Hyderabad, January 12
As part of efforts to clean up the mess at fraud-hit Satyam Computers, a new independent accounting firm would be chosen within two days to “restate the accounts” to determine the actual liquidity position and a new CEO and CFO would be appointed to put the software company back on tracks.

These decisions were taken at the first meeting of the three-member board, appointed by the Centre, held at Satyam Headquarters here today.

“Our first priority is to restore the confidence of investors, customers and employees. We will appoint a new accounting firm within the next 48 hours to restate the accounts and determine the actual liquidity position,” the board members Deepak Parikh, Kiran Karnik and C Achuthan told reporters.

Outlining the plan of action to bring back financial order to scam-tainted company, they said they had talked to two accounting firms and sought proposals.

Once a new auditor is put in place, the company’s books will be re-visited to ascertain the actual financial position.

“As per the books, there are a large number of receivables due from customers and debt level is low. However, we do not know what exactly is the gap. Once the accounts are re-stated, we will know the liquidity requirement to tide over the crisis,” they said.

The new board would have to seek short-term financing from banks to raise the liquidity.

“We are on the look-out for a good CEO and CFO for the company. It is going to be a tough task and could take a few weeks,” the new board members said.

Asked about the possible time-frame to put Satyam back on the track, they said: ”It depends on how soon we can get a good CEO and CFO and how soon we can get the accounts restated.”

The announcement of quarterly results, scheduled by this month-end, will have to be postponed.

“No one is in a position to believe the company’s financial figures. Unless accounts are restated, the outlook cannot be given,” Parikh said.

The three-member board was waiting for the government to nominate a few more members and the enlarged Board will meet to appoint the chairman.

Asked what would happen to PricewaterHouseCoopers, the IT giant’s auditing company which also came under cloud, Parikh said it was the prerogative of the general body to appoint the new firm.

On the allegation that Ramalinga Raju could have diverted money from Satyam to his family-owned companies, the new board members said there were ways in the laws to retrieve the squandered money.

Meanwhile, a local court here today adjourned the hearing on a bail petition of Raju to January 16.

The sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate also adjourned the hearing on a petition of the CID seeking the custody Raju and his brother Rama Raju and another petition by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India seeking permission to question them in connection with the fraud.

The Raju brothers and the former chief financial officer V Srinivas are lodged in Chanchalguda jail after the court remanded them to judicial custody till January 23. 

New Delhi, January 12
Indian industry leaders are understood to meet the Prime Minister tonight to discuss the way to improve India’s tarnished image due to Satyam’s financial fraud, which has rattled investor confidence and a ban by the World Bank on dealing with software companies like Satyam Computers and Wipro.

Those meeting with the PM include Jamshed Godrej of Godrej Industries, Suresh Neotia of Gujrat Ambuja Cement and R Seshashayee former CII president.

The World Bank has initiated action against five indian entities, for violating the guidelines of the multilateral lending agency on checking fraud and corruption.

The industry fears that foreign funds to India, which have already thinned, may dry up further in face of such scams. The industry is also likely to apprise the PM of the situation of the state of industry, lack of availability of credit, difficulty in continuing production and the host of other issues that are vital for carrying on business in such challenging times.

As regards the Satyam issue, the industry has overwhelmingly welcomed the intervention of the government as it has disbanded the earlier board of the troubled it firm and constituted a new one.

Mumbai, January 12
Rating agency ICRA has suspended the ratings assigned to Raju-family promoted company, Maytas Infra, following the "recent developments at Satyam Computers".

ICRA has suspended the ratings of LBBB and A3 outstanding against the bank facilities and various debt programmes of MIL, a press release said here.

Meanwhile, The government today said it would not dissolve the boards of Maytas Infra and Maytas

Properties, the companies whose acquisition deal by Satyam Computer for $1.6 billion was aborted following shareholders' outcry.

“The government will not dissolve boards of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties...let the inspection be complete,” Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta told reporters.

The government has already ordered inspection by Registrar of Companies, Hyderabad, into eight

subsidiaries of Satyam Computer and Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, the companies promoted by the kin of disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.

Satyam Computer had announced acquiring the two companies for $1.6 billion but the deal could not go through because of strong protest from shareholders.

While Maytas Infra is engaged in development of projects like roads, expressways and highways, the other company is mainly into real estate. — PTI

New Delhi, January 12
Country’s largest private telecom operator Bharti Airtel today launched its mobile services in Sri Lanka.

This is Bharti’s third global venture after Seychelles, Jersey and Guernsey.

Airtel, which forced delay the start of services in Sri Lanka due objections raised by existing operators, would be fifth mobile operator in that country. Airtel would be looking at investing about $200 million for its network roll out there.

Airtel would be offering its services in both second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) spectrum. The company would leverage expertise of Singtel, which is one of the largest players in 3G services across Asia, to roll out third generation services in Sri Lanka.Singapore-based Singtel owns a little over 30 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel.

While unveiling the services, company chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal said: “We are extremely honoured to present Airtel to Sri Lanka. At Bharti, we have always believed in undertaking business projects that are transformational and have a positive impact on the society at large.”

Airtel has also achieved 60 per cent coverage penetration in Sri Lanka on the eve of the launch. Further, Mittal added: “We are confident that with our experience of serving around 88 million customers, we will make a positive impact on the telecom landscape of Sri Lanka,” he said.

In a bid to garner the market share in Sri Lanka, Airtel is offering different tariff plans. The telco has done away with the concept of peak and off-peak call rates by offering standard tariffs throughout the day.

Besides, Sri Lankan customers will no longer have to bother with within network and outside network concept as Airtel will offer uniform call charges to any network.

Bharti Airtel had bagged the licence in Sri Lanka in 2006. Last year, it had awarded a Rs 600 crore contract to Chinese equipment major Huawei to set up its networks in Lanka.

Mumbai, January 12
Vodafone Essar today unveiled 'Blackberry Storm', the first touchscreen phone it has developed exclusively with Canada-based technology provider Research In Motion (RIM), in the country.

“The market for smartphones in India is at a very nascent stage and growing rapidly. ‘Blackberry Storm’ takes the 3G experience a step forward,” Vodafone Essar director (marketing and new business) Harit Nagpal said.

Priced at Rs 27,990, the first “clickable” touchscreen smartphone from Blackberry, ‘Storm’ has been developed by RIM for exclusive distribution through Vodafone globally.

With a touchscreen keypad, which can be done away with when not needed, ‘Storm’ gives a lot of space for visual experience, an advantage over earlier Blackberry models.

Blackberry phones use encrypted data for transmitting e-mails through servers located outside the country.

These phones came under the DoT scanner after the 26/11 attacks as regulatory bodies could not monitor the data, heightening security concerns. — PTI

Chandigarh, January 12
Committed to salvage the slackening growth of industry in Punjab, the state government is shortly coming up with a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for the loss making units, besides coming out with a venture capital fund for promoting new industry.

This was disclosed by principal secretary (industries) SS Channy on the sidelines of an interactive session on new industrial policy of Punjab, organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries here today.

“We are aware that the state can improve on its GDP only by promoting the manufacturing sector. Thus, we are coming up with these two new initiatives to help the established industry and also to promote new industry,” he added. Channy said this OTS is being formulated, and would be approved by the Cabinet before it is finally implemented.

Incentives will be given to those units that take up this scheme early. Loss making units will be selected for relief under this scheme, based on their valuation of assets- collaterals and actuals.

The principal secretary also stated that they were also in the final stages of setting up a venture capital fund. 

New Delhi, January 12
Growth in the index of industrial production (IIP) and infrastructure sectors were neck and neck in November, the first showing a rise of 2.4 per cent after having turned negative for the first time in 15 years in October, and the second 2.2 per cent.

However, in respect of November 2007, both ended lower. IIP growth lagged behind the 4.9 per cent in the year-ago period, and the infrastructure index was a healthier 5.1 per cent in November last year. Core sector growth in October was 3.1 per cent. The six core sectors have more than a 25 per cent weight in the IIP.

During April-November 2008-09, the core industries registered a growth rate of 3.6 per cent as against 6.4 per cent in the corresponding period previous year.

Industrial production was encouraging in the context of the dismal performance of exports and the auto sector in November. Manufacturing, having a weight of around 80 per cent in the IIP, grew by 2.4 per cent in November against 4.7 per cent a year ago.

Industrial production figures were revised up to (-) 0.3 per cent for October from (-) 0.4 per cent estimated earlier.

Commenting on the industrial growth numbers, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman Suresh Tendulkar said: “The numbers are above my expectations and in the coming days I expect (them) to improve more.”

The November data did not factor in the stimulus packages of December and January, and industrial production is expected to show improvement from December onward. However, the base effect came into play in pushing up industrial production. The base effect reflects industrial numbers in the previous fiscal’s corresponding period.

Growth in India’s six core infrastructure industries slowed to 2.2 per cent in November 2008 as petroleum refinery products, electricity production and finished steel showed poor performance.

Yes Bank chief economist Shubhada Rao said: “It is a positive surprise, much better than our expectations due to (the) base effect. From here onward, we would see gradual improvement in the IIP figures as the worst is over.” 

New Delhi, January 12
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has paid $2.1 billion for taking over UK-listed Imperial Energy and will invest another $500-600 million in the company's Russian fields to raise production over the next 2-3 years.

OVL, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), paid $1.9 billion to equity shareholders of Imperial and the remaining to the company's bondholders.

“The entire money has been deposited with the registrar of the company,” an official said.

With the acquisition of Imperial, OVL's overseas assets would rise to 40 in 17 countries. The company had begun with one asset in Vietnam seven years ago.

Though only 96.8 per cent of the shareholders had accepted OVL's 12.50 pounds a share offer, OVL would “squeeze out” the remaining untendered shares by posting them cheques of the offer amount and telling the shareholders that their untendered shares were no longer valid.

Imperial would be delisted from London Stock Exchange after the acquisition, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, January 12
The struggling Indian automobile industry today reported yet another worst-ever performance with overall domestic sales declining by 18.2 per cent in December, as commercial vehicles and two-wheelers sales crashed heavily.

The total vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 5,97,622 units in December last year as against 7,30,603 units in the same month in 2007, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The previous worst overall sales was in November 2008 with a decline of 17.98 per cent at 7,11,281 units as against 8,67,243 units in the same month previous year.

The decline in sales was led by the beleaguered commercial vehicles (CV) segment, which recorded a dip of 58.28 per cent at 17,920 units in December 2008 as against 42,961 units in the corresponding month the previous year.

Passenger cars segment performed relatively better than expected despite a decline of 6.9 per cent in December 2008 to 82,105 units, from 88,272 units a year ago.

Motorcycle sales in the country, during the month, was down by 22.9 per cent at 3,35,820 units, against 4,35,925 units in the year-ago period, while total two-wheeler sales were down by 15.4 per cent at 4,61,302 units, compared with 5,45,485 units in the same month previous year.

SIAM, which has updated its records, said this is the worst sales performance by the CV segment in 11 years.

In the passenger cars’ segment, market leader Maruti Suzuki India reported a decline of 7.5 per cent at 46,262 units in December 2008, as against 50,056 units in the same month a year ago.

Rival Hyundai Motor India, however, reported a jump of 19.3 per cent at 15,600 units as against 13,069 units in the corresponding month previous year.

In the motorcycle segment, market leader Hero Honda Motors saw a dip of 12.7 per cent at 1,97,364 units as against 2,26,103 units in December 2007.

Bajaj Auto’s bike sales crashed by 55.3 per cent at 61,546 units as against 1,37,980 units in the same month previous year.

Scooter segment was the exception recording a growth of 16.4 per cent at 90,247 units as against 77,494 units in December 2007.

In the commercial vehicles segment, heavy and medium commercial vehicles sales crashed by 71.1 per cent at 6,914 units as compared with 23,996 units in the year-ago month. — PTI