India Dr. Reddy's Q1 net up 30.5 pct, lags forecast

(Reuters) - By Himangshu Watts



MUMBAI, July 23 - Indian drug maker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. on Monday missed expectations with a 30.5 percent rise in first quarter net profit, although demand for cheaper generic drugs was strong as countries look to cut healthcare costs.


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India's Credit-Default Swap Rules May Limit Growth in Market, ISDA Says

(Bloomberg) -- Guidelines proposed by India for
trading credit-default swaps exclude a ``significant'' part of
the domestic debt market and may limit growth in bank lending,
according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

The draft rules require a published rating on securities
tied to the swaps, the Reserve Bank of India said on May 16. The
contracts were conceived to protect debt holders by paying the
buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities
should the borrower default.


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Zanzibar to privatise clove industry

(Reuters) - Zanzibar will soon privatise its clove industry in a bid to revive what was once the Indian Ocean Islands' main foreign exchange earner, the archipelago's finance minister said on Thursday.

Cloves were once the main foreign exchange earner on the so called "spice islands", but the industry collapsed in the 1980's after international prices tumbled.


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TVS Expects New Motorcycles in India, Overseas Expansion to Boost Profit

(Bloomberg) -- TVS Motor Co., India's third-largest
motorcycle maker, expects profit to rise for the first time in
four years as it introduces new domestic models and expands to
Indonesia.

The company will start selling new variants of the Victor
and Apache motorcycles in India, TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan
said in an interview in Jakarta yesterday. Profit at the company
fell 43 percent to 666 million rupees ($16.5 million) for the
year ended March 31 after TVS cut prices and cost of raw
materials such as steel and aluminum rose.


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India's Rupee May Halt Advance on Speculation Reserve Bank to Curb Gains

(Bloomberg) -- India's rupee, Asia's second-best
performer this year, may end five weeks of gains on speculation
the central bank will sell it for dollars to protect exporters,
a survey of traders showed.

Dollar purchases by the Reserve Bank of India have helped
stem gains as the local currency last week failed to break 40.34
per dollar after retreating from a nine-year high touched on May
28. The biggest quarterly gain in more than three decades
prompted Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's second-biggest
software maker, last week to pare profit estimates for the year.


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Oil Falls on Report BP Is Starting Unit at Refinery in Whiting, Indiana

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell on a report BP Plc
will begin startup today of a unit at its Whiting, Indiana,
refinery, the biggest in the Midwest.

The 235,000 barrel-a-day crude unit, which was shut July 9
for unplanned maintenance after a crack was discovered on a
piece of equipment, is expected to be at full rates by next
week, a person familiar with the plant's status said. The
refinery can normally process more than 400,000 barrels of oil a
day. Prices were higher until gasoline plunged on the Whiting
headlines.


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Oil Trades Near 11-Month High After Gaining on Higher U.S. Gasoline Price

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed near an
11-month high in New York, after rising yesterday as gasoline
prices climbed on speculation U.S. output of the fuel may slow
because of unplanned refinery shutdowns.

BP Plc closed the largest of three crude units at its
refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a person familiar with the plant
said July 9. The refinery, the biggest in the Midwest, supplies
consumers in the Chicago area. Refineries in Texas and Kansas
shut units last week. Refinery operating rates rose to 90 percent
of capacity in the week ended June 29 to meet demand.


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Asian Stocks Fall in U.S. Trading as Infosys Shares Drop; LG.Philips Rises

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks trading in the U.S.
slipped, led by Infosys Technologies Ltd., on expectation the
Indian software company will report the slowest profit growth in
more than a year.

The Bank of New York Co.'s Asia ADR Index, tracking the
region's American depositary receipts, fell 1.1 percent to 171.16,
the biggest drop since June 22.


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Indian Sugar Exports May Double in 2008 Amid Global Surplus, Minister Says

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar exports from India, the world's
second-largest producer, may double in 2008 because of a
domestic surplus, adding further pressure to prices that have
plunged 44 percent in the past year.

The country may export as much as 3 million tons next year,
Akhilesh Prasad Singh, India's minister of state for agriculture,
consumer affairs, food and public distribution said today.
Exports may be 1.5 million tons this year, he told reporters at
the 9th World Beet and Cane Growers Conference in Brisbane.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

ONGC Videsh, Indian Oil, Essar Oil, CPC Corp.: Asian Energy Tender Alert

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of oil and
coal sales and purchase contracts in Asia. Some may be concluded
in the next few days and weeks.

India


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India's Rupee May End Four-Week Rally on Central Bank Sales, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- India's rupee may end a four-week
rally, a Bloomberg News survey showed, on speculation the
central bank will sell the currency to halt a fall in exports.

Capital flows into Asia's fourth-largest economy helped
push up the rupee 9.5 percent this year. Infosys Technologies
Ltd., India's second-largest computer-services provider, may
miss its local-currency sales forecast because of the stronger
rupee, which lowers the value of overseas revenue, Credit Suisse
said last week. Exports declined in the five months through May.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

DLF Shares May Rise on Debut After Record India Initial Sale Last Month

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of DLF Ltd., the Indian
property developer that raised $2.3 billion last month, may rise
on demand from investors who missed out on the country's biggest
initial stock sale.

The company controlled by billionaire Kushal Pal Singh may
debut today at 555 rupees ($13.72), 30 rupees higher than its IPO
price, according to the median estimate from five analysts and
investors surveyed by Bloomberg. The New Delhi-based developer
received orders for more than three times the shares offered.


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Starbucks to file fresh application for India: report

(Reuters) - This arrangement was not acceptable as Sharma was a non-resident Indian, the official told the paper.




"We have not send the proposal to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which will take the final decision on the matter. We don't know how the company will draft its new proposal and the route it will take," the official said.


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G4 setback requires new route to WTO deal

(Reuters) - Trade negotiators were forced to look for a new path on Friday to reach an elusive world trade deal after a meeting between four major trading partners ended in failure.

The collapse of talks between the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil on Thursday at an historic German palace in Potsdam was the latest of several crises in the Doha round of world trade talks, which began in November 2001.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Honda May Develop New Small Cars to Suit India Market, Challenge Suzuki

(Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-
biggest automaker, is studying developing small cars with
engines of less than 1.2 liters to woo buyers in India and other
countries.

The small cars will also enjoy tax advantages in India,
where they make up 75 percent of the market, Masahiro Takedagawa,
chief executive of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. said in an
interview at its headquarters in Tokyo yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Western execs hit BRICS wall on emerging currencies

(Reuters) - Western executives believe the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will reshape the global business landscape, but they struggle to identify their currencies, a study released on Thursday said.

The study of 800 senior executives in the U.S., UK, France and Germany found 88 percent could not name the currency of Brazil, 55 percent did not know the name of India's currency and 65 percent did not know what unit was used in South Africa.


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Mobius warns Israel over dispute deal-report

(Reuters) - Last month, India's Sun Pharma agreed to buy Taro Pharmaceutical Industries for $7.75 per share or $230 million with an additional $224 million to refinance Taro's debt.



Franklin Advisers Inc. and Templeton Assets Management Ltd., which own 9 percent of Taro, filed a case in a Tel Aviv court, seeking to restrain Taro from concluding any deal that could hurt minority interests. But the court decided not to issue a temporary injunction against the deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

ICICI Bank's $2.15 Billion Share-Sale in India Sold Out Within 20 Minutes

(Bloomberg) -- ICICI Bank Ltd., India's second-
biggest financial services company, received bids for the entire
87.50 billion rupees ($2.15 billion) of shares on offer in the
first 20 minutes of the sale in India.

Investors bid for as many as 100.5 million shares, compared
with the 98.87 million shares on offer at 10:45 a.m., the
National Stock Exchange said on its Web site.


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Mauritius 2007/08 growth seen rising to 5.5 pct

(Reuters) - Mauritian economic growth will rise to 5.5 percent in the 2007/08 fiscal year from just under 5 percent this year, the Indian Ocean nation's finance minister said in his annual budget speech on Friday.

"We are taming the twin beasts of budget deficit and public debt to create fiscal space for development," Rama Sithanen told parliament. "Growth will accelerate from just under 5 percent in 2006/07 to almost five and a half percent in 2007/08."


Read more at Reuters Africa

Sugar Falls Most in a Week in New York on Swelling Surplus, India Exports

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar in New York fell the most in a
week as Brazil and India, the two largest sugarcane producers,
prepare to harvest record crops.

Brazil will collect 513.3 million tons of cane this year,
the government estimates. India may harvest 315.5 million tons,
according to the farm ministry. The global sugar surplus for the
year ending Sept. 30 may reach 9.2 million metric tons, the
London-based International Sugar Organization estimates.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News