5-6 Indian banks to reach top 100 league

At least five to six Indian banks will reach the top 100 global league over the next decade and the banking sector will remain the mainstay of the country’s economic transformation, according to a research report by international consultant McKinsey & Company.

“This is important that the industry is rapidly consolidating with the gap between winners and losers widening. At least five to six Indian banks will reach the top 100 global league over the next decade,” said the report. In the past decade, the banking sector in India has witnessed unprecedented growth. “At this critical juncture, as institutions try to anticipate the nature of the 2020 landscape, they have to live contend with five structural themes — a demographic dividend, globalisation of wholesale markets, payments and transactions intermediations, infrastructure development and changes in industry structure,” it added.

Source : indianexpress.com

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Amazon tops list of UK's best brands

 

AMAZON HAS topped a new list of Britain''s most famous brands.

The Internet giant even left behind Waitrose and Marks n Spencer in a consumer survey of 163 household names. Moreover, researchers are shocked by the level of fury over gas and electricity suppliers and financial firms.

Only one of Britain's big six energy suppliers makes it into the top 100.

Car insurers get the thumbs down. Banks also take a drubbing in the nationwide poll - one of the biggest of the year-with Royal Bank of Scotland judged worst.

"The anger towards energy companies took us aback," the Sun quoted David Conway of Nunwood''s as telling Cashflow.

"It''s not just about price. People feel they had been lied to and misled.

"Names near the top have a common theme - honesty and integrity. They do what they say they are going to," he said.

Nunwood asked 5,500 customers to rate their best and worst experiences.

They judged how much brands come up to expectations and how pleasurable it is to deal with them.

With Black Friday and Christmas sales ready to entice shoppers, Amazon would be pretty happy to read the findings that term it as a top brand. Buyers around USA and Europe would be offered special Black Friday Deals during the holiday season.

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Economists worried about US inflation: survey

STEPS BY the Federal Reserve to pump more money into the U.S. economy through government bond purchases could stoke inflation, even though growth will remain moderate through 2011, a survey showed on Monday.
The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) said its 51-member forecasting panel continued to rank inflation as a bigger worry than deflation. The survey was conducted between October 21 and November 4.
The Fed's November 3 decision to buy an additional $600 billion worth of government bonds to stimulate the economy and prevent prices for spiraling lower has been criticized both at home and abroad.
About a third of NABE panelists view the Fed's second asset purchasing program as somewhat lessening the risks of deflation, while another 33 percent saw the step as risking inflation.
Still, they forecast the Fed's preferred measure of consumer inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy to rise to 1.5 percent by the end of 2011 from a projected 1.0 percent this year.
That is below the Fed's considered comfort zone between 1.7 percent and 2.0 percent. Inflation remains subdued as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s. Core consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in October from a year ago, the smallest increase since records started in 1957.
NABE panelists tweaked the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2010 and kept the estimate for 2011 unchanged at an annual rate of 2.6 percent.
The economy is now seen expanding at a 2.7 percent rate instead of 2. 6 percent this year, still below the 3.5 percent many analysts say is needed to start lowering unemployment.
"Projections for real GDP growth remain sub-par through the first quarter of 2011, but accelerate gradually through the forecast period," said NABE President Richard Wobbekind, associate dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.
"For next year as a whole, GDP growth is expected to be moderate. Factors restraining growth going forward include ongoing balance-sheet restructuring by consumers and businesses, and a diminished contribution to GDP growth from inventory restocking and government stimulus."
The panelists predicted a gradual improvement in the labor market, with monthly payroll gains forecast to average less than 150,000 until the latter half of 2011. The unemployment rate was seen above 9.5 percent through the first quarter of 2011, dipping to 9.2 percent by year-end.
A tepid housing market recovery was forecast, with prices rising somewhat in 2011.

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Honda Brio to roll out on Indian roads by 2011

WORLD'S LEADING car maker Honda showcased a prototype of its new small car, the Brio, at the 27th Thailand International Motor Expo 2010 in Bangkok on Tuesday. The manufacturer of the car, Honda Motor Company is scheduled to launch the 1.2 litre petrol hatchback Brio in India by the end of 2011 and is priced below Rs 5 lakh. Early this year, Honda showcased the concept study of the Honda Brio at Delhi Auto Fair.

Honda Brio will compete with Indian hatchback mid segment cars such as Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i20, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra and the Toyota Etios.

Honda Motor President and CEO Takanobu Ito said at 27th Thailand International Motor Expo 2010, "This car has been developed for Thailand and Indian markets. In India, we want to launch the car within 2011, with price less than Rs 5 lakh." He also said, "India is a very, very important market for Honda. Motorisation in the country is happening at a rapid pace and Honda will like to participate in this with the start of Brio."

Japanese car major Honda's Brio will be powered by a three-cylinder petrol engine, swept volume of engine is expected to be 900cc, with a power rating of around 70 bhp. The car's design is very youthful with fun to drive and is being developed with Honda's advanced technologies, while ensuring enough cabin space, high fuel efficiency, compact exteriors, easy handling, etc.

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Indian economy to cross 8.9 percent in September quarter: Finance Minister

UNION FINANCE Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today that he was confident of the economy crossing 8.5 percent growth target in the current fiscal year.

Interacting with mediapersons outside Parliament, Mukherjee said the economy grew at 8.9 percent, more than expected in the quarter through September.

Amidst all depressing news, one good news is there that second quarter GDP growth has been 8.9 percent. And they have revised the first quarter also to 8.9 percent. That means we may be confident that the GDP growth at the end of the year will not be less than 8.7 to 8.75 percent, which we projected,

I always go by conservative estimate. International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate, as I mentioned earlier, have already projected growth to be more than 9 percent,  he added.

India's economy grew a faster-than-expected 8.9 percent in the September quarter from a year earlier, data released on Tuesday showed. The median forecast in a Reuters'' poll was for an annual rise of 8.3 percent. The GDP growth for the April-June quarter was revised upwards to 8.9 percent from the provisional figure of 8.8 percent.

Economy grew more than expected in September quarter, boosted by farm output and manufacturing, putting pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tighten monetary policy although a rate increase next month still looks unlikely.

The strong GDP growth comes despite the RBI raising key rates by 150 and 200 basis points respectively since mid-March to anchor inflationary expectations.

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BSNL announces flat local rates for inter-state calls

THE TELECOM war in India got more interesting with giant telecom operators across the country battling it out for a larger chunk of their market share. With day to day tariff wars for numerous plans for STD and local calls, BSNL took  everyone with surprise.

State-run BSNL added more spice on tariff wars with the announcement of flat local rates for inter-state call made by using their landline connections; indicating that the end of STD era is inching closer. It said that all the calls made by BSNL landline to the landlines of other operators throughout the nation will be treated as local calls with the charge of Re 1 per 3 minute; without any special tariff voucher or scheme.

BSNL's chief general manager for the Bengal Telecom circle, Soumya Ray said that "From December 1, all BSNL fixed line customers will be able to call any fixed or wireless local loop (WLL) customers across the country at the same cost of Re 1 per three minutes. "

Calls made on mobile connection of other operators will be charged Rs1 per pulse.
This announcement from BSNL took everyone with surprise in highly competitive Indian telecom industry, as STD call rates are slightly higher than local calls.

Calcutta Telephones CGM A K Garg said that earlier consumer had to ask for the STD facility for their connection. He also said that this decision will also help BSNL to gain some market share as demand for landline connection is declining day by day. According to them, over the year they have lost around 40, 000 connections in Calcutta Telecom circle only.

Ever since the announcement was made, it has created a huge buzz in the market and how will its impact be is the next big question that looms at large and will be the deciding factor for every Indian telecom company.

Bank of America may be next WikiLeaks' target

BANK OF America Corp's shares declined 3 percent on Tuesday amid investor fears the largest U.S. bank by assets may be at the center of WikiLeaks next document release.
On Monday, Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks, said his group plans to release tens of thousands of internal documents from a major U.S. bank early next year, according to an interview posted online by Forbes Magazine.
He declined to identify to Forbes which bank would be the subject of the release, but expected the leak to spawn investigations.
The statement came just one day after Assange's group released 250,000 U.S. government diplomatic and military documents on November 28, and analysts said the timing spooked investors.
BofA's share price "continues to be driven by sentiment and not hard numbers," said Dick Bove, bank analyst with Rochdale Securities in a research note to clients.
In an October 9, 2009 interview, Assange told Computerworld that the group had obtained five gigabytes of data from a Bank of America executive's hard drive.
"Now how do we present that? It's a difficult problem. We could just dump it all into one giant Zip file, but we know for a fact that has limited impact. To have impact, it needs to be easy for people to dive in and search it and get something out of it," Assange told Computerworld.
Mark Stephens, a London lawyer who represents Assange, said that Assange could not be immediately reached for comment on whether the bank documents he told Forbes about were the same Bank of America documents he talked to Computerworld about just over a year ago.
A Bank of America spokeswoman said the bank is aware of WikiLeaks' claims that it has company data, but said it has not been contacted by the group or seen proof it possesses any of the bank's information.
Bove said in his note to clients that he rates Bank of America's stock as a buy and "considerably undervalued."
Bove said many of the bank's problems from the financial crisis have been sorted through, and once investor fears subside, BofA's share price will rise.
U.S. authorities are conducting an intensive criminal investigation into WikiLeaks release of government documents.
The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had cut off a U.S. military computer network from its database of diplomatic cables.
WikiLeaks says it is a nonprofit organization funded by human rights campaigners, journalists and the general public. Launched in 2006, it promotes the leaking of information to fight government and corporate corruption.
Previously, WikiLeaks had made public nearly 500,000 classified U.S. files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.