News Alert

• Oil eased towards $78 on Tuesday, after hitting a five-week high a day earlier, as the firm dollar overshadowed bullish expectations of a further drawdown in US crude inventories and the colder weather.
• Petroleum secretary said India has no immediate plans to raise fuel prices, after a newspaper report that auto fuel prices could be raised early next year.
• Contrary to expectations that car sales dip in December, auto majors Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India are poised to grow 30 per cent in sales (the two companies control 72 per cent of the domestic market). General Motors is looking at 70-80 per cent increase in sales.
• Fortis Healthcare has target of Rs 138, says Anu Jain, Vice President, IIFL Private Wealth Management.

Advance Tax Update

The corporate advance tax collections have exceeded 20% growth in the first nine months of FY10, while the direct tax collections from top 100 corporates have registered 30% rise over the same period last year. Automobiles, consumer goods and metals have led the pack of industries which paid highest taxes in Q3FY10. Advance tax payments by industries increased to Rs. 1.13 lakh crore from Rs. 0.94 lakh crore in the year-ago period. Among the major companies, SBI paid an Rs. 46.95 bn advance tax till Dec’09, as against Rs. 39.23 bn in the year-ago period, while ONGC paid Rs. 37.13 bn (Rs. 41.23 bn) and RIL paid Rs. 23.05 bn (Rs. 14.75 bn). Other top payers include: SAIL (Rs. 22.63 bn), Maruti Udyog (Rs. 7.57 bn) and Bajaj Auto (Rs. 5.4 bn). Meanwhile, the Government expects the direct tax collections for the current fiscal to well exceed the budget target of Rs. 3.7 lakh crore.

Indian consumers more optimistic than six months ago: survey

The Indian consumers continued to be optimistic slightly more than what they were six months ago. As per the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence survey, the Indian consumers are more optimistic than six months ago (68.0) and a year ago (63.9). Both Mumbai (79.1 vs. 61.7) and Chennai (95.2 vs. 61.3) consumers have become more optimistic than they were six months ago, while New Delhi (49.4 vs. 79.3) has experienced a dip in consumer confidence score. As per the survey, the consumers across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa markets are approaching the next six months with optimism. As the global economy recovers, 21 of the 24 markets polled reflected positive consumer sentiment looking ahead, including Vietnam (90.3), Nigeria (89.4), Qatar (89.2), UAE (86.1) and China (85). Developed markets in the region have seen a quick recovery in consumer confidence. UAE leapt up in confidence with the largest Index score increase of the markets last surveyed six months ago (29.6 to 86.1). Sharp improvements were also evident for Singapore with a strongly optimistic Index score of 79.4, up from a pessimistic 31.2 in previous survey.