Daily Excelsior...Business

Essar group BPO close to sealing Philippines acquisition

MUMBAI, Feb 17: Essar Group's BPO arm, Aegis, is close to acquiring a BPO company .....more'

Central aid for promoting ornamental fish breeding

KOCHI, Feb 17: The Centre has sanctioned a financial assistance scheme for setting up ornamental fish breeding units as .....more

Indiabulls to raise $1bn; power IPO also on cards

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Diversified group Indiabulls is looking to raise about one billion dollars through bond offering or a hybrid instrument, which would include issuance of both equity and debentures, ......more

Ripley's amusement park at Bangalore to be operational in Apr

MUMBAI, Feb 17: Ripley Entertainment Inc along with Prasad Labs will set up an amusement park at Bangalore on a franchisee basis with an investment of USD 4 million."We are setting up a joint venture with Prasad ......more

Jharkhand recommends allocation of two mines to ArcelorMittal

MUMBAI, Feb 17: The Jharkhand Government is understood to have recommended to the .......more

US firm in talks with PFC to sell stake in $12-bn fund

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: US-based private equity firm Clear Trade is in talks with five entities including PFC to sell up to 25 per ......more

LSE expects about 10 India-focused AIM listings in 2008

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Alternative Investment Market, an arm of the London Stock Exchange, is looking for about 9-10 India-focused companies to come .......more

CBEC tenders for mobile container scanners to open on Monday

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The global tenders for mobile container scanners, invited by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to curb malpractices by importers at major ports as well as to check smuggling activities, would open tomorrow. ....more

Bajaj-Renault-Nissan small car’s final plan soon

Govt sticks to decision to include Hotels under Factories Act

Industrial growth slips to 7.6% in Dec 07

Nokia ties up with Google to offer search engine facility

Essar group BPO close to sealing Philippines acquisition

MUMBAI, Feb 17: Essar Group's BPO arm, Aegis, is close to acquiring a BPO company in the Philippines, a top company official said.

"We are in the advanced stages of acquiring a BPO in the Philippines. We hope to start our operations there within the next two months," Aegis' Chief Financial Officer (CFO), C M Sharma, said.

However, he refused to name the company and the kind of investment being made in it.

Presently, the BPO has around 500 seats and depending on the business Aegis plans to recruit more personnel after the acquisition, he added.

"It can be extended to atleast 1,000 seats and we plan to recruit more people after the acquisition is over," he added.

Aegis had recently acquired Gurgaon-based TeleTech Services (India) Ltd, a front-to-back-office business process outsourcing firm for around Rs 55 crore, Sharma said.

"The Philippines acquisition would be the eighth acquisition of the company in the last two years," he added.

Speaking on the company's expansion plans, he said the company is aiming to be a USD 500 million entity in the next two years from the present level of USD 200 million.

"We are looking for an aggressive expansion and are open to both the organic and inorganic routes of expansion," he said.

The expansion and acquisitions would be funded through internal accruals and also through its own equity fund, Sharma said. (PTI)

Central aid for promoting ornamental fish breeding

KOCHI, Feb 17: The Centre has sanctioned a financial assistance scheme for setting up ornamental fish breeding units as part of its efforts to promote sustainable export trade of the this fish.

Under the scheme, financial assistance would be extended for setting up small, medium and large scale export oriented ornamental fish breeding units depending on investment capabilities and nature of species, Marine Product Export Development Authority Director (Marketing) Kuruvilla Thomas told PTI here today.

He said the MPEDA has embarked on a two-pronged strategy to regulate ornamental fishery through green certification and promotion of ornamental fish breeding.

Recently MPEDA has also launched a scheme for setting up ornamental fish marketing societies. As per which 7,200 units with an annual production of 500 million high quality marine and fresh water ornamental fishes would be produced with an export target of USD 50 million by 2012, he added.

At present the ornamental fish export from the country was dominated by the wild caught species, which cater to a small portion of the global market.

The country's contribution to global ornamental fish trade export in 2006-06 was negligible at 0.5 per cent (Rs 5.7 crore) of the international market.

Some 30-35 species of fresh water fish dominate the market while marine ornamental fish constitute 20 per cent by trade value and market for this segment is growing steadily.

He said the country was bestowed with climatic conditions and resources ideally conducive for growth, maturation and breeding of many exotic as well as indigenous ornamental fishes. (PTI)

Indiabulls to raise $1bn; power IPO also on cards

This domestic market offering comes close on the heels of the group having raised about 400 million dollars through an equity placement with the likes of Lakshmi Mittal in its power arm last week and its real estate business's plans to raise 1.2 billion dollars through the listing of a property investment trust in Singapore.

The one-billion-dollar issuance, likely to commence very soon, could be followed by the group taking public its power arm Indiabulls Power Services Ltd through an IPO in about next six months, according to investment banking sources.

In order to create further shareholder value, the group has already decided to demerge its brokerage business Indiabulls Securities into a separate company, which it plans to list separately on the bourses very soon.

"We had previously thought of raising funds from overseas markets by offering international securities such as ADRs (American Depository Receipts) and GDRs (Global Depository Receipts). But, for now we will raise about one billion dollars from the domestic market itself by issuing bonds convertible into equities or a hybrid instrument that would be a mix of equity and convertible bonds," a senior Indiabulls Financial Services official said.

The company is working on the fund raising plan actively and it should commence soon, IBFSL Corporate Affairs President Ajit Mittal said. (PTI)

Ripley's amusement park at Bangalore to be operational in Apr

MUMBAI, Feb 17: Ripley Entertainment Inc along with Prasad Labs will set up an amusement park at Bangalore on a franchisee basis with an investment of USD 4 million.

"We are setting up a joint venture with Prasad Labs for an amusement park at Bangalore, which includes Ripley's Incredible Maze and Believe It or Not Museum, Luis Tussaud's Wax Works (similar to Madame Tussaud's museum) and Guinness World Record Museum," Chairman of Ripley Entertainment Inc, Bob Masterson, said here.

The museum would be spread over 12,000 square feet near Bangalore and would open in April this year.

"We have made an investment of over USD 1 million and our joint venture partner Prasad Labs is pumping in USD 3 million to develop this park," Masterson added.

The Rs 4,000 crore Indian amusement and leisure industry is expecting fresh investments of Rs 10,000 crore by FY'20 with 500 new amusement parks coming up during that period.

"In India, major developments will be seen in next 5 years when many international parks will come via franchise or direct investment," Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI) President VGP Ravidas said.

Disney is also evaluating India for its theme parks, Ravidas said adding "the investments would be high. To set one Universal Studio (similar to Orlando in USA), the investment required is around USD 1 billion, Ravidas said.

The Amusement industry, is estimated to grow by 10-12 per cent per annum till FY'10, Ravidas added.

IAAPI has asked the Government to reduce entertainment tax and confer industry status to the amusement industry, making it a part of the tourism department, Ravidas said. (PTI)

Jharkhand recommends allocation of two mines to ArcelorMittal

MUMBAI, Feb 17: The Jharkhand Government is understood to have recommended to the Mines Ministry allocation of two iron ore mines in the state to ArcelorMittal for its proposed 12 million tonne steel plant.

The two mines, with total reserves of 600 million tons, are located at Meghataburu and Karampada. The world's largest steelmaker has identified the site at Torpa-Kamdara to set up the plant.

Sources in the know said that the recommendation from Jharkhand has been made recently, but there was no mention of the Chiria mines, which ArcelorMittal was vying for.

ArcelorMittal will shortly be going for the Detailed Project Report for its proposed plant in Jharkhand.

Meanwhile, the company has received a provision from the Orissa Government to acquire 7,500 acres of land at Keonjhar for a 12 million tonne steel plant in that state. The company intends to use 6,000 acres to put up the steel plant, 1,000 acres for setting up the 1,500 MW power plant and the remaining for developing a township.

ArcelorMittal plans to invest at least USD 20 billion in the two projects, which would be build up in two phases. (PTI)

US firm in talks with PFC to sell stake in $12-bn fund

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: US-based private equity firm Clear Trade is in talks with five entities including PFC to sell up to 25 per cent stake in its newly-launched USD 12 billion India-focused power and infrastructure fund.

Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund, which starts with an initial corpus of one billion dollars, would invest in the country's upcoming power and infrastructure projects.

According to Clear Trade CEO Palak Jain, the firm is in talks with five entities including Power Finance Corp, Morgan Stanley and Axis Bank-promoted Axis Private Equity to dilute up to 25 per cent in the fund.

Apart from Jain, the fund would be promoted by Clear Trade Managing Director Deepak Kavadia and Philip Ho, Managing Director of US-based private equity fund Cornell Capital.

"We plan to liquidate 25 per cent stake in the fund to two of the five entities," she told PTI over phone.

She said the fund, which proposes to participate in projects related to power, airports, bridges and hospitality, would begin operations from April 1.

"There is a huge need of capital in power and infrastructure segments in India. There lies a big opportunity in the segment which is growing at an exponential rate," she said.

Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund has already identified 11 power projects -- of which eight would be run on coal, two hydro and one on agro-waste.

Without disclosing the names of the projects, Jain said that all of them are above 1,000 MW in capacity. (PTI)

CBEC tenders for mobile container scanners to open on Monday

The cost of the scanners is estimated at over Rs 100 crore.

It will enable the Ministry to install gamma-ray container scanning system at Chennai, Kandla and Tuticorin ports which witness heavy traffic of Indian imports and exports.

"Global tenders have been invited by the CBEC for installing three mobile gamma ray container systems under the approved proposal of the Cabinet to install seven scanners at ports," said CBEC spokesperson, adding it would open on Monday.

CBEC, which installed one such scanner at JNPT, Mumbai in 2003, faced a major a controversy as investigations by the Intelligence Bureau allegedly found gamma scanner unsuitable "for detection of weapons, arms, ammunition, drugs and other dense cargo, liquid cargo".

It said it could penetrate only up to 150 mm of steel as against the international standard of 200 mm penetration. The issue was also raised later in Parliament.

When asked, CBEC spokesperson said, the gamma technology has been evaluated by the Technical Evaluation Committee headed by DGRI, which also included senior scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

"BARC has approved the gamma technogy after conducting geothermal studies and stated that it is capable of penetrating up to 300 mm of steel," said the CBEC spokesperson, adding the global tenders would provide opportunity to all eligible players to submit bids in a transparent manner. (PTI)

Bajaj-Renault-Nissan small car’s final plan soon

NEW DEHLI, Feb 17: Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, which plans to develop a low-cost small car in partnership with Renault-Nissan, is expected to announce the final details of the project in a "few weeks".

The small car project, which has been widely seen as an effort to rival Tata’s Rs one lakh Nano, was earlier pursued by only Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) and Renault and later joined by Nissan, in which the French firm has 44.4 per cent stake.

Asked by when a final decision on the project details was expected, BAL Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said: "In a few weeks."

When contacted, a Renault India official said presently, there were several teams from the alliance, covering different specializations, ‘who were working to decide on the viability of the project’.

"At this stage, we are unable to comment on any date for the final agreement," the official added.

Last year, BAL and Renault had announced that they were in preliminary deliberations for exploring the small car project together. Since then, Nissan has also been roped in as a partner in the development programme.

BAL had recently showcased its concept small car at the Auto Expo held in the capital.

After Tata’s Nano was showcased, Renault Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn scaled down the targeted price of the alliance’s small car, hinting that the expected cost would be around 2,550 dollars from the earlier stated 3,000 dollars. (PTI)

)

Govt sticks to decision to include Hotels under Factories Act

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The Centre has ruled out reconsidering its decision to include the Hotel Industry under the Factories Act, dealing a blow to demands by the industry that they be exempted from the purview of the law.

A delegation representing reputed hotels recently met with the Labour Secretary to demand Hotel Industries continue to be covered under the ‘Shops and Establishment Act’.

Hotels will have to change many rules once the industry is included under the Act. Rules like fixed shifts of eight hours would have to be in place and employers would have to pay extra for overtime.

Hotels would also have to ensure health, safety and welfare facilities, employment of young persons and annual Leave with wages.

"A delegation met recently in this regard but we are firm and not considering any decision again. The industry needs to discipline themselves a bit. It is about safety and security of people working in the hotels. And that number is huge and we are responsible for them," said a highly placed official in the Ministry.

The Factories Act is a social legislation which has been enacted for occupational safety, health and welfare of workers. Defaulters can face a maximum punishment of two years’ jail sentence or a fine of up to Rs one lakh, or both.

The Hotel industry maintains that there is no need to include it under the purview of the Act as high standards are already being maintained.

"We are following all rules and regulations and ensure that our employees are well looked after covering all aspects. Inclusion of hotel industries under the factories act is something that is not necessary," said Sanjay Bose, Head of Human Resources at Taj Hotel. (PTI)

Industrial growth slips to 7.6% in Dec 07

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Loss of momentum, particularly arising from the consumption side, has led to a deceleration in the general index of industrial production (IIP) as it slipped to 7.6 per cent for December 2007, as against 13.4 per cent in the corresponding month of 2006.

Growth of mining, manufacturing and electricity slowed down substantially to three per cent, 8.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent in December 2007 as compared to 6.1 per cent, 14.5 per cent and 9.1 per cent in December 2006 respectively, according to the quick estimates of the IIP.

The cumulative growth during April-December 2007-08 over the corresponding period of 2006-07 in the three sectors are 4.9 per cent, 9.6 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively.

Metal Products and Parts, except machinery and Equipment, also performed poorly during the month of December, recording negative growth of 23.6 per cent. Wool, Silk and man-made fibre textiles recorded a dismal two per cent growth while non-metallic mineral products showed a 1.7 per cent growth rate.

Growth rate of basic goods plummeted to 3.1 per cent in December 2007, as against 12.4 per cent in the corresponding month last year.

Consumer goods output rose an annual 8.7 per cent, and capital goods output continued to grow at 16.6 per cent in December 2007, as against 26.2 per cent in the same month last year.

The cumulative growth for the period April-December 2007-08 moved down to nine per cent from 11.2 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The industrial growth rate for November 2007 has been revised downwards to 5.1 per cent from 5.3 per cent reported earlier. (UNI)

Nokia ties up with Google to offer search engine facility

BARCELONA, Feb 17: World’s largest cellphone maker Nokia has tied up with Google to facilitate web search on its products, even as it launched models offering new services, moves that could consolidate its leadership position.

The integration will begin in select markets on Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 6220 classic. Google search will be extended to additional models in the future.

Ultimately, Nokia will make Google search available to its customers in over 100 countries around the world, serving mobile owners speaking more than 40 languages.

At the GSM World Congress, the company also launched a number of new devices including phones that offer location- based navigation services.

Nokia improved its market share to 40 per cent last year and hopes to better it.

Launching four mobile phones-N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 and Nokia 6219 Navigator, the company said these were no longer mobile phones but mini personal computers.

"As we continue to free the internet from the limitations of the desktop, we are taking mobility into a completely new realm of possibility," Nokia Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said.

The devices exhibit different location-based and multimedia experiences from pedestrian navigation to geo-tagging and movie viewing to video and photo sharing. The phones would be in the market from second quarter this year.

Commenting on i-phones from Apple and other companies, Nokia officials said they were ready to face the competition.

Nokia Executive Vice President (Mobile Phones) Kai Ostamo, while commenting on its new range of phones, said "we would like to be called Mobile Experience Company and not just a mobile phone company." (PTI)