Ankesh Shahra receives CSR Award (Ruchi Soya)

Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has been felicitated with the CSR Award for Community Development during the World CSR Congress.  Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai.

Dr. Christoph Stueckelberger, Executive Director and Founder of Globethics and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs handed over the trophy and citation to  Ankesh Shahra.

Commenting on the occasion,  Ankesh Shahra stated, “I am very grateful to the World CSR Congress for honouring Ruchi Soya with the award for Community Development. Ruchi believes in sharing its growth with every stakeholder and giving back to the society in a sustainable and transparent manner.

A big congratulations to the team.” Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya is India’s number one cooking oil maker and marketer through popular brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh and Sunrich.

Ruchi Soya is working closely with the communities around its plants in Patalganga and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Ruchi Soya believes in the concept of ‘Giving back to the Society’. The corporate social initiatives of Ruchi Group are executed through Shri Mahadeo Shahra Sukrat Trust with the focus on three core areas of Health, Education and Women Empowerment.

An Integrated player from farm to fork, Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other important parts of the world. Besides being a leading manufacturer of high quality edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati, and bakery fats, Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

Source:  http://newsaboutruchigroup.wordpress.com/

RBI likely to cut repo rate, first time in nine months

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to reward the government next week for its efforts to reform the economy and bring its finances under control by announcing its first cut in interest rates in nine months.

The RBI has been growing in confidence that the government, gripped by inertia for much of last year, is finally doing its bit to lift an economy that has slumped to its slowest pace of growth in a decade.

“The government has gone ahead with all the promises it had made 3 to 4 months earlier. There have been pretty substantial measures on the fiscal deficit front,” said Samiran Chakrabarty, head of research at Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai.

“To an extent, that will be comforting for the RBI.”

Inflation is also heading in the right direction as far as the central bank is concerned. Wholesale price inflation, the main price gauge, fell to a three-year low of just over 7 percent in December.

Since mid December, yields on 10-year Indian government bonds have pulled back to 7.865 percent from above 8 percent in anticipation of a rate cut. The slide marked the first time the yield had dropped below 8 percent since early 2011.

However, the RBI remains cautious with inflation around 7 percent. Last week, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said inflation remained too high, a comment that dashed financial market expectations for a more aggressive rate cut of 50 basis points.

Most economists expect the RBI to cut its policy repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 7.75 percent and follow it up with a cumulative 75 bps of cuts by the end of September, a Reuters poll showed last week.

“The RBI cannot be very aggressive in rate cuts. Our view is that inflation is unlikely to fall sustainably below 7 percent. There are lot of suppressed inflationary pressures that will add to it,” said Sonal Varma, India economist at Nomura in Mumbai.

The RBI last cut rates in April 2012 by 50 basis points but warned at the time there would be limited scope for further cuts.

Fiscal house

For much of last year, the government was in turmoil as a fractious coalition struggled to push through new policies to arrest an economic slide that analysts forecast will leave growth for the full-year to March 2013 at just 5.5 percent, almost half the pace seen before the global financial crisis.

But in September it announced big bang reforms in a package of measures to revive growth, saying it would open up its supermarket sector to foreign chains and allow more foreign investment in airlines and broadcasters.

More recently, it gave oil companies more room to set regulated diesel prices and in a sign of a fresh measure that could be in the pipeline, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in TV comments aired on Thursday that India should consider hiking taxes for the “very rich”.

The moves are intended to bolster investor sentiment, mend battered government finances and stave off a possible credit rating downgrade to junk status.

India’s fiscal deficit touched 4.13 trillion rupees in April-November, or 80.4 percent of the budgeted target for the full fiscal year through March.

The government expects a budget deficit in the current fiscal year of 5.3 percent of GDP. Economists had pencilled in a deficit of at least 6 percent of GDP, although they have narrowed that to 5.5 percent or 5.6 percent of GDP following the various government measures in recent months.

The country’s current account deficit hit a record high of 5.4 percent of GDP in July-September, although Chidambaram said the country can finance the shortfall without cutting into national reserves.

Subbarao, a hawkish outlier in 2012 when many central banks were cutting rates and putting in place other stimulus measures, was due to meet with Chidambaram for a customary pre-policy discussion on Thursday.

In October, the RBI gave uncharacteristically specific guidance, saying there was a “reasonable likelihood” of policy easing in the January-March quarter. It reiterated the same point in December.

“The earlier guidance given by the RBI and the recent steps taken by the government has led to the expectation of a 25 bps rate cut,” said Saugata Bhattacharya, an economist with Axis Bank in Mumbai.

Source Info: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/RBI-likely-to-cut-repo-rate-first-time-in-nine-months/articleshow/18220397.cms

Apple steps up labor audits, finds underage workers

Apple Inc(AAPL.O) stepped up audits of working conditions at major suppliers last year, discovering multiple cases of underage workers, discrimination and wage problems.

The iPhone and iPad maker, which relies heavily on Asian-based partners like Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group to assemble the vast majority of its iPhones and iPads, said on Thursday it conducted 393 audits, up 72 percent from 2011, reviewing sites where over 1.5 million workers make its gadgets.

Apple in recent years has faced accusations of building its profits on the backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China.

That criticism came to the fore around 2010, after reports of suicides at Foxconn drew attention to the long hours that migrant laborers frequently endure, often for a pittance in wages and in severely cramped living conditions.

Foxconn is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry (2317.TW) and employs 1.2 million workers across China.

Under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has taken new steps to improve its record and boost transparency, including the extensive audits of its sprawling supply chain. Last year, it agreed to separate audits by the independent Fair Labor Association.

In an interview on Thursday, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said the company has increased its efforts to solve two of the most challenging issues – ensuring there are no under aged workers in its supply chain and limiting working hours to 60 hours a week.

While child labor reflected a small percentage of the workforce, Apple is now investigating its smaller suppliers – which typically supply parts to larger suppliers and hence face less oversight on such issues – to bring them into compliance, sometimes even firing them.

“We go deep in the supply chain to find it,” Williams said. “And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with.”

In one case, Apple said it terminated its relationship with a component maker Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co Ltd after discovering 74 cases of underage workers.

Officials at Pingzhou Electronics could not be reached despite three telephone calls from Reuters.

Apple also discovered an employment agency that was forging documents to allow children to illegally work at the supplier.

Apple reported both the supplier and the employment agency to local authorities, the company said in its latest annual report on the conditions in its supply chain.

Apple has audited both small and ancillary suppliers, as well as large ones such as Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, (005930.KS) for working conditions. It found 95 percent of sites audited complied with avoiding underage labor.

Child labor is an issue that is part of the larger supply industry as the component maker that Apple found violated child labor laws supplied parts to more than a hundred different companies, including automotive companies, Williams said, vowing to eradicate under aged labor from the industry.

“I don’t know how long it will take to get there but that’s our goal,” said Williams, who has spent a significant amount of his 14 years at Apple in Asia managing the supply chain.

FOCUS ON STUDENT INTERNS

For 2013, Williams said a key focus for Apple will be student interns and ensuring that suppliers do not abuse the internship system, especially in China where many colleges require students to complete internships as part of their curriculum.

Some companies in China are solving labor shortages by employing students. Last September, city officials of the northeastern Chinese coastal city of Yantai ordered vocational high schools to send students to a large plant run by Foxconn – a key contract manufacture for Apple and other large electronics companies like Hewlett Packard (HPQ.N) – to overcome a shortage of workers.

Another focus areas has been “bonded labor”, where agencies who help immigrant workers find jobs take a substantial portion of the worker’s pay.

Apple said in the report that it asked suppliers to reimburse $6.4 million in excess foreign contract worker fees in 2012, according to the report.

The company said it achieved 92 percent compliance with a maximum 60-hour work week in its supply chain. Where violations were discovered, Apple took action, it said in its report.

Apple also found and stopped discriminatory practices against women workers in 34 supplier facilities that required pregnancy testing and 25 facilities that tested employees for certain medical conditions, the report said.

Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/01/25/apple-audit-iphone-ipad-idINDEE90O03N20130125

Microsoft in talks to invest up to $3 billion in Dell: CNBC

Microsoft Corp is in discussions to invest between $1 billion and $3 billion of mezzanine financing in a buyout of Dell Inc, CNBC cited unidentified sources as saying on Tuesday.
Private equity outfit Silver Lake Partners is trying to finalize a bidding group to take the world’s No. 3

PC maker private, and has opened discussions with potential equity partners, sources familiar with the matter have said.
Dell also has formed a special committee to take a close look at any potential deal on the table, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. If successful, it would be one of the largest corporate buyouts since before the global financial crisis.

Microsoft, which accelerated its foray into computer hardware in 2012 with the launch of the Surface tablet, will provide the capital in the form of mezzanine financing according to CNBC, which is a hybrid of debt and equity.

Microsoft and Dell both declined to comment on the CNBC report. Shares in Dell gained climbed 2 percent to $13.08 in late morning trade.

Indian IT Companies Sharpen Claws For Deals Worth 2.7 Lakh Crore

Bangalore: 2013 is going to witness almost 2.7 lakh crores worth software outsourcing deals coming up for renewal, which constitutes almost half the size of the Indian information technology industry. The Indian service providers are eagerly approaching this prospect in what is expected to be, a fierce fight for contracts, reports TOI.

Price discounting is nothing new, but the coming battle seems be to a serious one as some of the restraints that kept rivals under control seems to have scrapped away.

Besides all underlying factors, it is the shape in which the software service is in entering 2013 after leaving behind one of the most forgetful years in its history.

According to N Chandrasekaran, CEO of India’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services, “being irrational depends upon the situation one is in. TCS which is steady towards industry growth looks forward to be optimistic about the sector’s prospect and is in good shape among other Indian information technology companies.”

The top four IT services companies – TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL technologies have their results announced for the October – December quarter.

Corporations Demanding Outcomes

TO I reports that the top four IT service companies are being seen as indicators that the phase of slow growth may come to an end. However, India’s software exports may barely grow by double digits, while the company copes with fundamental, technological and business model transformation. The certainties of linear growth where revenue is directly proportional to the number of employees is fading away and corporations are demanding outcomes rather than showing efforts.

As an example of aggressive discounting, analysts cite HCL Technologies recently winning a contract worth several million dollars from Deutsche Bank. Although not clear of the discounting happened, executives aware of the deal negotiations, described the pricing offered as ‘significantly lower’. Once a major client of Infosys, Deutsche Bank now brings in excess of $50 million in business to HCL Technologies.

Competition seems to be heated further as large outsourcing contracts from Procter and Gamble, American Express, Bank of America and Unilever which were first signed during 2002-03, come up for renewal this year. Deep pricing discounts and even paying money upfront are becoming commonplace with associated negative implications for margins, say senior executives.

According to Wipro’s CEO, TK Kurien, fierce fights exist between the rational and irrational players. In a recent interview, as per his observation, he feels that some which were categorized as rational have moved on to the other side.

Analysts believe that Infosys which has been extremely profit-margin conscious is now beginning to show increased flexibility on pricing and a greater willingness to take on deals which it had earlier shunned. Infosys seems to be under pressure to grow faster as compared to how it was being outpaced by partners previously.

However, analysts on seeing the company’s strong performance in the December quarter say that Infosys is being led by a desire to protect turf in a slowing market with enhanced competition. A deal wins for Infosys means a deal loss for another vendor, who may necessarily get their share of business and can drive a competitive response.

Slowdown may hit salary hikes

With the economic slowdown hitting business plans, those engaged in the financial services sector that includes commercial and investment banks are set to get about 6-9% pay hikes for the next fiscal year compared to about 10-15% given in the previous year.

“The quantum of hike in almost all cases will be in single digits, though the process of appraising employees has just started,” a senior executive working in the human resource (HR) department of an MNC bank said.

The going has been tough for several companies including high profile banks due to the global slowdown led by uncertainty in the US and European markets. Many have also announced job cuts to reduce operational costs.

“We are expecting meagre hikes, there is huge stress on costs and sentiments are still low,” said a mid-level executive at HSBC who did not wish to be identified.

Industry insiders said that the days of hefty hikes which went up to as high as 20-25% for commercial and investment bankers during 2000 to 2007 could well be a thing of the past.

“Firms today are getting realistic about salary hikes and in most cases, the organisations want to bring it down to a sustainable level,” Dev Bharat, director, Executive Access India, a HR firm said.

Corporate, income tax rates to stay

Companies and individuals fearing higher tax rates in view of a high fiscal deficit may rest easy as the forthcoming budget is unlikely to give them taxing times.

With government deficits hovering around record levels and inflation nearing double-digits at home, and most countries
in the world feeling the slowdown pinch, investments are drying up. To improve sentiments, the government is unlikely to tamper with corporate and individual tax rates in the budget, government sources said.

Finance minister P Chidambaram has already underlined the need to follow a tax-friendly regime and a non-adversarial tax administration to raise the tax-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio in the country, which is currently around 10% .

A number of think-tanks and policy advisors have proposed that the rich should be taxed more, but the government is not keen on this approach.

“The finance ministry at this point is not going to try new structures especially in taxes as the focus would be to draw investment, even though there have been several proposals suggesting that certain tax rates need to be revised upward in order to boost revenues,” an official source told HT on condition of anonymity.

The government has set a target of reducing fiscal deficit to 4.8% of GDP by 2014. The current year’s target is 5.3%. According to the roadmap, fiscal deficit would be brought down to 3% by 2016-17.

The government is looking at several ways to bring down expenditure while boosting revenues. The finance ministry is also likely to set a higher disinvestment target of over Rs. 40,000 crore for 2013-14 against Rs. 30,000 crore set for the fiscal year 2012-13.

Global credit rating agency Moody’s has maintained its sovereign rating for India at Baa3-— the lowest investment-grade rating — with a stable outlook.