CORPORATION BANK / SYNDICATE BANK - PSU

Both are mid-sized state owned banks. Their performance on most of the operating parameters is more than satisfactory. They provide a unique mix of consistency with growth. These banks may not feature among the fastest growing banks in India but the sheer consistency in their numbers makes them worthwhile for investors. For instance, in case of Syndicate Bank the loan growth remained in the range of 25-40% in the past three financial years. This shows that the bank managed to grow its loan book at higher than industry rates for three consecutive years. Similar was the case with Corporation Bank.

Their asset quality is evident from the fact that net non-performing assets form less than 1% of their net assets. However, Corporation Bank maintains an edge over Syndicate Bank, as the former has maintained an average return on assets (RoA) of 1.3% in last three financial years, while the latter clocked an average RoA of only 0.9%. On an average, Indian banks posted RoA of 1%. This shows that Corporation Bank has performed better than industry on all the counts.

CHENNAI PETROLEUM - PSU

Chennai Petroleum is a 51.9% subsidiary of Indian Oil and co-promoter National Iranian Oil company hold a minority 15.4% stake. Chennai Petroleum operates two refineries with a combined capacity of 10.5 MTPA. The company recently completed water desalination and 20 MW power plant making itself sufficient in key inputs. The company is also adding capacity to its Manali refinery, besides upgrading it to Euro III/IV compliant. Going forward, the company will also set up a single point mooring and crude oil terminal to reduce its logistical costs. It also plans to invest in improving distillate yields through residue upgradation. Although current conditions in refining business do not project a rosy picture in immediate future, investors could invest for long-term.

DREDGING CORPORATION OF INDIA - PSU

This debt free PSU is the largest dredging company in the country. The 78.6% government controlled dredging company is estimated to have a market share of about 80-85%. As of March ‘09 it had 12 dredgers in its fleet. Recent entrants in this sector include shipping companies like Mercator Lines, which had four dredgers at the end of October ‘09. There are 12 major ports in the country under the control of the ministry of shipping and Dredging Corporation is currently involved in dredging activities at some of these key ports like Haldia, Vishakhapatnam and Marmagoa. Dredging Corporation, along with other players operating under the Indian flag, enjoy a first right of refusal for dredging work contracts subject to certain criterion. The growth trajectory for the dredging industry would come from a spate of ports set-up in the country by private sector players, like Mundra Port and SEZ.

RASHTRIYA CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS - PSU

India’s third-largest fertiliser producer is set to benefit from the higher supply of natural gas and all its plants achieving higher capacity utilisation. RCF is also investing in its existing plants to increase capacities of methanol, ammonium nitro phosphate, while debottlenecking its urea plant in Thal. Additionally, it has plans to set up another urea plant at Thal with over Rs 4250 crore of investments. It is also working on several projects to add new products, augment production capacities, increase efficiencies, reduce emissions and reduce costs. Although its dependency on government’s fertiliser subsidy policy will continue in the near future, its profitability is expected to move on a steady growth path. Long-term investors can accumulate this PSU in their portfolio.

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION CORPORATION - PSU

REC is 82% government-owned and has achieved growth of nearly 48% in its sales and profits for trailing four quarters till Sept’09. It has beaten the benchmark index, Sensex by a whopping 280% return over the last 12 months. The company derives significant advantages as a Govt enterprise and operating in a thrust area, through various exemptions and access to low cost funding. Further, the power sector is witnessing tremendous growth, and with greater private participation in managing distribution centres, and developing newer distribution models, the company is expected to maintain its growth momentum.

TIDE WATER OIL - PSU

Tide Water Oil is a good long-term pick, but at its current market price of Rs 4,600 per share – due to small equity base of Rs 0.87 crore – it may appear prohibitive for retail participation. But then its earnings per share is equally high.

A debt-free, steadily growing business at reasonable price, is how one can describe Tide Water Oil—a public sector lubricant manufacturer. The company has a technical collaboration with Japanese petroleum major Nippon Oil to manufacture the ‘Veedol’ brand of lubricants and industrial greases. The company’s promoter — the government owned Andrew Yule & Co — has just come out of BIFR. Tide Water’s profits have grown at a CAGR of 29% in the last five years, while dividends have risen by 24.6%.

ENGINEERS INDIA - PSU

Engineers India is quite uniquely placed in the engineering consultancy and lump sum turnkey projects. As there are no other domestic companies, Engineers India enjoys a near monopoly position, though there are some MNCs present in this space. With the leeway provided by the Govt, the company is considering tapping the exports market, especially West Asia through JVs. It has doubled its sales with nearly 80% increase in profits for trailing four quarters till Sept’09. The stock has beaten the Sensex by a margin of 150% over the last 12 months. Thus with the UPA govt’s increased focus to divest stake in most PSUs, it is essential for retail investors to be aware of the not-so-popular yet investible options. They might turn out to be the multi-baggers.

Another Sensible Index Fund

Index funds are passively managed mutual funds. They simply invest in the same proportion and composition of an underlying index like Nifty or sensex.

While a Nifty Index fund invests in NSE's top 50 stocks, a Sensex Index fund invests in BSE's top 30 stocks. Eitherway, all these stocks are large cap stocks only. And the beauty is many crucial sectors like transportation, textile, agri commodities donot find a place either in NSE or in BSE. As a result investments made in such index were actually skipping the performance of crucial sectors.

Atlast, we now have a index fund which would invest in top 500 shares of BSE. Called as Benchmark S&P 500 fund, it is an open ended equity fund traded as ETF on NSE stock exchange. A details article on this subject is attached. Investors looking forward to participate in some midcap and small cap space can look into this fund.

JSW Energy - Share IPO - Details

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Did You Invest in MF in March 2009 ?

If you were one of the TRUE INVESTOR with the RIGHT INVESTMENT SPIRIT, you would have invested when market have been low. Irrespective of intelligence and smartness, all these investors would have doubled their money.

Attached article, which appeared in Financial Chronicle is quiet clear on this subject. As many as 150 equity schemes have literally doubled. It means there has been a 100% plus return in the past 9 months.

Do check your list of investment, if you have invested in them. Otherwise, do keep a close watch on these schemes. You may get beautiful opportunity to buy them in the next one or two months (before Jan 15 2010). All the Best.

Note: The scheme highlighted is just for sample for understanding purpose.