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Samsung to pump NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Samsung today announced it would set up a handset manufacturing facility at Manesar in Gurgaon district with an investment of 15 million dollars..............more Spentex
issues 2.02 cr MUMBAI, Dec 9: Spentex Industries Ltd today said it has issued 2.02 crore equity shares to Mauritian Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Ltd and to Spentex promoters. ......more Need to change fertiliser bag colour: CITI-CDRA MUMBAI, Dec 9: A textile industry chamber has asked fertiliser plants to change the colour of their bags, saying a contaminant present in them were inadvertently causing huge losses to the. ...........more KOLKATA, Dec 9: The low-priced small car of the Tatas aiming at the country's burgeoning middle class will roll out in 2007. "The proto-type of the car is in place and its commercial production will start in 2007," Tata Sons Director J J Irani has said. ... .......more |
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Ruia to invest Rs 150 crore for Dunlop technology revival KOLKATA, Dec 9: The Ruia group, new owners of Dunlop India Limited (DIL), will invest about Rs 150 crore for technological revival of the sick and closed company, group chairman Pawan Ruia said.........more PC
hopes economy NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Painting a rosy picture about the economy based on the buoyant outlook projected by the mid-year review,..........more India capturing fancy of global investors: FDI survey NEW DELHI, Dec 9: India maybe attracting only a fraction of the Foreign Direct Investment pouring into neighbouring China, but its appeal to potential investors has increased to new heights -- to be precise an all-time high, says a study by management consulting firm AT Kearney.. .......more NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Inflation rose to 4.54 per cent for the week ended November 26 from 4.32 per cent in the previous week mainly due to rise in the prices of essential food items and some of the . ...........more |
Samsung to pump in $15 mn for handset facility in Haryana NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Samsung today announced it would set up a handset manufacturing facility at Manesar in Gurgaon district with an investment of 15 million dollars. The facility will have an initial capacity of one million units per annum, which would be stepped up to 20 million units by 2010. It would be the fourth overseas handset manufacturing facility for Samsung after China, Brazil and Mexico. "We plan to make this mobile facility as the manufacturing hub for South-West Asia," H C Ryu, Director (Telecom) Samsung India, said here. (PTI) |
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Spentex issues 2.02 cr equity shares to Citigroup, promoters MUMBAI, Dec 9: Spentex Industries Ltd today said it has issued 2.02 crore equity shares to Mauritian Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Ltd and to Spentex promoters. The Board has approved the issue and allotment of 1.75 crore equity shares to Citigroup Venture Capital and 27.50 lakh equity shares to Spentex promoters, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The promoters include Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Mukund Choudhary and Kapil Choudhary. The company has also issued and allotted 20.25 lakh warrants convertible into equity shares, with an exercise price of Rs 32.88 at the option of holder any time before the expiry of 18 months from date of issue of these warrants, it said. The company has alloted 17.50 lakh warrants to Citigroup Venture and 2.75 lakh warrants to the promoters, it added. (PTI) |
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Need to change fertiliser bag colour: CITI-CDRA MUMBAI, Dec 9: A textile industry chamber has asked fertiliser plants to change the colour of their bags, saying a contaminant present in them were inadvertently causing huge losses to the spinners. The white fertiliser bags contain polypropylene thread, which get mixed up with cotton when farmers stash their produce in empty bags. Once its gets mixed with cotton yarn, this thread cannot be bleached or dyed leading to huge claims on the spinners from overseas buyers, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry's Cotton Development and Research Association (CITI-CDRA) Chairman P D Patodia said. "This causes serious defects in cotton yarn and cotton fabrics... The problem can be effectively tackled if the colour of the polypropylene fertiliser bags is changed to any colour other than white," he said. Patodia said that he has also taken up the issue with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers to issue appropriate instructions to the fertiliser plants in this regard. The Ministry of Textiles and Union Ministry of Agriculture has also been requested to pursue this issue with the MCF, he added. (PTI) |
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KOLKATA, Dec 9: The low-priced small car of the Tatas aiming at the country's burgeoning middle class will roll out in 2007. "The proto-type of the car is in place and its commercial production will start in 2007," Tata Sons Director J J Irani has said. Talking to a select group of newspersons here last night,Dr Irani, however, seemed to have kept his fingers crossed about the Rs one lakh-price tag on the car, an announcement for which was made by Group Chairman Ratan Tata. "This is a two-three year old figure. The price of steel is always changing. While fixing the price of car, you will have to keep in mind the price of steel as well," he said. Deciding to invest Rs 6,000 crore on the 'people's car' project, Tata Motors had targeted to make its proposed vehicle accessible to the millions of two-wheeler riders. The company, which is the second largest car manufacturer in the country, also decided to expand its manufacturing facility outside Pune. Mr Tata had estimated that the company could sell one million units of the new car a year. Maruti Udyog had priced its first product, the mini 800, at less than Rs 100,000 when it was launched in the early eighties. At present, Tata is the maker of Indicahatchback--the first indigenously made car--and the Indigo sedan, besides utility vehicles. The new small car is proposed to be made with all the high-volume parts manufactured in one plant. The car would also use more plastic, rather than steel, and would be made at a very low-cost assembly operation, with some use of modern adhesives instead of welding to save costs. (UNI) |
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Ruia to invest Rs 150 crore for Dunlop technology revival KOLKATA, Dec 9: The Ruia group, new owners of Dunlop India Limited (DIL), will invest about Rs 150 crore for technological revival of the sick and closed company, group chairman Pawan Ruia said. "The National Productivity Council has estimated that Rs 210 crore would be needed for the purpose, but we can manage within Rs 150 crore," he told newsmen after a meeting with Industrial Reconstruction Minister Nirupam Sen. Sen said the State Government would provide all help to the new owner of Dunlop in opening the factory. Ruia, who visited Dunlop's Sahaganj factory on Sunday, said although resumption of production would take some time, it would be sooner than expected. In reply to a question, he said the immediate priority was to overhaul the plant, upgrade technology, revive the marketing set up, and recruit staff both at the mid-management and general levels. "Monthly production capacity at the Sahaganj unit is 25,000 tyres and at Ambattur, 46,000 tyres. If we are to utilise the full capacity, we will have to recruit staff. We will look towards taking in former Dunlop employees for their skill and experience," he said. Asked whether Dunlop can make a comeback in the market after a long closure, Ruia said, "a good brand can sleep, but it can never die." (PTI) |
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PC hopes economy will put up better show in second half NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Painting a rosy picture about the economy based on the buoyant outlook projected by the mid-year review, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said he was optimistic that second half performance would be better than the first half. "I am optimistic that second half performance would be even better. All in all, we are happy that the mid-year review has found to be a good year," he told reporters after tabling the review in Parliament. Chidambaram said the review has projected a good and above seven per cent growth for this year while several other agencies have stated it to be about 7.5 per cent. Inflation was expected to be around five per cent, he said, adding that the review has identified some areas of concern namely coal and electricity. Asked if he expected interest rates to be lowered, he said it was in the domain of Reserve Bank. But interest rate is based on two factors -- market condition and inflation. To a question as to why the mid-year review had forecast only seven per cent when RBI itself had projected 7.5 per cent growth, Chidambaram said: "I said the mid-year review has projected over seven per cent, which is a guarded projection." He said the mid-year review has not mentioned anything about disinvestment as it was now out of the budget purview. The Government has already operationalised National Investment Fund this year. All proceeds from disinvestment from April one this year would go into this fund. The interest earned from the disinvestment proceeds put in the fund would be utilised for social sector projects and revamping of PSUs. The disinvestment proceeds would no longer go into the Consolidated Fund of India and hence was out of the budget purview. (PTI) |
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India capturing fancy of global investors: FDI survey NEW DELHI, Dec 9: India maybe attracting only a fraction of the Foreign Direct Investment pouring into neighbouring China, but its appeal to potential investors has increased to new heights -- to be precise an all-time high, says a study by management consulting firm AT Kearney. The Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index, the annual survey of executives from the world's largest companies conducted by the consulting firm, says roughly 45 per cent of global investors were more upbeat on China and India. This was nearly twice the number recorded for the next three most positively viewed markets -- Brazil, Poland and Russia. Interestingly, India also replaced the US as the second most attractive FDI location, up from third place -- a feat enabled by factors like reforms of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, setting up of Indian Investment Commission facilitation cell, hiking FDI caps in telecom, aviation, banking and media etc. However, in comparison to the 60.6 billion dollar FDI inflow into China last year, India received only 5.3 billion USD. But the survey said India, which has pegged its foreign capital needs for upgrading infrastructure at 150 billion dollars over the next 10 years, "is on the cusp of an FDI take-off. "However, for India to garness manufacturing investor interest and evolve into an FDI capital-intensive hub, the government must maintain its reform orientation and overcome narrow business interests...," it said. The findings of the survey, which have come at a time when New Delhi has constituted a Group of Ministers to study simplifying FDI rules including doing away with multiple clearances, also had a word of caution for the Government. "Opposition from coalition partners limit Government reform agenda. The coalition environment at the centre has complicated the reform process," it said, adding that bureaucracy, corruption and poor infrastructure may cloud efforts to attract FDI." Acknowledging that India had risen in estimation, it, however, said that the old bug bears continue to be an issue. But it said the good news was that the urge to offshore continues to grow, as nearly 80 per cent of global investors plan to locate corporate functions overseas over the next three years, compared to 66 per cent in 2004 and 50 per cent in 2003. IT and call centre functions would see the highest levels of offshoring activity, with 67 per cent and 50 per cent of global investors expecting to offshore these functions, respectively. On the global economy, the AT Kearney study said optimism had waned among executives surveyed. "This year just over a third of respondents (36 per cent) are more optimistic about global economy compared to 31 per cent who are more negative. Last year, nearly 70 per cent were more bullish on the global economy and only 12 per cent were more negative. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 9: Inflation rose to 4.54 per cent for the week ended November 26 from 4.32 per cent in the previous week mainly due to rise in the prices of essential food items and some of the manufactured products. Increase in prices of fruits & vegetables, tea, eggs, some edible oils, textiles, cranes and tractors pushed up inflation marginally to 4.54 per cent. Yet, it was much lower than 7.3 per cent a year ago. Some of the cash crops like masur, sunflower, soya bean, groundnut seed and oil, gur, printing paper and cement prices fell during the week. Wholesale Price Index rose by 0.1 per cent to 198.2 points from 198.1 a week ago and 189.6 a year ago. The Government revised upward inflation figure to 4.61 per cent for the week ended October one, from provisional 4.24 per cent, while WPI stood corrected at 197.6 points as against the earlier estimate of 196.9 points. During the week, global crude prices came down to 58.71 dollars a barrel. Domestic oil prices were stable but government is yet to pass through the entire price hike to consumers. Multilateral agencies like World Bank and ADB have warned that countries like India may see higher taxes or deficits to offset the adverse impact global oil prices on consumers. Finance Ministry has ruled out an immediate cut in excise duties on petroleum products but Reserve Bank has raised two short term rates -- Repo and Reverse Repo -- in October to keep inflation under control. RBI is constantly watching the price amid a tight liquidity situation due to higher credit demand. (PTI) Tata-Star venture to bring Space TV in DTH sector next year KOLKATA, Dec 9: Ending a long wait, Space TV, the Tata-Star joint venture, will launch its Direct-to-Home(DTH) service next year to join the fast growing digital television segment in the country. "Our DTH will be launched in 2006," Tata Sons Director J J Irani told reporters a day after the Department of Telecom (DoT) cleared the proposal. After being kept pending since early 2004, The Tata-Star DTH application received the Letter of Intent(LoI) from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in May last. Dr Irani, however, declined to specify in which quarter of the next year the service would be operational. With the entry of Space TV and Sun DirectTV, the Sun Group's proposed DTH platform, there will be a total of four players in the Indian DTH arena. Currently, Mr Subhash Chandra's DishTV claims to have about 200,000 subscribers, while Prasar Bharati boasts of more than two million subscribers. Dish TV is the first player to enter the segment in October 2003 while public broadcaster Prasar Bharati launched its free-to-air platform 'DD Direct' in December 2004. Space TV had earlier signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation to lease all 12 KU-band transponders on the new INSAT 4A satellite to be able to transmit 150 channels. The Tata-Star DTH service, once operational, is slated to become India'slargest digital television platform, offering consumers a wide range of programming choices with interactive features. The joint venture was struck in 2004 with the Tata group holding 80 per cent and the Star Group having 20 per cent. The project cost is estimated at Rs 1,600 crore. The proposal got stuck at the Wireless Planning and Coordination wing of the DoT, which gives clearance for all wireless installations in the country. (UNI) India-Asean FTA likely to start by Jan'07 KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9: India and the ten-member Asean grouping are expected to start a long-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by January 2007 as the negotiation between the two sides are on the verge of completion. "The negotiation is on the verge of completion. We have passed many, many milestones," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said here today, adding that with an FTA in place trade between India and Asean could go up by 30 percent annually. Nath is in Kuala Lumpur to attend the Asean-India ministerial-level meeting. The FTA between Asean and India encountered some hiccups after disagreements over textiles and agriculture. The minister told reporters that any differences will soon be sorted out and an FTA should be in place by January 2007. He did not refer to any differences. India and Asean agreed in 2002 to begin talks on signing of an FTA, to be implemented by 2006. However, differences crept up over the interpretation of rules of origin and the talks were temporarily abandoned. Last year trade between Asean and India recorded a big jump with an increase of 40.8 percent over the previous year -- from 12.5 billion dollars to 17.6 billion. However, this seems very marginal considering ASEAN's trade with China, US and Europe which is at least 100 billion dollars each. Nath added that ASEAN and India were two large economies and both would gain by using their "complementarities and strengths. That's what economic cooperation is all about." The minister, referring to the final document to be adopted by the first ever East Asia Summit next week, said the words used in the document did not matter as what mattered was the "greater economic and people-to-people cooperation, more fraternity". This had to be emphasised, he said, adding that is "what we seek." (PTI) India, US hold first ever working group meet on ICT WASHINGTON, Dec 9: India and the US have held the first ever meeting of a bilateral working group on information and communication technologies and discussed approaches that could be taken to create an investment and regulatrory environment in the fast-growing sector. "The Working Group discussed developments in the information and telecommunications sectors in both countries," the State Department said in a statement after the two-day meeting which ended here yesterday. "It focused on discussion of approaches Governments can take to create an investment and regulatory environment that can maximize the development of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector," it said. The meeting was co-chaired by David Goss, State Department's US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy and M Madhavan Nambiar, Additional Secretary of the Department of Information Technology. The Working Group reviewed the recent World Summit on Information Society and discussed issues of mutual importance in multilateral organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union. It also identified the need for more structured collaboration with the private sector, through the creation of public-private sector groups on telecommunications and information technology. "Recognizing the impact that the information and communications technologies (ICT) sector has on the future of the US-India bilateral economic partnership, this initiative was launched in July during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as part of the US-India Economic Dialogue," the release said about the Working Group. The US participants were from the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Office of the US Trade Representative, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and National Science Foundation. Indian delegation included representatives from Departments of Information Technology and Telecommunications of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, along with officials from the Embassy of India in Washington. (PTI) China exports over one bn dollars worth of textiles to India BEIJING, Dec 9: Global textile giant, China has exported textile goods worth over one billion US dollars to 17 countries and regions, including India during the first ten months this year, the Ministry of Commerce said here. During January-October period, China exported its textile goods to 224 foreign markets, the ministry said. In the first ten months, 17 countries witnessed their textile imports from China exceed one billion US dollars, including the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, South Korea, Britain, Italy, UAE, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Singapore, the Netherlands, Panama, Saudi Arabia and India. China's textile exports to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also surpassed one billion US dollars. India's import of silk, silk yarn and fabric from China during the first ten months amounted to 347.61 US dollars, up 23.52 per cent over the corresponding figure in 2004. In the category of impregnate textile fabrics, India's imports from China during January-October shot up to 266.62 million US dollars, up 90.09 per cent. India imported Chinese man-made filament and fabrics worth 186.95 million US dollars during the first ten months of this year, registering a growth of 42.31 per cent. The country also ordered cotton, yarn and fabric worth 94.29 million US dollars from China during the same period, up 65.78 per cent over the previous year. In the first ten months of this year, China's exports of textile yarn, fabrics, textile goods, knitted apparel, tatting apparel and apparel accessories grew rapidly. Meanwhile, China exported 10.349 billion US dollars of textiles in the month of October, down 13.64 per cent from September, the Ministry said. Although China's monthly textile export volume exceeded 10 billion US dollars for the consecutive five months this year, its year-on-year growth rate has slowed down, it said. The abolishment of the global textile quota at the beginning of this year as well as China's textile production capacity expansion led to the sustained growth of China's textile exports, but the Renminbi (Chinese currency) appreciation policy and trade frictions with the United States and European Union have affected China's textile exports in the latter half of this year, the ministry said. The European Union and the United States have respectively signed textile deals with China this year after tough talks, setting quotas on China's textile exports to the two markets for a couple of years. China's textile exports to most of the European Union markets went up this year, with that to France and Spain jumping over 80 per cent year on year. From January to October, China's provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong as well as Shanghai saw their textile exports exceed 10 billion US dollars. The textile export volume of these four regions accounts for about 70 per cent of China's total textile exports. (PTI) |
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