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Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) on Monday joined hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011 that will compete with Tata Motors' Nano on price point - Rs 1 lakh. "Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj and Mr Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault and Nissan, on Monday announced they would form a joint-venture company to develop, produce and market the car, code-named ULC, with wholesale price range start ing from $2,500," BAL said in a statement. In the JV, Bajaj would hold 50 per cent stake, while French car maker Renault and Japan-based Nissan would hold 25 per cent stake each, it added. "Targeting the growing Indian new vehicle market, the ULC will be made at an all-new plant to be constructed in Chakan (Maharashtra)," the statement said. The plant would have an initial production capacity of four lakh units per year. Besides catering to the domestic market after its launch in 2011, the JV would also explore possibilities for export of the ...

The state-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has posted a 20.4 per cent decline in its net profit for the quarter ended March 2008 to Rs 295.4 crore from Rs 371.2 crore in the same quarter last year as per the audited results announced today. The decline was due to losses on foreign-currency borrowings, resulting from the rupee appreciation.Total income was up 10.38 per cent from Rs 1,238.2 crore in the Jan-Mar quarter last year to Rs 1,366.8 crore this year. For the year ended March 2008, higher volume of operations helped PFC post a 22.37 per cent jump in net profit, while total income increased by 28.32 per cent from Rs 3,927.6 crore to Rs 5,040 crore. PFC has so far supported projects of over 70,000 Mw and about 33,000 Mw had been commissioned, accounting for 23 per cent of country's installed capacity. About 66 per cent of disbursements during the last year were for thermal power projects. "We are diversifying to fund small power projects and non-conventional energy pr...

(The Hindu Business Line 11th May 2008) Investments with a one-two year perspective can be considered in the shares of MIC Electronics, considering the bright prospects for its LED (light emitting diode) display business and potential to sharply scale up earnings. At Rs 905, the stock trades at 30 times its estimated current year earnings. This appears justified considering the company’s improving margin profile (profits have more than trebled in the nine months ended December 2007 compared to the same period in the previous year) on the back of increasing contribution from the LED display business, in which there are not comparable listed peers. MIC has two key business segments — media and infotech and communication. The media business provides LED video, graphics, text displays and lighting solutions for “out-of-home” advertising at stadiums, billboards and malls as well as for various applications in airports and railway stations. The infotech and communications segment makes telec...

(The indu Business Line 11th May 2008) Investors can consider subscribing to the IPO from Gokul Refoils and Solvents in the price band of Rs 175-195, at the cut-off price. The asking price for the offer appears reasonable in relation to listed peers as well as the company’s own financials and growth prospects. At Rs 195, Gokul Refoils would be valued at a price-earnings multiple of about eight times its estimated FY08 earnings and at about six times FY09 earnings, using conservative assumptions, on the diluted equity base. Solvent extraction and edible oil players of a similar or much larger size such as Agro-Tech Foods and Ruchi Soya trade at valuations of 11-15 times current earnings. The company’s expansion projects are likely to scale up contributions from the current fiscal. However, the offer is suitable only for investors with a high risk appetite, as the edible oils business is characterised by thin margins and is exposed to commodity price fluctuations as well as policy change...

Kotak Mahindra Bank reported Q4FY08 consolidated net profit of Rs 240 crore (CNBC-TV18 estimated at Rs 221.27 crore) as against Rs 170.33 crore in same period of last year, a growth of 40.9% and net interest income of Rs 636.24 crore (Rs 445.33 crore) versus Rs 328.99 crore, up 93.39% YoY. Uday Kotak, Vice Chairman, Kotak Mahindra Bank sees significant consolidation in the securities business. He added that the securities business may go through cyclical pain. Kotak Mahindra Bank may face litigation from clients on their mark-to-market losses, he stated. Kotak added that there is a strong demand for credit and they are focussing on core lending business. The fee income will have new sources of income like servicing financial sponsors and mergers and acquisitions, Kotak stated. There will also be a change in the business mix of the banking sector.

The Sensex opened 60 points lower at 17,021, and soon slipped below the 17,000-mark to 16,975. Selective buying in morning trades saw the index rebound into positive zone and touch a high of 17,126.The index, however, slipped back into red owing to lack of buying support at higher levels. The selling gain momentum in late noon trades and the index tumbled to a low of 16,679 - down 447 points from the high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 344 points at 16,737. Losers beat gainers in 3:1 ratio, i.e for every advancing share there were three declining stocks - out of 2,784 stocks traded, 2,017 declined, and 706 advanced today. The NSE Nifty closed points 99 lower at 4,983. Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 6.6% to Rs 251. Reliance plunged over 5% to Rs 2,528. Reliance Energy and ACC declined 4.5% each to Rs 1,332 and Rs 712, respectively. HDFC Bank and Hindalco dropped 3.7% to Rs 1451 and Rs 174, respectively. SBI, Cipla, HDFC and TCS slipped around 3% each to Rs 1,676, Rs 206, Rs 2,6...

Inflation rose to 42-month high of 7.61 per cent for the week ended April 26 as against 7.57 per cent in the previous week on account of rising food prices and some manufactured products. The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation stood at 6.01 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. During the week, prices of tea jumped by 11 per cent, fruits and vegetables by one per cent, fish marine by two per cent, spices and cardamom by three per cent. However, prices of pulses declined by nearly one per cent. Among manufactured products, pric es of mustard oil and imported edible oil went expensive by one per cent and four per cent respectively. At the same time, cement, aluminium ingots and other aluminium materials hardened. However, steel prices declined during the week.