The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, March 31, 2002

Frontline software companies -- Trying to move up value chain
WHAT a difference a year makes? In 2001, the growth rates of the software industry came down from the stratospheric levels of over 80-100 per cent (for frontline companies) to a more reasonable 30 per cent. When Infosys announced in early April ... More

Big fight for the long haul
PRACTICALLY all frontline software companies have projected flat-to-negative sequential (quarter-on-quarter) growth numbers for the three months ended March 31. This is attributed to the continued uncertainty in the US and Europe. Since early ... More

China: The hidden dragon
DOES China present a threat to India in the offshore software outsourcing space? In the short run, probably not. But from a long-term perspective, China will probably be the leading threat for the Indian software industry. Speaking to Business ... More

Dominant trends
The software services scene could change materially if Tata Consultancy Services were to come out with an IPO in 2002. More

Wait and watch
THE price earnings multiple of most frontline software companies have remained locked in a relatively narrow band over the past few months (occasional swings notwithstanding). This was in stark contrast to the sharp appreciation in the valuation ... More

ECONOMY

Why inflation numbers are important

INSURANCE

Children's insurance policies: Growing up, assured
CONTINUING with the analyses of children's policies offered by insurers, focus here is on two recently launched products from Birla Sun Life and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Policies, in general, charge lower premiums for women, as their ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

IDBI Principal Growth Fund: Hold
INVESTORS in the IDBI Principal Growth Fund can stay with the fund for now. In the one-and-a-half years since launch, the fund has been a moderate, but not impressive, performer. It has done better than the S&P CNX Nifty, losing 2.7 per cent in ... More

Equity funds in Q1: One in four beat broad indices
EQUITY funds basked in the recovery in equity prices that has been on for the second consecutive quarter. The NAVs of all equity funds — open- and close-ended — rose over the quarter. Importantly, the funds fared much better than the ... More

Birla IT Fund: Pare exposures
INVESTORS in the Birla IT Fund can contemplate paring exposures to take advantage of the rise in the prices of second- and third-rung tech stocks and the relative stability in frontline tech stocks. With the outlook for the sector still clouded ... More

Gilt in debt funds
THE story of impressive gains by debt funds continued for one more quarter, with diversified funds recording, on an average, 12.7 per cent in annualised terms. Gilt funds did even better, with returns of 20 per cent, annualised. Tata Gilt ... More

Chola Liquid Fund (Cumulative Option): Invest
THE Chola Liquid Fund (Cumulative Option) generated a monthly average return of three-fourth of one per cent. The returns are somewhat higher than those on one-month bank deposits with private-sector banks. Suitability: The fund is ... More

Balanced funds partying too
BARRING Zurich India Prudence, the performance of balanced funds was not too impressive over the past few years. In the quarter ended March 2002, however, they too have come to the party. Of the 43 open-end balanced funds, 21 registered higher ... More

Benchmarking performance
SEBI's piecemeal regulation of the mutual fund industry continues. Now it has asked the funds to disclose how their equity funds fare vis-à-vis the benchmark indices. The directive is welcome and will help investors assess equity funds ... More

SEBI mandates disclosure of index-benchmarked performance
IN THEIR communications with investors in various forms, mutual funds will have to compare their performance with appropriate benchmark indices. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made this requirement mandatory, stating that ... More

Templeton India Growth Fund: Invest
FRESH investments can be contemplated in the Templeton India Growth Fund given its solid track record over the last three years. The returns for those who had invested initially at the time of the launch are still unimpressive. However, in the ... More

STOCKS

Balrampur Chini: Book profits, now
RIDING piggyback on favourable policy-related developments and a buyback announcement, the stock price of Balrampur Chini Mills has appreciated 40 per cent since the end of January to Rs 120 now. Investors may use this opportunity to book ... More

Gujarat Ambuja Cements: Hold
In the last six months, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and its group companies have turned aggressive in pursuit of market share. In an industry where consolidation got a big push last year, this is an important development for the company. Though prices hav e been the casualty, the approach may pay off in the medium-to-long term, says S.Vaidya Nathan. More

Kodak India: Buy
PHOTOGRAPHIC products major — Kodak India — reported a depressed trend in performance for the year ended December 2001. While the turnover improved 10 per cent, the post-tax earnings dropped 38.5 per cent. After a phase of robust ... More

Aventis Pharma: Buy
AVENTIS Pharma recorded a net profit of Rs 66.6 crore on an income of Rs 601.9 crore in 2001. The company's 2001 result cannot be compared to that of the preceding year because of the following reasons: In 2000, Aventis changed its financial ... More

Clariant India: Hold
TRADING at around Rs 104, the Clariant India stock could form a part of a relatively higher risk portfolio. The stock has not been very active recently. For instance, since the last recommendation in November 2001, the stock has actually settled ... More

Unichem Laboratories: Buy
UNICHEM Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company in whose stock the market has shown low interest than Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy or Cipla. However, the company's fundamentals seem to be consolidating well over the past year, and now warrant attention as ... More

STOCK MARKETS

Lacklustre trading
IT was another lacklustre, but truncated week at the bourses as the BSE Sensex drifted lower by 46.76 points (or 1.32 per cent)to close for the week at 3469.35 points. For the fourth consecutive week after the Budget, the Sensex ended up in the ... More

Nasdaq: Uptrend to continue
AFTER a weak start, the market sentiment at the American bourses turned positive as the week progressed. Trading was curtailed to four days on account of market holiday on Friday. It was a case of a mixed bag on Thursday, with Nasdaq Composite ... More

DEBT MARKET

Long-term debt options riskier now
THE behaviour of gilt prices and underlying interest rates in the secondary debt market in March in the last three years has been similar — rising interest rates and lower prices. But there are some significant changes too investors have to ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

Steady week for index put, call
INDEX: Trading interest in index options remained more or less steady during the week. Two index call options managed to find a place among the list of top 10 traded call options. As was the case in the last week, two index puts also ... More

Volumes decline on bourses
OVERALL Trends: In a shortened week of trading the cash markets remained in the negative territory. On a week-on-week basis, the BSE Sensex lost around 1.3 per cent over the previous week, taking the cumulative loss over the last three ... More

April contracts active
IN the preceding week's single stock futures trading session, an interesting development took place. To put the development in perspective, it may be necessary to start by describing a dominant trend in the stock futures market. Generally, ... More

Futures guide

Options - Help guide

FIXED DEPOSITS

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: For the short run
AFTER the 50-basis point cut on small-savings deposits in the Budget, it is the turn of commercial banks to cut lending and borrowing rates. While a one-year deposit in a commercial bank would, on an average, give a return of 7.75 per cent, that ... More

INTERVIEW

Gazing the market crystal ball -- Mr P. V. Ranganathan, technical analyst and director, kry
HE claims to have predicted the last seven consecutive Indian market turns — both upward and downward — for the subscribers of his market-forecasting Web site, krystalball.com. His predictions are based on a ... More

COMMENTARY

Significant action in Hindustan Zinc
THE markets remained closed on both the starting and ending days of this week on account of holidays. With trading cut down to just three days in the week, price actions of stocks were wont to change in leaps and bounds. The following is what ... More

Trim exposures in ITC, HLL
ITC (Rs 700): In line with last week's expectations, the share price of the company ruled weak. Going by the recent price movement, the overall trend in ITC continues to remain negative. As of now, only a move past Rs 740 would impart some ... More

Weak trend in Punjab Tractors
THE stock market movement was confined to a narrow range last week. During the holiday shortened trading week, market players appeared reluctant in enhancing trading exposures. Trading volumes dried-up during the week which indicates lack of ... More

INCOME TAX

Depreciation claim and asset costs
OURS is a civil engineering construction company with operations all over India, assessed at Chennai. During the previous year 1999-2000, we purchased a machine costing Rs 92 lakh from a manufacturer in Bangalore. The machine comes as a ... More

RIGHTS OFFERS

Mindteck (India): Invest
Though software stocks are more risky compared to the market average, the offer at a significant discount to the market price reduces the risk involved in the stock. More

INSIGHT

Creeping acquisition: SEBI's time-frame pleases promoters
PROMOTERS in India Inc will have much to rejoice about the latest announcement of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. As expected, the regulator has extended the time frame for an enlarged creeping acquisition limit, which enables the ... More

Getting policies right the first time
A RECENT news report in a leading Tamil daily spoke of a sense of disquiet among sections of the police force in Tamil Nadu at the prospect of cessation of flow of payments to them from unlicensed bars, often operating as an extension of the ... More

Range-bound movements likely

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Getting policies right the first time

Trim exposures in ITC, HLL

Volumes decline on bourses

Frontline software companies -- Trying to move up value chain

Equity funds in Q1: One in four beat broad indices

In Depth
Inside Kashmir

Guide to derivatives

US-64

Looking back
Mar. 24-Mar. 30
Debit cards: A creditable option

Templeton-Pioneer ITI deal: New experience for MF investors

How much insurance to take?

Punjab Tractors: Hold/Buy on decline

Latin Americans show the way in taxation

Bourses remain subdued

Shipping: Set for shaky freight rates?