S&P lowers India's growth forecast to 5.5% for 2012

Global ratings agency Standard & Poor's Monday said it has lowered India's economic growth forecast by one percentage point to 5.5% for 2012 due to deficient rainfall and lingering crisis in the Eurozone and weak recovery in the US. "The lack of monsoon rains has affected India, for

 which agriculture still forms a substantial part of the economy. Additionally, the more cautious investor sentiment globally has seen potential investors become more critical of India's policy and infrastructure shortcomings," S&P said.

The Indian economy grew at a sluggish 5.5% in April-June 2012 period as compared to 8% in the corresponding quarter of previous year, according to the latest government data.

In the first quarter of the current calendar year, India's GDP growth had slumped to nine year low of 5.3%.

The S&P forecasts show that economic growth situation would remain sluggish in the second half of the year as well.

In a report titled "Asia-Pacific feels the pressure of ongoing global economic uncertainty" the ratings agency cut gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for all major Asian economies.

The agency has lowered real GDP growth forecasts for the calendar year 2012 by about half a percentage point for China to 7.5%, Japan to 2%, South Korea to 2.5%, Singapore to 2.1% and Taiwan to 1.9%.

GDP growth forecast for Hong Kong is revised downward by about one percentage point to 1.8%, while for Australia it is lowered marginally to 3% from 3.2%.

"Any worsening of the economic conditions in the Eurozone will increase contagion risk for Asia Pacific, given the region's -- particularly the open economies' -- sensitivity to capital flows and trade," S&P credit analyst Andrew Palmer said in the report.

S&P said credit conditions for the countries in Asia Pacific remained mixed.

"We have factored our base case GDP scenarios into our current ratings on and issues in the region. At this stage, the short-term impact of the greater-than-anticipated slowdown on credit ratings is likely to be limited to the more leveraged entities," the ratings agency said.
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Naveen Jindal tops executive pay chart with Rs 73.4 crore package

Naveen Jindal tops executive pay chart with Rs 73.4 crore package
NEW DELHI: Naveen Jindal has topped the executive pay charts for listed companies in the country with a package of Rs 73.42 crore for the last fiscal 2011-12, which grew by over Rs six crore from previous year. 

Jindal, Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), was followed by Sun TV Network's Kalanithi and Kavery Maran (Rs 57.01 crore each), Hero MotoCorp's Pawan Munjal (Rs 34.47 crore) and Brijmohan Lall Munjal (Rs 34.44 crore) among the five top-paid executives. 

These pay packages include salary, perquisites, profit- linked incentives or commissions and other benefits. 

Jindal has remained top-paid executive for the second consecutive year now, after he dislodged Kalanithi Maran from the pole position in the year 2010-11. 

The collective pay of the 10 top-paid executives rose by Rs 43 crore (over 12 per cent) to Rs 387 crore in fiscal ended March 31, 2012, as per the data available with the companies that have so far published their respective annual reports. 

Interestingly, the pay packages declined for only two -- Kalanithi and Kavery Maran -- among these ten in 2011-12, while all others saw their remunerations fatten in the year. 

Madras Cements' PRR Rajha was ranked 6th (Rs 29.34 crore), followed by Maruti Suzuki's Shinzo Nakanishi (Rs 28.14 crore), BGR Energy's BG Raghupaty (Rs 25.98 crore), Tata Motors' former chief Carl-Peter Forster (Rs 23.97 crore) and Divi's Labs' Murali K Divi (Rs 23.15 crore). 

Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani, once the country's highest-paid executive, was not in the top-ten and was ranked 15th with a remuneration of Rs 15 crore, which has remained unchanged for four consecutive years now. 

Those ranked higher than Ambani include Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal (Rs 21.3 crore), Hindalco's D Bhattacharya (Rs 19.5 crore), JSW Steel's Sajjan Jindal (Rs 18.18 crore) and Amara Raja Batteries' Jayadev Galla (Rs 17.23 crore). 

Among these, Mittal and Sajjan Jindal saw their packages decline during the year 2011-12. 

The collective remuneration of 15 highest-paid executives rose by about Rs 38 crore to Rs 478 crore. 

Interestingly, there are only four Sensex companies, whose top executives figure among the ten top-paid persons. 

However, a majority of the Sensex companies, which are considered as the country's top-30 blue chip firms, saw their top executives' packages rise 2011-12, even as industry titans like Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Azim Premji and Sunil Mittal either took a pay cut or capped their salaries. 

Mukesh's younger brother Anil Ambani also saw his total remuneration from the four main companies of Reliance Group fall by nearly two-third during the year, although none of his group firms are currently part of the Sensex.