It is pretty much confirmed now that there have been a round of pink slips handed out at Citigroup India. The exact number is as yet not ascertainable. A Wall Street Journal report had quoted sources and said that about 1,000 jobs will be cut at Citi India. The report also alluded to Citi Financial — that is the NBFC or non-banking financial company arm of the company — being likely to lose most of the jobs. The report quoted a Citi official spokesperson as saying that the NBFC is offering new products or rather revamping a product it is offering and therefore some jobs would be rendered redundant. That much is confirmed.Citi Financial possibly is also another place where there have been major job cuts. The exact number is not ascertainable but job cuts are confirmed.
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American auto majors closing their shops,japanese motor companies are in slump,europe in recesion,indian car/truck show rooms are empty.... more industries in lay off mood.... many people worldwide do not have money even to eat food.... speculators/funds not buying the oil futures due to heavy losses in recent times.... during the obama peiod there may not be any wars.... so,where is the demand for oil.... market will not be surprised even if crude comes down to 25 dollar per barrel in coming days.......

Just started investing in unitec.... near term risk is 25 and long term risk(not target) is 10.... scrip is giving lot of trading oppurtunities in recet times for the benefit of small traders,utilise them in proper way....

There may be bull run again in real estate after few years, hope unitec/dlf can survive till that time....

Unitec facing severe cash crunch and interest burden.... the sales are almost at standstill now,margins will be decreased due to slah/crash in prices.... selling telecom venture and planning to sell hotels(if there are any buyers at the moment)are very much positive steps....

It looks like that management trying hard for finding the cash inflows.... if they succeed soon,its investors will be happy, otherwise its holders can become very long term investors....

The scrip could be a market/sector performer and continue to lead the sector on bourses for some more time.......

There is a talk in the market that the crude can come down to below 25 dollar levels in coming days.... will reliance survice with the crude at below 25 dollars.......

Outlook is bleak for infosys.... few market observers predicting that the scrip may not be in four digit mark again even in long term....

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Auto major GM tradingat its 70 year low and other car major FORD trading at its 26 year low.... thanks to americans buying the cars only on credit.......

HONG KONG (Reuters) - HSBC will lay off 500 staff in Asia, 90 percent of which will be in Hong Kong, due to deteriorating economic conditions and its cautious outlook for 2009, spokesman Gareth Hewett said.

This will be HSBC`s second round of layoffs in the region. In September, HSBC said it was cutting 1,100 jobs in its investment banking operation, or 4 percent of the unit`s total, including about 100 in Hong Kong, where the bank`s Asian unit is based.



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Buddha raps UPA for faith in capitalism Kolkata, Nov 22 (IANS) Slamming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its `faith` in capitalism, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Saturday said the central government should learn from the ongoing economic turmoil in the US. Bhattacharjee, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), stressed his party`s firm opposition to capitalism and said it was because of the Left that the UPA government at the centre could not invest pension funds of employees in the share market. `Can you imagine what would have happened had the government invested the money in share funds? People would have never got their pension, given what is happening in the US now,` he said, addressing a rally at Baruipur in the South 24 Parganas district. `We are against America and capitalist policies. The central government should learn lessons from the present economic recession,` Bhattacharjee said. Citing the example of China, he said: `China has made itself self-sufficient. That`s why it is competing neck-and-neck with the US. We also have to make ourselves self-sufficient.` He said peoples` money in the state-run banks and insurance companies in India was safe because the Left did not allow US companies to do business with public sector banks and insurance companies. Bhattacharjee was also critical of the UPA`s efforts to forge strategic partnership with the US in the economic, political and defence spheres. `The country is in a difficult position. The Congress is also in a bad position at present,` he said. ...

`Queue up for calls, we are Air India` Air India has put barriers on local calls for its staff in a desperate measure to cut costs, by insisting that most of its staff must go register with the exchange operator and not dial numbers themselves - even suspending the practice of dialing 9 to get a local dialtone. Given the credit crunch and slowdown mood in the economy, this could well be emulated by India Inc. in coming days. By cutting the staff`s `lifeline`, the Maharaja intends to save Rs 25 crore a year - or a quarter of its communications costs. Curbs have also been imposed on the use of stationery and printers, besides restrictions on clothing, electricity, mobile phone and petrol bill allowances for employees. All these are expected to save Rs 200 core a year, said senior officials of the airline famous for its Maharaja mascot, which is expected report losses running into more than Rs. 2,000 crore. The airline believes a lot of time and money is wasted on personal stuff. "Now we have to give the number to the exchange who then connect the calls. There is no freedom and it is irritating to make a call. We have to wait for a long time in a queue. Forget personal calls. Official calls are suffering," said an employee asking not to be identified. Several other officials have confirmed this restriction. Following an uproar by employees, the self-dialling facility has been restored only for some key departments like flights dispatch, sales and marketing. But more than 60 per cent of the airlines` 23,000 staff who are in non-operational areas are still under restriction. The move comes days after the Air India management shelved its leave-without-pay scheme for employees due to political pressures after private rival Jet Airways suffered angry staff protests when it tried layoffs ...

Citi India staff face downsizing; severance offers made Mumbai, Nov. 22 Some of Citi India’s employees have been sounded out on severance; this comes close on the heels of the parent bank recently announcing it would cut 52,000 jobs in the US over the next year on the back of mounting loan losses. The bank’s Indian operations — with a staff strength of around 11,000 — would be downsizing too, said insiders. A senior Citi India official, who declined to be identified, said employees across senior, mid, and junior levels face retrenchment. “The severance package is not too bad. It may not be a bad idea to opt for it as the bank could face a takeover sooner or later,” the official said. Across the group Offers of a severance package have been made not only to staff from the bank, but also to employees in Citi’s capital markets arm and Citifinancial, the group’s non-banking subsidiary in India, he added. Developments at the bank come in the wake of Mr Sanjay Nayar, former CEO for India and South Asia, Citibank, moving to Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co as its first chief executive officer and country head for India. Citigroup has appointed Mr Mark Robinson in Mr Nayar’s place. A senior Citifinancial official said: “I have no information as yet about lay-offs. As far as business goes, we have restructured our operations by stopping small-ticket retail advances to customers in the Socio-Economic Categories B and C as we have faced a lot of defaults. We are now focussing only on extending big ticket advances to SEC A customers, who have the wherewithal to repay loans.” The official pointed out that, as part of the cost-cutting exercise, some of Citifinancial’s unviable branches may be closed down. “Earlier, a customer could get a loan from us with minimum fuss. But with loan defaults rising, we have tightened the credit appraisal procedures. We now also have a fraud check mechanism in place. So, a customer now has to wait longer to get a loan from us,” he said. Incidentally, Citigroup Inc, which reported a $5.1-billion loss in the first quarter of its accounting year, said in April 2008 that its Indian operations suffered higher credit costs (provisions against bad debt and write-offs) and increased recovery costs. India driven It said the Indian operations contributed to the decline in Citigroup’s net income from Asia. The group had also said that under its international consumer finance business, “the net loss of $99 million was mainly due to an increase in credit costs of 92 per cent, primarily driven by India, and a repositioning charge.” In the financial year ended March 31, 2008, Citibank India reported a 100 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 1,804 crore, against Rs 900 crore in the previous year. ...

SEBI chief rules out scam behind market meltdown Ruling out market manipulation or a scam behind the recent market meltdown, regulator SEBI said only those FIIs who have borrowed huge amounts are leaving the markets, while long-term investors like pension funds and retail investors are picking up stocks. "We have not found anything in the market that would give us suspicion that something had seriously gone wrong with the market itself," SEBI Chairman C B Bhave said. When observed by the discussion moderator that the regulator is giving assurance that scams, which took place in bull runs in the past, are non-existent or negligible this time, Bhave said, "So far we have not seen anything." Only leveraged FIIs like hedge funds are going out of the market, he said, adding that long-term investors like pension funds and university funds are buying stocks. "Equity is going into the hands of people who have patience," he said, pointing out that many people who stayed away from the market last year have now started buying stocks. Bhave said if four FIIs sold stocks, three others bought them during the period from September 1 to November 14, 2008. He said FIIs net sold stocks worth Rs 22,000 crore, while brokers sold stocks worth Rs 700 crore on proprietary accounts in this period. On the other hand, the net buying of stocks by mutual funds was worth Rs 1,000 crore, domestic institutional investors Rs 16,000 crore, and other investors including retail Rs 5,600 crore. The market watchdog`s analysis shows that there was minimal net-selling from September 1 to November 14. ...

All banking employees should get the pink slip... they are so ill informed about their own products LOL...PSU bank employees should be pulled up for their rude and govt babu kind of behavior towads customers.... Most banking executives you approach will not know Which instruments are pledgable Which instruments can get u an OD Which products can get u a sweep in They will brazenly say when u break an FD there are no penalties but they wont tell you that the interest rate they will pay you would be 3% coz u broke the FD sooner.... etc etc. They are so lacking in spirit, enthusiasm, and in knowledge that the govt`s infrastructure, the customer`s money and patience, is all wasted on these lazy exeuctives. There is no professionalism in most bank executive be it pvt or public sector banks.. terrible terrible terrible... the govt of india should appoint a banking employee vigilant squad to oversee the apathy of these buffaloes in the bank....

It is pretty much confirmed now that there have been a round of pink slips handed out at Citigroup India. The exact number is as yet not ascertainable. A Wall Street Journal report had quoted sources and said that about 1,000 jobs will be cut at Citi India. The report also alluded to Citi Financial — that is the NBFC or non-banking financial company arm of the company — being likely to lose most of the jobs. The report quoted a Citi official spokesperson as saying that the NBFC is offering new products or rather revamping a product it is offering and therefore some jobs would be rendered redundant. That much is confirmed.Citi Financial possibly is also another place where there have been major job cuts. The exact number is not ascertainable but job cuts are confirmed. ...

It is now available at 2.5 PE!! It will be priced to 25 PE after 5 years. At least 10X returns from here can be expected on this counter. Rgds,...