyam has said are "legally untenable".
Last December, Satyam agreed to pay $70 million to Britain's Upaid Systems Ltd to settle a patent suit and in August won a New York court ruling to withhold taxes on the payment.
‘Peepli Live’ makes it to the Oscars!
Mumbai: Well, Aamir Khan has done it again. ‘Peepli Live’ has been selected as India’s official entry at the 83rd Academy Awards to be held in US next year in 2011.
Speaking to a news daily Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India said, “Peepli Live has been selected as India`s official entry for the Oscars out of 27 films.”
The film produced and promoted by Aamir Khan has gone on to become India’s calling card from world’s most prestigious film awards – the Oscars! Peepli Live has been short listed in the Best Foreign Film category.
Holding the megaphone for the first time, the director of ‘Peepli Live’ Anusha Rizvi is no less than a revelation for the evolving Indian cinema. The movie is satirical take on farmer suicides in India and how media and politicians tackle the issue.
Reportedly, the film even earned appreciation from the Prime Minister of India as it was screened for him and his family members and some close friends.
This is third time lucky for Aamir Khan Production as the actor`s previous films ‘Lagaan’ (2001) and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (2007) were also selected to represent India at the Academy awards.
‘Laagan’, which saw Aamir playing a farmer in British Raj, was shortlisted in a category of five but lost to Bosnian war film ‘No Man`s Land’.
The story of ‘Peepli Live’ follows two poor farmers who face losing their land over an unpaid debt after poor monsoon rains. A local politician suggests they commit suicide so their families get compensation.
A journalist overhears one of the farmers apparently urging the other to end his own life, triggering a media frenzy about whether he will go through with it, lampooning India`s sensationalist television news channels.
The film is a black comedy and in fact a brave attempt to expose India’s underbelly.
Speaking to a news daily Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India said, “Peepli Live has been selected as India`s official entry for the Oscars out of 27 films.”
The film produced and promoted by Aamir Khan has gone on to become India’s calling card from world’s most prestigious film awards – the Oscars! Peepli Live has been short listed in the Best Foreign Film category.
Holding the megaphone for the first time, the director of ‘Peepli Live’ Anusha Rizvi is no less than a revelation for the evolving Indian cinema. The movie is satirical take on farmer suicides in India and how media and politicians tackle the issue.
Reportedly, the film even earned appreciation from the Prime Minister of India as it was screened for him and his family members and some close friends.
This is third time lucky for Aamir Khan Production as the actor`s previous films ‘Lagaan’ (2001) and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (2007) were also selected to represent India at the Academy awards.
‘Laagan’, which saw Aamir playing a farmer in British Raj, was shortlisted in a category of five but lost to Bosnian war film ‘No Man`s Land’.
The story of ‘Peepli Live’ follows two poor farmers who face losing their land over an unpaid debt after poor monsoon rains. A local politician suggests they commit suicide so their families get compensation.
A journalist overhears one of the farmers apparently urging the other to end his own life, triggering a media frenzy about whether he will go through with it, lampooning India`s sensationalist television news channels.
The film is a black comedy and in fact a brave attempt to expose India’s underbelly.
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