Dr Reddys Q4 net up 67% at Rs 571 crore

Drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories today reported a 66.58 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 570.89 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 mainly on account of robust sales across all segments.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 342.70 crore for the corresponding quarter previous fiscal, the company said in a statement. The company's major segments include global generics, pharmaceutical services and active ingredients.

Net income from sales and services of the company rose to Rs 3,339.94 crore for the quarter under consideration from Rs 2,658.45 crore for the same period year ago. In a separate filing to BSE, the company said its Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs 15 per share of Rs 5 face value, for the financial year 2012-13. 

Reliance Infrastructure Q4 net profit jumps by 76%

Reliance Infrastructure today reported a whopping 76 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 726.12 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 411.46 crore in the same period last financial year (2011-12), Reliance Infrastructure said in a statement.
Total operating income of the company stood at Rs 6,187 crore compared to Rs 7,135 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year.
The annual net profit of the company grew by 42 per cent to Rs 2,247 crore compared to Rs 1,587 crore in the previous year, the statement said.
It reported a total operating income of Rs 22,382 crore during the fiscal compared to Rs 24,216 crore in the previous year (2011-12).
The company earned revenues to the tune of Rs 525 crore in FY'13 from its road projects, it added.
Reliance Infrastructure is developing five transmission projects worth Rs 6,600 crore. The company's order book from its EPC (engineering procurement and construction) business stood at Rs 10,215 crore as on March 31, 2013.
The company concluded the trial run of its Mumbai Metro Rail project earlier this month.
Shares of the company were trading at Rs 384.65, down 0.67 per cent on the BSE at 1:45 pm.

Ranbaxy Lab gains on settlement with US regulator

Ranbaxy Laboratories has moved higher by 3.4% at Rs 455, bouncing back 8% from day’s low after the pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $500 million (approximately Rs 2,743 crore) to resolve fraud allegations that the company sold adulterated drugs and lied about it to US regulators.

The stock opened at Rs 425 and hit a low of Rs 421 in early morning deals on NSE. A combined 3.49 million shares changed hands on the counter till late noon deals against an average less than one million shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on NSE and BSE.

The company also agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling US $150mn and to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act and related State laws for US $350mn. Ranbaxy USA pleaded guilty to three felony counts under Federal Food Durg and Cosmetics Act (FDCA), and four felony counts of knowingly making materially false statements to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

April inflation hits 41-month low of 4.89% versus 5.96% in March

Declining price of food items, including fruits and vegetables, pulled down inflation to nearly a three-and-a-half-year low of 4.89 per cent in April, which may present a case for further monetary policy easing.

Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 5.96 per cent in March. In April, 2012, it was 7.50 per cent.

This is the lowest level of inflation since November, 2009 when it was 4.78 per cent.

As per official data released today, WPI inflation in the manufactured items category declined to 3.41 per cent in April from 4.07 per cent in March.

Also, inflation in food articles category, which has a 14.34 per cent share in the WPI basket, came down to 6.08 per cent. Inflation in this category was at 8.73 per cent in March.

The easing in food inflation was helped by a sharp drop in prices of vegetables. Inflation in vegetables stood at (-)9.05 per cent in April, against (-)0.95 per cent in the previous month.

The inflation in fruits declined to 0.71 per cent during the month as compared to 4.71 per cent in March. However, the rate of price rise in onion was high at 91.69 per cent for the month of April, as against inflation rate of 94.85 per cent in the previous month.

Inflation for February was revised upwards to 7.28 per cent from 6.84 per cent as per provisional estimates.

The retail inflation, as measured by consumer price index, came down to single digit at 9.39 per cent in April after many months, indicating that inflationary expectation is on declining trend.

The RBI will take into account the declining inflationary trend while unveiling its mid-quarter policy review on June 17.

Commenting on inflation figures, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said: "We are happy that inflation figure has come down". Inflation in wheat eased to 13.89 per cent in April, as against 19.87 per cent in the previous month. Potatoes too saw decline to (-)2.42 per cent, from 20.06 per cent in March.

Inflation rate in rice and cereals eased to 17.09 per cent and 15.63 per cent, respectively, in April.

Pulses prices declined marginally to 10.28 per cent during the month.

While the inflation rate in egg, meat and fish category stood at 10.44 per cent, for milk it was 4.04 per cent. For the fuel and power category, it was lower at 8.84 per cent in April as compared to 10.18 per cent in March, 2013.

In order to accelerate economic growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this month cut key interest rates by 0.25 per cent.

"Although headline WPI inflation has eased by March, 2013 to come close to the Reserve Bank's tolerance threshold, it is important to note that food price pressures persist and supply constraints are endemic, which could lead to a generalisation of inflation...," the RBI had said.