Increased royalty payments, rising input costs and exchange rate fluctuations have resulted in MarutiSuzuki India Ltd (MSIL) posting a modest 5 per cent growth in profit for the quarter ending September 30.

However, driven by booming demand, net sales rose 27 per cent, even as the car market leader recorded the highest-ever unit sales for a quarter at 3.13 lakh.

Q2 margin pressures The company, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki

Motor Corporation (SMC), anticipates margin pressures in the second half, which it would look to reduce by controlling production costs and increasing the localisation content of its products.

The Andhra Pradesh government is mulling to put a cap on the interest rates charged by the microfinance companies through a new law, a top bureaucrat

said today.

The government, through an Ordinance promulgated earlier this month, has asked the state microfinance institutions (MFIs) to furnish details of the

interest rates being charged by them and their area of operations.

According to the details available with the government, the average interest rate charged by these MFIs range between 24-36 per cent. SKS Microfinance, which courted controversies after sacking its MD & CEO Suresh Gurumani, has informed the government that their effective rate of interest is between

28.87 and 31.08 per cent.

It can be noted that SKS recently said that it has reduced the interest rate from 26.69 per cent to 24.55 per cent or flat 12.55 per cent.

Even as the Metro widened its network by adding two more stations on Saturday — it extended its blue line from Noida and Anand Vihar to Dwarka

sector-21 instead of Dwarka sector-9 — the Metro railway police is in a quandary. Though three new Metro police stations were expected to become functional with the introduction of the Metro to Gurgaon and Sarita Vihar,

only one of them situated at the Yamuna Bank has become operational. Even this police station has a skeletal presence as DMRC is yet to create a fully operational room. "Most of the work is done from the Shakarpur police

station," said an officer. The two other police stations to come up at the Kalkajiand the Qutub Minar Metro stations are yet to become functional at these

stations. At present, both of them are operating out of a single room at Kashmere Gate. Sushil Bharadwaj who was travelling on the Sarita Vihar

route complained that it took him almost half a day to just lodge a complaint after his voter's card was stolen. "The entire time was wasted just trying to

locate the Metro Railway station," he said.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has recorded an impressive increase in profit to Rs 224 croreduring second quarter of the current fiscal, showing a 40 per cent surge compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.

According to the reviewed financial results for the second quarter of 2010-11, Nalco has achieved higher net profit of Rs.224.04 crore as against Rs.159.50 crore in similar quarter of previous fiscal, company sources said here today.

Similarly, the sales turnover of the Navaratna PSU surged by about 30 per cent to Rs.1548.75 crore over the comparative quarter of last year, they said.