Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 118.69 points, or 0.69%, to 17061.49.

On BSE, 75,922 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 2.33 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 1076, which is also its all-time high. the stock hit a low of Rs 1040 so far during the day. the stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 235.50 on 3 December 2008.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 23 November 2009, rising 12.60% as compared to the Sensex’s 2.20% fall. it outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 29.99% as against 12.72% rise in the Sensex.

India’s largest tractor maker by sales has an equity capital of Rs 279.82 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 1066.50 discounts the company’s Q2 September 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 102.86, by a PE multiple of 10.36.

Khutub A Hai, head of Mahindra Defence Systems was quoted by the media as saying that most of the projects will come from artillery systems and armoured vehicles. the firm hopes to ramp up revenues to $430 million by 2016 through joint ventures from the current $21.7 million.

Mahindra has spun off its defence business into mainly two fully-held units focusing on land and naval systems. the land systems business has government’s approval for a joint venture with UK-based BAE Systems. the company plans to design and co-develop mine protection vehicles along with the UK firm.

Indian defence companies will gain access to a potential $100 billion market over the next 10 years, following a new policy that was announced last month allowing domestic firms to bid for large defence contracts.

India, one of the world’s biggest arms importers, wants to increase the role of its private sector which accounts for around one-fifth of the industry market share.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s net profit soared 185% to Rs 702.94 crore on 35.1% increase in net sales to Rs 4665 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008. the company declared its results on 29 October 2009.

M&M manufactures automobiles, farm equipment and automotive components. the company’s automobile products include light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, jeep type vehicles and passenger cars. Mahindra & Mahindra also manufactures agricultural tractors, agricultural implements, internal combustion engines, industrial petrol engines, spare parts and machine tools.

Promoters have pledged more than 93.52 lakh shares representing 3.35% of the equity capital of the company. Total promoter shareholding in the company is 27.39% (As on September 2009).

Renault has no intentions of upsetting the applecart with Mahindra & Mahindra on the Logan project.

The Logan will continue to be developed with M&M, Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault-Nissan, told Business Line during his recent India visit.

However, it is still not clear if there will be any change in the retail strategy for the car. At present, it is showcased with M&Ms Scorpio sport-utility vehicle in the companys showrooms. Renault is clear, though, that it is working on an independent retail strategy for its future India products and it remains to be seen if the Logan will be part of this revised plan.

The only thing that has to be clarified for Renault is how to market and sell our products. this is not an issue with our partner, Nissan because its retail plan is in place. Renault is working on something and is clear about an exclusive identity in the form of showrooms, advertising campaigns and so on, Ghosn said.

M&M and Renault entered into a 51:49 partnership three years ago to manufacture the Logan sedan. the car promised plenty but monthly sales have been at the sub-500 unit level for sometime now and losses last fiscal totalled nearly Rs 500 crore. the Nashik plant has been planned with an installed capacity of 50,000 cars annually.

M&M believes that the way forward is to reduce the length of the Logan to four metres so that it qualifies as a small car in the Indian context and can avail of the lower eight per cent excise duty (instead of the current level of 20 per cent). this is applicable to any car up to four metres long whose engine capacities do not exceed 1.2 litres for petrol and 1.5 litres in the case of diesel.

The excise duty is an issue in India but we need to continue to work on the Logan to adapt it to local tastes. we also need to do it quickly and with a good knowledge of what customers want, Ghosn said.

According to him, the other solution lay in localisation of components which would play a key role in bringing down costs. It now remains to be seen which of these options would be exercised though he was categorical that both parties would work jointly on finding an answer.

We need to do it with M&M as they have shared responsibility on the car and also possess knowledge of the Indian market. we need to decide the solution together, mr Ghosn said.

It now looks as if the partners are working overtime to get it right. hopefully, before the Delhi Auto Show kick of in January next year, you could see many things becoming clear in these small, grey areas, he added. It will be interesting to see if some of these initiatives include a new product line-up for the Nashik plant.

Trimming the Logan will help reduce its price tag by at least Rs 50,000 but dealers are not entirely certain if that alone would suffice especially when substantial discounts are already being offered on the car to keep it moving off the shelves.

Ghosn said that the Indian customer is value-driven and wants everything in his car which seems to indicate that Renault may even work on some internal aspects of the Logan in terms of offering more goodies at the same price, or even lower if its length is also reduced. the car, he added, has been a huge success in Russia, Europe, North Africa and Brazil.

We are surprised that it could not be replicated in India. the Logan is important for Renaults future because it is the first product from us in this country, Ghosn said.

Taken from Business Line

MUMBAI: Pullback rally in theafternoon as gains in banks and oil&gas heavtyweights helped indices closenear above psychological resistance levels. ( Watch )

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 17036.19, up 250.54 pointsor 1.49 per cent. The index touched a high of 17040.71 and low of16635.75.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5059.55,up 70.55 points or 1.41 per cent. The broader index hit a high of 5063.30 andlow of 4932.80.

BSE Midcap Index was up 1.21 per cent and BSESmallcap Index moved 0.42 per cent up.

amongst the sectoral indices,BSE Bankex was up 1.99 per cent, BSE Oil&gas Index moved 1.72 per centhigher and BSE Metal Index gained 1.50 per cent.

ACC (4.76%),Hindalco Industries (3.58%), Jaiprakash Associates (3.07%), Mahindra &Mahindra (2.99%) and Tata Steel (2.9%) were amongst the Sensex gainers.

Losers included Bharti Airtel (-1.55%), BHEL (-0.34%), RelianceInfrastructure (-0.20%) and Maruti Suzuki (-0.16%).

(All figures areprovisional)

By Kenny Chee

CHINESE LANGUAGE teachers need to embrace innovative ways of teaching young people the centuries- old language, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

They need to interest their students, through the use of drama, information technology or other activities that youths are passionate about, he said.

They should also focus on honing their students’ ability to comprehend and speak the language, rather than on writing skills, which are more difficult to master, he added.

He had this message for them: ‘This is the way you are going to go. use IT, use drama, use every possible method to capture the interest of the children. It doesn’t matter what level you teach.’

Otherwise, the students, faced with what they believe to be a boring subject, will lose interest and give up.

But Chinese is becoming increasingly important, with China’s rise in economic might. mr Lee said: ‘Today, parents will know, if students already know Chinese, then they’ve got extra market value. They can go to China, operate there as an architect… (or in) any profession.’

Mr Lee was speaking at the official opening of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, an autonomous training school for Chinese language teachers.

The centre, set up by the Education Ministry and the National Institute of Education in February, has already trained more than 1,000 teachers.

Among other things, it is working with the Media Development Authority of Singapore to use information technology to teach Chinese, such as by developing teaching materials to teach on the go.

For more my paper stories click here.

Shweta Bhanot, Rachana Khanzode
Posted: Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 at 0024 hrs IST
Updated: Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009 at 0024 hrs IST

Mumbai: Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computer Services), which caters to the engineering services market, might look at servicing its new parent firm, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), as a client. This comes at a time when M&M is preparing to enter the US market with its market-specific vehicles. Experts said that Mahindra Satyam would come handy for M&M and could become its largest client.

Karthikeyan Natarajan, vice-president & head-integrated engineering solutions, Mahindra Satyam, said: We are not servicing M&M at the moment, but are looking at it and we might help them. According to Natarajan, the firm currently helps its clients in the (intellectual property) IP space for designing products, working out new regulations, industrial products for emission, fuel efficiency & fuel, cost reduction and safety aspects in aerospace area. Besides the brand, M&M gets the firm mechanical potential while Satyam brings in electronic capabilities.

M&M, which is expected to foray into the US market next year with its pick-up truck followed by a US-specific Scorpio, will need to tighten its belt when it comes to research and development (R&D) and product development cycle. The US is a very competitive market and M&M will need to bring out new products at quicker intervals. Further, the company will need high-quality and best-in-design products for its new foray said VG Ramakrishnan, director, automotive and transportation, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and the Middle East.

According to sources, the group will look at combining the efforts of Mahindra Engineering Services, which provides engineering services to various industries, with Mahindra Satyam.

When asked about the benefit that M&M would get through Mahindra Satyam, Vikas Sehgal, VP and director of India business Chicago and Mumbai, Booz & Co, said: “It is like a double-sided sword. If handled properly, it has the potential to make it bigger.

Rain in November is no more a new phenomenon for the city and the record shows that it has rained in this month in every year in the last decade except 1999 and 2005. A total of 449 mm rain was recorded in November 1892, which is the all time record of rain in November.

The IMD record shows that the rain in November is nothing new. This year, however, the amount of rainfall has increased due to cyclonic condition that prevailed in the last week. From 1998 to 2008, expect 1999 and 2005, it has rained in the range of 20 mm to 40 mm in November in the city.

According to Medha Khole, director of weather section of IMD, Pune, till Monday morning 278.5 mm rain has been recorded in November. In last 24 hours, the city experienced 37 mm rain. That means, the chief amount of rainfall was experienced during the cyclonic conditions last week, she said. Due to favourable interaction between westerly and easterly troughs, this year the rain is heavy. Khole, however, clarified that rain in November has nothing to do with the weak monsoon season.

On Monday, the interaction between easterly and westerly has lowered down and this will bring down the intensity of rain in next two days, she said.

Khole said the rain would delay the winter season. At present, the moisture content is very high and it will require some time to re-establish the Northerly winds which are responsible for winter, she said.

Nitya Pandalai Nayar, analyst at Morningstar, noted co-managers Marcus Brookes and Robin McDonald had joined as a team from Gartmore Investment Management and before that had worked together at Rothschild Asset Management.

Despite only having been at Cazenove for a short period, she said they had used their 25 years of combined experience to make sound calls on asset allocation last year.

“Though it is much too soon to judge performance under the managers’ tenure on this fund,” she said, “we note it has outperformed its Morningstar Sterling Cautious Balanced category over this period by more than 400 basis points to October 31.

“It was boosted by the large weighting to cash and gilts in 2008, which was a sensible decision by the managers, but one that was comparatively easy when taking the helm in the middle of the credit crunch.

“However, Mr Brookes’s track record at Gartmore was also strong, which boosts our confidence.”

Ms Pandalai Nayar said although their competitors also offered a broad market exposure, they incurred “very high costs for the end investor” compared with the total expense ratio on the Diversity fund.

“The TER sits well in line with the fund’s Morningstar category, which also includes direct funds and is considerably lower than most of a subset of comparable funds of funds,” she said.

“We appreciate Cazenove’s effort to keep the TER low and, given all the positives, we award the fund a Superior rating.”

M&M’S® and MARS Going Green? New Solar Garden at Headquarters in New Jersey ‘).insertBefore(’.post > .entry’); digg_related({domain:”cleantechnica.com”,container:”#digg-related”,width:”",height:”",endPoint:”stories/upcoming”});}//–>

Candy giant MARS, parent company of M&M’S®, DOVE®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, and TWIX®, turned on a huge new solar array (a “solar garden”) at its headquarters in New Jersey today. No matter what you think of candy food like this, it is good to see such a company going solar. Popular with millions, billions perhaps, and about as mainstream as you can imagine, this is a good step for solar’s more widespread use across the country.

This facility is PSEG Solar Source’s first large-scale solar project. It is one of the largest solar projects in the state of New Jersey, which is already 2nd only to California in its amount of installed solar capacity. The MARS headquarters adjacent to the solar garden is the workplace of about 1,200 employees and is where M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies are manufactured.

>>Find local group discounts on solar power for your home.

About the Solar Garden

The solar garden contains over 28,000 solar panels, providing about 2 MW of power (about 20% of the headquarter’s electricity needs) on approximately 18 acres — enough power for about 1,800 homes if it were used for that purpose.

The expected emissions reductions are equal to removing about 190 cars from the road (more than 1,000 metric tons of emissions).

The system is not owned by MARS. Actually, PSEG Solar Source owns it, but MARS has contracted to purchase all of its energy output.

Juwi solar Inc. (JSI) performed the engineering work for the project and First Solar provided the thin-film panels.

PSEG Solar Source Gets Started, More to Come

Diana Drysdale, Development Director for PSEG Global, says this is just one of many projects to come countrywide for PSEG Solar Source. “We’re excited to partner with Mars Snackfood US as we build our first large-scale solar development,” she says. “PSEG Solar Source is seeking to develop and own solar plants throughout the United States, and focuses on utility scale projects. This solar garden is an example of how PSEG is working with strategic partners to battle climate change, control energy costs and fuel economic growth.”

PSEG has two other projects in the works in Florida and Ohio that are anticipated to generate 27 MW of energy from solar sources. These are expected to be done by the end of next year and are still just the beginning of PSEG’s planned projects across the country.

MARS Interested in Environmental Matters

MARS gives environmental concern and basic economic interest as the main reasons for the new solar project. Nick Hastilow, vice president of commercial at Mars Snackfood US, says: “This project will greatly benefit the environment and our business and we expect it will also reduce energy costs. As an active member of the Hackettstown community for 51 years, we are excited to bring new innovation and alternative energy to the region and share our corporate commitment to be an environmentally-friendly citizen.”

Todd Lachman, president of Mars Chocolate North America, with greater emphasis on the pressing environmental concerns in the world today, says: “Sustainability is one of the most pressing concerns of our time. At Mars, we are aware of the scale of the challenge, and we are determined to be part of the solution.”

Not to make MARS’ concern for the environment less important, or ignore that such an action is a real environmental benefit, but this seems to be another sign that everyone has an environmental gene in them these days. MARS, creating little sugar-packed candies that we don’t need, packaged in environmentally harmful plastic wrappers, is interested enough in environmental matters (or the future economic benefits of environmentally responsible power sources, at least) to switch over to solar energy for much of its power needs. It is beyond that as well, however. The MARS headquarters underwent several green friendly renovations recently and MARS is looking to apply for a LEED Gold Certification. Hopefully, we will see more of this in the future from MARS and other large corporations.

Other environmentally friendly achievements MARS touts include:

In addition to the solar garden, Mars Snackfood US’ Hackettstown plant has also developed environmental and energy savings initiatives including reducing waste sent to landfills, recycling of packaging and raw material byproducts and a lighting retrofit project to further reduce electricity consumption. Mars Snackfood US has also been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its methane gas project at its Waco, Texas manufacturing plant. The plant receives methane gas directly from the City landfill to power the plant’s boiler system. The methane gas will provide approximately 60 percent of the Waco plant’s total boiler fuel requirements for the next 25 years. The project has also received the Keep Waco Beautiful Partners in Pride 2009 Sustainability Award and the Texas Environmental Excellence Award.

There is much more that can be done by this global candy food giant. However, every little step everyone (global corporations included) make, is something worth praising, I think. As the old saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. And with efforts to achieve LEED Gold at its headquarters in New Jersey, the company is taking much more than one step.

New Jersey’s Commitment to Environmentally Responsible Energy Sources

New Jersey has a strong commitment to environmental matters and renewable energy sources compared to most other states these days. It has a goal (stated in its Energy Master Plan) to have 20% of its energy coming from renewable energy sources by 2020. In the last few years, it has installed over 100 MW of solar energy and is now only second to California in installed solar energy capacity.

This project is a good fit for New Jersey. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future.

Related Story:
McDonald’s Going Green?

Image Credit 1: Gillonde via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: samgrover via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: silkegb via flickr under a Creative Commons license

Tags: 3 MUSKETEERS, carbon emissions, Climate Change, CO@ emissions, Diana Drysdale, DOVE, emissions, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, First Solar, florida, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gases, Hackettstown, JSI, juwi solar, juwi solar Inc., LEED, LEED Gold, M&M, MARS, Mars Chocolate North America, MILKY WAY, New Jersey, Nick Hastilow, ohio, photovoltaics, pse&g, PSEG Global, PSEG Solar Source, PV, PVs, renewable energy, renewable power, renewable resource, renewable resources, SNICKERS, solar, solar energy, solar garden, solar panels, solar power, solar project, solar projects, sustainability, Texas, thin-film panels, Todd Lachman, TWIX, Waco You might also like:

Economists say MM Lee’s 3% growth forecast for 2010 is cautiousBy Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 09 November 2009 2146 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economic growth for next year could be as high as six per cent, say some industry experts.

They say the three per cent outlook given by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Sunday may be on the cautious side, but it is still news they welcome as this means better times are ahead – more so in industries such as the finance sector.

“There will be a pay revision. Estimates in general range from about two per cent to about 4.5 per cent,” said Gary Lai Wai Keat, manager of Financial Services at Robert Walters. “If you look at the front line business, you talk about bonuses being restored.

“I think most of the bonuses that were cut is probably in the range of 60 per cent to 80 per cent. This year, you will get at least half of that coming back into the picture.”

Halimah Yacob, deputy secretary-general of NTUC, said: “With economy on the growth, it means workers can expect at least some bonuses and wage increases, compared to this year where many did not have wage increases, and many did not get their mid-year bonuses.

“We really do hope that with the three per cent projected growth, that would actually bring benefits to workers in terms of more job openings and some wage adjustments and bonuses that they can expect.”

However, analysts expect employers to remain cautious and adopt a wait-and-see approach when it comes to pay increments and bonuses for certain sectors such as manufacturing

“It will still be riddled with uncertainties, one of which, whether there will be an overhang in capacity,” explained Vishnu Varathan, a regional economist. “And to that extent we will not probably see a very broadbased upside to salaries and it may be better for the medium term if there’s a period of stabalisation and gestation, just simply due to the amount of uncertainty that is out there.”

But as the recovery takes shape, there are still traps lurking, which policy makers need to pay attention to.

Varathan said: “Over the next few months, there will be talk about exit strategies, to what extent and what pace will some of these policies begin to unwind. This is one of the risks that someone moves too fast or too slow and that’s going to cause de-stabalisation.

“You also see huge flows coming into this region and propping up the asset markets and partly due to dollar debasement fears as well. That, of course, is a very unsettling thing when the fundamental economies are at a very nascent stage of the recovery.”

Lai said: “Credit card debt is also being considered as the next big thing, whether the banks will have a much higher NPL (non-performing loans) going forward. Whether banks have accepted TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Programme) money and, if they can recruit talented people to join. These are things which going forward probably affect trade.”

Besides economists looking to a better year ahead, global leaders at the APEC Forum will also be looking at better understanding what the new world-economic order means for the region.