IN THE FAST LANE Tata Motors Races Past GM, Ford in 2013 M-cap Growth Strong JLR September show gives co’s m-cap a 11.95% boost this year

Tata Motors shares rose to an all-timehigh on Friday boosted by Jaguar-Land Rover's (JLR) strong September numbers, though the performance in the key US market was muted. The shares touched an all-time high of . 346.7, before ending the day at . 349.8, the stock's highest close since listing. The firm's shares have had one of their best years so far with market cap rising 11.95%, ahead of Ford Motor's 4% growth, GM's 6.46% rise and Honda's 1.13% increase. Only Daimler AG's shares have risen by a bigger percentage of 16.67%. 

JLR's US sales posted a moderate 1.3% rise in September 2013 over the past year, but in the UK it increased by 11% for Land Rover and 7% for Jaguar. The US and the UK contribute about 17% each to JLR's sales. Global auto companies are struggling to cope with a slowdown in key markets and issues relating to cost. Tata Motors is probably the smallest of the global giants as Volkswagen ($104.3 billion), Daimler ($84.24 billion), Ford ($66.78 billion) have bigger market caps. 
A Morgan Stanley report released earlier this week highlighted that slowdown in the US sales was partly due to slow ramp up of new Range Rover Sport and thatthe strong sales numbers expected from the UK market will make up for the weakness in the US market. With UK numbers meeting analyst expectations, all eyes are set on the sales numbers from China, which is one of the largest markets for JLR, contributing to over 21% of the company's total sales volumes. 
"We expect JLR to report better sales numbers from China in the September 2013 quarter as compared with the quarter to June '13," says Ajay Shethiya, equity analyst with Centrum Broking. "The traction in JLR is likely to continue that makes Tata Motors a fundamentally good stock," he adds. 
Though revenue growth is expected to be strong for JLR in the September '13 quarter, margins could be under pressure due to unfavourable currency movements, analysts say. Most analysts have a positive view on Tata Motors stock and see further upside. According to Bloomberg, Tata Motors stock today enjoys almost 82% 'Buy' recommendations by analysts against 72% 'Buy' recommendations in the previous quarter. 
The stock trades at twelve-month trailing price to earning (P/E) multiple of 12.01, on par with global peers such as General Motors (12.9) and Ford Motors (10.4). 
bakul.chugan@timesgroup.com 

Rajan to Set Right School of Defaulters Banks will be told to follow uniform loan classification rules & share defaulter info

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan is leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to end promoter abuse of the benign loan restructuring regime and is soon poised to mandate all banks to stick to uniform loan classification norms.  Three people familiar with the idea said the governor, who has been meeting bank chairmen over the past two to three weeks independently and some in groups, has said lenders should share information about defaulting clients. Rajan is building a repository of information about defaulters that could help banks ensure they do not get duped by unscrupulous promoters.  "Promoters do not have a divine right to stay in charge regardless of how badly they mismanage an enterprise, nor do they have the right to use the banking system to recapitalise their failed ventures," he had said at his first press conference after taking charge. Repository Could Prevent Losses  The Indian banking system, especially state-run banks, is facing a continuous downgrade by ratings companies such as Standard & Poor's and Fitch because of rising bad loans and concerns that many restructured loans could turn bad.  The absence of a repository is believed to have led to some of the biggest losses to banks. Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which together inflicted losses of more than Rs 11,000 crore, might have been prevented if the banks had shared information and a repository was in place. Deccan Chronicle Holdings, which went public in 2004, took loans from several banks to expand the circulation of Deccan Chronicle newspaper in several cities and started a new business newspaper, Financial Chronicle. However, the slowdown affected the company's expansion plan and profitability.  "Nobody knew how much Deccan had borrowed from the banking system. Today, Cibil has information on all borrowers. However, if banks share this information with RBI, it would get information on the banking system's indebtedness to companies," said Romesh Sobti, managing director and chief executive officer, IndusInd Bank.  Numbers compiled by the Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell shows loans worth Rs 2,29,013 crore of 401 companies have been restructured as of March 2013.  Indian banks' stressed assets rose to 9.1% of total loans (NPL ratio: 3.4% and restructured loans ratio: 5.7%) in fiscal 2013, from 6.1% a year before, says Fitch Ratings  The latest RBI initiative comes after the banking system had to write off loans worth Rs 12,000 crore given to Deccan Chronicle and Kingfisher.  "The move to set up a repository is a proactive step to prevent fraud," said SK Kalra, executive director of Andhra Bank. "Secondly, this will make it difficult for borrowers to conceal from lenders the loan they have taken from other banks in case the loan is availed through multiple banking routes."  Currently, under the consortium banking route, each lender is mandated to inform all lenders about the loans on their books. However, in case of multiple banking facility, lenders are unaware of loans a borrower has availed from other banks.  Conflict between private and public sector lenders and qualification of assets are also delaying the recovery process.  "If one bank treats it as a standard asset, the company can always approach that bank for fresh funding," said a state-run banker who did not want to be identified. "In the case of Kingfisher, since the company is nonoperational now, that risk is not there."