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MUMBAI (Reuters) - The State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, reported a 10.2 percent rise in quarterly profit on trading gains and rising loan demand.

The bank, which along with its associates controls almost a quarter of Indian bank loans and deposits, said on Saturday its July-September net profit rose to 24.9 billion rupees ($530.2 million) from 22.6 billion rupees a year earlier.

That met a Reuters poll of brokers who forecast a profit of 24.6 billion rupees for the period.

Closest rival ICICI Bank said on Friday its quarterly net profit rose 2.6 percent, beating forecasts.

Shares in State Bank, valued at $31.5 billion, rose 26 percent in July-September, beating a 20 percent rise in the sector index and an 18 percent gain on the benchmark index.

SINGAPORE - Singapore Telecommunications has agreed to increase its effective stake in mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel to 31.95 percent from 30.43 percent, the company said.

SingTel has entered into a conditional agreement with Bharti Group to purchase an additional 730,000 shares in Bharti Telecom, which is the sponsor of the listed entity Bharti Airtel, the Singapore firm said in a statement late on Friday.

SingTel will make an estimated payment of between 18,073 million Indian rupees to 30,084 million Indian rupees ($641.3 million) for the purchase of additional shares of Bharti Telecom, the statement said.

The price difference is because the payment schedule is spread over more than a year after the agreement kicks in on Nov. 12.

Bharti Telecom has a stake of around 45.3 percent in Bharti Airtel.

On Friday Bharti Airtel gave a downbeat outlook due to a price war after posting its slowest pace of profit growth in at least six years, sending its shares down nearly 7 percent.

Three months ended Sept 30.

[versus the same period a year earlier, in billion rupees
unless stated]

Net profit 3.05 vs 4.50
Net Sales 15.97 vs 22.16
NOTE: Jindal Steel & Power Ltd makes steel and generates power.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pantaloon Retail Ltd, India's largest listed retailer, said its board had approved spinning off its Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar operations and related formats into a wholly-owned subsidiary to raise funds.

Pantaloon, the flagship company of Kishore Biyani's Future Group, runs 119 Big Bazaar stores in more than 70 cities across India, and plans to have 275 stores by 2014.

The board also approved consolidating Pantaloon's holding in Future Capital Holdings and some insurance joint venture firms into a single entity, Pantaloon said in a statement on Friday.

Sales decline 20.74% to Rs 284.03 crore

Vishal Retail reported net loss of Rs 95.62 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against net profit of Rs 4.08 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales declined 20.74% to Rs 284.03 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 358.34 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading integrated telecom service provider, today launched the ‘Freedom Plan’ for its customers. With the launch of this plan, Airtel customers will have the freedom of choosing from a variety of plans based on their usage and calling patterns. In the ‘Freedom Plan’, Airtel customers will be charged 1 paise per second for all Local and STD calls to Airtel numbers and 1.20 paise per second for local and STD calls to other network.

Bharti Airtel inched up 0.21% to Rs 312.70 at 10:22 IST after the net profit rose 43.10% to Rs 2296.94 crore on a 7.5% increase in total income to Rs 8927.10 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.


The result was announced during trading hours today, 30 October 2009.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 206.30 points, or 1.29%, to 16264.11.

On BSE, 3.84 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 20.46 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 323 and a low of Rs 310.50 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 495 on 19 May 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 272 on 12 March 2009.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 29 October 2009, falling 25.50% as compared to the Sensex 4.75% fall. It underperformed the market in past one quarter, tumbling 26.28% as against 5.79% rise in the Sensex.

India's largest listed telecom service provider by sales has an equity capital of Rs 1898.42 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

The current price of Rs 312.70 discounts the company's Q1 June 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 28.31, by a PE multiple of 11.04.

On a consolidated basis, as per Indian accounting standards, the net profit jumped 35.10% to Rs 2254.17 crore on a 16.10% increase in total income to Rs 10393.06 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

Bharti Airtel provides mobile telecommunication services in India. It also provides fixed-line, VSAT, Internet and broadband services.

Reliance Industries net profit declines 6.41% in the September 2009 quarter

Sales rise 4.83% to Rs 46848.00 crore

Net profit of Reliance Industries declined 6.41% to Rs 3852.00 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 4116.00 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales rose 4.83% to Rs 46848.00 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 44688.00 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

MUMBAI - Sesa Goa, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, said on Thursday it received a letter from the Indian government ordering an investigation into the company.

Puravankara Projects jumped 6.92% to Rs 99.65 at 11:22 IST after net profit rose 36.6% to Rs 64.29 crore on a 62.4% jump in sales to Rs 226.39 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

MUMBAI - Weak refining margins will dent quarterly results at Reliance Industries, and a rise in gas production at a field off India's east coast and the resolution of a gas pricing row are key to future performance.

HONG KONG - Asian shares fell on Thursday after a set of weak U.S. data rekindled worries about global growth and prompted a shift away from riskier assets, lifting the yen and underpinning the dollar.
Full Story @ Reuter

Sales decline 11.11% to Rs 1.04 crore

India Cements Capital reported net loss of Rs 0.17 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against net loss of Rs 0.16 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales declined 11.11% to Rs 1.04 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 1.17 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

KSK Energy Ventures fell 3.19% to Rs 192.50 at 10:26 IST after the net profit slipped 40.3% to Rs 26.97 crore on a 21.3% fall in sales to Rs 40.84 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

Sales decline 13.65% to Rs 1142.15 crore
Kingfisher Airlines reported net loss of Rs 418.78 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against net loss of Rs 483.25 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales declined 13.65% to Rs 1142.15 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 1322.64 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

Punj Lloyd rose 3.37% to Rs 208.70 at 11:48 IST on bargain hunting after the stock corrected 30% in the preceding six consecutive sessions after the company reported dismal earnings in Q2 September 2009.

Ispat Industries lost 1.67% to Rs 20.55 at 11:14 IST on BSE, after the company posted net loss of Rs 79.41 crore in Q2 September 2009, higher than net loss of Rs 26.74 in Q2 September 2008.

NEW DELHI - India's infrastructure sector output grew 4 percent in September from a year earlier, slower than upwardly revised annual growth of 7.8 percent in August, government data showed on Wednesday.

Sales rise 2.52% to Rs 112.70 crore
Net profit of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India rose 37.67% to Rs 28.07 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 20.39 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales rose 2.52% to Rs 112.70 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 109.93 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

Power Finance Corporation rose 1.10% to Rs 230.30 at 14:06 IST after the net profit soared 93.7% to Rs 637.90 crore on a 27.7% increase in total income to Rs 2046.42 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

In its Second-Quarter Review of Monetary Policy, a hawkish Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while staying away from hiking key rates like repo or reverse repo, hiked the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to 25% from 24%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR), the minimum amount banks need to park with the RBI, was, however, left unchanged.
Repo and reverse repo are rates at which the RBI lends to banks and vice versa while SLR is the minimum amount of cash, gold or bonds banks need to maintain with themselves.

Wipro has announced its second quarter FY10 results. Its Q2 net profit jumped 14.4% to Rs 1,161.7 crore as against Rs 1,015.5 crore, on quarter-on-quarter basis (QoQ).

Revenues increased 10.35% to Rs 6,940.2 crore versus Rs 6,289.1 crore, (QoQ). Consolidated global IT revenues came in at $1.06 billion. IT services operating margin improved to 23.6% versus 21%, (QoQ).

Tata Motors rose 2.53% to Rs 553 at 10:27 IST on BSE, after net profit jumped 110.13% to Rs 729.14 crore on 11.87% rise in total income to Rs 8399.75 in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008.

Sesa Goa tumbled 8.27% to Rs 289.50 at 10:26 IST on reports the government has ordered the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe into alleged financial irregularities of the company.

Sales decline 17.54% to Rs 337.55 crore

Net profit of Supreme Petrochem rose 1326.88% to Rs 13.27 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 0.93 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales declined 17.54% to Rs 337.55 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 409.34 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

Particulars Quarter Ended
Sep. 2009 Sep. 2008 % Var.
Sales 337.55 409.34 -18
OPM % 8.38 2.46 240
PBDT 24.20 5.70 325
PBT 18.81 1.25 1405
NP 13.27 0.93 1327

Telecom Minister A Raja says the stake dilution by new operators has been cleared by Finance Ministry and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). He explained that the FDI policy does not come under the Department of Telecom's preview, and hence the ministry cannot prevent share dilution.

A Raja is in the eye of the storm over corruption charges relating to the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) awarding of 2G telecom licences and spectrum. However, Raja says he is unjustly targeted for breaking up cartels in the sector. “The entire industry is a divider. Everybody is having their own commercial and vested interest. They wanted to maintain their monopoly. I wanted to break the cartel. When I broke the cartel, all these things came into existence.”

Raja says he is responsible for doubling telecom growth in India.
Post the 3G auction, he plans to focus on new technology for rural telephony.

Raja foresees local calls at 10 paise per minute, STD at 25 paise per minute.

Sales decline 7.79% to Rs 188.10 crore

Net profit of Century Plyboards (India) rose 177.78% to Rs 21.75 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 7.83 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales declined 7.79% to Rs 188.10 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 203.98 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.

Particulars Quarter Ended
Sep. 2009 Sep. 2008 % Var.
Sales 188.10 203.98 -8
OPM % 7.94 12.65 -37
PBDT 29.40 20.69 42
PBT 25.29 17.24 47
NP 21.75 7.83 178

Net profit of Hero Honda Motors rose 94.95% to Rs 597.14 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 306.30 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008. Sales rose 26.66% to Rs 4040.10 crore in the quarter ended September 2009 as against Rs 3189.71 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2008.
Particulars Quarter Ended
Sep. 2009 Sep. 2008 % Var.
Sales 4040.10 3189.71 27
OPM % 18.42 13.25 39
PBDT 818.98 497.11 65
PBT 768.64 450.47 71
NP 597.14 306.30 95