Indian Shares

 Inflation in India rose more than expected in early February to a six month high on rising food prices and fuel prices. Inflation remains below the Indian central bank's target rate of 5% but economists say it could breach that level in the near future"

More info food and fuel.

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised its forecast for Asian growth, saying that stronger consumer spending will help offset weaker exports." Full Article....

Shareholders in the steelmaker Corus have overwhelmingly voted to accept a £5.75bn takeover offer from Indian firm Tata Steel. More than 97% of its shareholders backed the deal at an extraordinary general meeting, creating the world's fifth-largest steel group. More than  97% of Corus shareholders backed the deal.

• Letter to stock Exchange - Corus Shareholders approve Scheme of Arrangement
• Tata Steel Offer

"No longer is India seen as one of investment's wild frontiers, where you can make big bucks if you take big risks. Increasingly, Western companies are viewing India as a market in which they simply can't afford not to be present."

Source: The Independent

Vodaphone has completed the purchase of 67% of shares in Hutchison Essar, beating off a bid from Reliance Communications. The capture marks a shift in strategy as Vodaphone moves away from the Swiss and Belgian mobile phone markets to emerging economies. The Indian mobile phone market is witnessing fantastic growth at present.

Related Articles:
Vodaphone battling with Essar for Indian Mobile Phone Company
Vodaphone looking to expand in India

Indian software giant Infosys is reporting a 52.4% risein quarterly profits and 47% increase in revenue, on the back of strong outsourcing orders from Western firms. JC Penny recently outsourced to InfoSys as did over 40 more companies this quarter.

Vodafone is reported to be facing competition in its bid for he Hutchison Whampoa from Indian conglomerate Essar, which has 33% of Hutchison Whampoa Mobile Phone business. Unlike Vodophone Essar is not affected by the 74% limit on foreign ownership of Indian mobile phone providers.

More Info.

Vodafone has said it is considering a bid for a majority stake in Hutchison Whampoa's Indian mobile phone business.  Vodafone which already owns 10% of Bharti Airtel, the market leader in India and sees the mobile market in India as having great potential, more so than in Europe. However foreign firms are limited to owning 74% of Indian mobile phone providers.

The main stock market in India for Indian shares closed at a record high today as it passed the 13,000 mark. The SENSEX has risen 36% during 2006 despite a turbulent patch earlier in the year. The rise is attributed to strong earnings from key banks and technology firms like (InfoSys, Wipro, Satyam and TATA Consulting).

"The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said the Tata Steel-Corus deal is a sign of a confident India Inc and reflects the consolidation of the Indian industry in the global economy.

CII president R Seshasayee said the Tata Steel-Corus deal is a sign of India Inc being recognized as a very significant global economic player."

Source: Zee News

Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus is reported to be close to accepting a formal £4.1bn ($7.7bn) takeover offer from Indian rival Tata. Corus encompasses what was formally British Steel. Corus is an international company, providing steel and aluminium products and services to customers worldwide with an annual turnover of £9 billion.

TATA Steel formerly TISCO - Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited) is Asia's first and India's largest integrated private sector steel company. Tata Steel produces 4 million tonnes of steel, annually. In 2005 the company was recognised as the world's best steel producer. The company is listed on Mumbai and National Stock Exchanges of India

New research has found that shares in the major India-based IT services providers have vastly outperformed their western rivals so far this year, despite falling sharply in May and starting from valuations based on much higher multiples of earnings and revenues.

Full Article

InfoSys (INFY) announced today that they are acquiring a further 23% stake in Progeon from CitiCorp for cash. InfoSys is the majority owner of Progeon a Business Proccess Outsourcing (BPO) and Business Process Management (BPM) specialist operating in India, Czech Republic and the Philippines. Progeon implements BPO, BPM and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) in the following industries:

• Banking
• Capital Markets
• Communications Service Providers
• Healthcare
• Insurance
• Manufacturing

 

At the end of 2005 the BBC published an article highlighting the fact that in 2005 the Indian Stock Market rose by 40% to over 10,000 points. Some analysts are predicting that in 2006 the market will rise to 12,000 points.

Seven weeks into 2006 the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SENSEX continues to tread water at closing just below the 10,000 mark at 9981 today.