Monsoon rains arrive in Kerala

India's annual monsoon rains have arrived at the southern Kerala coast, a top weather official said on Tuesday, brightening prospects of higher farm output by aiding farmers to plant summer-sown crops such as rice, soybean and cotton on time.

"It's been raining in Kerala for the past few days, but the parameters suggest that the monsoon has arrived today," B.P. Yadav, a director at the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) told Reuters.

The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the south Asian nation's arable land is rain-fed, and farm sector accounts for about 15 percent of a nearly $2-trillion economy, Asia's third-biggest.


India is the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat, sugar and cotton and also one of the largest consumers, with a population of about 1.2 billion.

Another senior weather office official, who declined to be named, said he expected monsoon rains to make good progress in the western Indian coast - in coffee, tea, rubber and cane areas - in next 2-3 days.

The IMD has forecast average rains in 2012, for the third straight year.

"We are sticking to our forecast of a normal monsoon," Mr Yadav said, adding, the IMD would review its forecast around June 25 after the rains cover half of the country.

The June-September rainy season starts over the Kerala coast and covers the rest of India and neighbouring countries Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal by mid-July.

Last week, weather officials said a cyclonic pressure over the Arabian Sea has delayed the rains, give or take 4 days, from its expected June 1 arrival date.

In 2011, the IMD had forecast the onset of monsoon on May 31, but the rains arrived two days ahead of the estimate.

Hired by Twitter (package of Rs. 80 lakh per annum)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh): It's a dream come true for 22-year-old Swapnil Jain, a computer science graduate from IIT-Delhi. Swapnil, who hails from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, has been offered a job by micro-blogging website Twitter - at a whopping package of Rs 80 lakh per annum.

He is moving to California in October to start his new job.

"Twitter has offered me a software engineer's job during the placement in IIT-Delhi. It was my dream to work for companies like Twitter or Facebook. I have worked very hard and my efforts have paid off," he said.

Swapnil says this is the first time in the last two years that Twitter has hired someone from India. And he is thrilled.

"I want to represent my country and hope that I'm able to make my family and city proud," he said.

Swapnil credits his success to his family, especially his parents. His grandfather, Babu Lal Jain, is a well-known lawyer in Vidisha and his father has a jewellery showroom.

"I am very happy. He made this possible through his hard work and dedication," said Swapnil's father Sanjay Jain.

Bajaj Auto May sales slip 2%

India's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto's sales in May declined 2% year-on-year to 3,52,219 units as commercial vehicles tumbled and exports to Sri Lanka continued to be hit.

Its total motorcycle sales rose just 1% to 3,21,922 units and total exports were up 3% to 1,30,573 units.

The Sri Lanka government had beginning April hiked import duties sharply, which hit Indian companies like Bajaj Auto hard. The Pune-based company exports both two-wheelers and three-wheeler autos to the island nation.

Bajaj Auto said its exports to Sri Lanka in May were nil, compared with a typical monthly average of 10,000 motorcycles and three-wheelers.  Company officials had said earlier that the local distributor would want to clear existing inventory before placing new orders in the wake of the duty hike.

The company now expects its exports to Sri Lanka will pick up from July.

Meanwhile, Bajaj Auto's total three-wheeler CV sales continued to slip. In May, sales plunged 26% to 30,297 units.  CV sales in April had declined 13%.

Over April-May, the company has sold 7,33,809 units in total, up only 1%. Motorcycle sales over the last two months are up 4%, exports are up 5% and CV sales are down 19%.

While Bajaj Auto's sales have hit speed bumps, its rivals continue to accelerate.  Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, third-largest two-wheeler maker in India, sold 2,21,540 units in May up 52% year-on-year. The growth was led by 65% rise in scooter sales and 37% uptick in motorcycle demand.

India's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp last week reported its sales rose 11% to 5,56,644 units.

Bajaj Auto shares were down 1.3% to Rs 1,478.90 units in morning trade.

Nigerian plane crashes into residential area, 153 killed

Over 153 people were feared dead when a passenger plane tragically crashed into a residential building shortly after takeoff in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos today.

The plane carrying 153 passengers and crew members had taken off from Lagos but was attempting to return to the airport after the pilot noticed a glitch with the aircraft.

The aircraft belonging to Dana Air crashed into a building and caught fire immediately, sending billows of thick black smoke into the air at the Iju neighbourhood where it went down.

Harold Demureen, head of the oil rich African country's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the crash and said he believed there were little chances of finding any survivors in the horrific tragedy.

Besides the 153 passengers and crew on the plane, residents of the house may add to the number of persons killed or injured in the crash.

As plumes of smoke emerged fro the crash site, several people rushed to the area to see what had happened.

An eyewitness told PTI he does not believe any of the passengers would have survived the crash that happened near a bus stop in the Ifako Local Government Area of Lagos state.

Emergency services, including fire fighters, also rushed to the area as a thick fire engulfed the site of the accident.

A report in Thisday newspaper said the plane had taken off shortly before the crash.

The aircraft had a full load of fuel for its hour-long flight to capital Abuja, which led to a massive conflagration and is sure to cause a high casualty figure.

Sensex falls over 200 points

The BSE Sensex opened gap down Monday, falling 1% tracking weakness in global markets. The benchmark extended losses as selling pressure gathered momentum on the Dalal Street. The broader Nifty index traded below the key 4,800 mark.

The latest trigger for the global selloff came from the US, where American employers added just 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year. Economists had forecast a gain of 158,000 jobs. Economic news from all major economic regions was depressing. The unemployment in the 17 countries that use the euro currency stayed at a record-high 11 percent in April. China's manufacturing sector weakened in May.

The Sensex has now fallen nearly 500 points in two trading sessions in June. The sharp fall comes on the back of over 5% cut in May.

"This market is headed towards 4,550-4,600 and the 52 week-low is likely to be tested," independent analyst Sarvendra Srivastava said.


All groups of stocks traded lower on the BSE. High beta realty stocks (-3%) led the losses, followed by consumer durables stocks (-2.7%). 

On the Nifty index, 48 of the 50 stocks traded in the red. Realty major DLF (-5.8%) was the top loser, followed by oil and gas major Cairn India (-4.6%). The Vedanta Group firm is hit when crude prices fall.

Commodity stocks like Hindalco (-3%) and JSPL (-2.9%) saw selling pressure on the back of global uncertainty. State Bank of India (-2.6%), which had seen significant gains on the back of Q4 earnings, led the losses in the banking sector. IT stocks also traded lower, led by Infosys (-1.72%).

Hero MotoCorp (0.7%), India's biggest two wheeler firm gained on the back of strong sales in May. Oil refiner BPCL (0.36%) rose after days of selloff.

The market breadth was extremely weak with only 9% stocks managing to advance on the BSE 500 index.

Asian markets also traded with deep cuts, with benchmarks in South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan falling 2-3% Monday. The Dow Jones index fell 275 points or 2.2% Friday.

"Global cues will decide the trend for markets... if ECB does not decide anything on Spain later this week, we could see lower levels," Avinnash Gorakssakar of Moneyinvestments.in said.