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Govt open to reviewing SEZ Act: Kamal Nath

New Delhi, April 29: Facing flak from opposition as well as supporting Left parties on the SEZ issue, government today said it is open to reviewing the law governing the special economic zones.

The government also ruled out FDI in retail sector, an area which has come under sharp criticism from traders and parties across the political spectrum.

Allaying apprehensions expressed by members during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on working of his ministry, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said, "We will review the SEZ Act if we find it requires revision."

He said only 80 to 90 SEZs have become operational and once the figure reached the 100-mark, the government would carry out a detailed review to find out whether the law has been misused.

The debate saw opposition members questioning the "reckless" approval of tax-free zones, with BJP alleging that most of the land "was being grabbed by land sharks to set up hotels and malls in the name of SEZs".

On the impact of FDI in retail on small traders, Nath said, "we cannot have anything which rocks the boat of existing employment."

Singapore shares turn lower on caution ahead of FOMC meeting

04.29.08, 10:28 PM ............SINGAPORE - Singapore shares turned lower after opening firmer on Wednesday as investors cautiously await the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later today.

The Fed, facing a faltering economy and rising inflation, is expected to cut interest rates by another quarter point to 2 percent after its two-day meeting that concludes on Wednesday. But many investors believe policymakers will then signal that they are planning to hold rates steady for a while.

'We expect the Fed fund rate to hold steady at 2 percent for the rest of 2008 but the Fed is expected to remain accommodative via other policy measures,' United Overseas Bank said in a note to clients.

No magic wand to lower fuel prices: Bush

Washington, April 30: US President George W Bush said on Tuesday there was no "magic wand" to bring down record-high fuel prices but would consider a proposal to suspend Federal gasoline taxes this summer – an idea that has divided the 2008 Presidential candidates.

Trying to calm anxious Americans facing USD 3.60 a gallon gasoline and soaring grocery bills, Bush again prodded Congress to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and allow construction of more nuclear and coal plants.

"I firmly believe that, you know, if there was a magic wand to wave, I`d be waving it, of course," he said during a news conference. "I`ve repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems, yet time after time Congress chose to block them."

Crude oil prices have surged more than five-fold since 2002, heaping more pressure on a waning US economy besieged by dropping home values and rising food prices.

Oil prices are up nearly 25% since the start of 2008, logging a record near USD 119.93 a barrel on Monday, and gasoline prices are above the key USD 4 a gallon mark in some US cities like San Francisco.

Giant US oil company Exxon Mobil Corp will report its quarterly profits this week, after ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and BP all reported quarterly profit increases from a year ago.

Bush further said he was willing to consider suspending gasoline taxes.

"We`ll let the candidates argue out their ideas," Bush said. "If it`s a good idea, we embrace it. If not, we`re analyzing the different ideas coming forward."

However, Bush again rebuffed calls from US lawmakers to suspend filling the nation`s emergency oil stockpile to boost supplies – saying that US reserve shipments amount to one-tenth of 1% of global oil demand.

Bush has repeatedly called on OPEC – source of about a third of global oil supplies – to boost production to tame record prices, but so far cartel members have rejected output hikes.

Bush declined to say whether he will pressure Saudi Arabia – OPEC`s top exporter – to boost output when he visits the kingdom next month.

"To your question on the Saudis, look, I have made the case that, you know, the high price of oil injures economies," Bush said. "But I think we better understand that there`s not a lot of excess capacity in this world right now."

Rupee tumbles by 32 paise to 40.48 against dollar

New Delhi, April 29: Belying expectations, the Indian rupee on Tuesday tumbled by 32 paise to six-week low at 40.48/49 against the greenback on heavy dollar demand from oil refiners as well as hectic forward coverings by investors amid US dollar gaining strength against rival currencies.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the domestic unit continuously moved downwards after resuming steady at 40.15/16 a dollar from its last close of 40.16/17 a dollar.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premiums payable in October ended at 45-1/2 - 47-1/2 paise, down from 54 – 56 paise on Monday and the far-forward maturing in April dipped to 75-1/2 - 77-1/2 paise from 88 - 90 paise previously.

2:05 PM - The market is trading quiet. Sensex is trading at 17332, down 45 points and Nifty is at 5173, down 22 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is up 0.23%, BSE Smallcaps index is up 0.37%. Cement and metals are trading soft. The market breadth is positive with advances at 639 against declines of 585 on the NSE

RCom Q4 net up 47%

New Delhi, April 30: Reliance Communications, India`s No. 2 mobile operator, beat forecasts with a 47 percent jump in quarterly Net Profit as it added more users in the world`s fastest-growing wireless market, sending its shares up 2 percent.

India overtook the United States as the biggest market for wireless services after China, with a record 10.2 million people signing up for mobile phones in March.

Local call tariff of as low as US 1 cent a minute and availability of cheaper handsets has seen India`s mobile phone users soaring 25 times between 2002 and 2007. Yet, only 22 percent of India`s more than a billion people own mobile phones and operators have started expanding to smaller towns and to rural areas where 70 percent of the people live.

Reliance Communications, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, added 4.8 million mobile users between January and March taking its total to 45.8 million subscribers. The company, which lags leader Bharti Airtel, said on Wednesday net profit rose to 15.03 billion rupees ($372 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 from 10.24 billion reported a year earlier.

"We are confident of improved performance in the future," Chairman Anil Ambani said in a statement. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a key performance gauge, rose 41.7 percent to 23.16 billion rupees, while EBITDA margins rose to 43.6 percent from 41.5 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose to 53.11 billion rupees from 39.37 billion.

A poll of 10 analysts had forecast net profit of 13.31 billion rupees on sales of 52.58 billion. Most of Reliance`s users are on CDMA platform and Reliance is expanding the popular GSM-based services to all 23 service areas from the current 8 circles.

Ambani said in January the company would spend about $6 billion in the year to March 2009 as it expands its GSM network and builds mobile phone towers, on the top of a $5.3 billion investment in fiscal 2008. For the full year ended March, profit rose 70.8 percent to 54.01 billion rupees on revenue of 190.68 billion, the company said.

Bharti Airtel last week reported a forecast-beating 37 percent rise in quarterly net profit to 18.53 billion rupees. Bharti had almost 62 million mobile users at end-March, a third more than Reliance`s.

Shares in Reliance Communications were up 2.1 percent at 586.60 rupees by 0751 GMT in a Mumbai market that was down 0.1 percent. Bharti was up 1 percent at 910.70 rupees. Reliance Communications shares lost 32 percent between January and March, underperforming the main index that fell 23 percent.

Patni`s Q1 revenues up 13.1%

Mumbai, April 30: Patni Computer Systems Limited (Patni) on Wednesday announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 31st March 2008.

Q2 CY2008 revenues are expected to be at US$ 180 to US$ 181 million and net income (excluding the foreign exchange gain/loss) is expected to be in the range of US$ 22.0 to US$ 23.0 million taking the operations at a constant dollar value of Rs 40 per US$ for the quarter.

Commenting on the quarter, Narendra K Patni, Chairman and CEO, Patni Computer Systems Ltd., said, "While Revenue and Profits are in line with our guidance we are in a cautious market situation in 2008 with uncertainty and volatility in global markets. We are running our business in lower than normal visibility. At the same time we find ourselves in good position and remain confident of our prospects on mid to long term basis."

"We are making all the investments necessary to diversify our business. We have recently appointed Louis Theodoor (Loek) van den Boog from our Board as Executive director of the company to expand and deepen the management," added Patni.

The newly appointed Executive Director Loek van den Boog, said, "We are committed to build Patni to a next generation services company with adequate differentiation and Business Solutions oriented focus leveraging the global delivery model. We are confident of our abilities to transform the business with mix of internal and market based measures to enhance overall shareholder value with profitable and sustainable growth."

Commenting on the performance, Mrinal Sattawala, Chief Operating Officer, Patni, said, "During the current quarter our revenue base has been diversified further resulting in reduced dependence on top 10 accounts. For the quarter under review we have added 34 new clients bringing our tally of active clients to 331.Going forward we expect to leverage our operating efficiencies significantly to grow profitability."

Speaking on the occasion, Surjeet Singh, Chief Financial Officer, Patni, said, "We continue to take steps in rationalization of internal operations to manage costs, and invest in our business to increase our services and market foot prints.

We are actively looking for strategic acquisitions and shall invest in the business on all dimensions. We are seeking these acquisitions in BPO, Enterprise applications and consulting specifically in UK and Continental Europe and are expanding geographically to enhance our presence in the region. Similarly Product Engineering business is an area of identified investments organically and inorganically."

US STOCKS-Wall Street headed higher after positive data
Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:12am EDT

NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks headed for a higher open on Wednesday after two reports pointed to resiliency in the economy and job market, easing concerns about the profit outlook.

The government's initial reading on first-quarter gross domestic product beat economists' expectations and a survey by ADP Employer Services showed that U.S. employers unexpectedly added 10,000 jobs in April.

Among stocks likely to lift the market, General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, sending the automaker's stock up more than 5 percent to $22.28 before the bell.

Both economic reports, coming on the same day that the Federal Reserve is due to decide on interest rates, helped ease recession fears.

S&P 500 futures SPc1 gained 4.3 points, above fair value, a formula to evaluate pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures DJc1 rose 39 points, and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures climbed 5.5 points.

The Commerce Department's report on GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity within U.S. borders, was "a little bit of a pleasant surprise," said Victor Pugliese, director of listed equity trading at Broadpoint Securities in San Francisco.

"It's a rear-view look, and not a front-view look. The main thing everyone's going to be looking for today is the Fed."

While the GDP report showed parts of the economy were clearly in trouble, growth in exports and a rebuilding of business inventories showed sufficient strength, said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.

"The key here is that a pullback (in economic growth) is more shallow than expected."

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to lower its target benchmark rate by a quarter-percentage point to 2 percent. Investors will focus on the Fed's statement on the economic outlook and look for clues on whether its cycle of rate cuts may be coming to an end.

As of Tuesday's close, the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX was on track for its best monthly advance in 4 1/2 years.

Stocks Up Ahead of Fed Decision-

The stock market advanced Wednesday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 100 points as investors reacted to better-than-expected economic and corporate reports ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.