Spencer's Retail to pump in Rs 1,500 cr for expansion

DCM Shriram acquires Jaipur based fertiliser firm

Inflation stable now, will come down: Chidambaram

Essar Power gets CCEA approval for FDI of Rs 8,000 crore

Manappuram proposes Rs 100 crore equity infusion

KOCHI, May 9: Kerala-based Manappuram General Finance and Leasing Ltd (MAGFIL) has proposed a Rs 100 crore equity infusion this year and is in talks with a leading global bank in this regard, a company official said.

Equity infusion is being planned even before the proposed merger of MAGFIL and its Manappuram Finance Tamil Nadu Private Ltd, MAGFIL Chairman V P Nandakumar told reporters here last night.

Negotiations are on with a leading global bank, he said.

The company has reported a 98 per cent increase in the net profit for the year ending March 31 this year at Rs 20.99 crore, compared to Rs 10.61 crore for the previous year.

Income from operations increased 82 per cent at Rs 79.66 crore as against Rs 43.65 crore in the last fiscal, he said. Profit Before Tax for the period amounted to Rs 31.96 crore, against last year's figure of Rs 16.35 crore, signifying a positive variance of 95.5 per cent.

The consolidated net profit is Rs 21.36 crore for the year, against Rs 10.81 crore for last year, a 98 per cent increase over the previous year, he said announcing the results.

MAGFIL is a premier non banking financial company in India, registered with the RBI and has 310 branches in 13 states.

There are plans to add 250 more branches this year, one fourth of which will be in Kerala.

The company also plans to monitise about 10 per cent of the 15,000 tonnes of gold held by households. (PTI)

Nissan appoints Hover Automotive as service partner in India

NEW DELHI, May 9: Hover Automotive India Pvt Ltd today said it has been appointed by auto major Nissan Motor Co Ltd as its service partner for marketing, sales, after-sales service and dealer development in India.

Under the service provision agreement, Hover will undertake the implementation of Nissan's marketing and sales strategy and support dealer development and establish 55 dealers by 2012 for Nissan in the country, Hover said in a statement.

"Hover is a strategic partner that offers the necessary sales, marketing and dealer development expertise to ensure our success in India," Nissan Motor Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares said.

Hover is a subsidiary of The Westmont Group, a global consortium consisting of diverse portfolio in hotels, real estate, customer service, brand management and marketing. (PTI)

Pizza chain Papa John's to open 100 outlets in country

VADODARA, May 9: One of the world's largest pizza chain, Papa John's will open 100 outlets in different parts of the country with an investment of Rs 250 crore.

Talking to the newspersons on the sidelines of the inaugural of its first outlet in the city here today, Suden Singh, Business Head of JIP Fashion and Restaurant India Pvt Ltd, a franchisee of Papa John's in India, said that it is their first outlet in the city while two outlets will be opened in Ahmedabad in next couple of months.

They are also planning to open outlets in Surat and Rajkot later, he added.

The Rs 300-crore Indian pizza market is growing rapidly due to change in the eating habits of people and is likely to touch Rs 1,000 crore in next four years, said Singh.

Viewing this response, the company has plans to venture out in various states of the country including Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Rajasthan, he said.

Papa John's, which came to India in 2006, now has 10 outlets in the country including the new outlet of the city, Singh said. (PTI)

Spencer's Retail to pump in Rs 1,500 cr for expansion

NEW DELHI, May 9: RPG Group company Spencer's Retail today said it would invest Rs 1,500 crore to open around 250 new retail outlets across the country within a year.

"We will invest Rs 1,500 crore across different formats in the next 12 months to open additional 250 stores. The total retail space will go up to 22.5 lakh sq feet by March 2009," RPG enterprises Vice Chairman Sanjeev Goenka told reporters while announcing the launch of two new hyper stores at Ghaziabad and Gurgaon.

The company is also holding talks with number of international retail players for setting up joint ventures in the country.

Without divulging the names of international players with whom the company is in talks with, Goenka said, "We are looking at international tie ups across various categories and in the next six months a number of joint ventures will be announced."

Presently, the company operates 400 stores across 65 cities in India under different formats like, Super market, Hyper market, Express and Dailies.

Spencer's Retail is planning a high growth in future, with a target to clock a turnover of Rs 1,800 crore by the end of current financial year. (PTI)

DCM Shriram acquires Jaipur based fertiliser firm

NEW DELHI, May 9: DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd today said it has acquired Jaipur based M/s Shri Ganpati Fertilisers Ltd, (SGFL).

SGFL is engaged in the manufacture of Single Super Phosphate (SSP) having manufacturing unit at District Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.

The unit has a capacity 1,98,000 tonnes per annum SSP Powder and SSP Granules of 60,000 tonnes per annum, the company said in a statement.

(UNI)

Inflation stable now, will come down: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI, May 9: Dismissing as "statistically insignificant" the 0.04 per cent hike in inflation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the prices of essential commodities had begun to come down and this would be reflected in the inflation index after some time.

Talking to reporters after the weekly briefing on the decisions of the Cabinet and its Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Mr Chidambaram said the inflation figure released today had come as a "big relief" as it showed that the prices had stabilised.

In fact, he had predicted that prices would be stable for some time before beginning the downward trend and this had come true, he pointed out.

The change in the second decimal (from 7.57 per cent to 7.61) was not statistically significant, he said.

Asked to explain the rise in the inflation figures, irrespective of the fact whether it was significant or not, he said the Government had warned about it in the Budget.

The Government and the RBI had taken steps with the intention and expectation that these would bear fruit. "Text book economics says that it will bear fruit."

Besides banning or suspending futures trading in four commodities, the government had persuaded the steel companies to voluntarily reduce prices and a similar move was on with cement manufacturers, he said.

"We are in the process of asking cement companies to hold back prices," the Minister said.

More administrative steps would be taken if and when they became necessary, he said.

Asked about the criticism of the regulator for the ban on futures trading in four commodities, he said the government had taken the step after careful consideration. However, in a democracy, the regulator was entitled to air its views.

Replying to persistent questions, he said nowhere in the world inflation had begun moderating as the crude prices were still climbing and had touched 124 dollars a barrel.

Asked about the depreciating rupee against the dollar, Mr Chidambaram wondered why reporters kept complaining over the rise and fall in the value of the rupee.

(UNI)

Essar Power gets CCEA approval for FDI of Rs 8,000 crore

NEW DELHI, May 9: The Government today approved Essar Power Ltd’s proposal to infuse up to USD 2 billion (nearly Rs 8,000 crore) as foreign equity in the company for undertaking various downstream projects, including power and coal mining.

"The approval will allow the Essar Power to invest in the permitted downstream activities, including investment in power sector and coal mining for captive consumption for power projects," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The proposal has already been cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Since the investment inflows have exceeded Rs 600 crore, as per Press Note 7 (1999 series), the proposal needed to be cleared by CCEA.

The foreign direct investment in Essar Power would be increased to 100 per cent with an estimated investment of Rs 8,000 crore as equity from Essar Power Holdings Limited (EPHL), a foreign entity which is a part of the Essar Group and is incorporated in Mauritius.

Essar Global Limited (EGL), a company incorporated in Cayman Islands is the holding company of EPHL and also holds diverse investments in India and other countries.

At present, EPL is the operating company of the Essar Group in the power sector. It owns and operates a 515 mw power plant at Hazira in Gujarat.

The company has lined up plans to invest over Rs 20,000 crore in the power sector in the next couple of years, although EPH would provide funds only for the equity stake.

Essar Power plans to increase its installed capacity to 6,000 MW by 2012, which include power plants of 1,200 MW each in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand. (PTI)