Weekend Scoop : Satyam Chairman's Shares Mortgaged, Inflation Going Down, RPL Gains

The sensex was obviously closed over the weekend, so we'll just look at some of the financial effects of events earlier in the week.

The Satyam fiasco keeps getting gloomier; apparently Ramalinga Raju had mortgaged his shares (he and his family hold about 8.61% stake in the company) to institutional lenders, who might have sold them already. This has put added pressure on the board of directors, who were already under duress after academician Mangalam Srinivasan, an independent board member, had resigned on Dec 25.

Inflation is down to 6.61%; and with news of a possible reduction in repo rates, reverse repo rates and the CRR by RBI, experts predict that inflation can reach as low as 2% in March next year.

I had mentioned RIL's new venture in Jamnagar - Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) gained over 6 percent a day after the refinery started. Although Mukesh Ambani had to deal with the Petroleum Ministy's decision to turn down RPL's request to export LPG, citing that the country still has LPG deficit.

Also, business magnate Vijay Mallya announced that with approximately 500 crores turnover in December, Kingfisher airlines will break-even the losses it had sustained earlier.