Low-cost airlines take price war to overseas routes

India's full service airlines, buffeted by high fuel costs and intense competition, face new headwinds on their lucrative international routes as budget carriers launch services with rock-bottom fares.

With low-cost carriers launching routes using narrow-body aircraft to overseas destinations within five hours flying time of India, full-service players are being forced to respond with similar no-frills offerings on popular and profitable routes.

Budget airline IndiGo, which in June firmed up a $16.2 billion order for 180 single-aisle Airbus aircraft, has received government approval to fly to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Muscat, and is luring passengers with round-trip fares as low as 9,999 rupees ($220).

By comparison, full service carriers charge between 17,000 and 22,000 rupees for economy class Mumbai-Singapore routes booked a month in advance.

"The entry of IndiGo will help in growing the market. Low cost carriers are creating a new market with a new breed of customers who did not fly international earlier," said Kapil Kaul, chief executive for the Indian subcontinent and Middle East at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

Under the aviation laws, an airline needs to locally operate for five years before being assigned overseas routes.

Low-cost operator SpiceJet, with just six international flights now among its 200 daily flights, plans to expand its overseas network and has applied for several international routes, CEO Neil Mills said.

"Low cost carriers are much better poised to take advantage of the growth, because India is a very price-sensitive market," Mills told Reuters.

Full-service carriers Jet, Air India and Kingfisher Airlines already compete on regional international flights with foreign full-service rivals such as Emirates, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

Low-cost carriers already flying international routes to India include Malaysia's AirAsia as well as flydubai and Air Arabia, both based in the United Arab Emirates. Singapore Airlines also plans a low-cost carrier.

AirAsia, which in June announced a record aircraft order worth $18.2 billion, is expected to use much of its new fleet to link Southeast Asia to India and China.

Asia is expected to account for more than half of global airline profits this year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

FULL SERVICE, LOW FARES

Jet Airways, India's biggest carrier by market share, said it plans to introduce more low fare flights on shorter international routes to take on emerging rivals such as IndiGo and SpiceJet.

"Globally the push towards low-cost is real," said Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer at Jet.

"We will use the narrow bodied aircraft for low fare routes," Raghavan said, referring to international routes under five hours.

Lucrative international routes have helped Indian carriers offset often loss-making domestic routes.

Jet's average revenue per passenger in April-June was $112 for domestic operations, compared with about $275 for international operations, which account for more than half its revenue.

Low-cost domestic competition from Spicejet, IndiGo, and GoAir has forced full service carriers Jet and Kingfisher to ramp-up no-frills offerings. In exchange for low fares, travelers pay for their meals, go without perks such as seat-back video monitors, and often get less leg space.

Struggling state-run Air India, meanwhile, has slashed fares in recent months in order to arrest falling market share, adding to price competition.

Nearly three out of four tickets Jet sells locally is in the low cost segment, while Kingfisher Airlines is expanding domestic connectivity under its low fare brand Kingfisher Red.

Analysts now predict a pressure on international yields as well.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in late July, said that the profitable international segments for legacy carriers are set to face increasing competition on economy seats from low-cost domestic and international rivals.

"This sudden surge in LCCs (low-cost carriers) could keep the international economy yields under check," the bank said.

Read More

Sustanon 250 - For Healthy and Energetic Life

It has become a common phenomenon to have some health supplements to stand steady to keep pace with the today’s life. Now, everyone wants some extra supplements or sources of energy from where he/she can get extra energy to look healthier. If you are also one of those looking for such supplements, you are advised to buy Sustanon that is available in a whole gamut of doses like Sustanon 250 mg. Within a very short span of time, it has gained huge recognition and now has become the household name. Especially those who are very conscious about the health, having this supplement is the need of the hour.

Sustanon 250 is one of the most popular testosterone ester products available in the market. If copared to other most other steroid injectables and drugs, Sustanon includes an amalgamation of esters, specifically, each ampoule or ml has testosterone propionate 30 mg, testosterone phenylpropionate 60 mg, testosterone isocaproate 60 mg, and testosterone decanoate 100 mg.

Today, with the increasing demand of health supplements like Sustanon 250, Dianabol and Benzedrine, pharmacies and drug houses have come up with the concept of selling them online at discounted prices. In this way, you can also buy any of the selected health supplement or all them from a selected online pharmacy store at the price tags you can afford easily. However, before purchasing any prescription, generic or over-the-counter drug, it is vital to keep some essential points in mind because it is the matter related to your health.

Read More

Gold Rebounds On Safe-Haven Bids As Equities Drop

Gold rose on Thursday after two days of sharp declines, as tumbling European and U.S. equity markets sparked by talk that Germany might enact a short-sale ban prompted investors to buy gold as a safe haven.

Early in the session, bullion dropped as much as 3 percent or more than $200 from Tuesday's record highs, as funds liquidated positions due to CME Group's second margin hike this month and technical weakness.

Many market watchers remained long-term bulls on gold although they said the precious metal could correct further after rising as much as $400 since July on speculation the Fed this week would announce new plans to stimulate a sluggish U.S. economy.

"With that big sell-off in Germany, it spooked people about the financial problems lurking in Europe and the European banks. You will probably see gold pull back a little more, but the (upward) trend would still be intact," said Evan Smith, a portfolio manager at investment management firm U.S. Global Investors.

Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $1,759.99 an ounce by 1:11 p.m. EDT (1711 GMT) in choppy trade, about $60 above a session low of $1,702.44, its lowest in nearly two weeks.

U.S. December gold futures were up $5.50 an ounce at $1,762.80. Trading volume was extremely heavy for a third straight day, on pace to be one of the highest this year.

Spot silver rose 3 percent to $40.82 an ounce, now nearly $2 off its session lows.

Investors have cashed in on gold's latest rally after the yellow metal surged nearly 20 percent in early August to Tuesday's record high at $1,911.46 an ounce.

"Gold's decline with such a dramatic magnitude in such a short period of time is driven by short-term momentum investors coming out, not long-term investors," said Stanley Crouch, chief investment officer at Aegis Capital, who oversees $2 billion in assets.

Spot prices fell 4.3 percent on Wednesday, their biggest one-day drop since December 2008, after U.S. durable goods data beat expectations. U.S. gold futures also posted their sharpest price decline since 1980.

CME HIKES MARGINS, BERNANKE EYED

Gold's initial losses were exacerbated late on Wednesday after the CME Group, the world's largest commodities exchange, raised margins on gold futures by about 27 percent, the biggest hike in more than 2-1/2 years and the second increase in a month.

Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust , declined by more than 27 tonnes on Wednesday, their biggest one-day outflow since Jan. 25. They have dropped nearly 60 tonnes this week, worth around $3.25 billion at today's prices.

Investors had their eyes on Jackson Hole. Wyoming, where Bernanke was due to give a speech on Friday. Some have speculated the Fed chief will hint at a third round of government debt purchases, or quantitative easing, to bolster a sluggish economy.

Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Fed, said in an interview with Reuters Insider television the U.S. economy will continue to grow at a modest pace as consumers and businesses pare back excessive amounts of debt.

Among platinum group metals, spot platinum was up 0.6 percent at $1,812.75 an ounce, and spot palladium rose 0.6 percent to $747.99 an ounce.

Read More

Infosys sees outsourcing rev growing 15-20 pct in FY12

India's second-largest software services exporter, Infosys Ltd, expects revenue growth of 15 to 20 percent in its outsourcing arm this fiscal year, its head said on Tuesday, downplaying fears of a slowdown in its key markets.

Infosys, a bellwether for India's $76-billion software and services sector, has seen its stock slide on fears of a further slowdown in the United States and Europe, which provide more than 70 percent of its revenue, since posting underwhelming first quarter results in July.

"(Global slowdown) shouldn't affect the BPO business. A downturn should in fact help the BPO business," Swami Swaminathan, chief executive of Infosys BPO, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference.

"When people don't do well, they are obviously looking at opportunities to be more efficient. And that's when they reach out to us," he said.

Fears of a recession in the United States, which provides India's outsourcing industry with more than half its revenue, dragged India's IT index down as much as 3.8 percent on Friday to its lowest level since November 2009.

U.S.-based outsourcing companies can benefit at the expense of their Indian rivals when U.S. spending slows and American companies come under domestic fire for sending business overseas.

Last week BNP Paribas downgraded the sector to "deteriorating" from "neutral", following growth forecasts below market expectations from Infosys competitors Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services.

"Last two years, we have been growing at about 20 percent," Swaminathan said.

"I think we would be growing anywhere between 15 to 20 percent (this fiscal year)," he said.

Infosys shares rose as much as 4.8 percent after the comments, in a choppy Mumbai market.

Last month, Bangalore-based Infosys posted a below-forecast rise of 15.4 percent in fiscal first quarter profit, and saw wage hikes hit margins amid intense competition from rivals such as IBM and Accenture.

At the time, it forecast overall fiscal year dollar revenue growth of 18 to 20 percent.

Swaminathan said the company was continuing to look into potential acquisitions to add scale in regions such as Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa, and the firm's strategy was for both organic and inorganic growth.

"We are quite agnostic from a location of a prospective candidate. But we are not interested in doing the acquisition for getting only the top-line growth," he said.

The firm expects to have net employee additions of 2,500 to 3,000 this fiscal year, he added.

Infosys's BPO arm operates across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas with about 19,500 employees and about $427 million in annual revenue as of the last fiscal year.

India's outsourcing sector, which employs close to 835,000 people and accounts for more than a third of the global back-office market, generated export revenue of $14.1 billion in the last fiscal year, according to industry body NASSCOM.

[Source]

Read More

If You Have The Funds, Pay Off Your Home Loan

Customers with floating rates of interest are facing the heat, as they have to fork out more in interest outgo. They may be worse off because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to go for another round of interest rate hike to bring inflation under control.

Since March 2010, banks have hiked lending rates by 300-350 basis points. A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage.

What should the borrower, especially home loan borrowers, do in such a situation to lessen the impact of sustained rate hikes?

Pay off your loan: If you have funds available, it is better to pay off the loan than to pay prevailing interest rates of over 11 per cent on home loans. In case you do not have full amount, you can also make a part payment. Some banks allow minimum of Rs 50,000 loan prepayment every year and up to four times in a year.

In case of pre-payment of loan, you will earn a higher return on your funds compared with prevailing deposits rates. “Customers can prepay from their own funds up to four times in a year. This will reduce the total interest outgo,” said an IDBI Bank official.

Prepayment charges: Do check with you bank about prepayment charges. In case you wish to pay back your loan early, some banks may charge up to 2 per cent of the loan amount, plus applicable taxes as pre-payment penalty. Some banks waive off the pre-payment penalty in case it is paid from own funds.

To reduce interest burden on your loan, get in touch with other banks for refinancing your loan at lower rates. However, if you shift to another bank in case of a better deal, then the pre-payment penalty is applicable. In such cases, talk to your bank and renegotiate your loan terms. In order to retain customers, a bank may offer you a better deal.

“Banks often reduce interest burden for its premium customers or those with whom the bank has had long-term relationship. If such customers wish to shift to another bank, we reduce the interest burden to retain such customers,” said an ICICI official.

Pay a lumpsum amount: You can also reduce interest on your home loan and maintain the same level of EMI (equated monthly instalments) by paying a lumpsum amount to the bank. In case of a rate hike, banks either increase the EMI or increase the tenure of the loan. It is better to pay higher a higher EMI than increase the tenure of loan; or else your total interest out go may go up. In the initial years of the loan, interest component in the EMI is much higher and only a small part of instalment goes in paying off the principal loan amount.

[Source]

Check Your Home Loan Eligibility And Required Documents For Home Loans India -:

Axis Bank Home Loan
Bank of Baroda Home Loan
BHW Birla Home Loan
Canara Bank Home Loan
Citibank Home Loan
Corporation Bank Home Loan
DHFL Home Loan
HDFC Home Loan
HSBC Bank Home Loan
ICICI Bank Home Loan
IDBI Bank Home Loan
Indiabulls home loan
ING Vysya Home Loan
Kotak Mahindra Bank Home Loan
LIC Housing Finance Home loan
PNB Home Loan
Reliance Home Loans
SBI Home Loan
Standard Chartered Bank Home Loan

Check Home Loan Calculators

Home Loan Calculators
Home Loan EMI Calculator
Home Loan Refinance Calculator
Home Loan Affordability Calculator
Home Loan Prepayment Calculator

Read More

Arrest Warrant Issued Against Vivek and Suresh Oberoi

Breaking News! A non- bailable arrest warrant has been issued against actor Vivek Oberoi and his father Suresh Oberoi in a cheque bounce case, which put the actors in a major trouble.

The Oberois had allegedly issued a cheque worth Rs. 3 crore, which was bounced. A Metropolitan court issued a non-bailable warrant on the basis of a complaint filed by Jawaharlal Agicha.


Suresh Oberoi's relative and his company's MD Anand Oberoi and his manager Anil Lalwani had approached Agicha for the financial aid to the company for the promotion of their brands in India as well as abroad.

According to the complaint, Agicha was issued some post-dated cheques as repayment of the Rs 3.9-crore loan. However, he received only Rs 50,000 in January 2010 via cheque and rest of the Union Bank of India cheque worth Rs 3 crore bounced. The cheque was bounced by New India Co-op Bank, Versova with a remark ‘account closed'.

Agicha had approached the court in December 2010. But the Oberois had not appeared before the court despite repeated notice that led to issue a non-bailable warrant against them.

Read More

Real Estate - What Does The Future Hold?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the interest rates by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points recently, stepping up its fight against persistently high inflation. The Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate to 8%. The market had expected the hike to be around 25 basis points.

Annual headline inflation has accelerated to 9.44% in June. Inflation rate measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 9.06% in May and at 10.55% in June last year. This is way ahead of the comfort zone of the government.

Real estate developers and home buyers will feel the pinch of higher interest rates, which could slow down home sales. Higher interest will push up monthly installments for home loans for existing as well as new home buyers.

As per Jones LaSalle India, purchasing activity which had seen a drop during the last tranche of interest rate hikes will see a further drop in buyer interest now. Owing to the last 10 rate hikes by RBI, EMIs for housing loan have risen 25% to Rs 980 per Rs 1 lakh of borrowing, and consequently loan eligibility for homebuyers has declined 20%.

IN LAST FEW QUARTERS

The real estate index has corrected nearly 37% over the last one year. The real estate market is hanging on a sword edge with multiple triggers slowing the market down.

Not only buyers, but even the real estate companies are also in troubled waters. Cost of funds for developers ranges anywhere in the range of 14.5% to 16%, depending on the credibility of the borrower. The rate hike is only making it more expensive. Also the banks have not been willing to lend to the real estate sector in the recent past. The Reserve Bank of India has laid out strict and tedious due diligence standards for banks in sanctioning loans to the real estate sector.

The banks have to verify the documents, including cross verification with the local administration, to ensure that frauds are eliminated. RBI has also asked banks to independently verify the authenticity of chartered accountant certificate, property valuation certificate, legal certificate, guarantee/line of credit or any other third-party certification submitted by the borrower. This could delay loan sanctions at all levels and may lead a further blow to the real estate sector that is witnessing slowing sales and rising losses.

Selective lending, higher rates and stricter verifications have forced many developers to tap other sources of funds, which are much more expensive than bank lending.

The industry is facing a crunch and the fund gap over the next five years alone would be as high as US$ 70 billion. The RBI announcement, therefore, could be detrimental to the growth of the industry and economy.

Higher construction costs: The price rise of the key components - steel, cement, bricks and labour are causing worries for the real estate sector. There has been an 18% gross rise in construction cost over the last 2 years (2011 over 2009). As per DLF, steel and cement make 40% of cost of construction and civil costs (i.e. – steel, cement, labour) constitute around 70% of total costs. High global demand for commodities, higher production and transportation costs partly due to higher fuel prices has led to the rise in prices of commodities. Further, demand for skilled labour has led to the labour cost seeing a rise of 25% in the past decade.

While some developers believe that input costs have peaked or are close to peaking, some think that inflationary pressures could likely continue in the near term. This would cause margin erosions for few players, or delays in old projects, changes in product mix and one-time cost adjustments. Some developers have even indicating of passing the increases in costs on to customers, which may see some slowdown in sales.

On the sales front, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata witnessed a further slow down further, while Gurgaon and Chennai gained. Also the new launches were at slightly lower number across pan India. Launches declined to 13.5 mn sq. ft in March 2011 (from 21.5 mn sq. ft in February 2011) as cautious developers faced regulatory and funding hurdles.

On the price front, the movement has been in a narrow range in the past few quarters as developers have held on and buyers have been playing a waiting game. The past few months have puzzled property buyers. On account of conflicting signals on realty prices, the buyers are confused as to wait for prices to fall or rush to buy before they appreciate. The trend of higher prices was followed by the correction in the market.

Now the question is whether this price fall going to continue or there will be an upsurge?

While in the current situation of tight liquidity conditions, increasing inventories, rising interest rates and construction costs, buyers may stand to gain as the real estate developers may have to opt for distress sale to improve their cash flows. However, rising interest rates (expected to go up further as inflation continues to remain high) may make the home loans expensive for the buyers. Even the rental yields are expected to rise as residential prices correct and owners compensate by increasing rental rates.

Hence, if you is looking to buy your first home or upgrade to a bigger house and are ready to invest in it for a long time horizon, then there is no right or wrong time. It may not be sensible idea to time the market to buy a house. However, just make sure that you are due diligent in terms of getting the best price deals and proper documentation to have no further worries.

[Source]

Read More

CBI Rejects Ramdev's Aide Balkrishna's Plea

Balkrishna on Thursday sought 20 days time to appear before the CBI for questioning in a case under the Passport Act, claiming he has applied for a UK visa and his travel document is with that mission.

The agency, however, rejected his plea and asked him to appear without the passport tomorrow for questioning, CBI sources said.

The CBI had asked him to present himself for questioning today but sources in the agency said Balkrishna sent a fax in the morning, saying his passport is with the British High Commission for visa purposes and a reply from there was expected after about 20 days.

In his fax, Balkrishna said he was also consulting Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani and pleaded that any other date after 20 days may be given to him.

He said he came to know about the CBI notice, which was pasted on the ashram gate, yesterday.

The CBI has rejected his plea and asked him to appear without his passport tomorrow, they said.

Meanwhile, sources said Balkrishna is likely to move to Uttarakhand High Court to seek anticipatory bail.

The CBI has earlier issued a look-out notice against Balkrishna after registering a case against him under section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC for procuring fake degree and for violating section 12 of the Indian Passport Act (knowingly furnishing false documents for getting passport).

Read More

Be Careful At The Indian Airports

Be Careful at the Indian Airports, This is a well organized conspiracy by Indian Immigration, Police, Customs and Air India staff with networking at all the Indian International Airports.. Be careful when ever you give your passport to Immigration/ Customs/Air India staff. The pass port can be easily tampered and can create trouble to you. They have found easy way of making money from NRIs. This is the way it works:

At the time of the passenger's departure, if the passenger is not looking at the officer while he is stamping the exit, the officer very cleverly tears away one of the page from the passport. When the passenger leaves the immigration counter, the case is reported on his computer terminal with full details. Now all over India they have got full details of the passenger with Red Flag flashing on the Passport number entered by the departure immigration officer. They have made their money by doing above.

On arrival next time, he is interrogated.

Subject to the passenger's period of stay abroad, his income and standing etc., the price to get rid of the problem is settled by the Police and Immigration people. If someone argues, his future is spoiled because there are always some innocent fellows who think the honesty is the basis of getting justice in India .

Please advise every passenger to be careful at the airport. Whenever they hand over the passport to the counters of Air India , or immigration or the customs, they must be vigilant, should not remove eyes from the passport even if the officer in front tries to divert their attention.

Also, please pass this information to all friends, media men and important politicians. Every month 20-30 cases are happening all over India to rob the NRIs the minute he lands. Similar case has happened with Aramco's Arifuddin. He was traveling with his family. They had six passports. They
Got the visa of America and decided to go via Hyderabad from Jeddah. They reached Hyderabad .Stayed about a month and left for the States. When they reached the States, the page of the American visa on his wife's passport was missing. At the time of departure from Hyderabad it was there, the whole family had to return to Hyderabad helplessly. On arrival at Bombay back, they were caught by the police and now it is over 2 months, they are running after the Police, Immigration officers and the Courts. On going in to details with him, he found out the following: One cannot imagine, neither can believe, that the Indian Immigration dept can play such a nasty game to harass the innocent passengers.

All the passengers traveling to & fro India via Bombay and Hyderabad must be aware of this conspiracy. Every month 15 to 20cases are taking place, at each mentioned airport, of holding the passengers in the crime of tearing away the passport pages. On interviewing some of them, none of them was aware of what had happened. They don't know why, when and who tore away the page from the middle of the passport. One can imagine the sufferings of such people at the hands of the immigration, police and the court procedures in India after that. The number of cases is increasing in the last 2-3 years. People who are arriving at the immigration, they are questioned and their passports are being held and they have to go in interrogation. Obviously, the conspiracy started about 2 to 3 years ago, now the results are coming. Some of the Air India counter staff too is involved in this conspiracy.

Read More

EMI Can Now Be Slashed

A quarter-on-quarter hike in home loan rates for the past 18 months has made things difficult for existing home loan customers. Home loans have now touched an eight-year high following the RBI’s 50 basis point hike on its repo rate (the rate at which the RBI lends money to banks).

Financial planners say the series of hikes affected the budgets of most families as 90% of new borrowers opted for floating rates during the low-rate-teaser-rate regime.

This means a small fraction of the fat EMI you pay goes towards the repayment of the principal amount while the bulk goes in interests. With interest rates on housing loans breaching the 12% per annum mark, existing borrowers face the prospect of either paying the same EMI for the rest of their lives or liquidating the nest-egg fund to pay a part of the housing loan upfront.

So, what should you do to make things work in your interest. Buy the spread. Housing finance companies do not advertise it because it does not translate into profits for them. When you buy the spread, your home loan interest effectively moves back to the comfort zone in which it was a little over a year ago.

Suppose you took a loan at 10% per annum interest a couple of years ago. The prevailing prime lending rate (PLR) at that time was 13% per annum. But you were given a spread of 3% in keeping with the loan rates prevailing then. Now, the PLR has shot up to 15.5% and your interest rate has proportionately gone up to 12.5%.

“Buying the spread from your home finance company reduces your effective rate of interest to that extent,” Harsh Roongta, said.

“You should dump your home finance company and go to a new financier if the company does not give you the rate it is offering to new customers.”

Existing customers can bring their interest rates at par with that of new customers by way of buying the spread. The floating rates now range between 10 and 11%. The fixed rate now is more than 13% with most housing finance companies.

Financial planner Anantram Rao said those with floating rates could get a further spread of 2% by paying a fee of 1.5% of the principal outstanding amount. “This will immediately bring down you interest to 10.5%,” Rao said. Also, the fee paid for the spread can be recovered in less than six months, he said. “The benefits run into lakhs for the remaining repayment period.”

Ever since the new PLR-based computation method has come into force, buying the spread is even more effective, a senior official from a leading home finance company said. “In 2010, the PLR became dynamic. Call it coincidence, even rates started shooting up pushing the PLR by almost 200 points in little more than a year,” he said.

At present, the PLR is 15.5% and it is effectively the prevailing interest rate as well. The interest rates have gone up almost 25% in the past one year and existing borrowers are burdened with a proportionate increase in their outstanding amount because of either higher EMI or increased tenure.

[Source]

Check Now Your EMI Will Be "Home Loan EMI Calculator"

Read More