Daily Excelsior...Business

GMR Infrastructure Q2 net loss at Rs 97 lakh

MUMBAI, Oct 26: GMR Infrastructure Ltd today posted a net loss after tax at Rs 97 lakh for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 1.49 crore ..........more

Haryana to attract Rs 2 lakh cr FDI in next 2 years: Hooda

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Haryana is expecting to attract a record Foreign Direct Investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore over the next two years in various manufacturing .........more

Indian exports rise 14 times of its trade partners’ GDP growth

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: A one per cent growth in the GDP of trade partners has helped India clock a 14 per cent increase in its exports to those destinations, .........more

Nationwide bank strike today

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Banking services are likely to be hit hard tomorrow as the United Forum of Bank Unions, . .....more

ICI posts Rs 20.57 cr PAT in Q2

KOLKATA, Oct 26: Kolkata-based ICI India Ltd today posted a net profit after tax of Rs 20.57 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was ..........more

Export body welcomes proposed leather SEZ in Agra

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) today welcomed Commerce ministry’s decision ............more

FM to devise ways to woo private investment in infra

Haryana to attract Rs 2 lakh cr FDI in next 2 years: Hooda

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Haryana is expecting to attract a record Foreign Direct Investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore over the ............more

ICI India Q2 net at Rs 20.57 cr

ICICI, SIXT form alliance for car leasing business

M&M Q2 PAT up two fold

FDI in telecom: National security will be safeguarded

GMR Infrastructure Q2 net loss at Rs 97 lakh

MUMBAI, Oct 26: GMR Infrastructure Ltd today posted a net loss after tax at Rs 97 lakh for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 1.49 crore for the same quarter last year.

The total income was Rs 4.69 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 5.46 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, the Bangalore-based company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The group posted a net profit after minority interest at Rs 25.62 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 16.65 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The total income was Rs 321.07 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 224.31 crore for the year ago period.

During the period ended September 30, GMR Infrastructure acquired 99.99 per cent stake of GVL Investments Pvt Ltd (GVL). Consequently, GVL, Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd and Gateways for India Airports Pvt Ltd have become its subsidiaries.

Hence, the consolidated results for the current period are not fully comparable with those of the corresponding period of the previous year.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs 320.15, up 1.88 per cent on the BSE. (PTI)

Haryana to attract Rs 2 lakh cr FDI in next 2 years: Hooda

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Haryana is expecting to attract a record Foreign Direct Investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore over the next two years in various manufacturing sectors such as automobiles, auto components, power and food processing.

"The recent five-nation tour to Europe has reaped an investment of Rs 12,000 crore. Overall, we are expecting FDI proposals of about Rs 2,00,000 crore in the next two years," Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here.

The delegation visited The Netherlands, Germany, France, UK and Spain from October 8 to 19.

Giving details of the visit, Hooda said an European Desk would be set up in the Investment Promotion Centre in Delhi to facilitate the flow of investment from Europe.

Among the major investment initiatives proposed in the state were Japanese automobile giant Suzuki's Rs 1,380 crore investments, he said, adding Europe's Spykar Cars is also planning to set up operations in the state.

Besides, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and Dutch Haryana Business Consortium signed a statement of interest for establishment of an European Technology Park, which would catalyse an initial investment of Rs 1,200 crore. This would further go up to Rs 12,000 crore over a period of 10 years, Hooda said.

Another MoU was signed between Spykar Cars NV and Manav Rachna Education Society, Haryana for upgradation of education level of engineers and other professionals. The facilities would be created with an investment of about Rs 40 crore.

The five nation official-cum-business delegation comprised of industrialists from specific sectors such as automobiles, auto components, leather, power, food processing.

Hooda said the state has a three-pronged advantage-- ideal location for foreigners, investment friendly atmosphere and being the consumer market of north India. The growth rate of the state is 12 per cent as against the national GDP growth rate of 8 per cent, he added.

Haryana has already attracted substantial FDI from the European Union. As many as 386 industrial units have been set up in the state involving technical and financial collaborations from European companies, pushing the FDI to Rs 1,470 crore, the Chief Minister said.

OSRAM, a subsidiary of Germany-based Siemens AG, plans to expand its electrical equipment manufacturing facilities at an investment of Rs 100 crore, while construction equipment giant JCB plans to set up another unit in India at an investment of Rs 150 crore.

Two MoUs were signed by Minda Industries Ltd with France-based Valeo for setting up auto lighting production facilities involving an investment of Rs 180 crore.

A Joint Venture Agreement was also signed by JBM Group with Arcelor Tailored Blank of France (an Arcelor-Mittal Group company) for manufacturing Tailor Welded Blanks in the state. The 50:50 JV would involve an investment of Rs 60 crore. (PTI)

Indian exports rise 14 times of its trade partners’ GDP growth

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: A one per cent growth in the GDP of trade partners has helped India clock a 14 per cent increase in its exports to those destinations, industry body ASSOCHAM said.

According to the Assocham Eco Pulse (AEP) study, the 14 per cent growth in exports to countries such as the US, UAE, Singapore, China and Germany responded to the growth in their real GDP.

The co-relation between GDP and export growth is based on the study, which takes into account figures of the last four financial years. The study states that GDP of the top seven countries, which account for the largest share in India’s exports, grew even larger by 4.5 per cent leading to an overall increase of 62 per cent in exports to these nations.

"Our study reinforces belief in the increasing integration of Indian economy with the rest of the world. Any positive or negative change in economic growth has a direct and consequential impact on the Indian exports," ASSOCHAM president Anil K Agarwal said in a release here.

The study shows that export demand in the economies of USA and UAE, considered to be the biggest markets of Indian merchandise, has responded five-fold to the increase in their real GDP products. A 3.3 per cent increase in the GDP of USA has increased Indian exports up by 18 per cent in the current financial year.

Indian exports’ growth story has been well replicated in UAE where the GDP rates of 7 per cent, 8.5 per cent, 8 per cent and 6.5 per cent in the previous four fiscals has scripted the exports rising by 33.4 per cent, 53.84 per cent, 43.2 per cent and 16.97 per cent respectively, the study said.

Within South-east Asia, countries like Singapore and China account for the largest share in India’s exports pie. While Singaporean economy grew by an average of 3.6 per cent in the last four years, the growth in Indian exports has galloped by a whopping 61 per cent.

The study indicates that the situation in China is similar as the 10-fold demand for iron ore, raw cotton, plastic products, chemicals and drugs have helped Sino-Indian trade grow by 59 per cent in the same period, reflective of the sustained growth of the over 10 per cent of the Chinese economy.

The GDP-export growth parallel relationship holds true even in Europe where average growth in real GDP of countries like UK and Germany have been 2.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively in the last four years - thrusting average growth in Indian exports by 27 per cent and 14 per cent for the same time-period.

Factors like trade policies, export promotion methods, bilateral trade agreements like CECA and fiscal incentives apart from the momentum in the real GDP has led to an increase in the volume of trade and exports, the study added. (PTI)

FM to devise ways to woo private investment in infra

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Grappling with the issue of attracting private sector investment in infrastructure, the Finance Ministry is likely to start consultations next month with the RBI, market regulator SEBI, merchant bankers and multi-lateral agencies on innovative financial instruments to woo these funds.

While the Finance Ministry is quite certain about the quantum of funds needed from the private sector in infrastructure projects, it is yet to do an analysis of the kind of policy requirements that are needed to attract this money, a key ministry official told PTI.

"This analysis, we will do now. We are in the process of working out a concept paper and will come out with it in four weeks," he said.

He said the ministry will hold consultations with merchant banks, multilateral agencies, RBI and SEBI on the ways to attract the private capital in infrastructure.

The ways would include new financial instruments and developing the debt market, which is at a very nascent stage right now.

Infrastructure like roads, power, railways, aviation require an enormous amount of 320-350 billion dollars by 2012 to raise rate of investment in the key areas at par with economic growth, 20 per cent of which will have to be chipped in by the private sector, the official said.

As such, the total requirement of private sector investment in infrastructure is somewhere near 65-70 billion dollars, of which 25 billion dollars should come from equity and the rest through debt in public-private partnership (PPP) projects, the official said.

Huge private sector funding is required since public investment in the area is constrained by limitations on the Government borrowing programme imposed by the FRBM Act and demand for investment by other growing sectors of the economy.

"As such, we are looking at various sorts of avenues and innovative financial instruments like currency swap," he said.

Since there is overall cap on external commecial borrowings for the entire economy, the financial instruments may be overseas Rupee-denominated funds, he explained.

He said the consultation paper will not only touch the issue of the requirement of 20-25 billion dollar equity from the private sector but also on the availability of such equity backed by specific technical knowhow in the particular sector.

Citing an example, he said the private player offering equity in the aviation sector must also have technical experts to carry out work in the sector.

Besides, the paper will analyse whether there are enough number of PPP projects in the country. It would seek suggestions on the ways to develop such projects with the help of the Centre and State Governments.

The paper will also assess the ways to create capacity in states for coming out with such projects, he said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said India needs a massive 320 billion dollars by 2012 to overcome infrastructure ‘deficit,’ a feat that requires substantial private sector participation for which he promised an independent/transparent policy and regulatory mechanism.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had admitted a virtual absence of long term instruments for infrastructure funding and expected that there could be some movement on the issue of pension and insurance bills over the next few weeks with the support of coalition partners. (PTI)

Haryana to attract Rs 2 lakh cr FDI in next 2 years: Hooda

The delegation visited The Netherlands, Germany, France, UK and Spain from October 8 to 19.

Giving details of the visit, Hooda said an European Desk would be set up in the Investment Promotion Centre in Delhi to facilitate the flow of investment from Europe.

Among the major investment initiatives proposed in the state were Japanese automobile giant Suzuki’s Rs 1,380 crore investments, he said, adding Europe’s Spykar Cars is also planning to set up operations in the state.

The five nation official-cum-business delegation comprised of industrialists from specific sectors such as automobiles, auto components, leather, power, food processing.

Hooda said the state has a three-pronged advantage-ideal location for foreigners, investment friendly atmosphere and being the consumer market of north India. The growth rate of the state is 12 per cent as against the national GDP growth rate of 8 per cent, he added.

Two MoUs were signed by Minda Industries Ltd with France-based Valeo for setting up auto lighting production facilities involving an investment of Rs 180 crore.

ICI India Q2 net at Rs 20.57 cr

MUMBAI, Oct 26: Kolkata-based ICI India Ltd today posted a net profit after tax of Rs 20.57 crore for the quarter ended September 30, where as the same was at Rs 15.44 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

Total income (net of excise) stood at Rs 247.69 crore for the second quarter this fiscal as against Rs 231.95 crore during the same quarter in 2005-06, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company said that the figures for second quarter in 2006-07 were not comparable with those for Q2 of the previous fiscal on account of divestment of Rubber Chemicals business in December 2005, and exclusion of Uniqema business results from September 2, 2006.

At a meeting held today the board of directors has recommended a proposal to merge ICI India’s subsidiary Quest International India Ltd with the company, subject to necessary approvals, the company added.

ICI India manufactures and markets paints, speciality chemicals, catalysts, rubber chemicals and adhesives. (PTI)

ICICI, SIXT form alliance for car leasing business

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Country’s second largest lender ICICI Bank and car leasing service provider Sixt India today formed an alliance to provide a complete vehicle leasing and fleet management solution to corporate clients.

Under the alliance, ICICI Bank will handle the financing part while Sixt India will deal with the operational and client relation part.

"We expect a revenue of Rs 200 crore in car leasing and Rs 100 crore in renting business in a year’s time," SIXT India Vice Chairman and Managing Director Sunjay J Kapur said.

SIXT India (a Sona Group Company), is the master franchises for German-based SIXT AG, one of the Europe’s leading rent a car, leasing and fleet management companies.

Launched in January this year, SIXT India has about 250 cars, which it plans to increase to 3000 by 2007 and 35,000 in the next five years.

The ICICI Bank-SIXT alliance will provide Residual Valued based leasing, maintenance, repair, insurance management, accident management, fuel management, upgrade options and easy walkout options in case of employee severance for corporate clients.

"We will give 100 per cent finance to SIXT to acquire cars, while SIXT will give the car on lease to a client at 60-80 per cent of the price of the car for a particular period (3-4 years) and get the car back after the term," ICICI Bank Vehicle finance head Sachin Khandelwal said.

For example, if the price of a car is Rs 100 and the residual value is Rs 30 after three years of use, then SIXT will give the car on lease for Rs 70 and get back the car or the client can keep the car by paying Rs 30 after the term. (PTI)

M&M Q2 PAT up two fold

MUMBAI, Oct 26: Leading commercial vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd today reported more than a two fold increase in profit after tax at Rs 386.47 crore for the quarter ended September 30, as compared to Rs 157.20 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Total income (net of excise) rose to Rs 2563.41 crore for the second quarter during 2006-07, up 32 per cent from Rs 1944.24 crore in the year ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. (PTI)

FDI in telecom: National security will be safeguarded

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Government today said national security will not be compromised while enhancing FDI in the sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, but warned against "over-reactions" in the name of safety.

"National security is supreme. There cannot be any comprise on that," IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said when asked about concerns expressed about national security while allowing more FDI to flow to the sector.

He, however, said: "We should not over-react in the name of national security. We should follow what is happening in the world."

The Natinal Security Council had in a recent note classified telecom as one of the sensitive sectors, where FDI from certain countries can be used to subvert national security. It had also criticised the presence of Egypt’s Orascom in Hutchison-Essar.

Maran said there were "fears" pertaining to FDI in telecom sector but the department was addressing them.

"We shall try to address them (the fears)," he said but refused to elaborate on what the fears were, saying DoT was in the process of preparing a Cabinet note and he cannot disclose anything now.

Maran said his ministry would try to resolve issues in implementation of guidelines that permit up to 74 per cent FDI in telecom sector, within the timeframe set by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet had last month set December 31 as the deadline for resolution of inter-ministerial differences and addressing concerns particularly security aspect.

The three-months time would also be used for reconciling the different set of rules for firms with FDI up to 49 per cent and those with FDI between 49-74 per cent.

On whether change of guard at Defence Ministry would alter the ministry’s views on FDI in telecom sector, Maran said: "There is no difference of opinion among ministries over the issue of national security. All of us are working toward one goal and that is national security."

Although Department of Telecom has maintained that FDI and security should be dealt with separately, the National Security Council had cited the case of Orascom Telecom as an example of sectorial threat.

According to an NSC paper, Orascom has received investments from Late Yaseer Arafat’s organisation and the company is the biggest player in the telecom field in Pakistan and has a large share in Bangladesh.

"Orascom’s presence in an Indian company’s board is not in our national security interest as it could gain access to our ICT assets and enhance the capabilities of our adversaries in gathering intelligence," the paper said.

The NSC had proposed an umbrella legislation-National Security Exception Act-enabling the government to suspend or prohibit any foreign acquisition or merger of an Indian company that is considered prejudicial to India’s national security. (PTI)