India’s IPO Plans Worth More Than $ 8.5 Billion May Be Hit By Recent Market Crash!!!!!

A slew of IPO’s of many Indian firms may be derailed due to the current stock market meltdown including Reliance Infratel, Oil India and NHPC, to enter the capital markets for collectively raising about Rs 35,000 crore, a study said.”Plans of 44 IPOs, collectively planning to raise Rs 31,000 crore, which are presently awaiting SEBI approval, may be hit until the market recovers. These include IPOs of Reliance Infratel, Mahindra Holidays, Future Ventures, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, JSW Energy, NHPC and Oil India,” ASSOCHAM Co-Chairman of the Capital Markets Committee Prithvi Haldea said.

About 20 companies, including Acme Tele Power, Pride Hotels and Xenitis Infotech, which had already received approval from market regulator SEBI, have deferred their initial public offers and are now waiting for a appropriate time to enter the market, according to the study jointly conducted by ASSOCHAM and Prime Database.

anyhow, some of these 64 firms may still proceed with their IPO plans, though at reduced valuations, even in the present market conditions, Haldea added.

At the beginning of the year, ASSOCHAM and Prime Database had estimated that companies could raise nearly Rs 60,000 crore through IPOs in 2008, subject to stable secondary market conditions.

The first three months of the year have seen just 17 IPOs aggregating to Rs 14,900 crore and the amount might have been larger but for the crash in the secondary market since later part of January, it said.

A Very Emotional Moments For BSC Employees Yesterday

James Dimon tramped through the rain on Wednesday evening and strode into the headquarters of Bear Stearns, the embattled investment bank he hopes to buy for a mere $2 a share.     More than 400 Bear executives — seething, fearful and to their dismay, far poorer than they were a week ago — were waiting for him.   Only days after his controversial deal for the beleaguered investment bank stunned Wall Street, Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, made an appearance at Bear Stearns, hoping to win over executives who have vowed to fight his offer. Dimon left many of them as angry and resentful as he found them.
    “I don’t think Bear did anything to deserve this, Dimon said. “Our hearts go out to you’’.
    “No one on Wall Street could have anticipated this’’, he continued. “I feel terrible sometimes when people think we took advantage. I don’t think we could possibly know what you all are feeling, but I hope that you give JP Morgan a chance’’.
    Over the next 45 minutes, Dimon made it clear that he hoped to retain the best employees at Bear but also made it plain that many of Bear’s 14,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the deal, struck at the urging of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. JP Morgan executives plan to cull one Bear employee after another, while keeping the best performers, as they move to integrate the two firms.
    A few of the executives whom Dimon faced on Wednesday, all of whom own Bear shares, pledged to fight the deal in hopes of luring a better offer from a rival bank, a prospect that for now seems distant. Even so, Joseph Lewis, the largest shareholder of Bear, said in a securities filing on Wednesday that he would take ‘whatever action’ necessary to protect his stake, including seeking out another suitor.
    “In this room are people who have built this firm and lost a lot, our fortunes, one Bear executive said to Dimon with anger in his voice. “What will you do to make us whole?’’
    The packed room of senior managing directors applauded. Dimon responded gingerly. “You’re acting like its our fault, and it’s not. If you stay we will make you happy.’’
    But the Bear employee was not satisfied. “I think its galling you come into our house and you call this a ‘merger’, ‘’ the Bear executive went on. This time, Dimon was silent.
    But Dimon, ruddy-faced and sharply dressed in a light blue tie and white shirt, told the executives that those of them who stay might receive at least 25% of the value of their recent Bear stock awards in the form of JP Morgan shares. Those who stay until the deal closes will receive a one-time cash payment. Dimon urged them not to blame Bear’s management, the government or JP Morgan for their circumstances.
    Alan D Schwartz, Bear’s chief executive, looking pale, summed it up. “We here are a collective victim of violence,’’ he said, his voice cracking. “It’s natural to be angry, and you’re not sure who to be angry at. But we have to put it behind us.’’
    But there was a grudging acceptance of their fate, and a number of Bear executives urged colleagues to accept Dimon’s offer.
    “I’ve been here for more than 20 years,’’ one said. “This deal cost me big time. But if there wasn’t a deal, we’d be toast.’’
    Since the deal was reached Sunday night, JP Morgan executives have tried to characterize the situation at Bear as business as usual. It is, however, anything but.
    Inside Bear, it is already clear that the new bosses have arrived. On Wednesday, as Dimon made his way across the street under March skies as dreary as the mood inside Bear, a JP Morgan security guard stood watch at Bear’s entrance. JP Morgan executives have appropriated offices for private meetings and begun placing calls from the desks of Bear executives.
    JP Morgan bankers are already calling most of shots on Bear’s trading floor. Some Bear executives remained in charge of the risks the traders were taking.
    Bear traders are shellshocked. “Never in my wildest dreams did I believe we would be sold for $2,’’ one employee said Wednesday.
    In the past few days there have been several instances when Bear employees have lashed out at the JP Morgan executives, creating awkward moments. The greeting on the Bloomberg email screen of one reads: “BSC Credit Sales …for a little while.’’
    “I have broker’s blood in my veins,’’ one Bear employee recalls Dimon saying, adding that many of the brokers seemed inspired by what they heard.
——-NYT NEWS SERVICE

World Bank Rates India As Top Receiver Of Migrant Remittances In 2007

“India is the top receiver of migrant remittances in 2007, followed by China and Mexico, said the World Bank’s new Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, released Wednesday. The document also shows that while South-South migration nearly equals South-North migration, rich countries are still the main remittances source, led by the US.

The top five recipients of migrant remittances in 2007 were India ($27 billion), China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion), the Philippines ($17 billion), and France ($12.5 billion), according to the factbook. …” [Xinhua]

Sify adds that “…For 2007, recorded remittances flows worldwide were estimated at $318 billion, of which $240 billion went to developing countries. These flows do not include informal channels, which would significantly enlarge the volume of remittances if they were recorded. …” [Sify.com (India)]

BBC News writes that “…The top country from which money was sent was the US with $42bn in recorded outward flows. It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Germany.

Global remittances from migrants are now three times as large as the flows of official government aid to developing countries. ‘In many developing countries, remittances provide a life-line for the poor,’ said the World Bank’s Senior Economist Dilip Ratha. ‘They are often an essential source of foreign exchange and a stabilizing force for the economy in turbulent times.” [BBC News (UK)]

WSJ notes that “…The US, which was the top immigration country in 2005 with 38.4 million immigrants, is by far the largest source of outflows, with $42 billion in recorded outward flows in 2006. Saudi Arabia ranks as the second largest, followed by Switzerland and Germany. The Mexico-US corridor is the largest migration corridor in the world, the Worlds Bank said, accounting for 10.4 million migrants by 2005.