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Tata Group sees no big impact from credit crunch

India’s Tata Group has not seen a significant fallout from the global credit crunch and does not expect it will have a big impact on its acquisition appetite, a senior company official said on Wednesday.

“So far there hasn’t been any measurable impact on our business,” Alan Rosling, executive director of Tata Sons, the holding company that oversees the group’s businesses, said at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

“We don’t expect any dramatic impact... the impact on us will perhaps be less than on other people because we’re a strategic industrial buyer with a strong balance sheet,” said Rosling, who spearheads the group’s international drive.

The salt-to-software group has made several big-ticket overseas acquisitions recently, including the country’s biggest yet, the $12.9 billion purchase of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus by Tata Steel Ltd earlier this year.

Tata Motors Ltd , India’s top vehicle maker, is on the final shortlist to buy Ford Motor’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Rosling declined to comment on the deal.

The Tata Group will focus on developed markets including the United States and the UK as it pushes for a more global profile, as well as emerging markets including China, South Africa, the Middle East and south east Asia, he said.

“Our present position in China is still underweight, but if we want to be more competitive globally, we need to have a more significant presence there,” he said.

Tata Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, expects to earn more than half its revenue overseas in the fiscal year to March 2008, as it ramps up businesses including hotels and autos in markets from the United States to South Korea.

REUTERS

Oil falls on Iran report, awaits OPEC decision

Oil sank a dollar after a U.S. report downplaying Iran’s nuclear program eased geopolitical concerns and economic worries in the world’s top consumer continued to weigh on demand growth prospects.

The losses added to a drop which has knocked oil from peaks over $99 a barrel in late November and came as OPEC ministers gathering in Abu Dhabi for a Wednesday meeting insisted supplies are sufficient to meet winter demand.

U.S. crude fell 95 cents to $88.36 by 1850 GMT after tumbling as low as $87.34 earlier. London Brent crude traded down 22 cents to $89.58 a barrel after settling above U.S. oil for time since Aug. 23 on Monday.

Concerns U.S. oil demand growth could be hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, which helped send prices down 10 percent since peaking at $99.29 on Nov. 21, continued to fuel bearish market sentiment.

A new U.S. intelligence report by the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) saying Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, contradicting the Bush administration’s earlier assertion that Tehran was intent on developing a bomb, also helped push prices down on Tuesday.

“The chances of a unilateral or preemptive strike on Iran decreases with the NIE’s announcement and make it much more difficult for the Bush administration to go down that path, so I think it is near-term bearish for prices,” said Eric Wittenauer, analyst at AG Edwards.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have supported prices in the record rally that sent prices up 40 percent from August to late November, which was sparked by concerns of a supply shortfall ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter.

U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman on Tuesday reiterated calls for OPEC to increase production to bolster supplies at Wednesday’s meeting. Officials from Qatar, Venezuela, Iran and Libya have spoken against the need to pump more oil.

OPEC’s core Gulf producers, led by Saudi Arabia, have avoided comment on whether the group might still opt for an output increase to prevent crude heading back towards $100 a barrel.

“All options are open,” said Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister for leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia.

OPEC ministers have repeatedly blamed speculators for high oil prices and say supplies are sufficient to meet winter demand.

“The decision will come down to the wire, and much will ride on where prices are on Wednesday and how strongly the Saudis will push for an increase,” said Edward Meir of MF Global.

Traders said the release of U.S. inventory data on Wednesday which last week showed a build in stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, hub will give further price direction.

NEW YORK, Reuters

iPhone tops list of 2007 Google searches

Technology and entertainment topped Google Inc’s searches in 2007, with the iPhone grabbing the No. 1 slot on a list of the fastest-rising search terms in the United States, the company said on Tuesday.

“iPhone, of course, is a word very few people typed in a search box in 2006,” said Marissa Mayer of Google, an Internet search engine. “It didn’t exist.” Apple rolled out the iPhone, which is a mobile phone, music and video player and Internet browser device, in the United States last summer.

Four social networking sites made the top 10, including Webkinz, which grabbed the No. 2 slot. Webkinz is a stuffed animal that customers can register and play with online.

Celebrity news Web site TMZ ranked third, while transformer toys took the No. 4 slot. Transformers are the wildly popular toys that shift their shapes, for example from cars to alien robots, and they got a big boost from the 2007 hit movie “Transformers.” “There’s a lot of interest in the celebrity culture, television and movies,” said Mayer.