Onion prices decline by about 20 per cent in New Delhi in two weeks

Retail onion prices in the capital have declined by about 20 per cent to Rs 60-65 per kg over the past two weeks.

Onion arrivals in Delhi and in the major markets of Maharashtra, the biggest producer of onions, have been going up in last few days.

In Delhi, the average arrival price for wholesale onion dipped from Rs 5,555 per quintal on September 17 to Rs 3,639 on September 30, a drop of over 34 per cent. The declining trend at the wholesale level is expected to reflect at the retail level with a further drop in prices this month, said a wholesaler at Delhi's Azadpur market.

The harvest of the onion kharif crop has been good in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In October, arrivals will pick up in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The two states account for one-third of country's output. October's nine day long Navratri celebrations - when people avoid eating onions - are also likely to lead to a drop in consumption and prices. With a 244 per cent rise in prices in August, onions were instrumental in driving up the August wholesale price inflation to  a six month high of 6.1 per cent.India produces about 16 million tonnes of onion but consumes only 10-11 million tonnes. Higher domestic prices had led to a resumption in imports of onion after a gap of two years and onions from countries like Egypt, China and Pakistan have found a market in India.

Remunerative domestic prices and the imposition of a higher minimum export price have slowed onion exports. In August, onion exports fell sharply to 29,247 tonnes compared to 156,165 tonnes in July and 150,512 tonnes in June. India exported 1.82 million tonnes of onion in 2012/13, valued at Rs 2,295 crore. In the first five months of current fiscal year, exports have only been 697,028 tonnes.

TCS sees companies spend on social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn at $19 mn

Companies across the globe, including India, will spend an average $19 million (Rs 119 crore) on social media this year, a global study by IT services major TCS said today. It further said that since 2010, 64 per cent of the firms covered have assigned at least one full-time equivalent (FTE) to use public social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
According to the Mumbai-headquartered company's Global Trend Report on social media, this average spending will rise to $24 million (about Rs 150 crore) by 2015.
"Companies will spend an average of nearly $19 million per company this year on social media and will increase that to $24 million by 2015," said the report titled 'Mastering Digital Feedback: How the best consumer companies use social media'.
Most consumer companies have become serious about social media in just the last three years, it added.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)'s Global Trend Report explores how 11 global consumer industries and large firms in the world's 4 largest economic regions are using social media. This is the fourth report TCS has published since 2011, the last being on Big Data, it said.
Market research firm ResearchNow surveyed 655 respondents from mostly $1 billion plus consumer companies in June and July this year, the average revenue of which was $15.6 billion (median of $4.9 billion), it added.
"56 per cent of respondents have measured the return on social media investments and most of them say it has been positive," the report said.
Marketing and customer service are the functions that most regularly view consumers' comments on social media, it added.
"The three biggest success factors for using social media effectively are protecting consumer data, having a corporate culture that values consumer opinions and responding rapidly to consumers who have issues about a company or its products," the report said.
Only 10 per cent of enterprises are realising significant improvements to their business as a result of social media investments. Despite the hype and increased investments, it seems that enterprises are still struggling to make the most

Indian rupee up 14 paise to 62.46 vs US dollar on CAD, US shutdown

The Indian rupee today rose 14 paise to 62.46 against the US dollar, supported by better-than-expected current account data and a weakening US currency.
Fresh dollar sales by exporters also helped the rupee. However, capital outflows capped the gains, a dealer said.
The rupee resumed stable at the previous closing level of 62.60 a dollar and touched a low of 62.61 at the interbank foreign exchange market. It later climbed to a high of 62.17 as local equities recovered and exporters sold dollars.

The rupee pared its mid-session gains on late dollar demand from importers and fell to settle at 62.46, a rise of 14 paise or 0.22 per cent.
Traders said the US government shutdown is seen having a negative impact on economic growth, which may delay the tapering of the Fed's massive bond-purchase programme.
"Yesterday, the current account data was released, which was better than expectations and that helped the rupee to post gains against the US dollar," said Abhishek Goenka, CEO of India Forex Advisors. "It came out at $21 billion against expectations of $23 billion for the April-June quarter. Today, after the news came regarding US government's shutdown, the rupee reacted positively as the US dollar index fell."
The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex firmed up 137.38 points or 0.71 per cent. Foreign institutional investors sold a net $83.55 million of shares yesterday, as per Sebi data.
"Dollar index is losing for the second consecutive day as the US government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday...which helped the rupee to trade strong," said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari Financial Services (India).
The dollar index was down 0.21 per cent against key rival currencies after the US government entered a partial shutdown following the failure of lawmakers to break a budget impasse.
Forward dollar premiums fell on fresh receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in March dipped to 268-272 paise from 273-1/2-277-1/2 paise previously and far-forward contracts maturing in September ended lower at 486-491 paise from 493-497 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 62.3555 and for the euro at 84.5365.

NHPC's Rs 1,000 cr tax free bonds issue likely on Oct 15

Siliguri: State-run power producer NHPC is likely to hit the market with its maiden tax-free bonds issue worth Rs 1,000 crore on October 15.

For the issue, the company filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with capital market regulator Sebi on Monday.

"We are expecting to come out with Rs 1,000 crore tax-free bonds issue on October 15," NHPC Director (Finance) A B L Srivastava said.

The company would come out with the issue in a single tranche, he told reporters late on Monday.

For this fiscal, NHPC's construction budget is Rs 3,450 crore. Out of that amount, around Rs 1,831 crore is planned to be garnered by way of debt.

The country's largest hydro power is awaiting approvals for about ten projects having total capacity of 8,801 MW.

When asked about government selling stake in the company, Srivastava said it would be decided by the Department of Disinvestment.

The disinvestment is likely through the Offer for Sale (OFS) route, he added.

Inflation for factory workers slips to 10.75% in August

New Delhi: Retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 10.75 percent in August as compared to 10.85 percent in the previous month, mainly on account of lower prices of fruits, vegetables and edible oil.

However, retail inflation measured in terms of all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) during August was higher than 10.31 recorded in the same month last year.

"The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 10.75 percent for August, 2013 as compared to 10.85 percent for the previous month and 10.31 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," a Labour Ministry statement said.

"... The food inflation stood at 13.91 percent against 14.10 percent of the previous month and 12.20 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year," it stated.

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from food group, contributing 1.58 percentage points to the total change.

At item level, rice, wheat, wheat atta, goat meat, dairy milk, milk (cow & buffalo), onions, chillies, tea (readymade), firewood, doctors' fee, private tuition fee, secondary school books, petrol, tailoring charges are responsible for the rise in index.

However, this was compensated to some extent by groundnut oil, fish, fresh vegetables and fruit items, putting downward pressure on the index.

According to a press release, all-India CPI-IW for August rose by 2 points, and pegged at 237. On a one-month percentage change, it increased by 0.85 percent between July and August compared with 0.94 percent between the same two months a year ago.

At centre level, Chindwara recorded the highest increase of 8 points each followed by Jalpaiguri and Siliguri (7), Durgapur (10) and Ranchi, Hatia, Nagpur, Kolkata, Asansol and Tiruchirapally (6 each).

Among others, 5 points rise was registered in 8 centres, 4 points in 6 centres, 3 points in 12 centres, 2 points in 13 centres and 1 point in 19 centres.

On the contrary, Goa reported a decline of 5 points, followed by Ernakulam, Quilon and Surat (2 each) and 3 other centres by 1 point each. Rest of the 6 centres'indices remained stationary.

The indices of 39 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres' indices are below national average. The index of Tiruchirapally centre remained at par with all-India index.

Gold price slips from 3-week high, down Rs 315

 
Gold prices slipped from a three-week high on Monday, losing Rs 315 to Rs 30,885 per 10 grams in New Delhi, on profit-selling at prevailing higher levels.

Traders said sluggish demand due to ongoing 'Shradh' period also influenced the sentiment.

Gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity plunged by Rs 315 each to Rs 30,885 and Rs 30,685 per ten grams, respectively.

It had climbed to a three-week high of Rs 31,200 in the previous session.

Sovereign also lacked necessary follow-up support and declined by Rs 100 to Rs 25,000 per piece of eight gram.

In line with a general weak trend, silver ready declined by Rs 100 to Rs 49,580 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 20 to Rs 49,580 per kg. The white metal had surged by Rs 1,225 in the previous session.

However, silver coins held steady at Rs 86,000 for buying and Rs 87,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

Debt-laden companies are selling off assets in a slowing economy

Kishore Biyani is smiling again. The poster boy of the retail revolution in India is starting a new business called Big Bazaar Direct . The e-commerce initiative involves setting up a network of franchisees who will take the Biyani-led Future Group's Big Bazaar retail chain to the doorsteps of consumers. The venture, says the company, will usher in the next retail revolution. While that may be a tad too optimistic, the new business certainly means Biyani has overcome the difficulties he was facing until recently.

What makes Biyani bullish? Until a year-and-a-half ago, Future Group was burdened with massive debt. But the company was not generating enough cash. That not only made repaying the debt difficult but also put a question mark on the company's survival. What did Biyani do? In April last year, he sold his profitable Pantaloon retail business to Aditya Birla Nuvo for Rs 1,600 crore. A month later, he sold his financial services business to private equity player Warburg Pincus for Rs 590 crore. And this year, he sold a 22.5 per cent stake in his life insurance joint venture with Italy's Generali for Rs 300 crore. The sale of assets helped him prune the debt to Rs 3,500 crore from Rs 10,000 crore two years ago, and put him back on track.

In debt-laden Corporate India there are several instances like the Future Group. While financially stressed companies globally are shedding assets - French retail giant Carrefour and Canadian gold producer Barrick Gold to name two - the trend is most visible in India. Corporate houses such as GMR Group, Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, Videocon Industries, Adani Group, GVK Group and Jaiprakash Associates have either sold some assets and stakes in the companies or are planning to do so in order to ease their debt burden.