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RAILWAY REVENUE EARNINGS UP BY 10.65 PER CENT DURING THE PERIOD 11TH – 20TH JULY 2007

The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during the period 11th July – 20th July 2007 were Rs. 1712.63 crore compared to Rs. 1547.79 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.65 per cent.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 1066.66 crore during 11-20 July 2006 to Rs. 1163.74 crore during 11-20 July 2007, showing an increase of 9.10 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings during the period 11–20 July 2007 were Rs. 491.27 crore compared to Rs. 433.69 crore during the same period last year, an increase of 13.36 per cent. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 44.29 crore during this period compared to Rs. 36.51 crore during the same period last year, an increase of 21.31 per cent. The total sundry earnings have gone up from Rs. 11.23 crore during 11-20 July 2006 to Rs. 13.33 crore during 11-20 July 2007, showing an increase of 18.70 per cent.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during the period 11–20 July 2007 were 189.94 million compared to 176.64 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 7.53 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during 11-20 July 2007 were 110.12 million and 79.82 million compared to 102.36 million and 74.28 million during the same period last year, registering an increase of 7.58 per cent and 7.46 per cent respectively.
 
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Some Like It Hot
Why the Rising Mercury Doesn't Deter India's Golfers

By PAUL BECKETT
Wall Street Journal
July 28, 2007

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. So do Indian golfers, in droves.

June, before the monsoon rains arrive, is usually the hottest month here. The average daily high this year was 100.6 degrees Fahrenheit; on 11 days, it exceeded 104 degrees. The city sank into a desultory lull, the white sun enough to make your eyeballs sweat.

But neither sun nor heatstroke nor the red dust that sweeps through the city in the dry months keeps Delhi's golfers from their appointed tee times. Courses in the area were packed in the mornings starting at first light around 5:30 and just slightly less full in the afternoon. A few players used golf carts; most walked, usually with caddies in tow.

"Forty-five degrees [113 degrees Fahrenheit] is nothing," scoffs Ishwar Verma, a 61-year-old retired Indian Army colonel who plays five days a week and has a handicap of eight. "For me, golf is a passionate and obsessive mind game. It is mentally absorbing and so the temperatures don't really affect me." He wears a cap. His playing partners, he adds, "are more cautious, carrying their umbrellas, water bottles and head gear to protect them from sun stroke."

It was, in fact, Englishmen who brought golf to India. The first club, known today as Royal Calcutta Golf Club, was established in 1829. Until recent years, the sport was dominated by India's elite and retired military officers like Col. Verma, who has been playing for more than two decades.

The summer crowds now can be partly explained by the sport's broadening appeal as incomes rise, India's middle class swells and the price of equipment drops. Real-estate developments with homes surrounding golf courses are popping up around the country. The Delhi area has courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Indian professionals, meanwhile, are making a dent internationally, creating buzz at home. India's sports pages tracked the daily rounds of Indian great Jeev Milkha Singh at this year's U.S. Open and Masters. He tied for 36th and 37th, respectively.

One sweltering June Saturday at our local sports complex, there was a line for the 20-berth driving range. Youthful hackers sent balls into the shimmering haze. Three men walked back and forth across the range retrieving balls while the golfers kept hitting. They carried umbrellas -- not to protect against the sun but against the balls raining down around them.

According to the India Meteorological Department, Sunday, June 10, was the hottest day in New Delhi so far this year, with the thermometer hitting 112.8 degrees. About 190 players teed up at the Delhi Golf Club, one of the city's most prestigious. "They are very crazy golfers," says Krishan Lal, the chief starter. The course last year entered an arrangement with a nearby hospital to send a doctor and ambulance if needed; they have yet to be called.

Heat-resistant golfers hit the links in other hot spots, too, but rarely on Delhi's scale. At Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch Resort in Death Valley, Calif., where the temperature reached 111.9 degrees on June 10, only 28 golfers teed off. Many of them were hotel employees, says Phil Dickinson, the resort's director of sales and marketing.

At the Alice Springs Golf Club in the Australian outback, where summer temperatures in January and February regularly exceed 104 degrees, Sunday tournaments attract around 140 players, not far off the 160 or so who show up at more temperate times. "We're in the middle of Australia, so it's golf or nothing," says Doug Maiden, the club's pro. "There's not much else to do out here except drink."

Mr. Maiden says weekly tournament scores in the Australian summer actually improve by five or six strokes because the course is heavily watered then and the greens slow a bit.

Such fierce heat is the opposite extreme of what I grew up with in Scotland, where the goal is to keep warm, not cool. To try the other end of the thermometer, I arranged an afternoon round in Delhi with my neighbor, Sunil Anand, a 50-year-old insurance salesman. He plays three or four times a week, year-round.

When it gets really hot, Mr. Anand dips a towel in cold water and secures it with a rubber band around his cap. He redips throughout the round. His friends call him "The Sheikh." He wears dark glasses against the glare and carries cookies, gum, water, juice and a first-aid kit -- so much stuff that he's also dubbed the "grocery store."

His playing partners are more typical of India's hot golfers: They do nothing special. At the end of the round, they head to the bar for three or four whiskeys.

This is the time of year in India when the humidity rises, adding an element of stickiness to the conditions that you wouldn't find in other golfing hotspots like Scottsdale, Ariz., or San Diego.

Brigadier Surinder Singh Anand (no relation to Sunil), a military doctor and avid golfer, says golfers acclimatize over time, and that Indians are simply used to functioning in extreme heat. He says the most important factor is to stay hydrated, preferably with a drink of fresh lime juice, mixed with sugar syrup, salt (to replace minerals and prevent cramps), water and ice -- a concoction that is served in many restaurants here.

The temperature when we played earlier this month, I confess, reached only 99 degrees. The venue was the Qutab Golf Course, so named because it affords views of the Qutab Minar, a 13th-century sandstone tower that is one of the city's architectural treasures. Tee time was 3:30 p.m., just after the day's temperature usually peaks in the summer.

Thanks to a shield of a hat, sunglasses and factor-50 sunblock, the temperature at first didn't make much difference. I dutifully worked my way through a liter of water (I didn't hear about the fresh lime tip until after we played.) For the first five holes, I racked up my usual bogeys and doubles with one par.

Only gradually did the heat take its toll, even as I knew, logically, that it was getting cooler as the round progressed. I eyed with some envy the stray dog sleeping under a tree by the sixth tee. Parts of my body -- forearms, cheeks, neck -- started to sting. As we started the back nine, the sun felt like it was targeting my face like a laser beam. At the 10th green, we stopped at a snack hut. Mr. Anand asked for hot coffee, for no other reason than he likes it. I went for iced tea.

From the 11th on, as Mr. Anand's game improved, mine deteriorated. I kept drinking water and eating macadamia nuts for energy and for the salt. But the bogeys became doubles, the doubles became triples. What had, with at least some consistency, been 250-yard drives became 100-yard grass cutters. My concentration evaporated.

By the time we reached the par-four 16th and got stuck behind a very slow foursome, I'd had enough. We finished the hole (I had a triple bogey) and skipped the last two. As we headed for the clubhouse, I asked Mr. Anand how this rated for heat on a scale of one to 10. "Three," he answered. He hadn't even bothered with the wet-towel headgear.
 
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Lenovo to set up new manufacturing plants in India, Mexico
Xinhua English
2007-07-26

NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Global PC maker Lenovo said here on Thursday that it would invest 310 million U.S. dollars to set up two new manufacturing plants in India and Mexico, in order to meet the growing demand in those regions.

Lenovo said the new plant in India will be opened in Baddi, a city in India's northern state of Himachal Pradesh, and expected to be operational in the third fiscal quarter of 2007, with an approximate annual production capacity of 2 million PCs.

Meanwhile, the new plant in Mexico will be set up in Monterrey, a city in the north of Mexico, and is anticipated to carry out production by mid-2008, with a planned annual manufacturing capacity of 5 million PCs.

Baddi manufacturing facility is Lenovo's second plant in India. "India is an integral part of Lenovo's global manufacturing strategy. With our second plant in India, we expect to improve our supply chain efficiently and better serve our growing base of customers in this region," said Jeff Gallinat, vice president of Lenovo's global manufacturing.

In December 2006, Lenovo opened an innovation center in Mumbai, India's financial center, to accelerate innovation and create solutions for challenges faced in the markets.

In addition, more recently, Lenovo also announced its worldwide marketing hub in Bangalore, India's IT center.

According to Lenovo, the Monterrey plant will supply PCs to customers throughout the Americas and represents Lenovo's largest manufacturing investment to date outside of China.
 
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Big retailers target India
Hypermarkets are rising as middle-class incomes grow and consumerism flourishes in a country long dominated by mom-and-pop stores.
By Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
July 28, 2007

MUMBAI, INDIA — "Spoiled for choice" is not usually a phrase associated with shopping in this country. But for two hours — a lot longer than they'd intended — Sunil and Alka Paralkar puttered through the aisles squeezing fresh fruit, inspecting packaged foods and checking out shelves of knickknacks at a gleaming "hypermarket" here.

"I've been shouting at her, 'We have to go,' " Sunil said, shaking his head at his wife in mock exasperation. Yet several minutes later, the couple were still browsing and adding items to their steadily filling cart.

The Paralkars are among the millions of middle-class Indians whose growing purchasing power has domestic and global companies slavering. As Gandhi's homeland increasingly tosses aside the simplicity he espoused in favor of an eager consumerism, retailers are trying to position themselves to catch the wave.

The result is the rise of a way of shopping that may seem second nature in the West but represents a major shift in India: supermarkets and hypermarkets, with groceries, appliances, toys and numerous other goods under one roof.

Such establishments are relative novelties in a land where even sophisticated urbanites — or at least their domestic help — are apt to pick up the phone and order milk and eggs from the corner store or to haggle over vegetables with a roadside vendor on a flatbed bike.

But changing habits of work and play in India's surging economy have made big one-stop stores a viable alternative — at least for the small, but burgeoning, contingent of professionals with disposable income.

As Indian consumers who have lived abroad demand a range of choice similar to what they find in other countries, as young hipsters compare BlackBerrys and Burberrys and shopping becomes a recreational pursuit, big-box stores are now attracting thousands of customers a day.

"The reality is that the Indian consumer is exactly the same as the consumer in the rest of the world," said Andrew Levermore, chief executive of Hypercity, a hypermarket in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). "They're aspirational. They have a need for nice things, particularly the younger generation."

Overall, supermarkets, hypermarkets and discount stores account only for a tiny fraction of the retail market in India, but their sales still came to about $1.5 billion in 2006.

And although India's supermarket sales lag far behind those in Asia's other developing giant, China, analysts see enormous potential in the subcontinent. New shopping formats are forecast to grow 34% a year by the start of the next decade. Because of legal restrictions on foreign retailers, the expanding hypermarket chains so far are Indian, although some foreign companies, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., have started partnerships with Indian firms.

Hypercity opened in May 2006 in a vast, two-floor, 120,000-square-foot space in north Mumbai, on a street already filling up with other boutique shops and an upscale mall.

The bottom floor resembles an American supermarket but with extremely wide aisles that are routinely cited in feedback forms as the aspect of Hypercity customers most like — perhaps not a surprise in the densely crowded country of a billion people. The upper floor is given over to toys, electronics and home furnishings. There are two eating areas, a beauty salon and a 24-hour pharmacy.

The company studied the market for two years before diving in, and its research had not been entirely promising, Levermore said. For example, no one was sure how well packaged food, a big part of the groceries on offer, would sell to Indian housewives who regard meal preparation as their sacred duty.

But pre-packed food has proved a hit, including high-priced imported goods from the British supermarket chain Waitrose. The stock list was refined through trial and error. Mountain bikes are surprisingly popular. Western-style mattresses bombed.

About 25,000 customers a day stream in on the weekends. The average visit lasts more than 2 1/2 hours.

"A shopping expedition for the Indian family is a leisure pursuit right now," said Levermore, a native of South Africa. "There are not too many sports clubs or parks."

After a year, Hypercity has turned an operating profit in half the time expected, with revenue of $35 million. The company has six stores slated to open by March in New Delhi, Amritsar, Pune and Mumbai, and 22 others are under development.

Those plans are modest compared with some others'. Reliance Retail, owned by mammoth Reliance Industries, envisions 30 to 40 of its much smaller Reliance Fresh supermarkets in all of India's major cities. The first stores were launched last fall.

But to many social activists, expansion of such stores spells disaster for traditional corner establishments and their owners.

"It is not like Europe and America where alternate jobs are able to absorb people…. Millions and millions are engaged in this occupation, and they will be thrown out," said Udit Raj, the chairman of the Indian Justice Party. "Most of the people selling fruit and vegetables are illiterate or at best semiliterate. And businesses such as Reliance won't take them in because they don't have the qualifications."

Raj's party has organized protests against Reliance Fresh across the country, some of which have turned ugly.

Matthew Stych, head of retail research for Euromonitor International, said independent vendors rang up 99% of grocery sales in India last year. That could drop slightly to 96% in 2011, but in as populous a country as this, even a decline of a few percentage points translates into thousands of shuttered shops.

The big guys will also find a tougher market if the retail sector is liberalized to let in more foreign companies such as Tesco and Carrefour.

"We're going to see a lot of retail casualties over the next few years…. Not everybody's going to get it right," Levermore said.

At the moment, Hypercity and its Indian rivals have a head start. But "we're extremely conscious that the competition is coming," he said.

How quickly foreign companies will be able to capitalize on that trend remains to be seen. Indian law prohibits foreign retailers from setting up shop independently, except for single-brand stores. That means Nike Inc. can open an outlet, but multi-brand Wal-Mart cannot. Foreign companies must wait for an easing of the restrictions against them — a politically charged issue in a country long used to protecting homegrown businesses, including millions of mom-and-pop stores. To get its foot in the door, Wal-Mart has paired up with local player Bharti Enterprises in a wholesale venture instead.

"Wal-Mart has probably made the smartest moves it can under the circumstances. It's partnering with a partner with a good record on getting things done in India, which is key" in terms of winning over government officials and coping with India's bad infrastructure, said Stych of Euromonitor.

"All the big retailers should have plans to enter India," he added. "Whether they dive in right now isn't necessarily wise…. There's possibly an argument to say, 'Let's sit back and see what mistakes Wal-Mart makes and see if we can learn anything from that.' India isn't going to follow the same growth curve as China. It might be slower, but it's obviously on its way."
 
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Rift between old and new
An older, state-supported middle class is giving way to a less stable, globalized go-getter crowd
DOUG SAUNDERS
From Saturday's Globe and Mail, Canada
July 28, 2007 at 12:00 AM EDT

MUMBAI, India — It would be easy to mistake Rajendra and Abhijit Kalekar for brothers. Aged 37 and 38, they share lanky appearances, friendly smiles and a gift of easy conversation; in fact, with the exception of Rajendra's mustache, they might be able to trade places. As first cousins in a tight-knit Mumbai family, they know each other well and the two men have maintained close family ties throughout their lives.

To outsiders, they also appear to play similar roles in the booming Indian economy: In their neatly ironed, open-neck dress shirts, both the Kalekar cousins are easily identifiable on the clogged streets of Mumbai as members of the fast-growing Indian middle class. They talk freely and eagerly about the things that interest middle-class people worldwide – the stock market, real-estate prices, the best schools for their kids, vacation plans, the morning commute.

But if you watched them make their journeys into work this week, it would have been immediately apparent that they are members of two very different groups, playing very different roles in the global economy, with increasingly little in common.

Despite almost identical educations and family backgrounds, the two men have found themselves members of two distinct middle classes. As poor countries become wealthy, these two classes, one old and fading, the other global and aggressive, increasingly find themselves at odds. When there are troubles in the world today, including some forms of terrorism, often at root it is because two middle classes are at war with one another.

Rajendra wakes every morning to his stirring wife and son in the sleeping room they share in their small but quiet three-room apartment in an older, government-built concrete structure. The couple bought the place five years ago for $18,750. It has more than doubled in value since then, he points out, though he is not eager to sell. It's in a bustling neighbourhood in northern Mumbai.

After he and his wife load their son onto a school bus, he makes his way through the crowds to the train station, where for a 25-cent ticket he will wedge himself into the teeming second-class carriage of one of the city's famous commuter trains and take his 40-minute daily ride. Strolling through more teeming crowds, he steps into the bank branch where he works as a manager – a dusty government-run building on a very poor street in a slum-packed section of Mumbai's south. His wife works at another branch of the same state-run bank. The ceiling fans kick into life as customers begin to flood in. At his metal desk, he works his way through piles of papers.

By this point in the day, his cousin Abhijit usually has boarded the elevator from his building's gym to the parking garage. He, his wife and their son have separate bedrooms in their five-room apartment in a luxurious new building surrounded by a wide, empty lawn – an extremely rare commodity in the world's most densely populated city.

“I must admit that I chose the place because of the tennis court,” he concedes, although he and his wife find little time to use the court, the pool or the gym facilities. By 7:30 a.m., he is in his four-door Honda, making his way to a futuristic mirror-walled office building, which bills itself as Windsor Tower, in a high-tech industrial park in northern Mumbai. Etched into the glass walls are his company's mottos, such as: “Our values: commitment, passion, integrity, speed.”

Abhijit, who has an MBA, works as a middle manager for a multinational cellphone company. His cousin Rajendra, who has a degree in commerce, works as a middle manager with a state-run bank. They are both doing very well in their jobs, and are gunning for promotions. Abhijit, who has a private office in the building's air-conditioned halls, may get himself a corner office and a raise of $500 a month. Rajendra, who has a green metal desk, may get moved to the next desk over, the top accounting position in the bank, and for this highest of promotions might receive an extra $100 a month.

Even 10 or 15 years ago, two university-educated Indians working for a bank and a phone company would have been in almost identical positions – as would their counterparts in South America, the Middle East or Southeast Asia. They would have been making similar sums of money; their employers would have been fully owned by either government or national firms, protected by tough tariff barriers and state protections; and they would have had lifetime guarantees of employment. Having such a job automatically made you a member of the country's elite, with great economic, social and political power.

Today, they are worlds apart. Rajendra, in a good job with an “old” middle-class employer, a government-owned bank, has a household income of $9,000 a year, $3,000 of which is provided by his wife's job. This was regarded, until quite recently, as an excellent middle-class salary in the developing world. He is squarely middle-class, earning an amount of money that puts him well out of poverty but still requires him to work until retirement.

But Abhijit, working for a publicly traded company with major shareholders in the United States and market ambitions around the world, has found himself in a different group entirely, one that provides incomes in the top 1 or 2 per cent, but which has seized the image of “middle-class” in the public imagination. His salary of more than $30,000 a year gives him a lifestyle, a home and a set of values that would be familiar to anyone in the Canadian or U.S. middle class.

Abhijit and Rajendra both play important roles in the Indian economy. They both have mortgages: Almost non-existent here before the 1990s, home financing has lifted tens of millions out of poverty and created sources of entrepreneurship and pools of investment. They both, like so many members of the world's middle class, see their homes as sources of equity for future growth.

Along with debt, they both have substantial savings. Rajendra and his wife manage to put $55 a month away for the future; Abhijit and his wife, a teacher, sock away $250 to $625. They both play financial markets: Rajendra puts his cash into bonds and safe securities (“I'm a risk-adverse investor,” he says), while Abhijit has joined the millions of developing-world citizens who actively play the stock market using online trading, with a preference for high-risk equities.

A stock-market mania has overtaken India, driven by the new middle-class industries, and he is one of millions who make trades, sometimes of tiny amounts, on a daily basis.

“It's a new experience – it was not something that people in India did 20 years back,” Rajendra says. “Now, we all put a share of our earnings into Internet-based trading. But it's important to me – I hope to retire early. I'd like to spend the last part of my career working for a charity, maybe in water conservation. And I'll need savings and investments to do that.”

While Abhijit and Rajendra are both happy with their lives, their dreams and ambitions are rather different.

Rajendra expects to live in his small, cozy house, surrounded by books and musical instruments, for the rest of his life. He bought new appliances and a TV five years ago, when he and his wife bought the house, but his only recent major purchase was a new bicycle. He hopes to send his son to university in Mumbai. He spends his leisure time singing in a classical Marathi singing group (he plays tabla drums) and going on long hikes in the Indian countryside.

“In many ways, I live the same life as my parents,” he says, taking a break amid the chaos of the bank branch. “But my life is more stable than my father's. There is security in my job, I know I will always have it, and my home is secure. If there's a problem, I have enough funds saved to fill the gap.”

Abhijit, on the other hand, has traded houses nine times in the past 15 years. He and his wife both own cars (still a luxury item in India); he is thinking of hiring his own driver, for $150 a month – not for the driving so much as to have someone to handle the parking for him. He and his wife spend their weekends in shopping malls; they have recently bought a 26-inch LCD television and a nice designer watch. They would like to send their son to university in the United States.

“It is very different for me – in terms of tangible, material things, there is a world of difference. Our incomes don't compare,” Abhijit says. He is referring not to his cousin – the two see themselves as equals and don't discuss money – but to his father, who was also a bona-fide member of the old, government-controlled middle class, a comfortable Indian middle bureaucrat.

“I grew up with three rooms for the five of us,” he says. “Now, we have five rooms for the three of us. The whole situation on the economic front has changed for us. It was a much tougher life for them.”

It is also, it goes without saying, a much tougher life for his cousin, who lives the life of his father – but in a world where that life is no longer the pinnacle of Indian aspiration.

At the beginning of the 1990s, some dramatic changes took place in the world's major poor countries. Their old approach to economic growth, known as “import substitution,” had tried to build national economies using government-protected industries (or, in some countries, through actual state-run economies). After two or three decades, this approach had expanded the size of government and industry, produced a comfortable, educated middle class – and created enormous amounts of public debt, state paralysis and declining exports.

Abruptly, much of the world changed tack: Either on their own or at the behest of international lending agencies, the developing world had opened its borders and welcomed international capital. Globalization arrived almost overnight.

Suddenly, countries like India, Brazil and Taiwan were real players in the world economy. Whole new categories of jobs were created. And for a small but significant number of people, it was possible to live the middle-class dream the way North Americans and Europeans understand it.

But in many places there was a problem: The old, pre-1990s middle class no longer had an important role in the economy. As the private-sector economy advanced, their salaries stayed the same or shrank. While they were still known as the middle class, they were increasingly poor and irrelevant. Governments, and the international organizations that financed them, had abandoned the largest educated and prosperous class of the impoverished world, often letting its millions of families sink into oblivion.

“After the structural adjustments in these countries, you had a larger middle class that was replaced by a somewhat smaller but more upscale middle class and a wealthier, new, entrepreneurial middle class,” says Sherle Schwenninger, a U.S. economist who conducted a major study of the international middle class for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Now, some of that restructuring was absolutely necessary in the old developing-world economies. But it could have been more possible, and a lot more preferable, to do it in a way that could have left more openings to members of the old state-supported middle class. You could have had less loss of the old middle class and a much broader expansion of the new middle class. But they've ended up doing damage.”

In India, that damage is mostly psychic: It has become popular, in newspapers and books here, to lament the loss of authentically Indian figures in the country's elite and their replacement with a group whose values are cosmopolitan, international and sometimes seen as a bit un-Indian.

In other countries, the effect has been more grim. In Russia in the 1990s, the old Communist-state middle class was dumped into poverty and became enthusiastic supporters of Vladimir Putin. In South America and Mexico, the old middle class suffered terribly and their clashes with the new middle class have led to extremist governments on the left and the right.

In Morocco, the sudden jettisoning of the old middle class – more dramatic than anywhere else in the Middle East – created a generation that was bitterly unhappy with its loss of stability, comfort and elite status. “In this moment of historical transition between the nation state and globalization,” says British scholar Shana Cohen, who watched this process unfold in Morocco, “melancholia, the loss of an ideal, a past object of identification, … becomes the psychic unifier of a seemingly disparate group of people and the basis for social action.”

This “social action” has become painfully visible recently as explosions have rocked Morocco's tourist cities. Morocco has done better than most African countries in building a new economy and cultivating political freedom. But it has done very badly in maintaining its middle class.

“It's the Mohamed Atta phenomenon,” says Mr. Schwenninger, referring to the Sept. 11 bomber, who came from a displaced, old-middle-class family in Egypt. “You have a lot of educated Moroccans whose fathers were educated bureaucrats, who are now finding themselves lost and without a role in the economy, and their sons are often becoming jihadis.”

In other places, the old middle class has been alarmed to lose its status to a new middle class that often has radically different politics.

That pattern was readily visible in last weeks' Turkish elections. The victorious AKP (“peace and jobs”) party of Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan, often seen as the voice of the poor and religious, was re-elected to a powerful majority despite the huge protests it received from the urban elite. But Mr. Erdogan's party serves another, less well-known role: It is in many ways the party of the new, multinational middle class.

The old, bureaucratic middle class, located in the centres of Istanbul and Ankara, was a loyal backer of the army, the centralized state and the system of rigid secularism that has governed Turkey since the 1920s. But, just as the mosque-going villagers flooding into Istanbul felt alienated from this old middle class, so did the young computer technicians hoping to find work in a Europeanized economy. They, as much as the poor and disenfranchised, are the ones who have seized Turkey away from the old middle class.

Of course, in many of these countries the new middle class is not middle-class at all: It is a new wealthy elite, whose members happen to be employees rather than owners. They are often wealthier than successful entrepreneurs in the old, national economy. In post-Communist countries such as China, they are simply members of the old middle class who got lucky. In other places, such as Turkey, they have emerged from an entirely different group of people, from poor peasants who often had very different values from the old elite.

If managed well, with a government that is willing to spend money and energy transforming its economy, the old and new middle classes can become a harmonious group. The Brazilian governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are often credited with accomplishing this elegantly; South Africa, Taiwan and Korea have done a passable job. Here in India, which only 60 years ago had no middle class at all, it remains to be seen whether the old and the new can be reconciled peacefully.

In the Kalekar family, the two middle classes happen to be getting along quite well, thank you very much. That's partly because Abhijit and Rajendra are happy with their lives. They wouldn't want each other's hassles.

Rajendra, the banker, is spending his summer vacation on a long visit to a nature park with his son. He takes leisurely, two- or three-week vacations in the nearby countryside, often hiking on foot or travelling by train. He cooks, plays music and spends long nights with his friends.

“My cousin? I do not feel a gap between us,” he says. “My view is that there is no space for financial matters to interfere with friendship.”

Abhijit, the cellphone manager, is hoping to take a vacation some time in the next year or so, maybe a week or so in Singapore, or at the Disney resort in Hong Kong. He tries to get away with his wife and son. But there is so little time.

“We are not people who work to live; I'd say we are the ones who live to work,” he says, repeating the oft-repeated lament of the new middle class. “There isn't much time left over for fun.”
 
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SBI Q1net profit up 78%, beats forecasts
28 Jul, 2007, 1348 hrs IST, REUTERS

MUMBAI: India's biggest bank, State Bank of India on Saturday reported a better-than-expected 78 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, buoyed by strong demand for loans in the expanding economy.

The government-run bank said net profit in the April-June quarter rose to Rs 14.26 billion ($352 million) from Rs 7.99 billion a year earlier.

A media poll of 10 brokerages had forecast that net profit would rise 31.6 per cent to Rs 10.5 billion. The bank, valued at $19.6 billion, said net interest income for the quarter rose 15 per cent to Rs 44.98 billion.

Analysts are upbeat about India's banking sector, but there are concerns about loan defaults after official interest rates were raised five times between June 2006 and March this year.

Rival ICICI bank last week met expectations with a 25 per cent rise in net profit. Shares of State Bank of India rose 54 per cent during the June quarter, outperforming a 22.4 per cent rise in the banking index and the Mumbai market's benchmark index, which rose 12.1 per cent.

Shares in ICICI Bank rose 12 per cent in the quarter.
 
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Air India Eyes 60-Jet Buy; Selection Process To Start Mid-Aug
Dow Jones Newswires

NEW DELHI, Jul 28: State-run carrier Air India said Saturday it plans to buy about 60 new commercial passenger aircraft over the next few years and aims to start the selection and purchase process by mid-August.

Air India, which is being merged with state-run Indian Airlines, ordered 68 Boeing Co. (BA) jets, worth over $11 billion at list prices, in December 2005 in a move to modernize its aging fleet.

"We will need to order about 60 plus more planes, but this is just a rough estimate," Air India Chairman V. Thulasidas said without giving a timeframe. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event marking the delivery of the first aircraft from Boeing.

Separately, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the aircraft selection process is likely to begin in a fortnight.

"The whole plan will be evaluated for requirements like extra wide body aircraft ," Patel said.

According to industry officials, it takes up to four years for an aircraft to be delivered after the purchase order is confirmed.

India's aviation industry expects to grow by more than 25% annually over the next few years as a rapidly expanding economy boosts incomes, making it an attractive market for local and international carriers.

Around 60 million Indians traveled by air in 2006, and this is expected to increase to 100 million 2010.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday formally launched Air India's new fleet, including its freighter service, at an event marking the delivery of the first planes from the Boeing order - two 777-200LR aircraft.

The 68-plane order comprises eight 777-200LR Worldliners, 15 777-300ERs, 27 787-8 Dreamliners and 18 next-generation 737-800 planes for its low-fare unit, Air India Express.

Air India will use the 777-200LR to become the first India-based airline to offer nonstop flights between the financial centers of India and the U.S. - Mumbai and New York - from Aug. 1, officials said.

In December 2005, Patel also said that as part of the Air India deal, Boeing will invest up to $100 million in India for setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul complex and another $75 million to install four aircraft simulators.

Engine manufacturer General Electric Co. (GE) will also invest $20 million for an engine shop and another $10 million for training and other civil aviation requirements, Patel had said.

Merger To Boost Performance

In March, the government approved the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines in a move aimed at building a single airline to take on rising competition from both domestic and foreign rivals.

"There was a time when Air India was regarded as one of the world's best airlines. I am sure that Air India will once again regain that reputation," Singh said.

Legal formalities for establishing the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd. are expected to be complete in the first week of August, Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla said earlier this week.

National Aviation will run the merged airline - which will be called Air India to retain brand recall - and Air India Express.

When asked about recent media reports that the merger may be delayed as labor unions of the two airlines were unhappy with talks with the government on wage hikes and promotions, Chawla said the integration process will take time, but talks will go on.

"I have seen reports that some parts of unions have expressed a kind of anxiety. We are talking to them," Chawla said.

"The integration in terms of human resources will be spread over a long period of time and though this is going to take time, I see no difficulties."
 
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AI to launch Mumbai-NY non-stop flight
Sandeep Phukan
Saturday, July 28, 2007 (Mumbai):

On August 1, 2007, Air India will launch its first non-stop commercial flight between Mumbai and New York, using its brand new Boeing 777-200 LR.

The state-of the-art 777-200 LR, or long range, can fly up to 21 hours non-stop, and offers a luxurious flying experience.

Every seat on the aircraft is equipped with a personalized in-flight system that allows one to choose from a host of movies or music.

For the first class travelers, each of the eight first class cabins has seats equipped with a personalized dining table and a 24-inch screen for in-flight entertainment.

Moreover, each of the first class seats also open out into full beds, a facility that is also available for the Business Class passengers.

In fact, even in Economy Class, each seat has personalized screens, wider seats, more legroom and the ambience is just right.

But maybe all this is because the plane is brand new, and the question is whether Air India can sustain these standards and will VIPs continue to get free upgrades?

"Every flight will have a flight manager, who will be in-charge of the aircraft. The aircraft will belong to him. Every airline does upgrades. But now, there will no upgrades into First Class," said V Thulasidas, CMD, Air India.

Besides these facilities, Air India, as always, offers an excellent choice Indian and Continental dishes and some good French wine to go with it.

So all one hopes is that Air India can maintain the standards and make sure that its passengers cherish their non-stop journey.
 
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America No. 1! Maybe, but here come China and India.
Reviewed by Noam Lupu
San Francisco Chronicle

The Elephant and the Dragon - The Rise of India and China, and What It Means for All of Us
By Robyn Meredith


The economist Joseph Schum-peter famously wrote that capitalism is characterized by a process he called "creative destruction." Radical innovations such as the assembly line or the Internet drive long-term economic growth, but they also displace established companies. Thus the computer replaced the typewriter and the CD replaced the cassette, which had replaced the LP. While computer manufacturers expanded their business and hired workers, typewriter companies went out of business and laid off workers. Overall, though, productivity boomed and the economy grew.

Today, we see a similar process taking place, but on an international scale. Manufacturers of consumer goods from sneakers to lightbulbs are expanding in China while factories in the United States close their doors. Back-office services from computer programming to customer service are booming in India as U.S. workers get laid off. We could call it creative destruction for a globalized world. China and India are the CD to our cassette -- their workers can perform the same jobs for a fraction of the cost of American workers.

But do we still stand to benefit from this globalized creative destruction? Yes, argues Forbes correspondent Robyn Meredith in her new book, "The Elephant and the Dragon." If we take the right measures, the rise of China and India -- together containing a third of the world population -- can "be a catalyst to reestablish America's competitiveness" rather than the doomsday predicted by so many pundits.

A comprehensive primer on the development of these Asian tigers, Meredith's book shows that the fear behind alarmist predictions is not entirely unwarranted. In 1996, China exported $20 billion worth of electronics. By 2004, those exports had grown to $180 billion. A stunning 75 percent of all new toys in 2005 were made in China. Its economy has grown an average of 9.6 percent a year since it began to embrace a market economy in 1978 (the United States grew roughly 3.5 percent last year). The same country that was issuing ration coupons in 1992 now features a Starbucks on the Great Wall and one in the Forbidden City. China's economy is expected to overtake the United States' by 2030.

India's emergence, though more recent, is no less impressive. The country has grown at an average annual rate of 6 percent since beginning its economic reforms in 1991. India had 300,000 cell phones in 1996, but Indians today buy nearly 7 million cell phones a month. Foreigners have invested in more than 1,000 Indian companies -- a record for any country outside the United States. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 400 send work to India. As Meredith puts it, China has become "factory to the world" and India "back office to the world."

Meredith is at her best describing these "tectonic economics," marshaling a clever mix of statistics and anecdotes. She is, unfortunately, less compelling regarding the big open questions: Will all this growth lead China to democratize, or will its authoritarianism give it an advantage over India's turbulent democracy? How are these countries likely to respond to growing inequality and the social upheaval that comes with rapid growth?

Meredith is more interested in the immediate impact on the United States. There are advantages for Americans, such as lower consumer prices: More than 70 percent of discount items sold at Wal-Mart are made with cheap Chinese labor. What's more, economists estimate that for every dollar spent by U.S. companies in India and China, the United States gains 13 cents. While companies move manufacturing and back-office jobs, they also create jobs in research and development, marketing and software engineering. Overall, these shifts are a gain for the U.S. economy and American consumers.

But Schumpeter was right to use the word "destruction." It's estimated that 9 million U.S. jobs will move overseas in the next 30 years. Even if new jobs are created, a laid-off factory worker or call-center operator will have a hard time landing a software engineering job. As wages rise in China and India, factory owners will start moving up the food chain to stay competitive, competing more directly with the more specialized manufacturing still done in the United States.

The best way to deal with these problems, Meredith rightly argues, is neither apathy nor aggression. "Forget protectionism. Forget letting the free market ride," she insists. "To meet the challenges, the United States must choose a third way: the nation must focus on creating jobs." For Meredith, that means improving education, increasing personal savings, balancing the federal budget, upgrading infrastructure, funding basic research and providing a safety net for displaced workers.

This is sound advice, and Meredith commendably highlights issues that have all but disappeared from the political agenda. The devil, as always, is in the details: Funding these necessary endeavors while maintaining a balanced budget means cutbacks elsewhere. Still, Meredith is optimistic: "Americans are flexible and creative, are risk-takers, are the world's optimists, and are at their best as underdogs." Even if she's right, we're in for a world of creative destruction.
 
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'Inflation at 4-5% not a big threat'
28 Jul, 2007, 1950 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Former RBI Governor and Rajya Sabha MP Bimal Jalan on Saturday said inflation rate of 4-5 per cent and the problem of excessive supply of money is not a serious threat to Indian economy.

"Higher rate of inflation and the problem of excessive liquidity can be managed without taking much harsher steps," Jalan said while speaking at an interactive session organised by the Indian Management Institute here today.

"In a situation where the country had a good monsoon, healthy forex reserves and reducing fiscal deficit, inflation at rate of 4-5 per cent did not pose a great threat to the growth of economy," Jalan Said.

When asked about whether RBI should go for another hike in CRR, he said, "I would not comment on the matter as RBI is soon going for its periodical monetary policy review and it could lead to market speculation."

Commenting on the public services in the country, he said, "Providing quality public services such as health, universal primary education and other such amenities to larger section of population is the real challenge today."
 
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Monetary policy review to be announced in rising Rupee scenario

The dilemma that the Reserve Bank of India was confronted with, at its April Policy announcement was to block the Rupee rally against US Dollar while maintaining price stability. The central bank`s main weapon to curb the Rupee rally was to intervene in the currency market by supplying more Rupee, Knowing the affect it would have on inflation. RBI, thus shifted its focus only on inflation, hovering above 6% in early months of the current calendar year and allowed the Rupee to touch 42/USD mark in April.

At the previous Policy event, the central bank undertook steps* that would result in more Rupee outflows, ultimately supporting the Dollar against the Rupee. However, weak Dollar sentiments in global market on the fears of US slowdown and higher yielding Indian equity and assets, attracted more foreign capital inflows in Indian market pushing the Rupee to breach 41 mark. The Rupee closed the policy announcement week at 40.89/USD.

Interestingly, the Rupee trading in the range of 40.20- 40.85, is an indication of RBI`s strong presence in the currency market during the three months. Data showed that RBI had bought USD 23.4 billion in intervention between January and May, while it is widely believed that the apex bank has continued the practice in following months too. The local unit as a consequence has remained above 40 till date, but alongside it has created a bunch of other complex problems.

With sustained intervention by RBI, the banking system currently is estimated to be packed with about Rs 400 billion liquidity, sending the overnight call rates near zero percent. RBI`s previous rate hike, aimed at reducing the bank credit had also hit the bull`s eye. Thus, sitting at the mountain of cash, banks have eventually started reducing their deposit rates.

In a search of better returns, investors thus have turned to the stock markets and other assets classes, pouring liquidity into them. Excessive liquidity in any assets market puts pressure on prices, dragging them to asset bubbles conditions and thereby can affect the financial stability of the economy.

Besides that, excessive cash can also lift the commodity prices. Though, WPI-based inflation has lowered below RBI`s comfort threshold of 5%, the fall is attributed to higher base effect. Facts, which one should concentrate on, are upward revision of inflation data and rise in absolute prices. On top of that, banks in order to find customers for their cash, has started playing the card of reducing lending rates. Thus cash available at cheaper rates can even worsen the problem, hence adoption of efficient measures are need of the hour.

Since last December, the apex bank had used the rate hike tool to contain inflation and inflationary expectation. While remaining vigilant on the lag effects of those rate hikes, the central bank is now also expected to press a pause button on tightening monetary policy. The present, its not overheating that is the cause of fret but it`s a problem of plenty that has become the cause of concern for the Government. To do away with this problem, a CRR (cash reserve ratio) hike is considered as an efficient way to drain out excess liquidity from the banking system.

Central bank`s decision to hike CRR by 25 or 50 bps will be sufficient to suck the excess liquidity, said a treasurer. At present, RBI is also opting to issue bonds under Market stabilization (MSS) scheme to sterilize this liquidity. However, the option is a little expensive when huge interest payments on such bonds are considered. On top of that, RBI is approaching the self-imposed limit of Rs 110 billion for bond issuances, which limits the scope of implementing this alternative.

Market experts are also mulling over the possible enhancement of ceiling on cash absorption (Rs 30 billion) at reverse repos window to Rs 100 billion. However such provision may give rise to an interest rates arbitrage opportunity in the presence of call rates nearing 0-1% and reverse repos of 6%. Thus, to remain on the safer side, RBI is unlikely to alter this provision.

The above discussed measures are likely to cure the liquidity problems, but the problem of rising Rupee has not been solved from its root. IT and exporters of various segments have been affected severely, whose main income is from exports. Though, exporters were offered packages, there were acknowledged to be very insufficient given the 8% plus appreciation of Rupee against the Green Buck. Moreover, ample liquidity in the banking system has pushed the forward premia on Rupee in negative zone, there by Indian exporters who tried to hedge their currency risk for short period were the losers from this end too. However, the government`s speedy efforts to provide various relief packages to exporters indirectly suggests that exporters have to live with strengthened Rupee. It may be recalled that Y. V. Reddy, RBI`s governor, after the previous policy announcement, said that (Rs/USD) exchange rates are market determined.

Still market participants are seeking RBI`s initiatives to promote growth in the scenario of appreciating Rupee. At present, infrastructure is one of the thrust areas for investment; sharp Rupee appreciation may threaten long term funds inflows to invest in India. Hence, project related to ECBs (External Commercial Borrowings) at lower interest rates and other schemes to bolster overseas investment in infrastructure sector are considered as immediate requirements. Some of the experts are also foreseeing lower deposit rates on foreign deposits ahead of monetary policy review scheduled on July 31.

*Steps towards capital account convertibility

1) Overseas investment limit (total financial commitments) for Indian Companies enhanced to 300% of their net worth.

2) Listed Indian companies limit for portfolio investment abroad in listed Overseas companies enhanced to 35% of net worth.

3) Aggregate ceiling on overseas investment by mutual funds enhanced to USD 4 billion.

4) Prepayment of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) without prior Reserve Bank approval increased to USD 400 million.

5) Present limit for individuals for any permitted current or capital account transaction increased from USD 50,000 to USD 100,000 a financial year in the liberalized remittance scheme.
 
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Air India cuts non-stop US fares by 33 per cent
The News, Pakistan

NEW DELHI: To compete with private airlines, state-owned carrier Air India has reduced fares by an average 33 per cent for its non-stop Mumbai-New York flight from August 1 on its fully furnished new Boeing B777-200-LR aircraft, a business Web site reported.

Air India took delivery of these B777-200 aircraft in Seattle on Thursday. Air India has positioned its fares on a par with airlines offering one-stop services to US.

The national carrier has reduced its economy fares by 37.17 per cent to Rs50,700 (return fares excluding taxes) from Rs80,700. The executive (business) class fares were lowered by 40.11 per cent to Rs159,700 against the original price of Rs266,700.

The first class fares of this brand new carrier has been reduced by 22.01 per cent to Rs357,700 against Rs458,700. The duration of the flight is about 16 hours, resulting in saving of over four hours.

A senior Air India executive said: “This is part of the strategy of testing the market. This will be a kind of introductory offer. The original fares would be restored once the market becomes sensitised about the experience of non-stop US flights which is offering world-class facilities on-board.”

Travel Agents’ Federation of India General Secretary Ajay Prakash said this is a step in the right direction which will enable passengers to experience brand new aircraft and its comforts.
 
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Gems & jewellery exports up 13%
Press Trust of India

MUMBAI, July 28: Notwithstanding the complaints made by exporters from different sectors of the economy about the dampening effect of rupee appreciation, the country’s gems and jewellery exports have registered a 12.89 per cent and 21.58 per cent growth in the rupee and dollar terms respectively in the first quarter ended 30 June.

According to figures released by the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) here, the provisional net exports of gems and jewellery stood at Rs 18,398.55 crore in April-June this year as compared to Rs 16,298 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The gems and jewellery exports escaped the impact of rupee appreciation because a of slew of factors. The fact that this sector is import-centric actually helped, said Mr Sanjay Kothari, chairman of GJEPC, adding that as much as 75 per cent of the raw material needed is imported. India is the largest importer of rough diamonds.

Besides, unlike sectors such as textiles and leather which incurred higher input costs due to rising rupee, the remittances and payments by the industry are done in dollars, thus avoiding the perils of rupee appreciation.

Gold prices have significantly gone up compared to last year’s prices too, affecting the prices of gems and jewellery. Exports in dollar terms improved from $3,623.12 million to $4,405.08 million in the quarter ended June 2007.

Gold jewellery exports, however, remained stagnant at Rs 3,034.43 crore as compared to Rs 3,020.44 crore. Exports of gold jewellery from export promotion zones increased from Rs 1,483.1 crore to Rs 2,243.60 crore in Q1 FY 2008.

Exports of cut and polished diamonds stood at Rs 12,056.46 crore in the quarter as against Rs 10,810.17 crore in the year-ago period, contributing significantly to the growth of the sector.

Exports of coloured gemstones showed a marginal improvement at Rs 223.52 crore as compared to Rs 222.90 crore, while exports of non-gold jewellery, pearls and synthetic stones jumped 80 per cent at Rs 304.95 crore from Rs 169.33 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Exports of rough diamonds, however, declined by 9.55 per cent at Rs 535.58 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2008 as against Rs 592.16 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Rough diamond exports in dollar terms declined by 2.59 per cent at $128.23 million as against $131.64 million, the GJEPC, the apex body of gem and jewellery industry, said.

The country has imported rough diamonds worth Rs 10,435.56 crore in the quarter as compared to Rs 9,852.72 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Gold bar imports have come down by 29.56 per cent to Rs 1,122.16 crore as against Rs 1,593.05 crore. Imports of cut and polished diamonds have showed a sharp jump of 84.32 per cent at Rs 3,919.62 crore as against Rs 2,126.56 crore in the year-ago period.

The overall net imports of gem and jewellery increased by 16.21 per cent at Rs 16,449.04 crore during the quarter as against Rs 14,154.59 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2007. In the financial year 2007, gem and jewellery exports amounted to Rs 77,180.28 crore ($17.1 billion).
 
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Indian index likely to pause for breath
By Geetha Bhaskaran, Special to Gulf News
Published: July 28, 2007, 23:03

Mumbai: Indian shares could face turbulence this week if the global equity sell-off picks up momentum, but few pundits are willing to bet the bull run has lost steam.

Robust growth prospects for Asia's third-largest economy will underpin Indian stocks in the near term, with quarterly earnings reports reinforcing the view that companies are poised to reap the benefit of rising demand.

"There'll be head winds," said equity trader Ramnik Shah. "But there's enough fuel in the tanks to push ahead."

Concerns of a deepening subprime mortgage crisis in the United States have spooked global markets, and a slowdown in spending in the world's largest economy could hurt some Indian companies like software services exporters.

However, India's economy is mainly driven by domestic demand which remains upbeat. Maruti Udyog, the country's largest car producer, last week posted a 35 per cent jump in quarterly profit as it rode higher sales of premium cars, suggesting a sharp rise in interest rates had not dented demand.

Heavy intervention

Bharti Airtel said its quarterly profit more than doubled as the top mobile services provider grabbed new subscribers at a rapid pace in the world's fastest growing mobile market. Bharti, with nearly 43 million subscribers, added 5.6 million users in the June quarter.

Data released last week by the regulator showed all mobile services providers signed in a record 7.34 million subscribers in June, taking the total to 185 million.

But top motorcycle maker Hero Honda Motors posted a drop in profit for the fourth quarter in a row as higher interest costs kept buyers away.

Focus this week will be on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy meeting on Tuesday, when most analysts expect the central bank to hold interest rates steady for a second quarter in a row.

But the RBI may announce measures to suck out excess cash supplies, largely caused by the central bank's heavy intervention in the foreign exchange market to slow down the rupee's relentless rise against the dollar.

"Inflation has remained below RBI's threshold of 5 per cent for seven weeks, but there's a lurking upside risk," said trader Onkar Mehta. "The RBI's stance on the outlook will be watched."

Foreign fund flows will also be on the radar. The Sensex hit record highs on 14 days this month, the latest on Tuesday last week, driven by heavy portfolio inflows.

Latest data showed foreigners bought shares worth nearly $6 billion in July, taking the total for the year to about $10.5 billion - within sight of the record $10.7 investment in 2005.

Still, the sell-off across global markets on Friday tripped Indian shares, pushing the Sensex down 3.4 per cent and delivering its first weekly loss in seven weeks.

"It was a welcome correction," said Mehta.

"The market had been speeding on a one-way track, and needed to catch its breath."

He expected the market to consolidate, digesting part of the gain and then resuming its climb. The Sensex is up 4 per cent in July and 10.5 per cent in 2007.

Some of the top companies are scheduled to release their quarterly earnings this week. They include: Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Heavy Electricals, NTPC, Cairn India, Nalco and Indian Oil Corp on Monday; Tata Motors, Reliance Communications and VSNL on Tuesday.
 
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