Important financial news ( point- wise ) 

1. Tata group's total debt is set to exceed Rs 1,00,000 crore in the current fiscal but it appears comfortable in the liquidity front.Increase of more than Rs 30,000 crore in group's overall outstanding debt position from year-ago level of about Rs 70,000 crore is primarily due to its aggressive capital expenditure plans and past acquisitions.

2. A US-based private equity firm will partner with Phaneesh Murthy’s iGate to bid for Satyam Computer Services.  The unnamed PE firm has funds worth around $5.5 billion under its management.  The firm is partnering with iGate because of the management expertise in running an IT business, Mr Murty ( ceo of Satyam ) said. As per the conditions laid out by the Satyam board, iGate will have to show access to a minimum amount of Rs 1,500 crore on or before March 20, to be eligible for the bidding process. 

3. Effects of recession: The five biggest investment banks in the world (Lehman Brothers et al) have vanished in the financial carnage. The two biggest mortgage companies in the world, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are under government overlordship. The biggest insurance company in the world, AIG, is on government life support. The biggest bank in the world, Citibank, has survived only with massive government help. General Motors, the biggest auto company in the world, is also on life support. The greatest icons of US capitalism are on crutches. 

4.Standard Chartered Bank has appointed Sreeram Iyer as Chief Operating Officer (COO), India.

5.State Bank of India has turned out to be the largest tax payer in the country with a tax outgo ofoutgo of Rs 5,733 crore for the fiscal yearending March 31, 2009. This is a 41% increase over the tax it paid last year. The bank’s tax outgo during the January-March quarter is Rs 1,810 crore.Engineering major Larsen & Toubro is also among the largest tax payers in the country, with a total tax outgo of Rs 802 crore, which is a 47% increase over the previous fiscal year’s collection. L&T’s tax outgo during the January-March 2009 quarter is Rs 245 crore.The all India tax collection until March 15, the last date for advance tax payment, has totalled Rs 2,82,021.60 crore. This is lower against the projected tax collection of Rs 3,95,000 crore for the current fiscal year. 

6.Citigroup Inc awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $10.8 million of compensation in 2008, a year in which the bank required two govt. rescues totalling $45 bn.About $7.7 million of the compensation was a sign-on bonus the bank gave Pandit in January 2008, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Pandit also received a salary of nearly $1 million and stock options of $1.6 million. Wall Street compensation has come under intense scrutiny recently, particularly at banks that have received government bailouts. Pandit was awarded an amount similar to the $9.9 million that Bank of America awarded to its CEO, Kenneth Lewis. 

Pandit did not receive a regular bonus for 2008. He has said he will accept no incentive pay and will accept base annual pay of $1 until Citigroup returns to profitability.