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Tata Steel tops corporate reputation list, Bharti Airtel fifth

Country's leading companies Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Wipro and Bharti Airtel

have been rated as the top five firms, respectively in terms of corporate reputation as per a

latest survey by the Nielsen Company. According to Nielsen's corporate image monitor that

measures people's perception of the image of the country's leading firms, largest consumergoods firm by sales, Hindustan Unilever has dropped to the 10th position in 2010, down from

the seventh place two years back.

Others, including L&T, Bajaj Auto and HDFC, have dropped out of the list of top 10 corporates in

the 2010 study, compared to the previous survey of 2008.

Interestingly, IT giant Infosys has dropped to number seven in 2010, compared to the number

two position in 2008.

In the previous survey, Tata Steel was at the fifth position, while Tata Motors was ranked first.

Aditya Birla Nuvo and Bharti Airtel did not figure in top 10 list of the last survey. Wipro was

ranked fourth, which it has retained this time also.

Indian IT major Infosys on Friday said it will recruit 45,000 people in this

financial year"This (financial) year we said 40,000 people in last quarter, but recruited 43,000 people. Next

year (2012), we are looking at recruiting 45,000 people," said S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and

Managing Director.

"We have made 26,000 offers at campus for FY12," said TV Mohandas Pai, the Member of the

Board and Head Human Resource Development and Education & Research in a statement.

"Spark reached out to 1,87,000 students during the year and Campus-Connect touched 33,047

students. We have brought attrition down to normal levels and substantially improved our

investments on people," Pai added.

During the quarter, Infosys and its subsidiaries added 8,930 employees (gross). The net addition

during the quarter was 3,041. Till date, Infosys has workforce of 1,30,820 people.

Tatas to invest Rs 1.2 lakh crore in 5 yrs; aims $150 bn revenueDiversified business house Tata Group will invest up to Rs 1.2 lakh crore across sectors in the

domestic market in the next five years as it looks to more than double its revenues to $150

billion (about Rs 6.64 lakh crore) by then. The Tata Group, which has over 90 operating

companies, will put in half of the planned investment in power sector, while the other

significant portions will be in steel and automobile sectors.

"We have become a significant player globally in each of the sectors that we are present in. Inthe next five years, the pace of growth of the group will continue... The current investment

assessment for the next five years is around Rs 1.1 lakh crore to Rs 1.2 lakh crore," Tata

Industries managing director Kishor A Chaukar told PTI.

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An Indian appointed global CEO of Dettol-makerAnother Indian will soon join the ranks of global chief executives of Indian origin. Dettol-maker

Reckitt Benckiser on Thursday appointed Rakesh Kapoor as CEO to replace Bart Becht, who is

retiring in September. Kapoor, who has been with the company for 25 years is currently

executive vice president, global category development. Kapoor has an outstanding track

record of performance over many years. I have seen his considerable leadership and

commercial skills in operation and he will be a strong leader, Becht said in a statement.

In 2006, Kapoor was appointed to the executive committee of the firm to lead Reckitts global

Powerbrand strategies and innovations. During his tenure, Powerbrands share in Reckitts

annual revenue have grown from 57% to 69% in 2010.

Besides driving organic growth at Reckitt which had a market cap of R1,65,300 crore

Kapoor has also been instrumental in selective mergers and acquisitions in recent years

including the SSL and the Paras India healthcare deals.

Birla acquires Kanoria's chemical unit for Rs 830 crIn a move that makes the Aditya Birla group the largest manufacturer of caustic soda in the country,

Aditya Birla Chemicals ( India) a subsidiary of the groups flagship company Hindalco Industries has

acquired the chloro chemicals division of Kanoria Chemicals & Industries for Rs 830 crore.

While Kanoria Chemicals is said to be exiting this business, so as to focus on its other expansion plans,

this acquisition will increase Aditya Birla Chemicals market share in caustic soda to 22%, taking it ahead

of the current leader, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals, which has a share of 18%.

Birla will also get a clear lead over other players like Nirma and DCW, which have a market share of less

than 5%. The acquisition will raise the total caustic soda capacity of Aditya Birla Chemicals from 105,000

tonne per annum (tpa) to 220,000 tpa.

The Rs 224 crore Aditya Birla Chemicals has the backing of Hindalco, which holds over 51% stake in the

company, which is how the company would be able to make this acquisition for which it has paid a

multiple of nearly three times the annual revenues of Rs 303 crore and six times the profit before

interest and taxation of Rs 47 crore of the chloro chemicals division of Kanoria Chemicals.

9% GDP growth rate in 2011-12 difficult: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Concerned over high headline inflation, the Planning Commission on Friday raised doubts over

clocking the targeted 9 per cent economic growth in the current fiscal.

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"We may not hit 9 per cent (economic growth rate in 2011-12). 6 per cent is the rate of inflation

which we should be willing to accept this fiscal," Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek

Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here.

The government and the Planning Commission had earlier projected a growth rate of 9 per cent

during 2011-12, up from 8.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.

Referring to rise in headline inflation to 8.98 per cent in March from 8.31 per cent in February,Ahluwalia said, "inflation has been a concern. It has not come under control as much as I had

hoped. There is need to use fiscal and monetary policy to get rid of supply constraint wherever

they exist."

Referring to growth prospects in the current fiscal, he said, it may be difficult to achieve 6 per

cent farm sector growth expected to be recorded during 2010-11.

"There is no chance for agriculture to grow at 6 per cent this fiscal, it may probably grow at 3

per cent", he said.

He pointed out, "Even to stay at 8.6 per cent GDP growth this fiscal, industry will have to do

much better. Now industry has done about 7.8 per cent in 2009-10 (so far till February end)".

Exuding confidence of maintaining growth momentum this fiscal, Ahluwalia said, "Between 8.6

to 9 per cent (GDP growth this fiscal) there is no big deal. I think the down side of 9 per cent is

more relevant", he said adding it will not be "way off" (the 9 per cent mark).

SBI, ICICI bank pick up 11% in Kingfisher

State Bank of India and ICICI Bank have together picked up close to 11% stake in

Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines as part of a debt recast process. SBI was

alloted 2.8 crore equity shares on preferential basis on account of conversion of

compulsorily convertible preference shares under corporate debt restructuring,

the bank informed the BSE. By virtue of the allotment of shares, SBIs stake in theairline stood at 5.7% and the value of the holding was R182.3 crore, the bank said.

At the same time, ICICI Bank was also allotted 2.6 crore shares against the loan it

had given to the airline. With the allotment the banks equity holding in the airline

stood at 5.3% and was valued at R170.0 crore.

Muthoot Finance raises $30 mln from anchor investorsMuthoot Finance has raised about 1.3 billion rupees ($30 million) from 11 cornerstone

investors, the company said in exchange filings, ahead of the launch of its initial public offering

to raise up to $203 million. The company, which provides personal and business loans securedby gold, alloted 7.7 million shares, or 15 percent of the total offering of 51.5 million shares, to

anchor investors at 170 rupees a share, it said in the filings late on Friday.

The anchor investors that bought shares in the pre-IPO sale include Citigroup Global Markets

Mauritius, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Goldman Sachs India Fund and Baring India Private

Equity Fund, the filings showed.

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007's dream machine drives in at Rs 20cr

British luxury sports carmaker Aston Martin on Friday gave India its most expensive model in

the Rs 20 crore limited-edition two-door coupe 'One77', where the registration alone would

cost you more than an apartment in an upmarket locality anywhere in India.

So if you are in Mumbai, registration, insurance and local levies would set you back by another

Rs 5 crore, though in Delhi it will cost a little less.

In terms of pricing, the car overtakes the Bugatti Veyron, one of the world's fastest cars, that

debuted in India last year with a tag of Rs 16 crore.

Aston Martin, famous for its association with the James Bond flicks, said it was driving in a full-

range of vehicles to India-all priced upwards of Rs 1 crore and running up to Rs 20 crore. The

growing list of the Richie Rich makes the company confident about the market and it said first-

year sales were expected to be above 30 units.

Ganguly to play for Kochi Tuskers?

Lankan call back might get Dada to play in IPL 4

The saga surrounding Sourav Ganguly does not seem to end as fresh reports suggest that the

Prince of Kokata might just find his way into the Kochi team in this year's IPL.

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board's decision to call back its players from the Indian Premier League

has worked in Dada's favour, as it gives him a chance to play for the Kochi Tuskers Keraladespite going unsold in the player auctions. The final call however, will depend on the

availability of Kochi's current captain Mahela Jayawardena.

The BCCI on the other hand is trying to convince the Sri Lankan Board to take its decision to call

back the Lankan players who were sold for hefty amounts in the IPL auction.