LS polls from April 16

To be conducted in 5 phases
Counting on May 16
Code of conduct in force
New Delhi, March 2
The Election Commission of India today announced the much-awaited dates for holding elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. The general elections would be conducted in five phases — between April 16 and May 13 — while the counting would be done on May 16. The model code of conduct, too, was enforced with immediate effect.

The poll schedule was announced at a press conference here this afternoon by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and Election Commissioners Naveen Chawla and SY Quraishi.

As many as 124 Lok Sabha constituencies would go to the polls on April 16 in the first phase, followed by 141 on April 23, 107 on April 30, 85 on May 7 and finally 86 on May 13. Significantly, this would be the first general election after the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies.

Notably, most of the constituencies in north India — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, western parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand — would go to polls in the fourth or the fifth phase. In Punjab, polling would be held in two phases while in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh it would spread across five phases.

The poll schedule was announced a day after President Pratibha Patil rejected Gopalaswami’s controversial suggestion to sack Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla from the poll panel on grounds that he was “biased” towards the Congress. The CEC said the new Lok Sabha would be constituted by June 2.

Notably, this time there would be 4.3 crore more voters than 2004. At 71 crore, the strength of the Indian electorate is more than the combined population of Russia and the US.

More than 40 lakh civil officials and 21 lakh security personnel would be deployed across some 8.28 lakh polling stations, an increase of 20 per cent over 2004 when 6.87 lakh polling stations were set up. As many as 12,000 of the new polling stations have been set up in villages having less than 300 electors. The commission has also undertaken exercise of vulnerability mapping to identify areas where voters could face threat. A total of 13.68 lakh electronic voting machines would be used.

Among other states, Bihar would have four rounds of polling. Maharashtra and West Bengal would undergo polling over three phases. Apart from Punjab, seven more states, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Orissa, would witness voting in two rounds. All other states and union territories would go to the polls in one go.

Lok Sabha polls in 5 phases between April 16-May 13

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha elections will be held in five phases between April 16 and May 13. The counting will be done on May 16.

New Lok Sabha will be constituted by June 2. The elections will be held in 5 phases in J&K and Uttar Pradesh, in four phases in Bihar, three in Maharashtra, two in AP, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, MP, Orissa and Punjab, remaining states and UTs, the election will be held on one day, the Election Commission informed the media on Monday.

Polls will be conducted in 124 constituencies on April 16, in 141 constituencies on April 23, in 107 constituencies on April 30, 85 on May 7 and 86 on May 13.

Treating Manipur as an exception, polls will be conducted in the state on April 22, considering April 23 is a local holiday there.

Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Orissa will go to polls with the other states.

Earlier in the day, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh announced its entry into the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The RLD will have a poll pact with the main NDA constituent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

January exports fall by 15.9%

NEW DELHI: The global economic downturn continued to take its toll on Indian exports in the first month of the calendar year. Exports in January 2009 fell by 15.9% to $12.38 billion compared to exports worth $ 14.72 billion in January 2008. Thanks to a sharp dip in India’s oil bill during the month, imports registered the first dip during the on-going fiscal. There was a sharp fall of 18.2% im imports to $ 18.45 billion in January 2009 compared to $ 22.56 billion in January 2008. The official estimates of trade data for January 2009 was realsed by the commerce department on Monday.

Sectors which took the most severe drubbing during the month include textiles, handicrafts, gems & jewellery, leather, plastics, metals and rice, as per the initial estimates brought out by the commerce department earlier this month. The early estimates had painted a darker picture by putting the drop in exports at 22%.

India’s cumulative value of exports for the period April-January, 2008-09 was $144.26 billion as against $127.45 billion in the first ten months of 2007-08 registering a growth of 13.2%. The commerce and industry minister revised India’s growth target for the fiscal downwards to $170-175 billion from $200 billion fixed earlier. The minister is, however, optimistic that in the next fiscal it will be possible to meet the $200 billion target. India exported goods worth $162 billion in 2007-08.

In January 2009, India’s oil imports went down by 47.5% to $4.46 billion from $8.5 billion in January 2008. The dip in non-oil imports was relatively negligible at 0.5% with imports falling to $13.99 billion in January 2009 compared to imports worth $14.06 billion in January 2008.

Non-oil imports during April-January 2009 were valued at $ 160 billion which was 21.9% higher than the level of such imports valued at $ 131.36 billion in April-January 2007-08.

The trade deficit for April-January 2008-09 was estimated at $99.1 billion compared to a deficit of $66.83 billion during April-January 2007-08.

Sensex plunges to three-month low, RIL leads the fall

2 Mar 2009, 1627 hrs IST, PT
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday tumbled to a three-month low by losing 284 points, impacted by the deepening global economic crisis, sparking heavy selling by funds in blue-chips led by Reliance Industries.

The Sensex plunged by 284.53 points at 8,607.08, after touching the day's low of 8,563.52, the lowest since November 20, mostly on reports of the US economy contracting at the fastest pace in more than 27 years.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 89.05 points to 2,674.60, after touching a low of 2,659.55 during the day.

The trend-setter Reliance Industries, which approved the absorption of its unit Reliance Petroleum, led the decline with many stocks in the Mukesh and Anil Ambani group firms closing with losses.

Tata Consultancy Services led the decline among software makers as the US economy shrank at the fastest pace since 1982. More than 50 per cent of the country's software export revenue comes from the US.

RIL lost 3.15 per cent, Reliance Infra 9.12 per cent, RCom 6.50 per cent, Reliance Capital 6.97 per cent, Reliance Power 1.86 per cent and Reliance Petroleum 1.38 per cent.

Rupee at all-time low of 51.80/$; Citi sees 54/$ ahead

The Indian rupee is at a record low of Rs 51.80 per dollar on the back of dollar buying by oil companies.

Most other Asian currencies fell too on global risk aversion.

Citi has said the rupee may touch touch Rs 54 per dollar levels in the next two to four weeks. “Customers are still on the short side,” it said. “The rupee will move along with other Asian currencies as risk aversion is still there. Any RBI intervention will smooth the movement but cannot stop the rupee slide.”

Standard Chartered said it expects rate cuts to happen soon.

“There is little fresh supply coming from the market and with global equity markets weakening outflows, it is likely to put pressure on the rupee,” said HDFC.

Wages at IT multinationals start melting down

Bangalore: Software multinationals in India have begun freezing wage increases, slashing salaries and postponing merit-based hikes, a study by Indian consulting firm Zinnov has found.

"Though Bangalore stands highest in its average salary for multinational R&D firms, followed by Pune and Chennai, the economic slump is causing undue pressure on them to retain compensation levels," Zinnov director for advisory services C.S. Chandramouli, told IANS after the survey was made public.

Hinting that IT salaries in 2009 would see a freeze across the board in a majority of the firms surveyed, Chandramouli said the average increment would be in the 5-12 percent range.

"Of the 30 representative multinationals surveyed in these three cities (Bangalore, Pune and Chennai), 27 percent of them said they have frozen salary increases this year, while 42 percent said they would provide salary increases and 15 percent have postponed their merit increase cycle to take a call at a later stage if the economic scenario changes," Chandramouli said.

As a preferred destination for IT services and R&D, about 680 multinationals operate in India. Many of them have more than one R&D centre and presence in one or two of the three cities surveyed.

According to Zinnov's annual report on "Compensation and Benefit Study 2009", 12 percent of the MNCs have announced 5-10 percent salary cuts either for senior management or across levels.

"The survey highlights that multinationals are also shifting focus to the variable pay component to reward and retain top performers as opposed to fixed pay. Some of them have even restructured their compensation, linking employee rewards to individual and organisational results," the report said.

Referring to the adverse impact of the tough economic conditions on the compensation budgets, Chandramouli said MNCs were attempting to balance their need to retain key talent and address concerns over wage increase.

"Organisations are being proactive in managing people cost as it constitutes about 62 percent of the total operating cost," he noted.

Highlighting compensation trends across functions like engineering, quality assurance testing and technical architects, the report said senior positions such as engineering manager and director engineering continued to be on a rise, with an average eight percent increase.

As India's IT hub, Bangalore, however, continues to dominate the compensation index, especially in software product and R&D.

"Bangalore engineers are paid five percent higher than their counterparts in Pune and eight percent higher than in Chennai for engineering and quality positions," Zinnov consultant Sahana Shetty said.

However, average salaries of senior positions in the three cities are similar, though average salaries at junior positions are two-three percent higher in Bangalore.
"Employees are not clear if they will be laid off or if the projects they are working on will be de-prioritised. They are also concerned about the financial health of the parent company. Employees are frustrated with cost cuts for wha

t seem like inexpensive benefits (snacks, lunch, office parties, etc)," Shetty added.

HP is the consumer PC king

This year we clubbed together the consumer notebook and consumer desktop categories, and called it PC-Consumers. Reason—notebooks now account for more than 50 percent of the PCs sold to consumers and SOHOs.
HP with its dual brand (HP and Compaq) strategy topped this category by ranking higher on three out of five criteria. HCL, on the back of its strong tier-3 and tier-4 channel connect, came second. Lenovo and Dell both ended up with same final scores thus sharing the number three spot followed by Acer.
While the desktop business has been HCL’s strength, its notebooks are seeing good demand especially in smaller cities. Lenovo, which began the year by consolidating its consumer business under the Idea brand, has been criticized for favoring Large-Format Retailers, especially in tier-1 cities. Lenovo retailers polled blamed the vendor for letting LFRs sell products at much lower prices than theirs.
Dell made strong strides in the retail segment on the back of its brand pull, onsite warranty and better price-performance. But, respondents said, to rank higher on channel preference Dell still needs to prove its commitment and consistency.
While respondents appreciated Acer’s improved retail program, the vendor’s marketing and post-sales support need improvement. It also needs to review its LFR strategy.

Price-performance
HP was the overall price-performance leader in both the notebook and desktop category, followed by Dell, HCL, Lenovo and Acer. Despite Dell’s lower MOP, where HP scored was on the freebies it bundled with its products. Dell ranked ahead of Lenovo, Acer and HCL for notebooks, while HCL fared better for desktops, primarily because of favorable votes from resellers in smaller cities. Interestingly, Acer, despite its competitive pricing, scored the lowest on this parameter.

Marketing & branding

On this criterion HP leads, followed by Lenovo, HCL, Acer and Dell. The HP-Compaq duo enjoys strong customer pull; it was also ranked the most aggressive in rolling out consumer and channel incentive schemes. Throughout the year the company gave away freebies with its notebooks and desktops, which helped its partners sell more.
Lenovo, which ranked second on this parameter, enjoys customer pull in tier-1 and tier-2 cities, but in smaller cities it is still considered a push brand. HCL enjoys a brand pull like no other in smaller cities, and also does more promotions in these cities compared to tier-1 and tier-2 geographies. Acer lacks customer pull in small cities, while Dell lacks promotions and schemes for end-user demand generation.

Service & support
Dell’s onsite warranty policy is a clear winner. Many respondents believe that onsite warranty should become the standard in the consumer segment. HCL came in second by getting higher positive votes from smaller cities.
HP, despite the warranty woes of the past four months, ranked ahead of Lenovo and Acer. Lenovo partners polled said that the company suffers from a longer turnaround time than its peers for repair and replacement.
Though Acer’s RMA turnaround time is similar to Lenovo’s, what probably puts it behind is the consistent grouse among respondents in tier-1 and tier-2 cities about the frequent change of service partners and the lack of communication about these changes. Even the company’s Web site doesn’t have an updated list of ASPs, thus creating confusion among partners and customers.

Channel relationship
HP’s retail program was rated the most structured and consistent. Respondents appreciated the vendor’s rebate programs and its automated rebate authorization and clearance process.
HCL ranked second on this parameter because it enjoys a strong positive association with channels in tier-3 and tier-4 cities, where it outperformed even HP.
Lenovo needs to improve its clearance process as it’s currently ridden with disputes and delays. Resellers, especially in tier-2 cities, complained of frequent changes in local staff and authorized dealers, which is affecting Lenovo’s channel relationships.
Acer ramped up its retail partner network and also introduced new benefits for them. While respondents in tier-1 cities criticized its LFR strategy, those in smaller places complained of not getting regular communication about products and prices.
Dell failed to win the trust and confidence of respondents. The pricing disparity between its products sold through channels and those sold online continues to pique respondents. But Dell’s better price-performance and onsite warranty continue to push channel sales.