SBI to hire 25,000 persons this fiscal

Country's largest lender State Bank of India today said it will recruit 25,000 people this fiscal, a move at a time when the banking
majors are reducing jobs to cut costs amid global slowdown.

"For the last so many years, the bank has not been recruiting people. I understand the problem... This year, we are recruiting 20,000 people in the clerical cadre and 5,000 supervisory staff," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said at a SBI officers association meet in the capital.

Interestingly, in recent time, many financial institutions has showed pink slips to their employees as a measure of cost cutting due to economic slowdown.

The world's largest bank Citigroup plans to lay off at least 10,000 employees and raise its credit card interest rates as part of its plans to return to profitability.

US credit group American Express will also lay off its 7,000 employees, amounting to around 10 per cent of its workforce.

Bhatt said that SBI's business is of more than Rs 10 lakh crore and is also planning to increase its ATM from 9,000 to 15,000.

He pointed out, "Today we have got a largest technical network in the world, nearly 25,000 units are connected on core banking."

The bank is also improving in other areas as well, Bhatt said .

"In whichever parameter you choose, we have done extremely well and that because of you (its employees)...In home loan this year, we have become the leader and in education loan also, our share is 57 per cent," he added.

Source: EconomicTimes

Tech sector may lose 180,000 jobs

The technology sector is on pace to lose 180,000 jobs this year, the most since 2003, amid a global economic downturn, according to a
report.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, a Chicago-based global consulting firm which tracks job-cut announcements, said telecommunications, electronics and computer industry companies had cut 140,422 jobs through October 31.

It said 69,654 tech-sector jobs had been cut in the third quarter of the year alone. That did not include major layoffs announced since October 31 such as the 5,000 to 6,000 job cuts at Sun Microsystems.

"At the current pace, the year-end total could reach 180,000, which would be the largest annual total since 2003, when technology firms announced 228,325 job cuts," it said.

A total of 107,295 tech-sector jobs were cut in 2007.

"The tech sector is simply the latest victim in this downturn that began last year with the collapse of the housing market, and quickly spread to the financial markets," chief executive John Challenger said in a statement.

"Businesses and consumers have slashed their spending and no industry is immune," he added.

The 180,000 job cuts in the tech sector would be the most since 2003 but would still be far fewer than the 695,581 jobs lost in 2001, with the bursting of the dot-com bubble.

Source: EconomicTimes

Sensex sheds 94 points as global summit disappoints investors

Mumbai, Nov 17 (PTI) Markets closed down today with benchmark Sensex dropping over 90 points after slipping below 9,000 level on alternate bouts of buying and selling, showing that the Summit of G-20 leaders have failed to bolster investor sentiment here.
In see-saw trade, the BSE 30-share index closed at 9,291.01, a loss of 94.41 points or 1.01 per cent.

National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 10.80 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 2,799.55.

The 30-share Sensex had slipped below 8,000 level at 7,697 points on October 27 last.

After a weak opening, the Sensex traded below 9,000 level before mid-session. With selling pressure intensifying, the bellwether index had lost nearly 428 points to touch the intra-day low of 8,956.68 points.

However, it regained 9,000 level on late buying by domestic funds. Erratic movements in European markets during their early trade also influenced local stocks in late afternoon trade, brokers said.

They said Reserve Bank's fresh measures on Saturday to enhance rupee and forex liquidity, besides reducing risk weights for corporate and commercial real estate loans to boost growth failed to have any desired impact on the market.

Marketmen said investors were cautious as the G-20 Summit on world failed to finalise any specific measures to combat global financial crisis.

At the G-20 Summit on Financial Market and World Economy Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned the financial meltdown has exploded into a systemic crisis, while world leaders called for a strong regulatory mechanism to bring transparency in financial system and stimulate growth to beat recession. PTI

U.S. auto sector bankruptcy would devastate - GM CEO

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto industry bankruptcies would have a devastating impact on the domestic economy, many times larger than the aid automakers seek, General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said on Sunday.

"This is an issue of the whole auto industry, if that becomes under severe pressure, the impact on the whole U.S. economy will be devastating," Wagoner said in an appearance on a NBC-affiliated television station in Detroit.

Wagoner, the chief executives of Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, and United Auto Workers union President Ron Gettelfinger are expected to testify to U.S. congressional committees this week in support of aid to the auto industry.

Democrats have moved to direct $25 billion of loans to the Detroit-based automakers, who have argued that they need the liquidity to survive the industry downturn in which U.S. auto sales have plunged to the lowest levels in a quarter century.

However, an auto industry bailout has hit stiff opposition from Republican senators and representatives who question whether the automakers would be viable even with the support.

The White House also has warned pushing a bailout using the $700 billion financial rescue fund already approved could lead to partisan gridlock and has suggested loosening restrictions on $25 billion of low-interest loans already approved for investments in fuel efficiency improvements.

Wagoner said GM's financial needs stem directly from the Wall Street financial crisis, and the aid automakers seek should not be looked at in terms of "federalizing a business."

"The financial system is failing to supply the credit that is necessary for small businesses, big businesses, any businesses to operate on a daily basis," Wagoner said.

The path out of bankruptcy would not be simple, he said.

"This idea that you just go into Chapter 11 and hang around for three months and agree to reduce your debt obligations and don't pay your retirees, this is a fantasy," Wagoner said. "Most people will stop buying the cars of a bankrupt company."

GLOBAL MARKETS WEEKAHEAD - Unremitting gloom and capital flight

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors enter the week surrounded by unrelentingly poor global economic news, fading hopes of a significant end-of-year stock market recovery and a growing reliance on governments coming to the rescue.

Attention is likely to be particularly keenly focused on Britain, a G7 economy from which investment is fleeing; Russia, which has been in free fall; and on global interest rate and tax policy.

But investors are also desperately sifting through the market wreckage for new investments that may bring returns after a year of mind-numbing losses for many.

"We are sitting at a point where the data is unremittingly gloomy, so any sign of life would be comforting," said John Stopford, head of fixed income at Anglo-South African firm Investec Asset Management.

Investors are being battered by a wave of economic indicators pointing to recession in the United States, Britain, Germany and the euro zone as a whole, while major emerging markets are toppling.

This is leading in many cases to investment flight.

Few places are currently under pressure as much as Britain, where growth has tumbled, unemployment has spiked and interest rates have been slashed.

Sterling has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar over the past 3-1/2 months and is down nearly 8 percent this month alone .

On a trade-weighted basis , the pound hit a 13-year low against other currencies last week and a new record low against the euro .

This is showing up in fixed income investments.

"After a 12-month period of relatively stable flows of foreign capital into and out of UK fixed income instruments," Bank of New York Mellon analyst Neil Mellor wrote last week, "since mid-September we have been registering extremely heavy outflows."

He estimated the outflows from UK fixed income instruments since Sept. 10 have offset around 75 percent of the inflows seen since the start of 2004.

The flight is unlikely to be reversed by the Bank of England. Just days after it slashed rates by 1-1/2 percentage points to 3.00 percent, Governor Mervyn King said last week it was prepared to cut rates further if needed to refloat the economy. That left many investors expecting rates of just 1.5 percent or even 1 percent next year.

Meanwhile, once-booming Russia is being clobbered by investor capital flight, triggered by a mixture of economic concern, falling oil prices and unease over the potential for political intervention.

Last week the authorities allowed what was effectively a 1 percent devaluation of the rouble against their euro/dollar basket, and investors are concerned about more if oil continues to fall.

Russian stocks, meanwhile, have shed more than $1 trillion since May with the dollar-based RTS exchange falling 73 percent since the beginning of June.

EARNINGS RECESSION

It is also becoming apparent to many investors that a hoped for year-end rally on stock markets may well not materialise.

MSCI's main gauge of world stocks, its all-country index, is heading for its sixth consecutive month of losses, down around 45 percent for the year to date.

The current batch of U.S. and European earnings have done little to lift spirits despite lowered expectations and about as many surprises on the upside as on the downside.

Neil Dwane, European chief investment officer of fund firm RCM, noted that companies are still reporting results that trigger sharp stock falls, suggesting that corporate gloom is still not properly priced in.

"Falls of 10 percent suggest the market is too optimistic," he said.

It has all led some investors to predict a severe earnings recession next year. France's AXA Investment Managers, for example, is forecasting an overall global earnings decline of 25 to 40 percent over two years.

Despite this, a number of leading investors have begun looking at corporate debt, which is seen as having priced in too much gloom.

Stopford of Investec, for example, reckons the current price of corporate bonds globally is assuming a far greater economic disaster than the Great Depression.

GOVERNMENT HELP

Little wonder, against this economic and market background, that investors are becoming increasingly reliant on governments and central banks to dig them out of the hole.

Following the weekend meeting of G20 political leaders in Washington, the focus is likely to be on new stimulus packages and tax cuts to re-inflate consumer spending.

Announcements of such plans in the past have lifted stock market sentiment, but often only for a brief time.

Stock markets, for example, rallied sharply a week ago after China announced a nearly $600 billion stimulus package, but it fizzled rapidly with world stocks falling for most of the week.

Meanwhile the relative absence of inflation -- the result of falling global demand -- is allowing central banks to cut or promise to cut interest rates.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England publishes the minutes of the Nov. 6 meeting when it slashed rates. The Bank of Japan will announce its latest decision on Friday.

Gold to remain a safe haven despite volatility

DUBAI (Reuters) - Gold will remain a safe haven for investors in what is one of the worst financial crises in history, despite the recent price volatility, a senior industry official said on Sunday.

Gold bullion has dropped nearly 20 percent since October after a recent wave of fund selling, but still offers the diversity and value which investors will be looking for in a climate of high risk, said Rozanna Wozniak, investment research manager with industry body the World Gold Council.

"Even at around $700 gold is higher than it was about two years ago," Wozniak said. "Gold has been keenly sought after, reflecting its perception as a safe haven and store of value. There is no risk of it being affected by defaults."

Wozniak added that the strong buying by investors in gold as a safe haven had been offset by speculative investors taking profits.

"A significant proportion of this selling has reflected gold's better performance relative to other assets," Wozniak said.

"These investors bought gold as their insurance policy and, during times of significant market turmoil and large falls in asset prices, have been able to make a claim against that policy."

U.S. gold futures for December delivery on Friday settled up $37.50, or 5.3 percent, to $742.50 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Spot gold closed up at $743.35 on Friday, but was still more than $168 lower than the highest trading value in October of $911.50.

Jewellery sales in the United States had tapered off as consumer spending thinned due to the financial crisis, but investment in gold bullion was healthy, Wozniak said.

Demand for the American Eagle one-ounce bullion was unprecedented while U.S. government sales of the American Buffalo were briefly suspended in late September as strong demand depleted inventories.

Demand from emerging economies like China, India and the Middle East meant there was good potential medium- and long-term growth potential for gold, she said..

Indian demand for gold reached 215.4 tonnes in 2007, and was expected to stay healthy through early 2009 because of the wedding season.

In China, demand for gold as an investment hit 38.4 tonnes in the first nine months of the this year, Sun Zhaozue, president of China National Gold Corp said during a mining conference last week.

That nine-month figure is 60 percent above retail investment demand for the whole of 2007, which at 24 tonnes was a 60 percent increase on 2006.

JP Morgan could axe thousands of jobs - report

LONDON (Reuters) - JP Morgan, the US investment bank, is drawing up plans to axe thousands of jobs across its worldwide operations, reports The Sunday Telegraph.

The paper cites people close to the company, who say that it has started consulting on job cuts and they were likely to be on a comparable scale to those of rivals.

It points out that both Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are letting about 10 percent of their workforces go, which if applied to JP Morgan would mean more than 3,000 jobs being slashed across the world.

A spokesman for the bank refused to comment.

JPMorgan said in July it planned to cut as much as 10 percent of its European investment banking jobs.