The impact of the collapse of Lehman Brothers seems to be taking a toll on ICICI Bank. The bank’s UK arm has an exposure of $80 million to Lehman’s debt exposure.

There is a rumour that the top management of the ICICI Bank has been selling off the shares of the bank over the last few days.

However, the authorities of the bank preferred to keep mum when they were asked to comment on it.

In a statement India’s largest private sector bank said that none of the members of its top management had sold the bank’s shares in the current year.

“It has been brought to the notice of ICICI Bank that a malicious rumour is being spread to the effect that some of the top management have been selling ICICI Bank shares for the last few days. These rumours are baseless and irresponsible,” said a statement from the bank.

ICICI Bank said that it will report the matter to regulatory authorities for action against those responsible for rumours.

The bank’s shares recouped some losses on the denial of share sale.

At 1510 hrs IST, the shares traded at Rs 561.20 on National Stock Exchange (NSE) with a volume of 23.2 mln shares, down 5.15 per cent from close on Tuesday but up from the intraday low of Rs 530.

ICICI September futures were trading at a premium of Rs 3.30 rupees over spot.

WEEK AHEAD
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Nifty has violated month old support trendline(dotted light blue on the chart). However Nifty now remains buy on dips as strong 6 month old resistance trendline(solid dark blue on the chart) is expected support. Nifty 4230 is likely support for the week, Nifty 4680-4720 is likely resistance for the week. Nifty strong/weak above/below 4450 for the week. Nifty very weak on close below 4200. - vandeindia

Gujarat is still on top of the heap when to comes to the list of most attractive investment destinations in the country.

The state attracted maximum project investments in 2007-08, followed by Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, according to a study by the Reserve Bank of India on projects funded by banks and financial institutions. At the same time, the overall investments in the country are expected to moderate in 2008-09.


With a proposed investment of Rs 62,442 crore from 100 projects, Gujarat continued to occupy the top spot as far as investment intention is concerned.

Of the total investment intentions in 2007-08, the state accounted for 22% of the total proposals for the year, though the share dipped from the previous year’s share of 25.8%.


Maharashtra, which ranked second, had a share of 12.7%, envisaging investments worth Rs 36,202 crore. Orissa was third with 10.9% share, accounting for investments worth Rs 30,913 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh (8.5%), Chhattisgarh (6.2%), Tamil Nadu (5.6%), Karnataka (3.7%), Uttar Pradesh (3.5%) and the rest sharing less than 3% each.

The study involves 910 projects that were sanctioned assistance by banks and financial institutions in 2007-08 with an aggregated envisaged project cost of Rs 2,84,371 crore.


However, as for the investment outlook for 2008-09, the central bank has said private corporate investment is likely to increase, although it may grow at a slower pace. Cumulative capital expenditure for all ongoing projects is expected to dip to Rs 1,48,350 crore, compared to Rs 1,99,262 crore in 2007-08 and Rs 1,68,010 crore in 2006-07.

If the aggregate capital expenditure in 2008-09 were to surpass the level intended for 2007-08, fresh capital expenditure in 2008-09 must be above Rs 71,934 crore.


Although there could be a slight shift in financing conditions which may affect the fundamentals that drive business investment, corporates’ incentives to invest are likely to remain strong in 2008-09. This would be because domestic demand and capacity utilisation rates would be high amidst improved profitability of the last few years.

The study also notes, “The real GDP grew at a substantially high rate in 2007-08, on top of robust economic growth in recent years. Notwithstanding the recent slowdown in overall business activity, corporate sector managed to maintain quite a decent profitability level in 2007-08 and against the backdrop of upbeat performance in recent years, the corporate sector appears to have the capacity to invest. Downside risks arise from the likely impact of high and rising international oil prices, increasing cost of external capital, hardening of interest rates abroad and input and wage cost pressures in some industries.”

HTMT Global will acquire companies abroad of 440 crores

We have set aside a cash of $110 million for acquisition. We are looking at acquisitions in the US and Europe. Especially in Europe where we have limited presence,” HTMT Global Solutions CFO Anand Vora said.

In 2006, HTMT had acquired a US-based BPO firm, Affina, for $30 million.

At present, the company offers BPO services in healthcare, BFSI and telecom sectors in the US.

About 20 per cent of the company’s revenues come from India while the rest come from abroad, Vora said.

Asked if he sees any slowdown in BPO services in India in the event of a recession in the US, he replied in negative.

“It (US recession) augurs well for the BPO business. US companies would outsource more to reduce their cost,” he said.

“We expect more business to come our way in the event of recession, which would give way to vendor consolidation. We see a traction happening on that front,” he added.

The company would invest Rs 40-Rs 50 crore as part of its capital expenditure this year, he said.

As part of its organic growth, HTMT is setting up a 450-seater facility in Durgapur. It has a 550-seater in Durgapur.

It is increasing its capacity in Mysore to 700 from 300, added 900 more seats in Chennai, and putting up a new facility for 450 seats in Mumbai.