Varun Bedi, 24, Mumbai-based graphic designer, is one person who's going to ring in the new year with extra verve. He plans to party in Goa and he's managed to grab the cheapest air ticket going-a Rs 442 (only in taxes, the tickets are free) Mumbai-Goa return on Go Air. That's less than what he would have paid for a one-way ticket on an overnight bus to the beach city.

Airfares are in free fall like never before. Almost every two months, a new airline is launched, some no-frill options like Air Deccan and some premium like Paramount, but the competition has sent fares parachuting down to practically sea level (see Soft Landings). And travellers like Bedi have learnt to make the most of it.

Although Bedi's Goa ticket was a stroke of luck-he got the early bird bonus on the new airline-some planning and active shopping can get you surprising deals. Of course, the cheapest tickets are available only if you book three months in advance, but even if you don't get a Re 1 ticket or a Rs 500 one, there are still some great fares out there.

First tip, use the internet. You escape the Rs 100-250 transaction fee that you have to otherwise pay when booking on the phone, or at petrol pumps or cyber cafés. The other advantage: you can open multiple windows of the airline websites on your pc and directly compare prices and flights. Or try travel websites like www.makemytrip.com, which do the comparing for you. Of course, both the net and phone options are only open to people with credit cards, although Air Deccan allows ICICI Bank debit cards. Booking through the net is also pointless unless you have access to a printer to print out the ticket.

The second trick is to be flexible. If you're determined to travel cheap, night flights between metros are great savers. For example, you can get a Delhi-Mumbai Air India flight, even at short notice, for Rs 2,500 (departure: 4.00 a.m.), while a Jet night flight could come for Rs 2,370 (departure: 10.00 p.m.).

Peak hours and weekends push fares up, so try juggling timings. Also, fares shoot up dramatically during festivals such as Diwali or New Year's. In fact, airlines typically drop the number of tickets available in their low-fare buckets during such times.

Important, if you book in advance, you might actually find that fares on full-service carriers are cheaper than on low-cost fliers. For example, if you book an Air Deccan ticket now between Mumbai and Kolkata for end-December, the fares will be around Rs 6,500, but if you had booked it three weeks earlier on Indian Airlines or Jet Airways, you could have bagged a seat for Rs 5,000.

Naturally, be prepared for cramped legroom on a low-cost carrier. Plus, airlines like Air Deccan allow only 15 kg per passenger. And you can forget about in-flight meals or even free water. You have to pay through your nose for a (cold) samosa or a (dry) sandwich. On the other hand, Kingfisher, marketing itself as a 'value carrier', offers meals and in-flight entertainment. And the higher fare on, say, a Jet Airways flight means you can not only buy tickets online, you can also check in online into the seat of your choice.

You choose-between luxury and low fares. But the important thing is that you now get to make this choice at all.

SMARTBYTES

CRISIL Ratings Help You Rank Mutual Funds

Crisil's Kudva: Good move

At a time when investors have renewed interest in mutual funds, CRISIL's first rating of a fund house (HDFC MF: Level 1) acquires significance. Instead of quantitative or specific scheme evaluation, CRISIL is looking at quality. Says Roopa Kudva, ED and Chief Rating Officer: "We rate funds on management, corporate governance, distribution practices, etc." The ratings (Level 1, best, to Level 5) are investor guides, but unfortunately aren't yet mandatory in India. Significantly, of the three funds that have applied to CRISIL so far, only one has disclosed its ranking. Says Sanjay Prakash, CEO, HSBC AMC: "In developed markets, if a fund isn't rated, chances are investors won't enter the fund." Till they do become compulsory, let's hope competition forces funds to get rated voluntarily.

-Mahesh Nayak

Learn To Use The Law

Remember feeling frustrated when the cinema hall vendor charged you Rs 20 for a Rs 10 Pepsi bottle? It's totally illegal but redress is too complicated, so you let it go. Well, one outraged consumer didn't. He took Nirula's, the Delhi fast-food chain, to consumer court for charging Rs 35 for a bottle of Coke. The Delhi State Consumer Commission ruled that charging more than the printed MRP was illegal and fined Nirulas. Remember, there's a Department of Legal Metrology (DLM) in all states, whose task is to ensure adherence to MRP. Next time your neighbourhood ice-cream vendor charges extra, inform DLM. Failing which, of course, there are always the consumer courts.

-Vaishna Roy

Renewed interest: Back in recurring

Pizza Or Toppings?

Private banks are trying to revamp the good ol' recurring deposit (RD). City Union Bank, Union Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and residuary non-banking company Peerless Finance are all jazzing up RD schemes with free life insurance and other extras. City Union, for instance, offers free life cover, free DEMAT account and ATM card plus IT processing and filing on its RD accounts. The interest rate, however, on these new-look RDs has been slashed to 5 per cent from the regular 7-8 per cent. Why would you choose to lose a cool 2 per cent interest in return for life cover and an ATM card? Remember, RDs make most sense only because of their high risk-free returns in an era where the concept of assured returns is dying out.

-Nitya Varadarajan

TEXTILES
Material Gains
With exports spinning good profits, textile sector companies are looking good.

After the phasing out of the quota regime, India's potential in the textile and apparel sector is comparable with China's. And the magic word is exports. In January-May 2005, exports to the us and the EU grew 37 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, over the previous year, while a smart product mix saw unit value realisations in the us market gaining 5.7 per cent y-o-y. Says SSKI equity analyst Chirag Shah: "Growth is likely to be sustainable, considering India's continued gains in cotton yields, up 45 per cent in the past three years."

Consider categories like home textiles (exports up 325 per cent) and bed linen (up 681 per cent)-they make the government's target of $50 billion (Rs 2,25,000 crore) in exports by 2010 look very reachable. Vijay Mathur, Secretary, Apparel Export Promotion Council, expects apparel exports to touch $6.9 billion (Rs 31,050 crore) in 2005-06. And, according to an SSKI study, India commands 25 per cent of the world cotton yarn market but only 5 per cent of processed fabric exports. The potential here is thus huge.

Companies in the sector are cashing in. Alok Industries is shifting focus to the lucrative home textiles segment and Arvind Mills is increasing its product diversification. Both have posted pat hikes of 24 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively, for the quarter ended September 2005.

But pick stocks carefully, given the consolidation trends. Analysts are putting their money on Mahavir Spinning, Welspun India, Gokaldas Exports and Raymond-seen as building competitive capabilities to seize emerging opportunities.

Gokaldas Exports has seen net sales jump 38 per cent and pat rise 59 per cent, while Raymond's worsted fabric division, accounting for half its revenues, will see growth from new products, capacity additions and foreign collaboration. Welspun has announced a Rs 650-crore expansion plan, and Mahavir Spinning (Vardhman Group) is expanding rapidly. Says S.P. Oswal, Chairman, Vardhman Group: "We are investing in a big way to address growing fabric requirements of garment exporters."

With total capex investments of over $1 billion (Rs 4,500 crore) planned over the next three-four years, the sector looks solid. Consider a mid- to long-term exposure.

-Kumarkaushalam

Woman Alone
Getting a flat on rent might be a struggle, but single women find that loans are a breeze.

Loan ranger: Banks now offer special rates to women

In 1997, about a year after her husband's death, Mumbai-based Renu Kannan, 45, approached a bank for a Rs 2 lakh home loan. Her application was turned down by several banks, including hdfc and Bank of India. Finally, after much persuasion and a little help from a branch manager, the south-based Corporation Bank sanctioned her the loan.

Today, the mother of two is a successful beautician and looking for a fresh loan to move out of the suburbs and closer to the heart of the city. She will find it vastly more simple to get a loan now because lending institutions today are much more ready to mingle with single women. Most single women have harrowing tales to tell of their flat-hunting experiences, but thankfully, when it comes to home and other loans, the equation seems to have tilted more in their favour.

In the last few years, women have entered the work force like never before and have large disposable incomes. Research shows that single women now constitute a major chunk of car, home and consumer durable buyers. Quick to seize the opportunity, banks are bringing out specialised products to cater to this new customer. Equally important, women are perceived as less likely to default on loan repayments, making them even more attractive to bankers.

The process of borrowing, of course, is not completely easy yet. For banks, guarantor and security continue to be big issues when lending to a single woman-whether it be a personal loan, car loan or a home loan. However, more and more banks are coming up with woman-friendly policies and interest rates. UTI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Vijaya Bank, Bank of Baroda, and United Bank of India (UBI)-the list of banks offering special rates to women is growing.

UBI, for instance, gives a 0.25 per cent concession on home loans (both fixed and floating) if the loan is taken by a woman with independent income. Or even if a working woman is a co-applicant with her husband. And earlier this year, the private sector UTI Bank announced its smart privilege savings bank account for women, which offers 25 basis points concession in personal loans (14.50 per cent), while consumer loans, especially durables loans, up to Rs 2 lakh, get 1 per cent discount (13.75 per cent). "We could look at providing concessional housing loans to women in future," says Robita Sengupta, in charge of Smart Privilege, UTI Bank.

In fact, Bank of Maharashtra already offers concessions to women across all loan categories. Interest rate discounts range from 50 basis points to 1 per cent on home loans, consumer loans, car and personal loans. So, as a woman, you can get a 5-10 year home loan at 8 per cent compared to the 8.50 per cent for general borrowers. Similarly, a 10-20 year woman's loan attracts 8.25 per cent interest rate against 8.75 per cent for general borrowers.

Bank of Baroda has launched Vaibhav Lakshmi, a loan for women employees working in government companies and psus, at the minimum level of a clerical job. Under the scheme, these women get loans up to Rs 2 lakh at a reduced interest rate of 11.50 per cent against the usual 12 per cent and 12.50 per cent for personal and consumer durable loans. Vijaya Bank, Canara Bank and UCO Bank are others with concessional loan products for women.

Make the most of these discounts, but one word of caution: first check out interest rates on all available loans. You just might find that an aggressive private sector bank gives you a better deal even in the general category.

-Anand Adhikari

Value-picker's Corner

SIEMENS INDIA; PRICE: RS 3,481

Having bagged contracts worth Rs 2,600 crore for power transmission projects in Qatar, Siemens India looks worth tracking. In September, its order book was Rs 5,200 crore and revenues for the year ended September 30, 2005, were up 60 per cent. Says Amit Rathi, Director, Anand Rathi Securities: "Infrastructure looks strong on the back of some serious developments." An IDBI Capital report says Siemens' growth has been robust across divisions. Gurunath Mudlapur, Director, Atherstone Institute of Research, says investors should keep a roughly three-year horizon, adding: "The stock could touch Rs 5,000 over the next two-three years."

-Krishna Gopalan

Trend-spotting

Oil prices have swung from a low of $40.75 per barrel to a high of $67.26 in August (European Brent). Now, prices are sliding again, reigning at about $57 per barrel. Is this an opportunity? Industry trackers think so. Sectors most likely to gain: autos, paints, chemicals, power, shipping and petroleum. Says Rajesh Jain, CEO, Pranav Securities: "BPCL looks best, followed by HPCL and IOC; they look good, and the fall in crude prices is an added positive." Jain also says the businesses of some companies are undervalued and thus look attractive today, but "investors need to take a three-year horizon for investing in the sector".

-Krishna Gopalan