Bulls & Bear Hfund of India

# Modinomics The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, on Thursday said his idea of a better governance model would stand on the feet of greater economic federalism, more harmony in decision making and fewer laws. He said he favoured a goods and services tax (GST) — but not before suitable information-technology (IT) infrastructure was put in place — and told traders they could combat the challenge of big brands by increased use of e-commerce. Foreign investment wasn’t a sin but an opportunity, Modi said, though without revealing his stand on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. Besides calling for a stop to migration to big cities, he said public-sector undertakings shouldn’t be disinvested but made to run professionally. Modi’s Thursday in the capital was marked by frenetic activity, as he criss-crossed the city to address a gathering of traders in the morning, another of professionals in the afternoon an

At 4.7%, GDP growth disappoints in Q3 The country’s economy grew 4.7 per cent in the quarter ended December, slower than the previous quarter’s 4.8 per cent and dashing the government’s hope of a recovery from the second half, data released on Friday showed. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of the current financial year was at a sub-five per cent level for a seventh strai ght quarter. It had expanded 4.4 per cent in the third quarter of the previous year. Economists attributed the decline in pace of growth to weak investment scenario due to policy uncertainty ahead of the general elections. The outlook for the future, too, appeared bleak, as eight core industries, which have a little more than one-third weight on the Index of Industrial Production, grew only 1.6 per cent in January, compared with 2.1 per cent in December. Besides, exports continued to expand at a single-digit rate for a third straight month in January. (GROWTH GAMBIT GOING W

What Facebook couldn't achieve with its own messaging app, the social networking site will probably get via WhatsApp: instant presence on people's handphones. Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the f old. The transaction involves $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in stock and $3 billion in restricted stock that vests over several years. The WhatsApp deal is worth more than Facebook raised in its own IPO and underscores the social network's determination to win the market for messaging. Founded by a Ukrainian immigrant who dropped out of college, Jan Koum, and a Stanford alumnus, Brian Acton, WhatsApp is a Silicon Valley startup fairy tale, rocketing to 450 million users in five years and adding another million daily. "No one in the history

8 Important Tax Changes for Individuals in 2014 There have been a few changes in income tax for individuals as well as companies for 2014. Some of these are significant ones, especially for individuals. Let us now look into some of these tax changes. Tax credit of Rs. 2000 Individuals with total income up to Rs. 5 lakh p.a will receive tax credit of Rs. 2000. This will virtually raise the tax exemption limit from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs 2.20 lakh. The benefit is available for all individuals of age up to 60 years. The move will benefit more than 42,000 tax payers. Additional deduction of Rs. 1 lakh An additional deduction of Rs.1 lakh will be available for those who have opted for a first time home loan up to Rs. 25 lakh. The value of the property should not exceed Rs. 40 lakh. This is exclusively valid for first time home buyers and only for AY 2014-15 i.e. until March 31st, 2014. This is to encourage property purchase in tier-2 cities. RGESS eligibility For the pre

After remaining rangebound for most part of the trading session benchmark share indices surged in late trades to end near their day's with IT majors leading the gains. The 30-share Sensex ended up 89 points at 20,723 after touching an intra-day high of 20,751 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 26 points to close at 6,153 after touching a high of 6,160. Asian stocks ended mixed with profit taking seen in Japanese shares after recent gains. The Nikkei ended down 0.5% after rising nearly 3% on Tuesday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite rebounded from its day's lows to end at its highest level in two months to end up 1% led by banks and energy shares while Straits Times gained 0.5%. European shares pared early gains and were trading mixed. Shares had opened higher led by PSA Peugeot Citreon after the auto major announced a partnership with a Chinese competitor. The CAC and DAX were down 0.1-0.2% while FTSE was up 0.1%. Defensive shares

Over the next two months, a  host  of fixed  maturity  plans (FMPs) are coming for redemption. And, investors can expect better  interest rates  if they re-invest the proceeds. Interest  rates  on bank  certificates of deposit  (CDs), in which most FMPs invest, have inched up to around 9.8 per cent annually, from 9.6 per cent a few months earlier. Experts say the rates from FMPs have never been better. Hence, go beyond the traditional 14-month tenures to longer ones of 26 and 38 months, say experts, as the yields might not remain so high for long. They also say investors shouldn't try to time their investment or look for rate spikes. That would mean keeping money idle in lower- yielding  fixed income accounts for a brief period. Says Dwijendra Srivastava, head, fixed income, Sundaram  Mutual Fund : “The rates are quite attractive now. Investors who feel yields could move higher are trying to time the market. But they might miss on accruing interest. Better a disciplined ap

Markets surged on Tuesday to end at their highest closing level in three weeks, led by financial shares, amid high growth forecast in the last two quarters of the current fiscal, fiscal deficit target at an 8-year low of 4.1% and reduction in net borrowing for FY15. The 30-share Sensex ended up 170 points at 20,634 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 54 points at 6,127. On January 29, 2014, the Sensex had ended at 20,647 and the Nifty had ended at 6,120. The midcap index gained 0.8% and the smallcap index was up 0.8% in line with the BSE benchmark index. Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the interim budget said that the country's GDP growth in the last two quarters will be atleast 5.2%. For 2014-15, the fiscal deficit has been pegged at 4.1% of GDP, 100 basis points lower than the target in the fiscal consolidation road map. As per the proposals presented in the interim budget, net borrowings of the government in 2014-15 are pegged lower at Rs 4.57 lakh crore against Rs

State  Bank of India  posted 34% drop in  net profit  at Rs 2,234 crore for  third quarter  ended December 2013 on higher provision for  bad loans  and  employee  wages and benefits. The  net profit  for Q3 of 2012-13 was Rs 3,396 crore. The  net   interest income  in Q3 of FY14 rose by 13.1% to Rs 12,640 as against Rs 11,176 crore in Q3 of 2012-13. The other  income  comprising fees,  commissions  and earnings from trading and  sell  of  investments  rose by 15.5% to Rs 4,190 crore as against Rs 3,626 crore in Q3 of FY13. SBI  stock was trading at Rs 1,464, down by 2.38% over previous close on  Bombay Stock Exchange The  employee costs  went up by 34% to quarter to Rs 5,867 crore from Rs 4,351 crore due to higher provisions for salaries and pensions, SBI said in statement. Showing the pressure from stressed loans, bank’s provisions for  non-performing assets  (NPAs) rose by 24% to Rs 3,428 crore up from Rs 2,766 crore.   Total  gross NPAs rose to 5.73% (67,799 crore in December 2013)

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise’s December quarter performance  missed  the Street estimates, albeit marginally. However, looking at the  holiday season  that dampens prospects of hospital segment revenues as well as the expected decline in operating margins, the market sentiments were not dented much as the stock closed 0.8 per cent lower at Rs 945.10. Notably, the  future prospects  remain good in both, the hospital and pharmacy segments with new capacities being added. Apollo’s stock, that saw closing lows of Rs 822 in mid-December last year, has bounced back 15 per cent since then in expectation of  earnings growth  catching up. However, there is some steam left as consensus target price for the stock according to seven analysts polled by Bloomberg since start of January stands at Rs 977. The earnings are likely to grow faster over the medium to long term as newer capacities stabilise (become more profitable) and further boost can come if the company unlocks value in its  pharma

Pre-market: Strong global cues to boost domestic markets arkets are likely to open higher on Wednesday, amid a rally in global markets, following  the US Federal Reserve policy stance to continue trimming its monetary stimulus measures. At 8:25AM, the SGX Nifty was up 32 points at 6,106. Asian stocks were trading higher tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. However, the Shanghai Composite was trading marginally lower ahead of the trade data for January later today. The Nikkei was up 0.9%, Straits Times rose 0.3%, Hang Seng gained 0.8% while Shanghai Composite was down 0.2%. US stocks surged over 1% to end higher for the fourth straight session on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's in her first testimony before US lawmakers kept the central bank's policy of trimming the monetary stimulus intact. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 193 points, or 1.2%, at 15,995. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 20 points, or 1.1%, at 1,820. The Nas

DLF, India's largest  real estate company , has announced the sale of its luxury hospitality chain, Aman Resorts, back to the company's founder, Adrian Zecha, for $358 million. This is a higher valuation than DLF's earlier agreement with Zecha, where it had received a valuation of $300 million, in December 2012. In a statement on Sunday, DLF said its subsidiary, DLF Global  Hospitality  Ltd, had completed the sale of the entire 100 per cent stake in Silverlink Resorts Ltd (which owns  Aman Resorts ) to Aman Resorts Group Ltd, a joint venture between Peak  Hotels and Resorts  Group and Adrian Zecha, for an enterprise valuation of $358 million. The announcement, which comes days before DLF is to post its  third quarter  results for 2013-14, will help the realty major reduce its debt by a huge quantum. As of end-September, DLF's debt was Rs 19,508 crore, which it plans to bring down to Rs 17,500 crore by the end of this financial year . Of late, DLF has been on a di

Nifty ends above 6,050; GDP data in focus Markets trimmed early gains to end marginally higher on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of the GDP data for the current fiscal to be released later today. The government is likely to lower its estimate of 5% growth forecast for the financial year 2013-14, because of slower-than-expected recovery in industrial growth. The Sensex ended up 66 points higher at 20,376, after hitting an intra-day high of 20,441 while the Nifty 50 gained 27 points to close at 6,063, after reaching an intra-day high of 6,080 earlier in the day. The revised GDP data for 2013/14 fiscal year, ending March 31, is scheduled be released later today around 5.30 pm. The broader markets marginally outperformed the benchmark indices, with the BSE Mid-cap gaining 0.6% and the BSE Small-cap increasing by 0.3%. At 62.38, the rupee remained flat compared to its previous close of 62.38, although traders expect dollar inflows towards the Vodafone deal and spectru

Markets rebound from 4-month lows; Nifty holds 6,000 Benchmark share indices rebounded from their four month lows, amid a volatile trading session, to end marginally higher on value buying by investors at lower levels. However, further gains were capped after foreign funds turned net sellers in equities. The 30-share Sensex ended up 49 points at 20,261 and the 50-share Nifty closed 22 points higher at 6,022. India's volatility index, INDIA VIX which had touched 20.09 in intra-day trade finally ended the session at 18.93 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1234.02 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The rupee was trading strong in late trades at Rs 62.43 compared with previous close of Rs 62.54 per dollar. The recovery in the stock markets helped the rupee gain further against the US dollar. Asian markets ended mixed with Japan's benchmark share index Nikkei gaining the most. The Nikkei ended 1.2% at 14,

Markets ended at their lowest level in 10 weeks on Monday as weak economic data from China, the world's second largest economy, raised worries that the global growth is still struggling. Further, the US Fed's decision to further taper its monetary stimulus measures has also dampened sentiment in emerging markets. The 30-share Sensex ended down 305 poin ts at 20,209 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 88 points at 6,002. On November 22, 2013, the 30-share Sensex had ended at 20,217 and on November 12, 2013 the 50-share Nifty had closed at 6,018. Foreign Institutional Investors turned net sellers in Indian equities last week to the tune of Rs 3,216 crore. The rupee turned marginally lower as state-run banks were seen buying dollars to likely to meet defence needs, foreign banks took cover ahead of RBI's reference rate setting. The rupee is trading at 62.75 compared with its previous close of 62.68, after rising to 62.56 in early trades. Stocks in Asia