Daily Excelsior...Business

ICICI Securities’ IPO to come in due course: Kamath

Hybrid maize to create bigger revolution than BT cotton

AIR maintains its status as world’s largest network

SAIL to import 12-13 mln ton coking coal this fiscal

Birla Sun Life AMC partners J&K Bank

MUMBAI, May 5: Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Limited and Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited today announced a strategic partnership for distribution of Birla Sun Life’s Mutual Fund Products.

According to the agreement, Birla Sun Life’s Products will now be available at selective branches of J&K bank. This initiative will strengthen Birla Sun Life’s Distribution Network according to a Birla Sun Life AMC release issued here. Birla Sun Life AMC CEO Anil Kumar in the release stated that the partnership would be a win win situation to both the organisations.

J&K Bank president G A Beigh commenting on the agreement said the strategic tie up would provide a different array of MF products to the customers and boost bank’s fee-based income.

He said "our bank has aggressively sold the mutual fund products of various asset management companies for the last two years. The customers have become empowered and demanding. We need to provide them all the financial solutions including mutual fund products under single roof." (UNI)

.Cairn India appoints Rick Bott as Executive Director, COO

MUMBAI, May 5: Cairn India, the Indian subsidiary of Scottish firm Cairn Energy Plc, today said it has appointed Rick Bott as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the company with effect from June 15.

Rick Bott has over 20 years of experience and has joined Cairn India from Devon Energy's International division where he was vice president responsible for developing and implementing business growth and exploration strategy, Cairn India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"I am delighted that Rick is joining our senior leadership team as the company gears up for the first production from Rajasthan and looks to future growth opportunities both in India and beyond," Cairn India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Rahul Dhir said.

Previously, Rick served as President of Ocean Egypt Companies and as President of Ocean Yemen Corporation. He has also served in a number of international management and technical positions with British Gas and Tanneco.

"This is a transformational period for Cairn India as it looks to substantially increase its production which will be fundamental to the future of the company and its shareholders. I am delighted that I will get the chance to play a key part in that growth," Rick Bott said. (PTI)

Edelweiss gets SEBI nod for mutual fund biz

MUMBAI, May 5: Financial services firm Edelweiss Capital today said it has received final regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to start its mutual fund business.

"Registration has been granted to Edelweiss Mutual Fund and approval has been granted for Edelweiss Asset Management to act as investment manager to Edelweiss Mutual Fund," the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Edelweiss asset Management plans to launch 8-9 products over the next 12 months. The product portfolio would include broad based equity funds, structured products, arbitrage funds and other innovative fixed income and equity funds in line with requirements of the market.

"We believe that the time is right for us to enter the market by offering customer-specific solutions across the range of debt, arbitrage and equity products," Chief Executive Officer of Edelweiss Asset Management Jimmy A Patel said.

"Going ahead, we feel that the key drivers of the business will be customer reach and servicing, performance of funds and pedigree of the sponsor," Patel added.

(PTI)

Rise in Instanex Skindia GDR Index

MUMBAI, May 5: The Instanex Skindia DR Index rose by 54.94 points or 1.79 per cent to 3,124.29 on May 2 as against 3,069.35 on May 1.

The P/E Ratio also moved up to 25.52 as against 24.92 previously, an Instanex Capital release said here today.

Following are the GDR and ADR rates for May 02 in US dollars with differences in percentage from the previous level given in brackets.

Dr Reddy’S (ADR) 15.67 (+0.77)

GAIL (GDR) 63.00 (-8.03)

Grasim Ind (GDR) 59.00 (-4.07)

ICICI Bank (ADR) 46.90 (+2.51)

Infosys Tech (ADR) 44.94 (+1.58)

ITC (GDR) 5.55 (+2.40)

L&T (GDR) 77.34 (+3.67)

Mahindra & Mah (GDR) 17.05 (+2.71)

Ranbaxy Labs (GDR) 12.00 (+0.93)

Reliance (GDR) 134.50 (+2.09)

Satyam Comp (ADR) 27.18 (+4.54)

SBI (GDR) 98.52 (+3.27)

Sterlite Ind (ADR) 20.63 (-0.05)

Tata Communi (ADR) 25.50 (+2.45)

Tata Motors (ADR) 17.15 (+0.94)

(PTI)

Chennai emerging as hub of modern art

CHENNAI, May 5: Teeming with a young breed of high salaried professionsals, once conservative Chennai is fast emerging as a hub of modern art as young artists from across the country are making a beeline to cash in on the new wave of interest in paintings.

There has been an emerging trend among the young professionals classified as High Networth Individuals (HNI) which mainly included top management staff of IT and ITES companes, to buy paintings as an investment option, industry experts said.

Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Secretary R M Palaniappan said the akademi had hosted about 50 to 60 painting exhibitions of young painters in last year.The number of buyers for paintings had increased drastically and the young artists find the city a perfect platform to sell their works.

Of late,Chennai is catching up with Delhi and Mumbai, in attracting young artists to find buyers for their works.

There had been a fresh wave of interest among the high-salaried youngsters to buy paintings. They even do their home work by getting acquainted with different streams of art like modern and post-modern art, he said.Instead of buying works of M F Hussain or Sobha Singh at very high prices, they opt for paintings of new artists, he said.

Sharan Apparao of Apparao Art Galleries said while young artists are making a beeline to showcase their works, top artists have not yet turned their attention to Chennai which does not have enough intellectual forums to attract them. As a result, buyers are pting for works of lesser know young painters.

Award winning artist K V Haridasan, settled at Cholamandalam artist village in the city, said the buyers were now looking at the works of the young artists as they can get it for a low price.

While it costs around Rs.Two lakh for a work of a senior and well known artist, it would be only around Rs.25,000 to Rs.40,000 for a work of an up and coming artist, he said.

The buyers, before buying a work, would evaluate the potential of a young artist to make it big in the coming years.

He said the speculative tendency was high in the art market in Chennai.

The young artists sell their works for a considerable low price to the buyers, whose main aim was to make profit. (PTI)

ICICI Securities’ IPO to come in due course: Kamath

NEW DELHI, May 5: ICICI Securities, the investment banking arm of ICICI Bank, will come out with initial public offer in due course, said CEO of the country’s largest private sector bank K V Kamath.

"The IPO will come in due course. We are not in a hurry," Kamath told reporters here.

He said the bank has not decided on the size of the IPO and when the market conditions are favourable, the bank will consider the IPO.

In January, the board of ICICI Securities had approved the initial public offer and private placement of shares to one or more institutional investors.

Soon after the decision, ICICI Bank Joint Managing Director and CFO Chanda Kochhar had said, the shares of ICICI Securities will be listed on the bourses in about six months.

The board had decided to offload 15 per cent of its shares to retail or institutional investors.

ICICI Securities, having an equity capital of Rs 61 crore, is a major player in retail broking and has posted revenues of Rs 527 crore during the first nine months of the current fiscal while profits were at Rs 108 crore in the same period. (PTI)

Hybrid maize to create bigger revolution than BT cotton

NEW DELHI, May 5: Like bt cotton, hybrid varieties of maize, having higher protein content have the potential to create a revolution in the country, ensuring nutritional security to poor as well as for poultry industry, farm experts said.

Under the quality protein maize (QPM) programme, there are atleast 10 varieties of maize available in the country. Protein content in QPM is about 74 per cent while it is only 37 per cent in normal maize. Interestingly, protein quality of QPM is 90 per cent of that of milk, they said.

"These hybrid seeds have increased maize yields from 16 quintal per hectare to 24 quintal per hectare resulting bumper production of 18.51 million tons in 2007-08. Hybrid maize can create a bigger revolution than bt cotton has done so far in the country," Director General, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Mangala Rai said.

If monsoon favours, maize production may cross 20 million tons during 2008-09, he said adding that maize is the third important crop after rice and wheat in terms of area in the country.

Currently in India, 49 per cent of maize is used as poultry feed, 12 per cent as animal feed, 25 per cent as food, 13 per cent in starch and other industries and one per cent as seed.

"QPM maize is a low cost quality protein that meets energy and protein needs of human beings as well as poultry industry," Directorate of Maize Research Sain Dass said.

Jharkhand’s Birsa Agricultural University Vice Chancellor N N Singh said, "Recently released QPM hybrids like Shaktiman 1 have made a significant effect among farmers. However, to harness the potential of QPM in India, a concerted research and policy intervention is very much needed".

Singh suggested that research efforts should focus on states whose yields are lower than the national level. About 12 states which includes Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and Delhi constitute over 50 per cent of the total maize acreage in the country. The yield levels in these states range from 658 kg per hectare to 1,677 kg per hectare.

"Hybrid QPM which are adaptable to harsh environment need to be propagated in these areas," Singh said, adding that National Seed Corporation and State Seed Corporations should be roped in the production of QPM hybrids so that these seeds reach to the farmers at affordable cost and at right time.

Among the major producing states, Andhra Pradesh tops the list with contribution of 17 per cent to the total maize production.

Leading farm scientist S K Vasal pointed out, "Hybrids released from early materials are almost negligible. The pace of maize hybrid releases has been somewhat slow because of no QPM activity for almost five years. So far, only a few QPM lines have been introduced since the first release".

Although in the recent years, QPM has generated renewed interest and optimism, but there is still a lot to do in this area. "We need to conduct well designed nutritional feeding trails in poultry and human beings. More training courses required to be launched to train talented researchers to carry out QPM research activities," Vasal said. (PTI)

AIR maintains its status as world’s largest network

NEW DELHI, May 5: Despite financial and infrastructural constraints, the reach of the All India Radio (AIR) is far greater than other private channels, and it is the world’s largest network.

AIR FM channels cover 23 per cent of the area and 31 per cent of the population, whereas private FM channels cover only 3.3 per cent of the area and 9.3 per cent of the population, says a Prasar Bharati report.

Even after the completion of phase two, private FM would cover only 9.0 per cent of the area and 21 per cent of the population.

Moreover, the report says, private FM channels were city centric, so the entire rural areas were deprived of their services, and AIR was the only radio service reaching them.

At present AIR have 23 stations and 361 transmitters, which is the largest network in the world, covering 91.42 per cent of the population.

The Report pointed out that after the advent of the Prasar Bharati, the huge AIR network was increasingly being constrained in terms of critical resources and inputs such as programmes, establishments, latest equipment, maitenanace among others.

These problems have arisen due to limited budget grant and acute staff shortage, as there has not been fresh recruitment for many years.

One constraint has arisen out of the role of AIR as public broadcaster as it has kept away from pure entertainment programming, which brings hefty amount as commercial revenue, the report said.

However, the growth of radio advertising in the current year has been projected to exceed 50 per cent because of two factors-social marketing and retail marketing, it said.

AIR, which started its operations in 1927, broadcasts in 24 languages and 146 dialects. In External Services, it covers 27 languages including 16 foreign and 11 Indian languages . (UNI)

SAIL to import 12-13 mln ton coking coal this fiscal

NEW DELHI, May 5: Public sector Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) today said it will import 12-13 million tonnes of coking coal during the current fiscal.

"We will import about 12-13 million tonnes of coking coal this year," SAIL Chairman S K Roongta told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

The Chairman said he expects to finalise a coking coal contract with BHP Billiton this month, but did not divulge further details.

Meanwhile, SAIL had signed an MoU with the Kerala government for revival of the loss-making Steel Complex Ltd (SCL).

Under the MoU, SAIL will acquire 50 per cent shares of SCL, which is a subsidiary of the Kerala State Industrial Corporation Ltd, and the company will be operated as a joint venture between SAIL and the Kerala Government.

It is envisaged that the JV company will revamp the existing steel making and continuous casting facilities existing in the 50,000 tonnes per annum company SCL.

(UNI)