Nokia phones once took pride of place in Manish Khatri's Mumbai store, but now models made by Samsung Electronics get the limelight. He has nothing against Nokia, he says, but it's better for business to push the more popular models. That simple calculation is being made in thousands of stores across India and similar emerging markets, where Nokia's rivals used to be relative minnows. For 14 years the world's biggest seller of mobile phones, it was overtaken by Korea's Samsung in the first quarter of this year, having already watched bothApple and Samsung leapfrog its lead in the lucrative smartphone segment last year. In the popular narrative of Nokia's eclipse, it is Apple'siPhone that steals the light, but the company is also losing its shine in the basic phone market, which had been a reliable generator of profits and carried the promise of years of strong growth in emerging markets. No more. Its basic phone sales fell 16 percent in the first three months of 2012, and have fallen in four of the last five quarters, while competitors like China's ZTE and Huawei have been growing fast. In India, the world's second-biggest mobile phone market, with more than 900 million subscribers, Nokia's market share has halved in the three years to 2011, when it sold 31 percent of the total 183 million handsets sold, according to Indian researcher CyberMedia. Analysts say it has failed to keep up with the changing tastes of the growing middle class, and, in a country where the thin-margin network operators don't tend to subsidise phones, is losing storeowners like Khatri, who influence buyers' choices. "For dealers like us, we face a lot of problems from Nokia for getting even the basic (demonstration phone) dummies to show to the customer," he said. "There is no push from the company." He said his store, which sells around 500 phones a month, is probably not a priority for Nokia, but Samsung has been sending staff to visit. LOCAL FAVOURITES In China, the world's largest cellphone market, operators have started to play a bigger role in selling phones, and that trend is working against Nokia. "They prioritise domestic vendors over international companies," said analyst Pete Cunningham from Canalys. In January-March its sales there shrank 62 percent from a year ago. Its share of the market had dwindled to 24 percent last year from 39 percent two years earlier, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. In Africa, too, its market share slipped to 51 percent last year from 62 percent two years before. It's still ahead of rivals because of its superior distribution on the continent, says Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics, but it has to act to arrest the decline. "Nokia is drying up like a puddle in the sun and urgently needs new products to refill the puddle," he said. In the meantime, it is racking up losses, its shares have lost more than three quarters of their value in a year, and this week two agencies cut its credit rating to junk status. Nokia says it is continuing to invest to attract customers in these markets. "Our mobile phones portfolio continues to be strong, especially in key markets like India, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico where the Asha products are receiving record high scores from consumers," said Mary McDowell, EVP Mobile Phones. She said the company would be announcing data plans for the new Asha 202 basic phone model with five operators in India on Monday.
MISSING TOUCH Analysts also say Nokia can be slow to react on popular technology. In emerging markets, for example, multi-SIM models have been a draw for people who want to take advantage of freebies doled out by competing carriers, but Nokia lacked such phones until mid-2011. Another costly gap in its basic phones offering is a full touch-screen model. Around 105 million such phones were sold last year globally, according to Strategy Analytics. "Nokia left the door wide open for Samsung and others by not delivering a full-touch feature phone. The Koreans figured it out three years ago, yet Nokia still does not have a product," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight. "In the meantime, prices of Android smartphones have dropped, and Nokia's window of opportunity is almost closed." Nokia is due to unveil a full-touch 306 feature phone model in the coming months. SLIPPED HALO "Nokia's main challenge this year is to arrest the sharp decline in its flagship smartphone portfolio and use it to rebuild a positive halo-effect for the overall Nokia brand," said Mawston. The company abandoned its own Symbian smartphone operating system last year in favour of the largely untried Windows Phone alternative after Stephen Elop joined as chief executive from Windows maker Microsoft. Symbian sales have nosedived before the Windows models got off the ground. This month it started sales of the first Windows smartphones in China with an aggressive marketing campaign and huge ads at subway stations, in magazines and newspapers. There are some positive noises coming from customers. "I just bought a new Nokia Windows phone and wasn't very used to its tile design, but the experience was quite good after half an hour. All the basic functions I need are there, and I'm beginning to think that Windows phones will make it," Wang Xiao said on his Sina microblog."Having an operating system which is Windows-based doesn't excite me," said 22-year old student Akshay Johar in New Delhi, looking at one of Nokia's new Lumia models, but added: "The phone has great features, it looks good, the touch screen is very responsive." He is considering buying one, he said. About 27 million people need to make that decision this year, 55 million next year, and 94 million in 2014, according to analysts polled by Reuters. That only 2 million did in the first quarter shows how steep is the mountain that Nokia must climb
Singtel Global (India), which provides data network services in the country, is looking to expand its operations in five more cities, including Jaipur and Ahmedabad, and double its workforce by 2014."SingTel has point-of-presence (PoP) in seven cities. We are seeing demand for global connectivity in pharmaceutical companies. By 2014, we are planning to expand it to five more cities and double our workforce," Singtel Global (India) Managing Director Arun Dagar told PTI.The company, a subsidiary of Singapore-basedSingTel Group, has around 50 employees, at present. It has undersea cable system, vital for internet and broad-based service, to interconnect various countries.Dagar said the company has identified Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh to set-up PoPs, which act as nodes to connect business houses' data (internet/broadband based) network with global network provided through SingTel."Two more cities will be added as we move along," he said. SingTel holds International Long Distance and National Long Distance licence in India to provide these services.SingTel Group, holds 32.3 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel, which is managed by its Mobile Operations group and the PoP in the country are managed by its other division, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) group.
Trading in stock markets is likely to be range-bound this week amid sluggish foreign fund inflows, mixed corporate results and continued weak investor sentiment, analysts said. "On account of a holiday on May 1 the week will be a truncated one. It will be interesting to see if volumes return to the market over clarification on General anti-avoidance rule (GAAR). Results and global events will dictate market direction," Sharmila Joshi, Head Equity,Fairwealth Securities said. Analysts also said without a turnaround in the FII flows, markets may continue to drift sideways. Investors should trade in a stock-specific manner rather than sector-specific. The government's anti-tax avoidance rule, GAAR, proposal announced in the Budget has been a major dampener for several FIIs whose clients have usedparticipatory-notes (P-notes) to invest in the Indian market and has been driving away FIIs, experts said. "The market is going to be range-bound this week. For the last one month markets have been trading in a 150-200 points of range and unless this is broken, we cannot see much movement. Uncertainty over GAAR is not letting FIIs contribute much to the Indian equity market," Ashika Stock Brokers Research Head Paras Bothra said. Bonanza Portfolio Research Analyst Shanu Goel said: "Next week corporate results of Hero MotoCorp, Bharti Airtel will influence the market trend. Important support for Nifty exists at 5,130-5,125 levels and below this next important support is at 5,070-5,050." Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex dropped by 187 points to end at 17,187.34 on fresh selling pressure by investors after global rating agency Standard & Poor's cut India's long-term credit rating outlook to negative from stable. S&P cut its outlook citing a slowdown in investment and economic growth and a widening in the current account deficit.
Delhi University's undergraduate courses may undergo a sea change from 2013. Another year will be added to the existing three-year undergraduate courses - BA, BCom and BSc - and the courses will be restructured to offer an exit option midway, with an alternative to rejoin later and complete the course. Students will also have the option of knocking off one or two papers and instead use credits earned through sports or other extracurricular activities to finish the courses. What's more, students can earn three degrees through this four-year programme. "We propose to launch the four-year courses from the 2013-14 session. It will be a transdisciplinary course with multiple exit options. As we are simultaneously revamping our open learning system, undergraduate students at colleges will be allowed to complete a semester through open learning and the credits will be counted," said DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh. According to DU administration, the blueprint is ready and consultations with teachers and other stakeholders are on. The administration also plans to bring the proposal up for discussion at a teachers' congress in June. "After taking teachers' input, the plan will be put up at a teachers' congress. Finally, the proposal will be placed before the academic and executive councils of DU," said Singh. The programme will offer students two exit options during the course - at the end of second and third years. If a student decides to opt out of the course after completion of the first two years, he/she will get an associate degree. At the end of third year, the student can opt out with a bachelor's degree. If the student completes four years, an honours degree will be awarded. "Even the two-year associate degree will be embedded with enough training to enable a student to become an elementary teacher. Students who opt out after completing second and third years will get 10 years to return and complete the course," said Singh. "In future, we would like to offer credits to students travelling in the Gyan Uday Express and doing projects," Singh added.
French President Nicolas Sarkozyallegedly received nearly 42 million pounds from former Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi during his election campaign in 2007, a media report said. French law bans candidates from receiving cash payments above 6,300 pounds, but local news website Mediapart claims that the massive donation was laundered through bank accounts in Panama and Switzerland, the 'Daily Mail' reported. A document made public in Paris is said to show that the French leader and the former Libyan dictator made an illegal financial deal that propelled Sarkozy to power in 2007. Written in Arabic and signed by Mussa Kussa, Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, in 2006, it refers to an "agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to Euros 50 million", the report said.A governmental briefing note among papers available to 'Mediapart' points to numerous visits toLibya by Sarkozy and his colleagues which were aimed at securing funding. One, said to have taken place on October 6, 2005, led to "campaign finance to NS" being "all paid" -- assumed to be a reference to Sarkozy who was at the time an ambitious interior minister raising money for his presidential election campaign. Mediapart claims that the 50 million pounds referred to in the note was laundered through accounts including a Swiss one opened in the name of the sister of Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, and the President's right-hand man, the British newspaper said. The money was then allegedly distributed through an arms dealer called Ziad Takieddine, who was acting as a middle man between Arab despots and French politicians, the report said. But, President Sarkozy's campaign spokesperson Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has dismissed the report as "ridiculous" and a "clumsy diversion" orchestrated by supporters of socialist opponent Francois Hollande.
The criminal investigation department (CID), Pune, on Saturday arrested Sudhir Metha, brother of the late share broker Harshad Mehta, for allegedly duping city-based financial firms to the tune of Rs 86.39 lakh in shares investments in 1997. Mehta was untraceable for 15 years.
Acting on a tip-off, the CID team, led by deputy superintendent of police Vijak Tikole, arrested Mehta near a five star hotel in the city on Saturday evening. He was produced before the court on Sunday. He has been remanded to police custody till April 18.
The complaint in the case, about alleged cheating and forgery, had been registered with the Faraskhana police station by Pune Stock Exchange member and director of a finance company Gopal Rathi on July 29, 1997.
The CID had taken over the investigations from the Faraskhana police and had filed the chargesheet in 2004. The CID on November 14, 2011, had arrested Arvindbhai Manibhai Amin (69) and Laljibhai Manjibhai Patel (63), both residents of Ahmedabad, after their anticipatory bail pleas were rejected by the district and sessions court here.
Other suspects in the case, Bharat Somchand Khona, Prafulla Kantilal Rokadiya, both of Mumbai, Shashikant K Gandhi, Rajan Jayankumar Mehta of Thane, are currently out on bail. Pune based share broke broker Mangal Kewalchand Jain and Amit Naginbhai Shaha of Ahmedabad in Gujrat are still untraceable.
Investigating officer Tikole said in 1994, Mehta had taken over a private company from another suspect Amit Shah, who was working as managing director of that company. "Mehta and Shah on March 10, 1994 had brought issue of 75 lakh equity shares into the market and earned Rs 750 lakh," Tikole said, adding, "Out of 75 shares, the suspects had printed one lakh shares as fake and gave them to investors."
Tikole said in April 1995, suspect Bharat Khona had given shares of the companies to local share broker Jain who mortgaged them to city-based financial institutions and had taken huge amount from them. Jain gave the money to Khona, who in turn invested them in the share market.
Tikole said Jain had mortgaged 15,000 shares with the complainant Rathi's financial institution in Pune. After Jain became untraceable, Rathi sent the shares to the company to get them transferred on his name. "When he came to know the shares were fake and were of zero value, he had lodged the complaint with the Faraskhana police station against the suspects for duping him to the tune of Rs 1.95 lakh," Tikole said.
Tikole said the Sudhir Mehta, who is the brother of late share broker Harshad Mehta, was the mastermind in the case. He was untraceable since 1997. "We got a tip-off that Sudhir Mehta would be coming to a five star hotel in Pune. We laid a trap and arrested him," Tikole said.
Assistant public prosecutor R D Parmaj, who sough 14 days police custody for Mehta, said that the CID is yet to arrest another suspect Amit Shah in this case. "The CID wants to trace the other suspects involved in the case with the help of Mehta and also to recover the complainant's cash of Rs 1.95 lakh and the fake shares," Parmaj said.
The defence counsel Suchit Mundada told the court that the CID has already completed the investigations in the case. They also had filed the chargesheet. "The accused had been granted transit bail in the case by the court in 2004. The accused does not have any fake shares with him. Therefore, for recovering the bogus shares, his police custody is not needed," Mundada said.
China has launched a new 650-megawatt (MW) reactor at the Qinshan nuclear plant in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the project's operator said on Monday, as part of a push to increase the share of nuclear energy in the country's power mix. Nuclear power amounts to 12.528 gigawatts or around 1.1 per cent of China's installed power capacity, but projects under construction are expected to raise the total to more than 41 GW by 2015. China National Nuclear Corp said the new reactor had become operational at Qinshan, one of the country's first nuclear projects. The complex now hosts seven of China's 15 working reactors, and its aggregate generation capacity amounts to more than a third of the country's total nuclear capa city. Before Japan's biggest earthquake and tsunami in March devastated the country's northeastern coast and left an aging nuclear complex on the verge of a catastrophic meltdown, China was planning to double its original 40-gigawatt capacity target for 2020. It has since promised to "adjust and improve" its nuclear development strategy, and has said it will not approve any new projects until the completion of nationwide safety checks into existing plants and construction sites. According to state media, the government is likely to resume approvals for nuclear power projects in the first half of this year after a series of safety inspections at reactors and construction sites. Beijing's official capacity target for 2020 remains at 40 GW, and previous plans to increase the figure to as high as 86 GW are expected to be scaled back to around 70-75 GW amid concerns about safety, equipment shortages and the lack of qualified personnel.
