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Bangalore: A part of personal care brand Yardley’s business in Asia, Middle East, Australia and north and west Africa has been acquired by Wipro’s consumer care division for about $45.5 million (about Rs 215 crore)

This business was owned by UK-based Lornamead Group, which had bought Yardley from Procter & Gamble in 2005. In the regions that Wipro has acquired the brand for, Yardley has annual revenue run rate of $24 million (about Rs 100 crore). About 70% of this comes from the Middle East and 20% from India.

The brand, first established almost two and a half centuries ago, in 1770, gives Wipro a range of products in the premium end of the personal care segment. Vineet Agrawal, president of Wipro consumer care, said it would complement the company's Santoor brand, positioned in the popular segment, and brands like Enchanteur that it acquired from Singapore-based Unza in 2007.

Enchanteur is priced almost double than Santoor talcum powder ( 100 gm ) which is priced at Rs 36 whereas Yardley is priced at Rs 68. Santoor soap (100 gm) is priced at Rs 18 and Yardley at Rs 40. "Yardley has a strong equity amongst discerning customers and has traditionally been a great gifting brand," Nagender Arya, regional director in Wipro, said.

Wipro’s consumer care revenues grew by 37% in 2008 – 09 to touch Rs 2,083 crore, which is 8% of the It major’s total revenues. The division has an operating margin of 12-13%. Agrawal said Yardley is a profitable brand and could help to take the division's margins higher.

Talcum powder constitutes 40% of Yardley's revenues, deodorants 20%, soaps 14% and perfumes 9%. Arya said Wipro will give a greater push to deos to cater to the younger generation. "We also have a good understanding of soaps. So we'll see if we can manufacture some of that here to avoid duties," he said. Santoor is India's third biggest soap brand, after HUL's Lifebuoy and Lux.

Yardley's business in India is currently small but Wipro plans to use its distribution reach in over 50,000 outlets in metros and class 1 cities to expand the business.

Since 2003 Wipro's consumer care has made five acquisitions, of which Unza’s acquisitions was the biggest, which was at a cost of $246 million. That deal took Wipro into global markets, especially those in South East Asia. Yardley now gives it a strong presence in the Middle East.

Mumbai: All the home loan rates, including the eight percent special scheme which was originally slated to end this week, are going to remain as it is, says SBI

“We have decided to keep the rates at the same level in the immediate future (including the 8 per cent scheme). The current rate structure will continue,” SBI Chief General Manager, P Nandakumar, said.

This statement came from SBI in response to the media reports that says that SBI may withdraw the special home loan scheme, which offers eight percent fixed interest rate for loans upto Rs 5 lakh for five years
The scheme, which offers loan upto Rs 50 lakh at 8 percent for the first year and at 8.5 percent in the second and third years was supposed to end on November 7.

State Bank is understood to have plans to come with some special offers on home loans in the near future.

In this quarter that ended on September 30, the bank had seen a 23.40 per cent growth in its home loan portfolio.

On the back of a healthy growth in net interest income and core fee income, State Bank clocked a 10.19 per cent jump in its standalone net profit at Rs 2,490-crore in Q2 FY 10.

SBI witnessed a healthy credit growth of 16.39 per cent in the quarter and is optimistic about achieving a growth rate of 22 per cent for the full financial year.

The lenders advances grew up to 16.39 percent, from Rs 4,98,513-crore in Q2 last fiscal to Rs 5,80,237-crore

As software companies move up in the value chain, India is set to become a global leader in technology services. On the other hand weak dollar has hurt the US economic recovery, says the Chairman and CEO of Forbes.

"You have to make the distinction between pumping in money in immediate emergency response to the near collapse of the financial system and when the immediate crisis is over," Steve Forbes, 62, said, when asked what he made of the US government's response to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression.

“Number of mistakes made by the US government has slowed the recovery of economy. They've not reduced taxes ... in terms of the dollar, they have not stabilized the dollar. They've weakened the dollar which hurts business investments, hurts the flow of capital and small businesses,” he said

"So the government is prolonging the crisis - we should have had a strong recovery instead," Forbes said, adding that not enough was being done for job creation.

He also said that ‘ Economic growth in India proved that the country is able to handle the crisis very well’. On the other hand he said that the government of India would have to work hard in order to make the economy grow further.

The Indian economy rose 6.7 per cent in 2008/09, while it is expected to rise 6 per cent in the current fiscal year.

"India should continue the liberalization that began in 1991, including simplifying the tax code and reducing tax rates, and allowing more overseas investments into India," he said.

The average pre-placement salaries offered to students of India's foremost technology schools (IITs) are lower by about half this year as compared to the same time last year, according to sources.

A drop of 36%. IIT Kharagpur has registered 10 compared to 38 a drop of 35% and Lucknow has registered 8 compared to the 25 registered this time last year a drop of 47%. IIT Kanpur has seen a drop of 48% with 12 companies registered so far when compared to 37 in October last year.

The number of companies that have registered for final placements, too, has gone down by around 45%, they said on condition of anonymity.

Pre-placement job offers at IITs have seen average salaries drop by nearly 50% since last year. For example, sources say that in IIT Bombay, average salary for PPOs has dropped from Rs 9 lakh per annum to Rs 5 lakh per annum –– a 55% drop. IIT Kharagpur has seen its average salary for PPOs drop from Rs 9.5 lakhs to Rs 4 lakhs, that's a 65% drop. Other IITs have received PPOs but there's no commitment of salaries.

Sources say that the number of companies registering for final placements so far have also seen a significant fall this year. The IITs are even considering reducing the registration fees charged to these institutions.

Experts say one main reason for the drop in registrations could be that some large companies like Accenture, Wipro and Infosys may visit campuses only in March next year.

Many public sector companies, particularly in the core sector, have shown interest in placements. IITs also expect big recruiters like Larsen & Toubro, Gas Authority of India, Tata Motors, Oracle, JP Morgan and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), who pick up 10-15 students, to return this placement season.

Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield-services provider that gave the highest package of $100,000 last year, is also expected.

Adobe Systems, will recruit 4-5 graduates from each of the seven IITs, while finance companies Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have already made some offers.