Subir Raha joins RP Group as director

NEW DELHI: Former high profile Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC Subir Raha, who took the oil exploratory firm to new heights, will join RP Group of companies as a director.

"I am extremely pleased and privileged to have the opportunity to take on this new role. This is an exciting time to join RP Group. The company is experiencing a tremendous amount of growth, and I am excited that I can help in making an impact," Raha has been quoted as saying in a release issued by RP Group.

As a director Raha will manage RP Group's domestic business and strategic partnerships in India, the release said.

"As we continue to spread across India, Raha will focus on building a strong sales and operations team, developing RP Group's strategic positioning and enhancing our relationships with industry and government," RP Group founder and chairman Kaustuv Ray said.

Raha had also served as the Chairman of Standing Conference Of Public Enterprises (SCOPE).

RP Group with a turnover of more than Rs 400 crore has diversified business interests, including agro foods and ceramics, It has established a strong presence in the services sector, offering a wide array of high quality serials and newscasts.

ONGC’s Q1 net rises 11.9%, beats forecast

India's top oil producer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, said on Wednesday quarterly net profit rose 11.9 per cent, beating forecast, as lower discounts to state-run refiners offset the impact of a stronger rupee. State-run ONGC said net profit rose to 46.1 billion rupees (USD 1.1 billion) in the fiscal first quarter to end-June, from 41.2 billion rupees reported in the same period a year ago. A Reuter’s poll had forecast a net profit of 38.7 billion rupees.

The company has been weighed down by discounts it is forced to give state-run refiners to keep local fuel prices low.

Since ONGC bills its customers in US dollars, a stronger rupee that has gained about 10 per cent so far this year also squeezed earnings.

Shares in ONGC, India's second-most valuable listed company at USD 48 billion, rose 2.7 per cent during the June quarter, lagging the benchmark BSE index's 12.1 per cent gain and its sector index, which rose 19 per cent.

Mittal may shift Kazakh oil assets to OVL tie-up

World’s fifth-richest person and chief executive officer of the largest steel producer Arcelor Mittal, Lakshmi N Mittal said on Wednesday that he plans to transfer the Kazakhstan oil assets, he acquired recently for $980 million from Russia’s Lukoil, to his joint venture firm with ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL).

In April, Mittal had acquired the Russian oil firm Lukoil’s 50% stake in Caspian Investments Resources (CIR). CIR has equity in five Kazakh oil fields—Alibekmola, Kozhasai, Northern Buzachi, Karakuduk and Arman—in the Aktyubinsk and Mangistau regions. Current production from the fields, which have total proven reserves of some 270 million barrels, is more than 40,000 barrels per day and is set to increase in the coming years.

Read more in Financial Express

ICICI Bank to raise Rs 20,000 cr in June

Biggest fund-raising by an Indian firm: Rs 15,000cr public offer, Rs 5,000cr ADR.

ICICI Bank, the country’s second largest bank, will raise Rs 20,000 crore in June this year - a combination of Rs 15,000 crore follow-on public offer in the domestic market and Rs 5,000 crore American Depository Receipts issue. This is the biggest-ever fund-raising plan by an Indian bank.

The bank will also consider exercising a greenshoe option, which could almost double the bank’s net worth of Rs 24,313 crore as on March 31, 2007.

Read more at Business Standard

34 Indian firms in Forbes' list

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation leads the pack of 34 Indian companies, a chunk of them from the banking sector, which have found place on the elite Forbes' list of 2000 corporate giants across the world.

In the ranking based on sales, profits, assets and stock market value, there are five oil and gas companies, four software giants, three each dealing in materials and capital goods, two utilities, and one each food, consumer durable, and telecommunications majors.

At the top of the Indian list is ONGC that finds 239 spot in the overall rankings and is followed by Reliance Industries (258), State Bank of India (326) and Indian Oil (399).

Tata Consultancy finds 1047 spot in the overall list but tops Indian companies ranking of software and service outfits. Following it in the category are Infosys Technologies (1130), Wipro (1233) and Satyam Computer Services (1874).

Bharti Airtel is the only Indian telecommunications company to find spot among 2000 giants with a rank of 1149.

State Bank of India Group finds top spot among the Indian banks and is ranked at 326 in the overall list. It is followed by ICICI bank (536), HDFC-Housing Development (1197), Punjab National Bank (1308), Canara Bank (1360), HDFC Bank (1376), Bank of Baroda (1585), Bank of India (1691), Indl Dev Bank of India (1767), Union Bank of India (1772). UCO Bank (1931), Syndicate Bank (1943), Indian Overseas Bank (1946) and

Oriental Bank of Commerce (1974).

In the materials category, Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel and Hindustan Zinc find slots in the coveted list. ITC is the only Indian company to make the list in food, drink and tobacco category. NPTC, TATA Motors, Gail India, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharat Petroleum, Larsen and Toubro, Hindustan Petroleum and Bajaj Auto are among other Indian companies that find spot among 2000 top companies.

The first seven top spots go the American companies. Two firms from Netherland and one from Switzerland are among the first ten companies.

The top spot goes to Citigroup and following it are Bank of America, HSBC Holdings, General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, American Intl Group, ExxonMobil (all American), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), UBS (Switzerland) and ING Group (Netherlands).

Forbes says this year's comprehensive list of global super stars values the world's largest public companies, including the hottest companies and best performers across 27 industries.

The 2007 rankings indicate that globalization is the essential element for business to prosper, the magazine says.

China brings 16 new companies to the Global 2000 and the United States has 34 fewer in the list. Among the giants, 116 are oil and gas which pulled down more revenue than any other industry but banks lead in profits.

A highlight of the analysis is that total revenues of the companies headquartered in Switzerland exceed that nation's gross domestic product.

The US companies included on this year's list have a combined market capitalization of 13.9 trillion dollars.

Argentina is represented on the Global 2000 for the first time ever.

Mittal violating pact with ONGC: official

Steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal's acquisition of 49% stake in Hindustan Petroleum's $3 billion Bhatinda refinery has violated his pact with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to pursue hydrocarbon opportunities exclusively with the flagship Indian firm, an ONGC official has said.

Though Mittal inked a joint venture agreement in July 2005 with the state-run firm to form ONGC-Mittal Energy for acquisition of oil and gas fields, refinery business and LNG projects, the steel czar recently decided to go it alone in investing Rs 3,300 crore in the Bhatinda refinery.

Besides, Mittal has on his own bought 50% stake in a Kazakhstan oil firm from Russia's Lukoil for $980 million and acquired 3% stake in the $6 billion Chevron-operated Olokola LNG (OK-LNG) project in Nigeria.

Read more at Business Standard