>компютримебелиsore Alloys Ltd has informed that the Audited Accounts of the Company for the fifteen months period ended March 31, 2008 will be considered by the Board of Directors within a period of 3 months from the close of the aforesaid Accounting Period.

FICS Consultancy Services Ltd has informed that the Company shall publish its Audited Financial Results within a period of 3 months of the close of its accounting year ended on March 31, 2008. In view of this, the Company will not publish its Unaudited Financial Results for the last quarter within the stipulated period of one month of the closing of the accounting year.

India on April 8 announced a Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for imports from as many as 50 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 34 of which are in Africa, recognising the crucial importance of market access in ensuring the development dimension of global trade.

At the two-day India Africa Forum Summit here, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said that under the scheme India would unilaterally provide preferential market access for exports from all 50 LDCs. The scheme would encompass 94 per cent of India’’s total tariff lines, and more particularly it would extend preferential market access on tariff lines that comprise close to 93 per cent of global exports of all LDCs, said the PM. Products of immediate interest to Africa which are covered under the scheme include cotton, cocoa, aluminium ores, copper ores, cashew nuts, cane sugar, ready-made garments, fish fillets and non-industrial diamonds. The Prime Minister said that over the last five years, India has extended lines of credit to African nations and trading groups worth $2.15 billion and this was expected to double to $5.4 billion over the next five years.

Hindustan Dorr Oliver Ltd has informed that the Company will publish the Audited Financial Results for the financial year ending March 31, 2008 on or before June 30, 2008, that is, within a period of 3 months from the end of the last quarter of the relevant financial year.
Therefore, the Company will not publish the un-audited Quarterly results for the Quarter ended March 31, 2008.

Mahindra and Mahindra, utility vehicle maker, will be setting up its own plant near the south Indian city. This decision has come just after weeks opting out of a proposed joint venture with Renault and Nissan Motor for a manufacturing facility at Chennai. M&M singled out of the deal earlier this year and subsequently announced it was setting up a greenfield plant at Chakan, near Pune, with an estimated investment of Rs 1,500 crore, to produce 300,000 vehicles.

Commercial production at Chakan may begin in two years, about the same time Renault and Nissan will launch production at the Chennai unit. M&M, Renault and Nissan had in February last year announced plans to set up a plant with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore, to produce 4,00,000 vehicles a year for the three companies.

The plant will make trucks for M&M’’s venture with Navistar Inc’’s International Truck & Engine unit and will also have a powertrain facility. This will be through the Mahindra Renault JV which makes Logan models at the Nashik plant. Other Renault products on the Logan platform will also be sold through this JV company in the years ahead. M&M plans to unleash a five-seater mass market utility vehicle (UV) next year. It would be priced between Rs 4-5 lakh. The new SUV will be first rolled out from the company’’s proposed plant in Chakan, near Pune.

Ganesh Benzoplast Ltd has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on April 10, 2008, to consider and approve the resignation of Shri. Gyan Chordia from the Board of the Company and appointment of an additional Director in place of Shri. Gyan Chordia.

The market today opens with a bang backed by the strong global cues. The BSE Sensex open with a huge gap up of nearly 400 points. The strong buying witnessed across the board in the early trade mainly led by the Bank, Realty, IT and Consumer Durables stocks. The broader market is trading in tune with the market and is trading higher.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,703 stocks are advancing whereas 175 stocks are declining on BSE.

At 10.30AM, the BSE Sensex was up by 488.37 points at 16,114.99 and the Nifty was up by 127.80 points to 4,867.35.

The BSE Mid Cap increased by 157.36 points to 6,552.46 and the BSE Small Cap advanced by 182.41 points to 8,044.17.

ICICI Bank reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It is trading with a gain of 7.12% at Rs.812 followed by HDFC advanced by 6.16% to Rs.2,505.30.

BSE Bank index surged by 341.77 points to trade at 7,985.32. The top gainers are ICICI Bank inclined by (7.12%) to Rs.812, SBI increased by (4.44%) at Rs.1,695 followed by HDFC Bank and PNB up by (4.20%) and (3.21%) to Rs.1,365 and Rs.515.

BSE Realty index improved by 278.59 points to trade at 7,745.07. The major gainers are HDIL, India Bull Real, Sobha Developers and Unitech grew by (4.50%), (4.29%), (4.57%) and (3.51%) to Rs.682.25, Rs.506, Rs.627 and Rs.284.75 respectively.

DLF is trading higher by (4.15%) at Rs.653. The company is planning to tie up with the largest retail and real estate company of Thailand — The Central Group. DLF and Central Retail are learnt to be working on all possible combinations to roll out their retail operations in India.

HT Media Ltd has informed that the Company proposes to publish the audited financial results of the Company for the financial year ending on March 31, 2008 within three months from the close of the last quarter of the financial year ending on March 31, 2008.
Accordingly, the unaudited financial results for the quarter ending on March 31, 2008 shall not be published by the Company.

Tata Motors on March 26 acquired Ford’’s British marquees Jaguar and Land Rover for 2.30 billion dollars in an all cash deal, sealing a deal that it pursued for nine months. Under the deal, Tata will continue to source engine from Ford, which would be paying about 600 million dollars toward the pension liabilities of Jaguar-Land Rover employees. As part of the transaction, Ford will continue to supply Jaguar and Land Rover for differing period with powertrains, stampings and other vehicle components in addition to a variety of technologies such as environmental and platforms. Ford has also committed to providing engineering support, including Research and Development plus information technology, accounting and other services.

In addition, Ford Motor Credit Company will provide financing for JLR dealers and customers during a transitional period, which can vary by market, for up to 12 months. The deal would be funded through a mix of existing cash reserves and new debts. Recently, Tata Motors had announced that its Board has approved raising of Rs 4000 crore (about one billion dollar) from either overseas or domestic markets through issuance of securities. The company had said the funds to be raised would be utilised to part finance overall funding requirement to meet some of its strategic plans. Stating that its expansion plans through organic route over the next 3-4 years might incur expenditure; the company said the acquisition opportunities have to be financed upfront. The acquisition by the Tatas saves up to 40,000 British jobs. While the three Jaguar and Land Rover factories in Britain employ 16,000 people, the number swells to around 40,000 when ancillary units are taken into account, according to Andrew Dodgson of Unite.

The only question mark that surrounds the acquisition is one posed by some industry watchers in the US - over the branding of the two luxury brands, given that Tata Motors have unveiled the Nano, the world’’s cheapest car, this year. Tata Motors is India’’s largest automobile company, with revenues of $7.2 billion in 2006-07. With over 4 million Tata vehicles plying in India, it is the leader in commercial vehicles and the second largest in passenger vehicles. In the past few years, the Tata group has led the growing appetite among Indian companies to acquire businesses overseas in Europe, the United States, Australia and Africa - some even several times larger - in a bid to consolidate operations and emerge as the new age multinationals.
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Policy holders of pure term insurance products can look forward to more reasonable premiums as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) slashes the mandatory solvency margins by two-thirds for companies offering these products. The pure term products, which account for a little share in total insurance market, give simple life cover and companies could design products, which could achieve various segments of the population so as to meet their insurance requirements.

To improve the insurance penetration, the regulator had conceived various factors including the impact of life-insurers capital requirement under the solvency margin regulation and the need for reviewing the solvency margin required for pure term products. The proposed required solvency margin at a lower level for pure term products will give significant relief to life insurers, both under individual and group products. The Authority had modified the first factor and second factor, with respect to non-linked business, in working out the required solvency margin in such a way that it would be brought down by about two-thirds.

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