WEEKLY NEWS (20 Sept – 25 Sept)

Bharti forays into mobile phone business  Bharti’s group firm Beetel Teletech Limited launched eight hand sets in the price range of Rs  To begin with, Beetel would have an in-house design facility in India.  Manufacturing is being done outside India but with innovation done locally.  The entire range of Beetel phones has features like dual SIM, FM and cameras

USE cracks Rs. 87,389 crore biz on debut  USE is promoted by all of India’s public sector banks, five leading private sector banks, three corporate institutions and the BSE.  Active participation by jobbers and banks got currency futures trading off to a flying start on the newest bourse.  On the first day, USE clocked volumes of Rs. 45,485 crore in four currency pairs, including rupee versus dollar, euro, yen and GBP respectively.

Banks told to ensure MFIs don’t charge high rates  MFI – Micro Finance Institutes  Banks will have to put a mechanism to verify that MFIs, whom banks are financing, do not lend at rates more than 24% to final borrowers.  The finance ministry wrote a letter to banks that MFIs continue to charge a relative high rate of 27-30%, even as they receive funds in the range of 10-12% from banks.

P&G to bring Wella brand to India  The Cincinnati –based P&G is set to bring in its biggest global brands into India – Wella Hair Colour – as it looks to strengthen its health and beauty business.  This is the first time P&G will enter the hair colour category – so far dominated by L’Oreal India’s brands L’Oreal Excellence Crème and Garnier.  The category is estimated at Rs crore and estimated to grow at a healthy 25%.

Contd….  The consumer products giant which makes Tide detergent, Pampers diapers, Gillette shavers, Olay skin cream and Pantene shampoo has a combined turnover of close to Rs crore.  It operates through three subsidiaries – Procter & Gamble Health & Hygiene (PGHH), Procter & Gamble Home Products (PGHP) and Gillette India.

Satyam set to delist from NYSE by Oct 15  Satyam Computer Services is set to delist from the NYSE after failing to file its financial statements for fiscal year 2009 before the deadline of Oct 15.  After its takeover by Tech Mahindra in early 2009, the scam-hit IT company had filed an application for delisting from NYSE Euronext, the regulated market of Euronext Amsterdam.  The company is now majority owned and managed by the Mahindra group and has been branded as Mahindra Satyam.

 Food inflation rises 4 th week in row, hits 15.46%  Food inflation rose as widespread floods in north India pushed up prices of cereals and fruits & vegetables.

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