Narayana Murthy Leaving the Infosys

Leaving Infosys to N R Narayana Murthy was like parents sending away their daughter after her marriage, the founder and outgoing chairman has said in his last letter to the company's shareholders.

"The best analogy that I can think of for this separation between Infosys and me is that of one's daughter getting married and leaving her parents' home," Murthy said in an emotional letter to Infosys' shareholders.

Having nurtured the country's leading IT firm for the last 30 years, Murthy would be succeeded by eminent banker K V Kamath as Infosys' Chairman with effect from August 21 and would thereafter become 'Chairman Emeritus'.

Murthy, in his letter published in the company's annual report for 2010-11, went on to say that he had to go through tough times explaining to his son and daughter about whom he loved more -- Infosys or the family.

Murthy said that his children do not believe him, even today, that he loved them more than anything else.
"When I was spending 16-hour days in the office and was away from home for as many as 330 days in a year, it was hard for my children to believe in my commitment to the family," he said.

He went on to explain in his letter the entire journey of the company to become one of the leading technology majors of the country. Wishing the current management of the company luck for the future, Murthy said that he would be always there, whenever needed by Infosys.

In early trade Rupee up 9 paise against U.S. dollar

The Indian rupee strengthened by 9 paise to Rs. 45.06 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on Wednesday, largely in line with other stronger Asian currencies overseas and a higher opening in the stock market

The rupee had depreciated by 29 paise to close at a nearly two-month low of Rs. 45.15/16 against the U.S. dollar in the previous session on Monday following weakness in equities and fresh dollar demand.The forex and money markets remained closed on Tuesday on account of “Buddha Purnima“. Forex dealers said dollar weakness against other Asian currencies and the higher opening in the stock market mainly supported the rupee.

Top Gainer HDFC

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) was the top gainer on the Sensex. It touched an intraday high of Rs 647.30 and an intraday low of Rs 635. At 15:18 hrs the share was quoting at Rs 646.50, up Rs 15.45, or 2.45%.

It was trading with volumes of 217,491 shares. In the previous trading session, the share closed down 0.43% or Rs 2.70 at Rs 631.05.

Share Price Movement During The Last 12 Months
Period	Price	Latest Price	Gain/Loss (Rs.)	% Gain/Loss
3-Days	646.75	646.50	-0.25	-0.04
5-Days	665.55	646.50	-19.05	-2.86
7-Days	661.65	646.50	-15.15	-2.29
15-Days	699.20	646.50	-52.70	-7.54
1-Month	693.70	646.50	-47.20	-6.80
3-Month	649.35	646.50	-2.85	-0.44
6-Month	699.70	646.50	-53.20	-7.60
9-Month	602.29	646.50	44.21	7.34
1-Year	550.93	646.50	95.57	17.35

Government is Planning to increase the Company’s Subsidy

India’s primary oil producer, the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is about to get it in the neck once again. According to news reports, the government is planning to increase the company’s subsidy burden in order to avoid taking a more direct hit on budgetary finances.

Under the formula worked out earlier, ONGC and other oil and gas producers (Gas Authority of India Ltd and Oil India Ltd) have to offer “discounts” (i.e. subsidies) to  oil marketing companies (Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL) up to 33.3 percent of their losses on diesel, cooking gas and kerosene sales. Now, the government apparently wants to raise the subsidy amount to Rs 30,000 crore this year, which works out to 38.5 percent, though there is no official confirmation of this move.

While the ONGC share is obviously tanking on this news, the move raises serious concerns about corporate governance at ONGC. The government wears two hats when it comes to ONGC. As a policymaker, it can direct  ONGC to subsidise whomsoever it wants to in public interest. But ONGC is not fully owned by the government: 26 percent of its shareholders are ordinary and institutional investors, whose interests cannot be sacrificed at the whims of the majority shareholder. The same holds for GAIL and OIL, both of which are publicly-listed companies.

Nifty turns choppy

Indian markets were witnessing a choppy session due to lack of buying conviction amongst investors as concerns of inflationary pressure and possible rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India in its next meet dampened sentiments. Auto, banks and oil & gas stocks were down on profit booking while IT and capital goods space showed some strength.

"The market has been reeling under a series of bad news. It started with the dismal results and dramatic exits at Infosys. The RBI aggravated the pain with a 50 bps rate hike. Earnings from RIL and Bharti also failed to impress.

On Tuesday, shocking Q4 results from SBI sent the market into a tailspin. Bad news on ONGC and RIL exacerbated the fall. The knock on the chin could have been harder but for the strength in ITC, HUL and TCS.

Today's start will be better but don't bet on a substantial turnaround. All eyes are now on Bajaj Auto results today. L & T will announce its report card on Thursday. ITC will come out with its numbers on Friday.

Inflation remains a big headache as well.