Auto Ancillary – No immediate revival

Auto ancillary industry is not excited over the fiscal stimulus package contending that there will not be any immediate relief from it. The industry feels that it will probably see any benefits of the package only after four to six months.

Indian government on January 2 unveiled second fiscal stimulus package in a month to boost the slowing economy. Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India also joined the move by cutting key policy and reserve rates. Analysts are saying that stimulus measures would force banks to lend more, however the benefits would be apparent only after April.

However, industry insiders believe that the move to increase depreciation on commercial vehicles purchased during the first quarter of 2009 does have a chance to push up sales and it will in a way help to prevent further down slide in this segment. Commercial vehicles sales declined by more than 50% in November and performance in December has been no better.

36 Cos await to raise Rs 75K cr via IPOs

After being unsuccessful in 2008 to raise Rs 75,000 crore through initial public offering (IPO) route, over three dozen firms are holding back IPO plans to raise an estimated Rs 75,000 crore or over $15 billion for the right market conditions, which analysts believe is unlikely before the year-end.

The overall size of the IPO backlog from 2008 is incidentally more than four times of the total amount raised during the year through this route and almost equals the cumulative capital raised over the past three years. (more…)

Forrester Report on Satyam’s Innovation

Satyam Computer Services Ltd, a Leading global consulting and information technology services provider, announced today that Forrester Research, Inc., has published an independent report on its innovation strategy, and calls for other organizations to “emulate Satyam by unleashing and harnessing their firms grassroots creative energy“.

The report, “Satyam ignites Innovation from the Bottom Up (Forrester Research, Dec 18, 2008), is the ninth such paper in the research firm’s series entitled ?India: The Innovation Giant (Re) Awakens.

It notes that while other professional services organizations create external innovation networks, Satyam first innovates from within. Highlights of Satyam’s innovation programs, which are led by Venky Rao, senior vice president of innovation and leadership, include Cultivating an innovation network from the inside out, starting with employees and marrying innovation management training with leadership development.

The paper highlights four programs Satyam operates to foster innovation. They include:

  • I-DNA, 10 to 15 people (from the same business or different functions) who collaboratively generate new ideas for improving existing products, services, and processes, or identify whole new business opportunities
  • Ideation, responsible for turning that idea into reality or finding a solution to that FLCL’s problem.
  • IdeaJunction, a crowd sourcing site invites ideas from anyone in the Company on a variety of topics, ranging from HR policies to new business models.
  • Intellectual assets, the enablement team converting an idea… it a valuable intellectual asset for Satyam.

Macro Measures – Cautious on Banks – GS

The monetary policy will likely lead to better near-term prospects for banks. Market consensus expectation of earnings would be propped up by potential revaluation gains and earn trading income from bonds. However, expect the headwinds for the medium-term to stay. The aggregate SCB loan growth to ease significantly from 26% in 2008E to 14% in 2009E on the back of rapid deterioration in economic activity. Slower demand for loans and lending rate cuts would likely lead to slower operating revenue growth. (more…)

Grasim Industries – Review

Grasim Industries cut VSF prices by 7-8%; The Co’s recent price cut follows a 3-4% price cut in Nov-08. For FY10E, we expect a further 5% drop in VSF prices. Risk to FY10E remains on the downside due to sluggish textile demand & VSF’s expensive pricing vs polyester (PSF) & cotton. In the short-term (for 4Q), however, earnings will be cushioned by drastic drop in sulphur prices (down ~90% from peak. (more…)

Marginal Change in Vehicle Finance Rates

It is always nice to read CRR, SLR, Repo Rate etc going down. However, the ground realities are lot different and to know what they are, we conducted a channel check and found that there has been no impact / marginal of the CRR / Repo cuts for the commercial vehicles segment. The interest rates across most financiers are in the range of 15%-18%, with large truck operators getting at the lower end of the range while (more…)