On 29 July 2008, the Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate by 50 basis points to 9 per cent. It also hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 25 basis points to 9 per cent beginning 30 August 2008.
While the repo rate hike is expected to make overnight funds costlier for banks, the CRR hike is expected to marginally reduce the lendable funds of banks.
Banks are aggressively using the repo facility of the RBI since the beginning of July. They borrowed almost Rs.38,900 crore per day from the RBI through its liquidity adjustment facility. Therefore the hike in the repo rate by the RBI will surely put some pressure on the cost of funds of banks.
The 25 basis points hike in the cash reserve ratio will suck out about Rs.8,000-8,500 crore of liquidity from the banking system. This will reduce the lendable resources of banks and, coupled with the repo rate hike, will bring the net interest margins of banks a bit under pressure.
Surplus liquidity in the banking system stood at a robust Rs.1,37,215 lakh crore as on 18 July 2008. About Rs.1,30,000 of this surplus liquidity comprises long term securities issued under the market stabilisation scheme. None of these securities are maturing before April 2009.
In this context, it may be noted that demand for credit remains high with credit growth well outpacing deposit growth. SCB credit is growing at around 25-26 per cent while SCB deposits are growing by around 21-22 per cent. According the disaggregated data from the monetary authority's quarterly review, growth in credit to industry accelerated further from 26.4 per cent a year ago to 26.9 per cent as on 23 May 2008. Growth in credit to small scale industries accelerated sharply from 29.5 per cent to 52.1 per cent during this period. However, the continuous rise in interest rates over the past one year did take its toll on personal loans. Growth in personal loans slowed from 23.9 per cent a year ago to 15.9 per cent as on 23 May 2008.
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TATA Steel Limited has announced the following audited results for the year ended March 31st 2008
TATA Steel has posted a net profit of INR 46870.30 million for the year ended March 31st 2008 up by 11% YoY as compared to INR 42221.50 million for the year ended March 31st 2007. Total income has increased from INR 179847.60 million for the year ended March 31st 2007 to INR 200282.80 million for the year ended March 31st 2008, registering a growth of 11.3% YoY.
The consolidated results are as follows
TATA Steel has posted a profit after minority interest & share of profits of associates of INR 123499.80 million for the year ended March 31st 2008 up by 195.6% YoY as compared to INR 41772.70 million for the year ended March 31st 2007. Total income has increased from INR 256504.50 million for the year ended March 31st 2007 to INR 1321100.90 million for the year ended March 31st 2008, registering a growth of 415% YoY.
Addressing the media, Mr B Muthuraman MD of TATA Steel said that the TATA Steel group vision was to set a global benchmark in value creation and to increase the return on capital invested to 30% by 2012. He added that "Our aspiration in due course is to become a 50 million tonne plus steel company. Our bearings and tubular divisions are working on products for the TATA Nano."
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Here follows the commercial & technical aspects relating to this AgreementWhat is 123 Agreement?
This is called 123 Agreement because this comes under USA's Atomic Power Act Section 123.Let's see how India's (Indians?) Sovereinty & Independence are pledged..
(1) After this Agreement USA will supply all fuel, machinery / equipment & technology to India for producing Nuclear Power.
(2) India currently produces power from 22 Nuclear Power Plants. It's a top secret as of now that from where which is produced, how much is produced, where it issupplied, what research is being done with that, etc. But... if we sign this Agreement, we have to disclose these secrets and also agree to 14 of our Nuclear Power Plants to be under the scanner of International Atomic Power Organisation.
(3) The fuel utilised to produce Atomic Power can be recycled for reuse and this recycling plant will also be under the direct supervision of IAPO.If India does nuclear test, this agreement gets cancelled. But not so easy!!
* USA will take back all the machinery / equipments / technology supplied to India thus far.
* Those 14 plants will continue to be under scanner irrespective of the status of the agreement.
* On the other hand, if any of the commitments given by USA is breached by them, then there is no clause for cancelling this agreement.
The agreement is apparently like this... USA can either hug India or slap India. India will not ask why are we hugged or why are we slapped.On the other hand, India cannot hug or slap USA for breach of agreement.
This is only in its capsule form so that it is easy to read and digest.
Subject: India Pledged.... Part 2
Requirement of PowerThe most important requirement for India's Economic Growth in the coming years will be the power & infrastructure. The argument put forth favouring the 123 Agreement says that we need Nuclear Power Production to be increased to meet the demand.Power Production in IndiaPresently following are the figures:
Thermal Power 66%
Hydel Power 26%
Solar & Wind Power 5% -
Presently Rs.600 Crores are spent for producing this power.
Nuclear Power 3% -
If this is to be increased to 6%, it requires additional Rs.50,000 Crores.
Naturally it will be wise to increase other 3 modes of power production rather than the expensive & dangerous Nuclear Power.
Why dangerous?
Whether power is produced or Bomb is produced, using Atomic power without spoiling the infrastructure and without allowing the radiation is always under threat. Moreover preserving the wastes coming out of Atomic Power Plants is expensive & unsafe. There was an accident in Three Miles Island in USA. To close this plant nearly USD 200 Crores spent with tons & tons of concrete but yet to be fully closed. In an another accident at Soviet Union's Serbia Plant, even the next generation children are affected due to the radiation. It will be very very expensive to defuse & close down an Atomic Power Plant than its construction cost.
URANIUM
We used to import Uranium from various other countries. After the Pokhran Test, we are not getting it. To augment the supply, we need to sign the 123 Agreement to get Uranium from USA. But we will have to declare to USA from which power plant India takes raw material for producing Atom Bomb. Other study reveals that Uranium is available in India in plenty. Only hurdle is the acquisition of land. To produce Atomic Power & Bomb in the next 40 years, the requirement of Uranium is 25,000 MT whereas the availability is 78,000 MT across India.
PLUTONIUM
Presently 35% of Plutonium is used to produce Atomic Bombs. After signing the Agreement, we will be allowed to use only 10%. Signing the agreement will enable them to restrict the usage of our natural resources!! That is though you are capable of cooking & eating 10 idlis as your breakfast, you are allowed only 3 idlis henceforth.THORIUMAs told by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, we have abundant Thorium. In fact we are the 2nd largest producer of Thorium next only to Australia. India has to explore this further for producing power. For your information, in South India - particularly around Kanyakumari, the availability of Thorium is abundant.INDIA-IRAN-CHINAUSA does not like the amicable relationship between India-Iran and also India-China. If India-China relationship gets stronger, then both these can rule the Eastern Part of the Globe, which USA wants to break as per the old divide & rule.By signing this agreement, USA wants India to depend on it for producing power which is going to be a crucial factor in future. There is a talk of bringing Natural Gas from Iran to India with a big pipeline project. USA doesn't like this proposal.FranceFrance has got 56 Nuclear Power stations producing 73% of the country's total power requirement. They are catching up the problem of eliminating the wastes / emissions from out of those plants at the same time increase the power production capacity. Government of France is now thinking how to reduce the power consumption in the country.ConclusionIn view of the above danger, rather than signing the agreement and pledging India to USA, it will be prudent to increase the Solar & Wind Energy and more importantly Hyder Power Production can be increased by linking all rivers across India and by constructing DAMS.The whole process of this Agreement started in the year 2005 when Manmohan visited USA. In a span of just 2 years a major decision of signing this agreement has taken place with political motive. On the contrary, neither this Government nor any other earlier Central Government could not amend the Constitution thereby nationalise the rivers across the country thereby effectively utilise the water resources for both Agriculture purpose and producing Hydel Power.
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Ranbaxy Laboratories gained over 3 per cent after the pharmaceutical major announced the launch of a generic version of an ulcer pill Prilosec in the United States under an agreement with AstraZeneca. Omeprazole is the generic name of Prilosec. Prilosec 40 mg had sales of $204.2 million in the US market, Ranbaxy said in a statement citing IMS March 2008 data.
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Oil prices rise due to Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell cut output in Nigeria after militants sabotaged at least one of its pipelines supplying crude. Prices also climbed as the market tracked developments over a disputed nuclear programme being run by Iran, a major exporter of oil. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery climbed 42 cents to $124.94 a barrel, though off earlier highs of above $126 as profit-taking set in. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September, advanced by 36 cents to $123.62 a barrel.
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Larsen & Toubro net profit rise up to 5 per cent after the capital goods major posted a 33 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, beating forecasts, helped by strong demand from the engineering and construction sector. Larsen & Toubro has been riding a construction boom as the country revamps crumbling infrastructure such as airports, roads, ports and power plants. L&T, which has operations ranging from manufacturing to software services, reported a net profit of Rs 502 crore in the fiscal first quarter ended June, compared with Rs 377 crore reported a year ago.
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