Spices Board
to take part in global fairs
KOCHI, Jan
30: The Spices
Board will be participating in
two fairs at Panama and Ubekistab
respectively during March this
year.
Registered
exporters of spices can
particpate in the exclusive space
reserved at both the fairs, a
release from the Board said here
yesterday.
EXPOCOMER-2011,
the fair being organised by the
Expocomer (Camarada de Comercio,
Industrrias Y Agricultura de
Panama) of Panama, would be held
at the Convention Centre in
Atlapa, in Panama from March 23
to March 26.
This
was for the first time the Board
was doing a promotion like this,
as it saw good potential in the
fair, it said.
The
second fair, The World Food
Uhekistan, to be held from March
29 to March 31, would be a
vibrant show celebrating the best
products on Uhekistan’s food
market.
The
fair would provide a great
opportunity for food suppliers to
meet 4,500 targeted visitors,
making it an ideal place to gauge
interest for a product and
discover more about
Uzbekistan’s food industry
and its key players, it said.
The
government was introducing
reforms to accelerate development
of the country socially and
eocnomically, including measures
to improve the business
environment for SMEs.
Stating
Uzbekistan had a favourable
investent climate in view of
increasing demand for food and
food production technologies, the
release said the country had one
of the best transport networks in
Central Asia, the release.
(UNI)
India’s
engineering exports up 50 per
cent in December
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: India’s
engineering exports grew by about
50 per cent year-on-year to USD
5.5 billion in December, 2010, on
the back of increased demand from
US and Middle East markets,
according to leading trade body.
"We
are getting a good number of
orders from the US and Middle
East markets," Engineering
Export Promotion Council (EPCH)
Chairman Aman Chadha said.
He,
however said, the recovery in the
European economy is still fragile
and demand is yet to pick up.
Out
of India’s total engineering
exports worth USD 32.5 billion in
FY2009-10, the US and EU
accounted for about 65 per cent
of the shipments.
During
April-December, 2010-11, the
exports jumped about 50 per cent
to USD 37 billion, compared to
the corresponding period of the
previous fiscal.
To
reduce dependence on traditional
markets like the US and Europe,
exporters are exploring new
destinations in regions like
South-East Asia and Latin
America.
Engineering
exports include heavy engineering
goods, transport equipment,
capital goods, other
machinery/equipment and light
engineering products like
castings, forgings and fasteners.
(PTI)
IOC wins
battle over domain name
indianoil.Org
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: State-run
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has
won its legal battle over
ownership rights to the Internet
domain name
<indianoil.Org>, which was
misappropriated by a US-based
businessman.
IOC
was granted the exclusive right
to the domain name by the World
Intellectual Property
Organisation’s (WIPO)
Arbitration and Mediation Panel.
The WIPO disallowed the claim of
Nitin Jindal—the owner of
web search engine
GoDaddy.Com—that he was
entitled to own the website, as
it was deceptively similar to
IOC’s ‘INDIAN OIL’
trademark.
The
ex-parte order was given by WIPO
administrative panel sole member
Christopher J Pibus, who said IOC
has the exclusive right to use
the domain name as it is a
well-known company and directed
Jindal to transfer ownership of
the website.
"For
all the foregoing reasons, in
accordance with... Policy and...
The Rules, the panel orders that
the domain name,
<indianoil.Org>, be
transferred to the complainant
(IOC)," the panel said.
The
panel’s order came on a
complaint filed by IOC seeking a
directive barring Jindal from
using the domain name,
indianoil.Org, which was
deceptively similar to its
trademark.
The
panel said the disputed domain
name is identical to IOC’s
registered trademark,
‘INDIAN OIL’, except
the addition of the web domain
suffix, ‘.Org’, which
alone could not distinguish it
from a registered trademark.
It
said Jindal was aware of
IOC’s trademark when he
launched the website in 2005,
which misled netizens to websites
other than that of IOC and gave
information on the business
rivals of the Indian oil
marketing company.
It
also added there was no proof
that Nitin Jindal was commonly
known by the name, ‘INDIAN
OIL’, or that he had got
IOC’s permission to use the
domain name.
Delivering
the ex-parte order, the panel
said in the absence of any
response from Nitin Jindal, it
was ready to accept IOC’s
contention that ‘INDIAN
OIL’ was its trademark, as
the business is well-known and
has developed a significant
reputation.
The
public sector fuel firm, which
was ranked 105th in the
Fortune Globe 500 List in 2009,
got the trademark, ‘INDIAN
OIL’, registered
in 1986, while Jindal only
got the domain name
<indianoil.Org> registered
in his name in 2005. (PTI)
High
valuation stops ICVL to counter
Rio’s bid for Riversdale
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: International
Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL), set up
by SAIL, CIL, NMDC, RINL and NTPC
to acquire overseas assets, did
not go in for countering Rio
Tinto’s AUD 3.9 billion bid
for Riversdale Mining as its
board decided that the valuation
was too high.
"The
Board didn’t feel that the
asset is worth buying. They felt
that there was no logic in
placing the rival bid of more
than AUD 3.9 billion placed by
Rio Tinto. The valuation for the
asset is too high," a person
privy to the development told.
The
ICVL Board met on January 27 and
decided not to place a counter
bid for Australia’s
Riversdale after taking into
account a due diligence report on
the issue. Tata Steel is the
single largest shareholder in
Riversdale, with 24.4 per cent
stake.
Riversdale
has around 13 billion tonnes of
coking and thermal coal reserves
at its Benga and Zambeze projects
in Mozambique.
"We
have discussed the due diligence
report given by Citibank, but our
Board took a decision not to bid
(for Africa-focused Riversdale
Mining)," SAIL Chairman C S
Verma, who also heads ICVL, had
told after the board meeting.
Declining
to disclose the reasons for the
"conscious" and
"unanimous" decision,
he said, "We discussed in
detail the pricing scenario,
future scenario, reserves
available, various competing
offers available and took a
conscious decision not to
bid".
Industry
sources, however, said that in
addition to the over-valuation
issue, ICVL could not simply
increase its bid at a short
notice since it has to follow a
cumbersome process for upping the
ante.
ICVL
board is mandated to make
acquisitions of only up to USD
300 million and for raising the
amount it needs the Cabinet nod.
ICVL
was incorporated in 2009 as a JV
of five PSUs with SAIL and CIL
each holding 28 per cent stake,
and RINL, NMDC and NTPC -- 14 per
cent stake each. So far, it has
failed to strike any deal. (PTI)
Spice
exports up 3 pc in Apr-Dec this
fiscal
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: India’s
spice exports rose by 3 per cent
to 3.91 lakh tonnes during the
first nine months of this fiscal,
mainly on the back of sharp rise
in shipments of ginger and
garlic.
The country had
exported 3.78 lakh tonnes in
the year-ago period.
In
value terms, exports went up by
16 per cent to Rs 4,880 crore
during April-December period
against Rs 4,222 crore in the
corresponding period of the
previous fiscal, according to the
Spice Board data.
Ginger
exports increased to 7,800 tonnes
during the first nine months of
this fiscal against 4,150 tonnes
in the year- ago period, the data
showed.
The
country exported 16,035 tonnes of
garlic during April-December
period of 2010, up by 80 per cent
in the same period of 2009-10
fiscal.
Traders
attribute increase in garlic
exports coupled with supply
shortage to the high prices of
garlic in the retail markets,
which is currently ruling at
about Rs 300 per kg.
Chilli
exports rose by 22 per cent to
1.79 lakh tonnes, while shipments
of fennel increased by 24 per
cent to 6,300 tonnes during the
period under review. (PTI)
SBI Life
pips ICICI Pru to become largest
private insurer
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: SBI Life
has overtaken ICICI Prudential to
become the country’s largest
private insurer in terms of first
year premium collection,
garnering
A
newbusiness of Rs 4,698 crore in
April-December this fiscal.
ICICI
Prudential collected the first
year premium of Rs 4,651 crore in
nine months to December,
according to the data released by
Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority.
SBI
Life Insurance is a joint venture
between State Bank of India and
BNP Paribas Assurance. SBI owns
74 per cent of the total capital
in the JV and BNP Paribas
Assurance holds the remaining 26
per cent.
In
percentage terms, new business of
ICICI Prudential, a 74:26 joint
venture between ICICI Bank and
UK-based Prudential Plc,
increased by almost 21 per cent
compared to the same period last
year. While SBI Life’s
growth was 7 per cent during the
April-December period.
For
December, SBI Life collected new
business premium of Rs 773 crore,
higher than Rs 598 crore
collected by ICICI Prudential in
the month.
With
this, SBI Life’s market
share increased to over 22 per
cent in December, from 19.4 per
cent in the December 2009.
While
ICICI Prudential’s market
share among the private insurers,
fell marginally to 17.1 per cent
in the month of December, from
17.9 per cent in the year ago
period.
On
a month-on-month basis, SBI
Life’s new business premium
from Unit Linked Plans (ULIPs)
rose to Rs 487 crore during
December, from Rs 261 crore in
November-end.
New
business premium from group
insurance products on monthly
basis grew two-fold to Rs 228
crore at the end of December.
Also traditional products
business premium rose to Rs 59
crore from Rs 36 crore and
individual products to Rs 545
crore in December, from Rs 297
crore at the end of November.
On
the industry side, the 23 life
insurers collectively mopped up a
first-year premium of Rs
24,980.33 crore in
April-December.
However,
the life insurance industry grew
by 6.85 per cent during the
April-December period.
The
leading player in the life
insurance industry, state- run
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)
saw its market share rising to
63.91 per cent, from 63.34 per
cent in December 2009.
The
first year premium garnered by
LIC for the month of December
stood at Rs 6,205.04 crore. (PTI)
RBI move
affecting trade with Iran:
Khullar
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: The RBI
clamp down on the main conduit
used for settling trade
transactions with Iran has
affected trade with the Persian
Gulf nation, Commerce Secretary
Rahul Khullar has said.
RBI
had last month disbanded a
mechanism of using central banks
in the region to settle payments
for imports and exports from Iran
and in absence of an alternate
system, the USD 13.4 billion
trade between the two nations is
impacted.
"Ofcourse,
there is a hindrance (in exports
and imports). There is no
(payment) settlement system in
place... it is hurting trade.
Exporters on both sides are
hurt," Khullar told.
The
bilateral trade between the
countries stood at USD 13.39
billion in 2009-10. Iran is
India’s second largest crude
oil supplier after Saudi Arabia,
exporting oil worth USD 1 billion
every month.
Khullar
said exporters of both the
countries are not able to ship
their goods as there is no
payment mechanism in place.
"They
(Iranian traders) don’t want
to send (goods) because they
don’t know how they will
receive payments. You (India)
don’t want to send because
you don’t know how you are
going to receive payments... How
they will get paid for their
dues... It affects the exporters
of both the sides," he said.
While
trade of other goods has almost
come to a halt,Iran continues to
export nearly 400,000 barrels per
day of crude oil to India on
credit.
Trade
with Iran till last month was
settled using euro through the
Asian Clearing Union (ACU), which
was disbanded by the Reserve Bank
of India on December 23. The two
sides are exploring alternate
banks and currencies to route the
payment.
When
asked if any other currency other
than US dollar or euro can be
used for settling payments,
Khullar said: "No, primarily
these are hard convertible
currencies."
On
December 23, RBI had said that
oil and other import payments to
Iran will have to be settled
outside the existing Asian
Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism,
which involves the central banks
of India, Bangladesh, Maldives,
Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan,
Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Under
the ACU mechanism, imports by the
nine nations are settled every
two-months with every member
paying for imports after netting
out its exports among the union.
"A
new settlement system has to be
put in place. Until that is put
in place, there is a problem.
When that will be put in place,
things will get back to
normal...That is being negotiated
between Iran and India,"
Khullar said.
Iran
is India’s second-largest
supplier of crude oil, after
Saudi Arabia. India imports USD
12 billion of crude annually from
Iran—about 14 per cent of
its total crude import bill.
(PTI)
UTI MF to
start financial literacy drive;
partners HDFC Bank
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: UTI Mutual
Fund is starting its second round
of pan-India investor education
and financial inclusion
initiative from February 2 to
spread awareness about benefits
of investing in mutual funds.
As
part of the initiative,
christened as Swatantra, two UTI
knowledge caravans will travel
across Kerala, Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu, starting from
Thiruvananthapuram, to spread
awareness about financial
planning, UTI MF CMO Jaideep
Bhattacharya said.
For
this, UTI MF has tied up with
HDFC Bank, the largest
distributor of mutual fund
products, which would arrange the
investor meets across rural areas
in Southern India.
"We
aim to impart financial literacy
to a larger subset of rural
customers across the 250 rural
and semi-rural branches of HDFC
Bank," HDFC Bank Senior
Executive VP (Third Party
Products & Private Banking)
Nitin Rao said.
During
the journey of 56 days, investors
meets would be held in various
centres across 130 towns. The
initiative is in partnership with
the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs.
"With
the high prices of essential
commodities it is very essential
that investors get high return on
their investments. We are
customising the initiative as per
the local language to spread
awareness about the convenience
of buying and selling MFs,"
Bhattacharya said.
UTI
MF hopes the initiative would
help expand the fund
industry’s reach and bring
in new investors as HDFC Bank
will ask its customers to invest
in mutual funds.
"If
savings has to move to
investments, it is necessary that
financial literacy is imparted to
people in regional
language," he added.
In
its first leg of investor
education initiative beginning
July 6, 2010, UTI MF had arranged
for three specially-designed vans
to move across the country over
100 days.
During
this journey, more than 1,300
investor meets will be conducted
in 300 cities and 100 days with
an estimated 15 lakh
participants.
The
investor education initiative
would see UTI MF officers and
advisors talking about financial
literacy, that would help
individuals take prudent
investment decisions. (PTI)
PMEAC to
review economy in mid-Feb; may up
inflation forecast
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: The Prime
Minister’s Economic Advisory
Panel is likely to revise upwards
inflation forecast for the end of
this fiscal to 7 per cent when it
reviews the country’s macro
economic situation in
mid-February.
"The
PMEAC would review the macro
economic situation in
Mid-February and is likely to
revise upwards its fiscal-end
inflation forecast from 6.5 per
cent to about 7 per cent,"
an official told.
While
releasing the economic outlook
for the current fiscal in July
last year, the PMEAC had
estimated inflation will come
down to 6.5 per cent by the end
of 2010-11.
However,
PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan later
said that inflation was likely to
come down to 5.5 per cent by
fiscal-end, which was
subsequently revised to six per
cent and 6.5 per cent,
respectively.
More
recently, he put the March-end
inflation estimate at 7 per cent
on
"higher-than-expected"
wholesale price rise.
"March-end
we had originally thought, it
would be around 6.5 per cent, but
given the current trend, it could
be anywhere between 6.5 per cent
and seven per cent,"
Rangarajan had said.
Besides,
in its quarterly monetary policy
on January 24, the RBI has also
raised its fiscal-end inflation
forecast to 7 per cent from the
earlier estimate of 5.5 per cent.
The
overall inflation for December,
measured on the basis of
wholesale prices, increased to
8.43 per cent in December, from
7.48 per cent in November. The
rise in inflation is mainly due
to increase in food prices.
Snapping
the downward trend of two
consecutive weeks, food inflation
inched up marginally to 15.57 per
cent for the period ended January
15, on account of escalating
vegetable prices, particularly
onions.
Food
inflation for the week ended
January 8, was recorded at 15.52
per cent. (PTI)
)
)
Seven of
top-10 cos shed nearly Rs 50K cr
in m-cap last week
MUMBAI, Jan
30: The
combined market capitalisation
(m-cap) of seven of the
country’s top-10 firms
reduced by Rs 49,551.83 crore
during the past week, with
corporate giant Reliance
Industries bearing the maximum
loss.
The
market worth of Mukesh Ambani-led
Reliance Industries (RIL)
declined by Rs 23,550.18 crore to
Rs 2,99,320.42 crore as on
Friday’s trade on the Bombay
Stock Exchange (BSE).
During
this period, shares of RIL
plunged 7.29 per cent to close at
Rs 914.50 at the end of
Friday’s trade on the BSE.
Two
of the IT bellwethers—TCS
and Infosys
Technologies—together shed
Rs 10,201.64 crore from their
cumulative market valuations.
In
the previous trading session, the
m-cap of TCS was at Rs
2,31,448.69 crore, while that of
Infosys stood at Rs 1,82,196.98
crore.
State-run
Coal India Ltd (CIL) also saw its
valuation dipping by Rs 6,190
crore to Rs 1,92,112 crore. FMGC
honcho ITC’s m-cap also went
into a tailspin, plunging by Rs
396.88 crore to Rs 1,29,885.53
crore.
Telecom
player Bharti Airtel also shed Rs
3,607.64 crore from its m-cap
which stood at Rs 1,24,216.88
crore.
Similarly,
private-sector lender ICICI Bank
lost Rs 5,605.46 crore from its
m-cap which stood Rs 1,16,824.47
crore.
Meanwhile,
riding high on the smart
quarterly numbers, oil & gas
explorer ONGC’s m-cap
increased by Rs 6,534.25 crore to
Rs 2,42,890 crore. The company
had late last week reported an
over two-fold jump in its net
profit at Rs 7,083 crore for the
quarter ended December 31, 2010.
Country’s
top lender SBI also added Rs
1,308 crore to its m-cap which
stood at Rs 1,66,275.31 crore,
while power major NTPC saw its
valuation swelling by Rs 1,814
crore to Rs 1,58,147.92 crore.
(PTI)
Repeat
customers outnumber Maruti’s
first-time buyers
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: The first
time car buyers may have been
driving the growth of Indian car
market, but it is the repeat
customers who are increasingly
adding to the sales numbers,
according to Maruti Suzuki that
makes every second car sold in
the country.
"We
have observed that the percentage
of first time buyers has come
down marginally. So, additional
car in the family and repeat
buyers or exchange buyers have
taken some more percentage,"
a senior Maruti Suzuki India
official said.
The
company, which sold 6,96,923
units in the April- December
period this fiscal, has nearly 50
per cent share of the total
Indian car market.
"In
the last four years, the first
time buyer percentage has come
down from 52 per cent to 45 per
cent (of the total sales),"
the official said, adding that
for the industry it would be
slightly lower than 45 per cent.
Traditionally,
it has been the first time car
buyers who have been driving the
growth in India, which has been
dominated by small cars.
"Usually
small car buyers are very high.
Most of the sales are coming from
this segment, specially models
like Alto (Maruti) and Santro
(Hyundai), where first time buyer
percentage is very high,"
Society of Indian Automobile
Manufacturers Director General
Vishnu Mathur said.
The
Indian passenger car market stood
at 18,70,483 units in 2010,
growing at 31.03 per cent over
2009. (PTI)
Hitachi
mulls expanding air-conditioner
production capacity
NEW DELHI,
Jan 30: Air-conditioner
maker Hitachi today said it is
considering to expand its
production capacity in India by
next year and a decision to this
effect could be taken during its
board meeting in July 2011.
"The
way air-conditioner (AC) market
is growing, we may go for an
expansion of production during
next year. However, the board is
yet to take the decision on
capacity addition," Hitachi
Home & Life Solutions (India)
(HHLI) Executive Director
(Corporate Affairs) Amit Doshi
told.
The
company has its manufacturing
facility at Kadi in Gujarat with
an installed capacity of four
lakh units a year.
"The
board meeting is in July and it
is likely to take a decision
then," Doshi said without
giving further detail.
The
company estimates the Indian AC
market at 3.2 million units
annually, which is valued at Rs
5,500-6,000 crore, and it is
growing at about 20 per cent
every year.
Last
week, the company announced its
road-map till 2015. As part of
that strategy, it is targeting 15
per cent market share in both
split and window ACs in India.
The
company is expecting India to
contribute up to 7 per cent in
Hitachi’s global AC sales by
2015, which is at present at 5.2
per cent of Rs 15,000 crore.
HHLI
is aiming for 10 per cent of the
domestic AC market in 2011, which
will translate into 12 per cent
in value terms. It currently
enjoys about 7 per cent of the
domestic AC market in volume
terms and about 10 per cent in
value terms.
The
company has recently introduced a
new range of window and split
ACs, priced between Rs 19,990 and
Rs 49,990.
HHLI
is also strengthening its
workforce by over 40 per cent to
cater to the growing demand.
"Currently
we have about 1,700 employees. We
will hire about 1,000 more
people, mainly on the supply and
servicing side, by the end of
this year," Doshi had said.
The
company had also announced to
hike the prices of its entire
range of products by up to 4 per
cent in order to minimise the
impact of increasing raw material
costs.
HHLI
has a dealer network of 1,500
outlets, which is being expanded
to 3,000 in this year. It is also
increasing the exclusive
company-owned service centres to
over 50 from 32 stores. It has
earmarked a capex of Rs 25 crore
for this year. (PTI)
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