Indian equities struggle, so do state-run telecom cos

Confused and intimidated by the amount of news hurtling at you everyday? Well, to make your life easier, here’s a quick round-up of the major local and international business and economic news events.

•It is clear now that the noose is just getting tighter around the neck of Kingfisher Airlines. A Business Standard report says Vijay Mallya might now take help of promoters of associate businesses to help the airlines after any help from government or banks have not materialised. We have more on this .

[caption id=“attachment_150311” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“They are still not ready to bet on it. Reuters”]  [/caption]

•But it is not only Kingfisher that is suffering. The next ones which may well land up at the government’s door: BSNL and MTNL. In the year to March 2011, India’s public sector telecom torch-bearers were in need of pall-bearers, with losses of Rs 6,384 crore and Rs 2,826 crore, respectively. Here is what went wrong .

More from Investing

MSMEs are breaking the traditional convention. Look who’s funding them Scale-up your startup without an investor! Here’s how

•And we have more on what is wrong with the MTNL. The state-run telecom operator has 43,311 employees, and its employee costs have been consistently equivalent to more than 90 percent of sales. Even in the quarter ending September, employee costs stood at Rs 801 crore, while sales totalled Rs 860 crore. Read on .

•In such a scenario it does not come as a surprise that Indian equities rank among the worst-performing stock markets in the world in 2011, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML). Equities have lost about 18 percent and erased the entire 17 percent gains made in 2010, it said in a report entitled “2011: Lost in chaos”. Read on .

•And though fund managers are slowly turning positive about valuations of Indian equities, they are still not ready to bet on it. They still prefer the debt market, according to the ICICI fund managers’ survey this quarter. Here are some key issues the survey highlights .

•There is some good news for steel companies though. A 10 percent drop in iron ore prices recently has led to a rally in steel stocks today.Tata Steel is up 1.2 percent, while SAIL has gained 2 percent. JSW Steel also notched up a 1.6 percent gain. Here is why we must thank China for such rally in stocks.

•If things continue to deteriorate, the Indian economy risks going from being a potential high achiever to an also-ran. The BRIC countries that were supposed to be flag bearers for global growth are grappling with issues of their own. But none is worse off than India it seems. Find out more .

•And that we could be bad performers is not a shock anymore. On virtually every front of the economy, the news is grim. Growth is grinding down to its slowest pace in years, and inflation remains untamed. The rupee is in free fall, as are corporate earnings. The state of our public finances is perilous. Here is why .

•Disappointed by the government’s decision to put foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail on hold, India Inc today described the move as “highly regressive”. Here is how India Inc reacted to the FDI roll back.

•What comes as a symbol of how bad the global economy is looking right now is Citi Group’s decision. Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has announced 4,500 job cuts worldwide in the coming months as the US financial major seeks to trim costs in a bleak global economic environment. Read on .