Tata Motors beats Street, net rises 58%

Tata Motors on Monday said its net profit grew 58% to Rs 513.76 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, compared with Rs 326.11 crore a year earlier, on a stand-alone basis (ie, excluding Jaguar Land Rover acquired in 2008).

The better-than-expected performance was largely driven by a one-time income of Rs 319.36 crore following its diveof shares in group firm Tata steel to pre-pay foreign currency loans. A 24% reduction in raw material costs, a cut down on inventory and an improvement in sales realisation also helped, resulting in an operating margin of 11.4%, compared with 7.1% a year earlier.

Tata Motors’ revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 6,404.63 crore, a decline of 7.6% vis-à-vis Rs 6,928.44 crore in the same quarter last year.

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HCL counter bid: it's yesterday once more

There was a feeling of dejavu when HCL Technologies made a counter bid for Axon Plconlate Friday evening.

India should remember the fierce battle waged by Mittal Steel and Tata Steel to acquire Arcelor and Corus a couple of yearsago.

With only a few hours remaining for Infosys to make its counter bid, the HCL Axon-Infosys saga could be equally action packed.In August,Infosys had made an offer to acquire Axon for £407 million.

Axon, for which HCL topped Infosys' bid by around 8% (£441 million), will mark the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian company in the IT space. However, it would also be the first time two Indian corporate houses have gotten into a bidding war.

After HCL upped its bid by 50 pence a share, Infosys had 60 hours to make a counteroffer,which expires on Monday.Industry experts feel that Infosys will not bow out soon as the senior management must have factored in a counter offer before making the first bid.

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Steeldons battle gear to fight inflation,cut prices

Steel companies and the government on Thursday worked out a plan that will ensure adequate supply of steel in domestic markets and spare curbs on current export commitments of the companies. The companies in turn agreed to reduce prices of long products, like TMT bars, by Rs 2,000 per tonne and corrugated sheets by Rs 500-1,000 per tonne. These products account for about 25% of the domestic steel demand.

The companies also agreed to use imported hot rolled coils to manufacture high grade steel for exports. The meeting-attended by representatives of Sail, RINL, Tata Steel, JSW, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Essar, Ispat, Bhusan Steel & Power and the steel ministry officials-decided to exclude domestically produced HR coils from exports, thereby easing local supply constraints.

Sources said the decision will avert a 10% export tax on steel exports. Another proposal being toyed with is to scrap the 5% import duty on steels.

"Producers of long steel products like TMT bars, prices of which had increased sharply, have agreed that they will roll the prices back.

It is expected that these companies, including Tata and state-run RINL, will provide a relief of Rs 2,000 per tonne to ensure that the common man is not hit," steel secretary R S Pandey said after the meeting.

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Tatas to double China revenues

The Tata group's investment plans in Bangladesh may have hit a rough patch, but it is steadily gaining a foot hold in China. Despite growing competition from local companies, Tata expects to double revenues from China-primarily from TCS and Tata Steel-to $600 million this year. It will also see sourcing from that country double to $500 million.

Alan Rosling, executive director, Tata Sons, told FE, "China is a very dynamic, competitive and ambitious country. We, as an industry, need to figure out not only how to work with China,but also how to compete with it."

The Tata group has been in China since 1986, albeit in a small way. Now, that country is seen as a priority in Tata's efforts to internationalise. Says Rosling, "Our interest in China is threefold. One, we are selling in China. Two, we are making things there. And three, we are buying things from that country."

In 2007, the Tata group put on hold plans for a $3-billion investment in Bangladesh, as Dhaka developed cold feet over what would have been that country's largest foreign direct investmentinover30years.

In China, the group opened an office in Shanghai in August 2006. TCS, in partnership with the Chinese government and Microsoft, has signed a

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