Small to Medium-Sized Business

Giving small business a fresh look on growing their business is entrepreneur Robin Courtney's new found passion. She's designed an innovative sales and marketing conference to put the mojo back in the economy. Her enthusiasm is contagious and has seemingly reached beyond the shores of the U.S. To date, 20 professionals from 6 foreign countries will be attending the Business Solutions EXPO, Feb. 27th and 28th in Dallas, Texas.The idea for the conference came from Robin's search for a small business marketing and sales conference to attend, to her dismay there wasn't any. That's when she decided to launch the first marketing and sales conference for small- and medium-sized business in the country. Ms. Courtney says, "The Business Solutions EXPO is like the Home Depot of marketing and sales strategies--you can do it; we can help." This is where you find inexpensive yet effective ways to market your business in a new economy.

Source: http://www.prudentpressagency.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8250

Punjab to house first Bharti Wal-Mart B2B store

Bharti Wal-Mart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc today announced that its B2B, cash-and-carry stores will be named “BestPrice Modern WholesaleBharti Wal-Mart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc today announced that its B2B, cash-and-carry stores will be named “BestPrice Modern Wholesale.
The first store is scheduled to open in Punjab this year, which has started registration for membership from bonafide business owners. The stores will be open exclusively to business owners, not end-consumers, will cater to the day-to-day needs of traders, restaurant owners, hoteliers, caterers, fruit and vegetable resellers, kiranas, other retail store owners, offices and institutions.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/punjab-to-house-first-bharti-wal-mart-b2b-store/16/00/54143/on

Air show to focus on B2B deals

The seventh edition of Aero India 2009, billed as Asias largest biennial air show, which begins today, will focus on business-to-business (B2B) deals that involve both Indian and foreign vendors as well as government organisations.A large number of international defence and aerospace companies are expected to negotiate multi-billion-dollar defence contracts with the Indian government at the five-day show.The show aims at bringing exhibitors from across the globe under one roof to showcase the best in the aviation sector. Aero India will have both flight and static displays of a wide range of civil and military aircraft from leading manufacturers, vendors and suppliers.The show, being held at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station, Yelahanka, will see participation of 592 companies from 25 countries. Of these, 303 are international and 289 Indian.For the first time, we have developed software to facilitate B2B meetings and 300 companies have registered online. We expect around 500 meetings between Indian and foreign companies. Out of the B2B meetings, 142 will be at the industry level while 57 will be between industry and government, Pradeep Kumar, secretary, defence production, said.However, no business deals are expected during the show, barring a few announcements, like the one by HAL regarding export of Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv, to Ecuador.China is participating in the show for the first time with a seven-member delegation led by the deputy chief of the Chinese Air Force. Major participating countries include the US, Russia, the UK, Germany, Israel, Belgium and Romania. There will be 49 foreign delegations. Defence ministers of Bolivia, Botswana, France, Maldives, Mongolia, Oman and Surinam and air chiefs of Brazil, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the UK will be present. Besides IAFs aircraft, 14 other aircraft will be on display. These include F-16 from Lockheed Martin, F-18 from the US Air Force (USAF), MiG 35D from the Russian Federation Military, Euro Fighter from EADS, and C-17 and C-130J from the USAF.Unprecedented security arrangements have been put in place for the show. Kumar said a three-tier security ring would be thrown around the venue.
Source: http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/feb/11air-show-to-focus-on-b2b-deals.htm

Local buyers to take a huge goodwill hit

Shareholders, analysts and Dalal Street watchers should make a mental note of the sudden and dramatic shocks that await many Indian companies that have gone in for overseas acquisitions in the past few years. These might surface when the local company has to absorb the ‘goodwill’ loss suffered by the foreign firm that was bought when the going was good.
No Indian corporate has so far encountered such an accounting hit. But this year, many will, when they consolidate the books of their foreign acquisitions. Goodwill of several overseas companies has taken a knock due to the economic meltdown and a trade downturn. But the erosion in goodwill, though an intangible, will not be confined to the balance-sheets of the foreign firms. It will also find its way into the profit and loss accounts of the listed Indian company. Local shareholders could suddenly discover that the net profits of the company have been wiped out — such losses, which accountants call ‘goodwill impairment’, could run into billions of dollars. But this may not be a reason to panic: such hits don’t mean a cash drain or reversal of fortune for the acquirers. Rather, it’s a fallout of stringent accounting rules which force a firm to bluntly admit that the company it bought is less valuable than what it had paid when times were different.
While acquiring a company, the buyer works out the enterprise value (EV) of the target firm — the minimum someone would have pay to buy it. EV is calculated by estimating the fair value of the net assets of the target firm and adding its loans to the number.
The extra money that is forked out over and above the EV is captured in the books as goodwill. Goodwill reflects the extra the acquirer is paying due to synergy benefits, innovation and excellence which have not been factored in the fair value.
A few companies will have to announce the goodwill loss sooner than others if the foreign company has publicly traded securities. According to corporate circles, the market will get a taste of it this month, when a few local companies disclose the goodwill decline suffered by their foreign subsidiaries.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/Local_buyers_to_take_a_goodwill_hit/articleshow/4133592.cms

Indian market weak in early trade; interim budget awaited

Monday, the Indian market is trading lower amid weakness in the rest of the Asian markets and due to caution ahead of the interim budget scheduled to be announced this afternoon. However, stock-specific buying is seen on expectations of tax sops and fiscal stimulus from the budget. After opening lower at 9,637, the BSE Sensex has weakened further and is now trading at 9,539, down 96 points or 0.99%, while the S&P CNX Nifty is trading at 2,919, down 1.0%. Banking and oil/gas stocks are coming under selling pressure, while realty, auto and consumer durable stocks are showing notable gains. On the BSE, the market breadth is positive, with 734 advancers compared to 562 stocks that are declining. The mid-cap index is up 0.23% and the small-cap index is rising 0.57%.Among the major losers, HDFC Bank is losing 3.44%, State Bank of India is declining 2.43%, Bharti Airtel is down 1.94% and BHEL is moving down 1.64%. ACC, ICICI Bank, Sterlite Industries, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Wipro and Infosys are the other prominent decliners.
However, DLF, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki Larsen & Toubro, Jaiprakash Associates, Grasim Industries, TCS and Tata Steel are trading in positive territory mainly on account of expectations of sector-specific measures from the interim budget. Bartronics India is surging up nearly 10% after the company bagged a prestigious project "AapKe Dwar" from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that envisages setting up and running 2000 G2C kiosks in Delhi. Reliance Communication is down 0.96% despite adding a record 5 million new subscribers in January. BEML is losing 0.86% amid reports that the company is in talks with Netherlands-based companies for a technology alliance to manufacture dredgers in India. Satyam Computers is rising 5.29% after the SEBI relaxed open offer norms for companies in exceptional circumstances. Sun Pharma is up 0.11% on reports that the company is aggressively looking for an acquisition in overseas markets as well as in India. Omaxe is adding 2.73% on talks about restructuring of its debt with banks.
Source: http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=855001&SMap=1

BUDGET Views-India Business News

The following measures are under consideration for India's 2009/10 interim budget, according to newspaper reports. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The interim budget will be presented on Feb. 16.
* The government is likely to come out with sector-specific packages and can consider measures for farmers and general public through tax cuts.
* Measures are likely to ease service tax refund for exporters which are delayed due to procedural requirments.
* The government is likely to exempt exporters form fringe benefit tax for a stipulated period.
* The plan expenditure -- the clasification for development related projects like infrastructure -- is expected to increase by 15 percent.
* Likely measures to boost demand and duty cuts for vans, trucks and auto parts.
* The annual plan outlay for the power sector is expected to to rise by 29 percent, for roads by 14 percent, and for aviation 22 percent, while for shipping it could fall by 23 percent.
* The government is likely to hike its allocation to stae-owned power companies NTPC, NHPC and Power Grid Corp.
* The government is likely to extend tax concessions to the technology parks and 100 percent export units beyond March 2010.
The government is likely to calarify on tax exemption to natural gas producers such as Reliance Industries, ONGC and GSPC.
* The government is likely to maintain defence expenditure, which is currently at 2.5 percent of GDP.
* The goverment is considering an excise duty cut for auto components, automobile and cement sectors. At present excise duty on auto components and cements is 10 percent.
* The IT units set up under the SEZ Act under thier parent companiesare likely to get 100 percent tax holiday. These units are currently not under 100 percent tax holiday.
* The government might consider enhancing depreciation benefits on plant, machinery and commercial vehicle purchases.
* The government is likely to propose raising social sector spending by more than 16 percent, increasing the annual plan by about 400 billion rupees. This is likely to benefit programmes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Bharat Nirman and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
* The finance ministry has drafted a proposal to remove the securities transaction tax (STT). At present a 0.125 percent tax is levied on all transactions of securities traded on stock exchanges and for derivatives STT stands at 0.017 percent.
source: http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINBOM40668020090216?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Business Tourism Australia introduces new B2B trade manual for India

Post the success of Platinum Australia which was launched in India in 2005, (designed for the MICE market), Business Tourism Australia (BTA) has come out with the first edition of a 68 page manual ‘Australian Manual for Travel-Trade India’, showcasing the best that Australia has to offer to the travel trade in India. BTA is a specialist team responsible for promoting sustainable business events industry in Australia for markets like India and China. Talking about the trade manual, Peter Colahan, Chief Executive, Business Tourism Australia said, “There has been a growing need to provide the Indian travel trade retail staff with a single information source for destinations and travelling options in Australia. The products highlighted in the manual have an understanding of the needs and expectations of the Indian traveller. Hence, it will act as means of communication between Australia and the agents selling the destination to educate them about suppliers and itineraries designed specially for the Indian market.”Colahan will be in India till next month for the launch of the trade manual in Mumbai. He will be on a five-city tour to distribute the manual to agents through one-on-one interaction. When asked about the manual’s distribution, Colahan informed TravelBiz Monitor that BTA will distribute the manual to at least 100 cities (including Tier II cities) in the country. Talking about few interesting features of the manual, Colahan said, “The manual also includes detailed maps for destinations like New South Wales, Victoria and Cairns along with BTA compiled list of recommended Indian restaurants, itineraries, module suggestions and also deluxe honeymoon itineraries.” Commenting on future projects, he mentioned that another edition will focus on educational tours and other related information in Australia considering that 20 per cent of students travel to Australia every year for academic purposes.Colahan with his 20 years industry experience of the industry said that despite various challenges India will always be a potential market for Australia. “A new trend witnessed in the market shows Indian travellers spending more money on relaxation, leisure and shopping activities. Their main needs include a value-for-money packages, good hotels and vegetarian cuisine. The important segments from the market are honeymooners, families and the MICE segment,” concluded Colahan.
Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=3626&sid=1

Arvind Mills fails to repayment interest

Textile major, Arvind Mills do not seem to be away from the difficult times faced by most big conglomerates across the globe. Arvind has defaulted to pay its interest payments to the lenders in the month of January.
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The defaults resulted despite of banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and others are restructuring loans given to Arvind. This is first time in the last four years that the denim manufacturer has failed on its repayment to the term lenders. A unit of the company, Arvind Products has defaulted on payments to IDBI Bank.
Besides, Credit rating agency Crisil does not think that Arvind would be able to clear all its debt that are outstanding for this month and are considered for rescheduling.
Crisil has already has reduced the rating of Arvind and its subsidiary by three mark to ‘default' category' on the backdrop of the concern that the internal sources are not sufficient to meet the requirements due to a week business atmosphere. The ratings on the bank loan facilities of Arvind have been downgraded to ‘D/P5'from ‘BBB-/Negative/P3'.Crisil Senior Director Raman Oberoi said, "Both Arvind and Arvind Products have paid their dues till December and are in the process of re-scheduling their loans. The textile industry is under pressure and we have downgraded Arvind due to ‘timelessness' of the payments."
An instrument is given a ‘D' rating if it defaults or is expected to default on the payment date while P5 rating indicates that the instrument is anticipated to be in default on maturity or is in default.
However Arvind officials said that its lenders, including SBI has approved the rescheduling of loan repayments. The other lenders like Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank and ICICI Bank have also approved for rescheduling term loan payment worth Rs 15 crore each for January and February 2009. SBI has intimated the rating agency about its approval on rescheduling.
Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Arvind, Milan Shah said, "Arvind had sought lenders' approval for rescheduling of loans for January 2009 in the last week of December 2008 itself. Crisil has erred in downgrading even after our lead bank intimated the agency about the approval."
Meanwhile Arvind had not been referred to corporate debt restructuring (CDR) scheme as banks had already decided on loan restructuring, said a senior official at IDBI Bank.
Arvind Mills that was set up in 1931 is owned Sanjay Lalbhai.
Source; http://www.rupeetimes.com/news/personal_loan/arvind_mills_fails_to_repayment_interest_2144.html

Google to tear down social networking walls

Google has set out to enable all websites, free of charge, to be imbued with common social networking features as the Internet evolves toward becoming a giant community along the lines of MySpace or Facebook. Google Friend Connect was previewed at a Campfire One gathering of third-party software developers at the company's "Googleplex" campus in Mountain View, California on Monday. The unveiling of the plan comes just days after top social networking websites MySpace and Facebook broke down walls of their online communities to let members share profile information at other websites. "Social is going mainstream," Google director of engineering David Glazer said during a conference call with reporters. "What used to be hard and proprietary is becoming easy and open. It's the evolution of social networking." Glazer described the MySpace and Facebook announcements as "big steps forward in giving users control over their data" and said Friend Connect is intended to further advance the movement. "We see the web moving toward an end state where people can use any application on any website with any of their friends," Glazer said. "Social activity on the web has been bottled up in a handful of sites. As things mature on the web they become more open and more interoperable." Friend Connect lets website owner's add social-networking features such as registration, member galleries, message boards, and fun or useful third-party applications called "widgets" by simply adding snippets of free computer code. People visiting websites using Friend Connect will be able to interact with contacts they know from online communities such as Facebook, Google Talk, orkut, Plaxo or hi5. To demonstrate, an iLike application was incorporated into an official website of musician Ingrid Michaelson so that visitors don't have to leave to connect with friends at their social networking profiles. All website operators using Friend Connect see are user nicknames and images, if any, posted along with them. Concerns about protecting people's profile data prompted Google to decide to work individually with website operators interested in Friend Connect, according to Glazer. Website owners are invited to put their names in a "white list" queue online at www/google.com/friendconnect. Google wants to be at the heart of the Internet trend of people building online identities that play, share, and conduct business in virtual environments, according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle. "Much like Google kind of controls the overall online advertising experience I think this is Google trying to figure out how to own the virtual representation of a person on the web," Enderle told AFP. "Monetizing the virtual person on the web is where the money is and they are trying to figure out how to do that. If you want to have the door into my wallet you want to be as close to my information as you can get." Google plans to phase in more websites and social networks in the months to come, with the Open Social software platform as a basis for interoperability. Google launched Open Social last year to promote common protocols so developers can make applications that work on any social networking website involved in the effort. "The web is moving rapidly to being more open and more social and that is good for everyone," Glazer said. "And, yes, it is good for Google. When the web is healthy, and more people have more ways to be engaged online, our business is healthy."
Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/news/story.html?id=05573e3a-47ee-4ac8-b8db-82986bc01c14

Dubai's IT companies look to Indian market

IT companies in Dubai are being encouraged to take part in a new government initiative that will support them to explore business opportunities in India, it was announced on Sunday.Dubai Internet City (DIC) has teamed up with the Dubai Export Development Corporation (DEDC) to promote the initiative, which provides exporters with services that enable expansion into foreign markets.The joint venture was signed last September and is now being actively promoted, an event to encourage IT firms to look to India was attended by 30 senior executives on Sunday. Malek Al Malek, executive director of DIC said at a time of slow economic growth it was important to look for new business opportunities."Our partnership with the Dubai Export Development Corporation is an important way of creating a forum to bring together ICT companies that are keen to take advantage of export opportunities in India, a country whose economy has been steadily growing for two decades and where GDP is expected to continue to grow by approximately seven percent in the coming year, even in the face of the global slowdown." IT industry figures show that there are 40m internet users in India with an expected end-user spend of $110bn by 2012.
Source : http://www.itp.net/news/546835-dubais-it-companies-look-to-indian-market