Tata Communications Limited (TCL), in third quarter revived out of the sequential drop witnessed in Q2’08. The key highlights of the quarter were: 9.8% qoq increase in sales to Rs. 10.4 bn on the back of robust revenue growth of 31.7% of Enterprise and carrier data services. EBITDA rose marginally by 0.9% qoq to Rs. 1,535 mn due to a hike of 107 bps in operating costs and 58 bps in network costs. Enterprise and data services touched EBITDA margin of 91% for the first time. (more…)
Month: March 2008
HPCL’s Rs 576 crore order to L&T
Larsen & Toubro has been awarded a Rs 576 crore order by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).
The scope of work for this prestigious LSTK order, valued at Rs 576 crore, includes residual process design, detailed engineering, procurement, supply, transportation, storage, fabrication, inspection, construction, installation, testing, mechanical completion, pre-commissioning, commissioning and performance guarantee test runs for the said project.
The order was bagged by L&T’s E&C division’s refinery projects business unit against keen competition on the strength of its track record of having executed several high operating pressure refinery projects, meeting exacting refinery quality requirements and conforming to stringent delivery schedules.
Spanco Tele to computerize Maharashtra Ration System
Spanco Telesystems & Solutions has been awarded a letter of intent by food, civil supplies and consumer protection department, Government of Maharashtra, appointing the company as sole & total solutions provider for computerization of the entire rationing system in the State and issue ration cards on build, own, operate and transfer and the project duration will be for a period of 3 years.
This contract shall give impetus to Spanco’s growth plans and strengthen Spanco’s future business opportunities and potential and also put Spanco in a leading position in all important government space, particularly considering the government spending and expansions programmes and budget allocations in the area of telecom & IT / ITES segment of which Spanco will be a direct beneficiary. The future business growth and outlook continues to be robust. The total value of the project would be approximately Rs 125 crore.
Pay Commission – Threat to India’s Fiscal Consolidation
The government-appointed Sixth Pay Commission is due to announce its recommendations on the magnitude of wage and pension hikes for central government employees. Assuming that the Sixth Pay Commission announces a hike in salaries and pension slightly lower than that announced under fifth pay commission, we believe that that the total central government salaries and pension payments could increase by about 0.4% of GDP (Rs300 bn) to 2.5% in F2009.
The combined wage and pension costs of the state governments to rise by about Rs900 to Rs1000 billion spread over the next 2-3 years. Adding to the woes is the recent farm loan relief spending and the pay hike impact will decidedly reverse the six-year trend of reduction in government deficit.
Be prepared to face a Indian Donwgrade on the Macro Economic Front.
Dun & Bradstreet award for GAIL India
Gail India has been selected as the top Indian company in the gas-processing, transmission and marketing sector for the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards 2007. U D Choubey, chairman and managing director, GAIL received the award on behalf of GAIL from Manoj Vaish, president & CEO, Dun & Bradstreet, India. This is the second time that GAIL has received this award.
The corporate awards have been launched to recognize the twin virtues of size and growth in the top organizations of corporate India. The awards recognized the best organizations spread across various sectors such as oil and gas exploration, power generation, banks, software and IT, fertilizers, cement, FMCG and others.
Citi’s GDP Estimates down to 7.7%
Citi has revised FY09 GDP Estimates – from 8.3% to 7.7%. out: Earlier this year, when Citi cut our FY09 GDP estimate from 9% to 8.3%, they said that the two key risks to the growth outlook were
- on the domestic front, an extended pause in policy rates which would further dampen both consumption and investments and
- global developments taking a further downturn. With both these risks panning out, we are further cutting our GDP estimates from 8.3% to 7.7%.
Continued rise in volatility and risk premium in the financial markets is likely to result in a deceleration in capital flows and financing becoming more costly as spreads are widening. This in turn will have spillover effects to the real sector.
The India story has been largely investment-led rising 15% on a YoY basis with the Investment GDP ratio increasing to 36% of GDP from 25% in FY03. With the increase in risk aversion, low appetite for public offerings coupled with high domestic rates could dampen/delay investment demand.