MCX Chairman V Chary, 5 directors resign from Board

MCX Chairman Venkat Chary and five other directors on the commodity exchange board quit today following the implementation of new guidelines including those that bar any person over 70 years of age to hold a board position.
    
While Chary and C M Maniar, who was an Forward Market Commission-approved independent director on MCX, quit due to the age guideline, the exchange's former managing director Lambertus Rutten resigned citing pre-occupations.

Also read: Do not renew MCX-SX's license, say NSEL investors
    
P R Barpande too resigned due to pre-occupation, MCX said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
    
The development comes on the heels of NSEL defaulting on the second payout for settling Rs 5,600 crore dues after it suspended trade on July 31 following government's direction in the wake of violation of certain rules.
    
Both National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and MCX are promoted by the Jignesh Shah-headed Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL).  MCX also said: "...the exchange has earmarked Rs 232.39 crore as initial settlement guarantee fund (SGF) and that the exchange will always remain in compliance with SGF guidelines of FMC as may be prescribed from time to time."
    
Meanwhile, FMC nominated independent director Prakash Apte has also resigned with effect from August 31 and has been replaced by Santosh Kumar Mohanty by the regulator. Shareholder Director Shvetal Vakil resigned from the Board due to the term criteria prescribed in the guidelines. Whereas, the resignations of Chary, Maniar, Vakil, Apte and Rutten are effective from August 31, 2013, that of Barpande's is effective from today, the filing added.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mining can contribute up to Rs 11.25 lakh cr to GDP by 2025

Mining sector has the potential to contribute up to Rs 11.25 lakh crore to the GDP and create up to 1.5 crore jobs by 2025, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said in the Parliament today.
    
"The government has prepared a strategic plan document 'Unlocking the Potential of the Indian Mineral Sector'... The Strategy Paper has identified that the mining sector has the potential to contribute to around Rs 945 to Rs 1,125 thousand crore to the GDP...," Patel said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Also read: Goa mining sector seeks revival; wants SC to clarify ban
    
The sector has the potential to "create 13-15 million jobs through direct and indirect contribution by 2015", he added.
    
The paper, which has been prepared taking into account the vision emanating from the National Mineral Policy, 2008, has identified six key priority areas to achieve the potential including enhancing resource and reserve base, reducing permit delays and putting in place core enablers like infrastructure.
    
"In this regard, action as per the 12th Five Year Plan has been initiated by the government," Patel said.     

He said the extraction and management of minerals had to be integrated into the overall strategy of the country's economic development.
    
To a separate question, Patel said, as per information available by Indian Bureau of Mines, 1.16 lakh workers were employed in the mining sector, excluding fuel, atomic and minor minerals, as on June, 2013.
    
Provisionally, there were 1.36 lakh workers engaged in the mining sector in 2012-13.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Maruti Suzuki workers demand bail for 147 colleagues

Aug 30, 2013, 10.32 PM IST

Terminated workers and families of the jailed workers of the Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Manesar plant organised a public hearing at Jantar Mantar. They narrated their agonies before the jury of Prabhat Patnaik, D R Chaudhry, former chairman HPSC, and Supreme Court advocates Kirti Singh, Colin Gonsalves and R S Hooda.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Maruti Suzuki workers demand bail for 147 colleagues

Terminated workers and families of the jailed workers of the Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Manesar plant organised a public hearing at Jantar Mantar. They narrated their agonies before the jury of Prabhat Patnaik, D R Chaudhry, former chairman HPSC, and Supreme Court advocates Kirti Singh, Colin Gonsalves and R S Hooda.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Maruti Suzuki workers demand bail for 147 colleagues

Terminated workers and families of the jailed workers of the Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Manesar plant organised a public hearing at Jantar Mantar. They narrated their agonies before the jury of Prabhat Patnaik, D R Chaudhry, former chairman HPSC, and Supreme Court advocates Kirti Singh, Colin Gonsalves and R S Hooda.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Maruti Suzuki workers today demanded immediate bail for their 147 colleagues who are in jail in connection with the alleged murder of a man during last year's violence in the car manufacturer's Manesar plant.

Terminated workers and families of the jailed workers of the Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Manesar plant organised a public hearing at Jantar Mantar here. They narrated their agonies before the jury of Prabhat Patnaik, D R Chaudhry, former chairman HPSC, and Supreme Court advocates Kirti Singh, Colin Gonsalves and R S Hooda.

Also read: Auto sector bets on rural market to boost sales

CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, TDP leader N Nageshwar Rao and other trade union leaders also expressed their solidarity with the jailed and terminated MSIL workers and their families.

Later, a delegation led by MP Basudeb Acharia met NHRC Chairperson Justice (retd) K G Balakrishnan who assured them that it would take necessary action.

The jury said 147 workers were being charged for murder of one person, which defies all credibility and no proper probe was conducted. Terming denial of bail to the workers, the jury members said those who have been arrested have been kept in jail for more than one year in gross violation of human rights.

"Even those who have shown any sympathy with the workers have been subjected to brutal treatment by police on several occasions. And no help, medical of otherwise, were provided to the affected families even in cases where they were entitled to such help," the jury said.

They claimed the entire conflict arose because the workers wanted to form a union of their own. The other demands of the workers included impartial and high level judicial inquiry to probe July 18, 2012 incident. The workers also demanded ensuring workers right of forming and joining a trade union of their own choice and stop police intervention.

Tags: Maruti Suzuki, workers, Manesar plant, jury, Prabhat Patnaik, D R Chaudhry, Colin Gonsalves, Kirti Singh, TDP leader N Nageshwar Rao , CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, Brinda Karat, Sitaram Yechury

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

SBI raises interest rate on bulk deposits by up to 1.5%

Aug 29, 2013, 09.32 PM IST

State Bank of India today raised interest rates by up to 1.5 percent on bulk deposits of over Rs 1 crore. The interest rate for bulk deposits for the tenors 7-60 days will be 9 per cent, SBI, the country's largest bank, said in a statement.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

SBI raises interest rate on bulk deposits by up to 1.5%

State Bank of India today raised interest rates by up to 1.5 percent on bulk deposits of over Rs 1 crore. The interest rate for bulk deposits for the tenors 7-60 days will be 9 per cent, SBI, the country's largest bank, said in a statement.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

SBI raises interest rate on bulk deposits by up to 1.5%

State Bank of India today raised interest rates by up to 1.5 percent on bulk deposits of over Rs 1 crore. The interest rate for bulk deposits for the tenors 7-60 days will be 9 per cent, SBI, the country's largest bank, said in a statement.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Faced with tight liquidity condition, State Bank of India today raised interest rates by up to 1.5 percent on bulk deposits of over Rs 1 crore.

The interest rate for bulk deposits for the tenors 7-60 days will be 9 per cent, SBI, the country's largest bank, said in a statement. Fixed deposits between 61 days to less than one year will be 8.25 per cent, it said.

Also read: India picks seven banks for 5% stake sale in Coal India

The new rates would be effective from August 31, it added. The bank had last revised interest rate on fixed deposits over Rs 1 crore on June 7.

As per the existing rate structure, the bank is paying interest rate of 7.5 per cent on term deposits of 7-180 days. Cost of funds have gone up for banks as the Reserve Bank has taken a series of steps to check the fall of rupee against the US dollar.

In order to contain rupee depreciation, RBI has taken slew of measures in the past couple of weeks resulting in the tight liquidity situation for commercial banks.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Adani Ports seeks fresh approval for SEZ at Mundra

Adani Ports and SEZ has sought fresh approval from the government for 1,856 hectares multi-product special economic zone at Gujarat's Mundra, which was denotified in October last year due to non-conformity with SEZ rules.
    
Company sources said 16 hectares land have been added to resolve issues that had led to de-notification of the special economic zone (SEZ). The SEZ is adjacent to existing tax-free zone of APSEZ and was earlier proposed to be developed on 1,840 hectares of land.

Also read: Adanis close to acquiring Dhamra Port
    
The Board of Approval, a 19-member inter-ministerial body headed by Commerce Secretary S R Rao, will take up company's proposal in its meeting tomorrow.
    
Agenda papers for the meeting, however, showed that Adani Ports is yet to secure Gujarat government's recommendation approving the tax free zone.
    
The company declined to comment on the matter.
    
In October last year, the government had cancelled the 1,840-hectare, multi-product SEZ being developed by the Gujarat-based Adani Group firm at Mundra, citing violation of various SEZ norms.

They included not conforming to contiguity norms and being in violation of the rule which requires the tax-free zone site to be vacant before approval is sought. The site was land-locked without means of proper transport at the time of cancellation.
    
Under the contiguity norms for the SEZs, a developer is required to develop the zone on a single tract of land. Besides, the land should be vacant.
    
The government had carried out an inspection of the site before arriving at the final decision.
    
Adani group sources said that their senior officials held  several meeting with government officials and the contiguity and other related issues have now been resolved.     

Accordingly, 16 hectares of land has been added to the denotified SEZ to resolve the issues and Adani Ports is hopeful of securing the government clearance, they added.
    
Mundra is the base for Adani Ports as it operates its flagship port from here, besides the existing and proposed new SEZ. During the first quarter of the current fiscal, Mundra Port became largest domestic port in the country in terms of cargo handling.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Idea may get new licences soon

The DoT may soon issue new telecom licences to Idea Cellular which had earlier refused to accept guidelines related to 3G roaming pacts in the unified license, sources said. The new licence agreement between DoT and Idea may also incorporate certain clauses proposed by Idea, they added.

The Department had said that it was illegal for telecom operators to sell 3G services in areas where they do not have spectrum. Telecom companies Airtel , Vodafone and Idea Cellular had contested the DoT's point and the matter is now sub-judice.

Also read: Vodafone shares hit 12-year high on Verizon talks

Telecom tribunal TDSAT had given a split verdict on the dispute between DoT and the three operators over 3G intra-circle roaming pacts. The matter is now pending with the Delhi High Court.

Idea had earlier refused to sign new telecom permit (Unified Licence) as it barred operators from entering into 3G intra-circle roaming agreement. The company had said the norms can be implemented only after final judgement of the court.
    
The DoT and Idea Cellular, sources said, have agreed to follow the court order with respect to implementation of norms related to 3G roaming pacts in new licences and the same has been approved by Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal.
    
"The approval of the minister has been obtained to sign the UL with Idea Cellular with addition of the above mentioned condition in the UL (AS) for Assam, West Bengal, North East, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata service area," official sources said.

When contacted Idea Cellular refused to comment on the development. Idea had emerged second biggest winner by getting spectrum in 8 circles which included all the seven circles where its licences were cancelled and an additional win in Bihar where it licences were unaffected by the apex court order that cancelled 122 telecom permits in 2G scam.
    
The seven circles where it had to take Unified Licences to operate include Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata, North East, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

DoT has also suggested signing Unified Licence agreement for Jammu and Kashmir and Orissa service areas where there is no mention of 3G roaming pact norms.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mining can commence from November if SC lifts ban: Parrikar

Mining in Goa could resume by November this year if the Supreme Court lifts the ban imposed on the activity soon, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said. "If Supreme Court vacates the ban (on mining) the export of the ore can start by November-December this year," Parrikar told reporters here yesterday.

Also Read: IMG may meet Thu on missing files on coal mines allotment

The Chief Minister said that the resumption of mining will depend on the apex court order, clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest, consent under water and air pollution prevention act and certification from Indian Bureau
of Mines. He said that the state government has already begun the formalities to withdraw the suspension of the mining leases issued last year.

The state cabinet, he said, has empowered Director of Mines and Geology to withdraw suspension order after signing lease deeds with the mining firms. He said that although the suspension order of almost 24-30 mines would be withdrawn by the state government, the actual mining can start only after the SC order.

The mining activity which is impacting 25 percent of Goa's population has been on hold since September last year after SC imposed ban on illegal mining following the Shah Commission report.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

IT stocks benefit from rupee fall, but for how long?

Even as a strong bear grip chokes the market the IT companies are having a party on the street and it's all being sponsored by the rupee. As the currency crashes to a shocking 68 against the dollar, sectors like oil and gas are running for cover, while export-dependent tech majors are touching lifetime highs reports CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena.

A look at the top stocks on the Nifty today, one will see that HCL Tech  and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) touched lifetime highs and Infosys and Wipro jumped 35 to 18 percent (year-to-date) respectively.

Also Read: Infosys board member and Americas head Ashok Vemuri resigns

But considering the overall market is under a strong bear-grip, these IT companies are up due to depreciating rupee. While the rest of the market remains spooked with the rupee's unprecedented fall, IT stocks are rallying due to the short term benefit of the INR's depreciation on their topline.

Though the next few quarters are expected to continue to show gains, experts say falling rupee will eventually lead to an overhaul in pricing structure, steep escalation in overhead costs and will force IT firms to hit the pause button on acquisition plans.

Will this impact plans of Indian companies looking to acquire overseas?

Sanjoy Sen, Senior director, Deloitte says "Yes, simply because acquiring overseas will become much more expensive and so, foreign receivables will go up.

According to Sen, historically, a lot of pricing has been in dollars, pounds or euros based on where the customer is based. "In recent years we have seen some companies expressing their contracts in rupee denominations; for them the procurement will become much cheaper but will work against the Indian companies that are providing services," he adds.

This means that companies who want to stay afloat in the long term have to innovate; by establishing pay per usage contracts in place of fixed price contracts; leveraging cloud to optimally utilise resources and create a stronger near shore presence with the client.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Auto sector bets on rural market to boost sales

Aug 28, 2013, 10.06 PM IST

Despite the industry slumping almost 10 percent, the rural markets however have grown at an astounding 20 percent. Auto majors from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai to M&M are putting in place a strategy to woo the discerning rural customers with an addressable market of at least 50,000 potential buyers.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Auto sector bets on rural market to boost sales

Despite the industry slumping almost 10 percent, the rural markets however have grown at an astounding 20 percent. Auto majors from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai to M&M are putting in place a strategy to woo the discerning rural customers with an addressable market of at least 50,000 potential buyers.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Auto sector bets on rural market to boost sales

Despite the industry slumping almost 10 percent, the rural markets however have grown at an astounding 20 percent. Auto majors from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai to M&M are putting in place a strategy to woo the discerning rural customers with an addressable market of at least 50,000 potential buyers.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

It's a torrid time for the auto industry. Hit by the worst slump in a decade the industry is staring at yet another forgettable year. Despite the doom and gloom in practically every developed city of the country, it is the rural belt that is saving the industry the blushes reports CNBC-TV18's Ronojoy Banerjee.

Also Read: Patel pitches for stimulus package for auto sector

Auto majors from Maruti Suzuki , Hyundai to Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) are quietly putting in place a strategy to woo the discerning rural customers in areas with an addressable market of at least 50,000 potential buyers. Despite the industry slumping almost 10 percent, the rural markets however have grown at an astounding 20 percent.

A clutch of factors ranging from easier finance to good monsoons has helped increase disposable incomes. Maruti Suzuki's rural sales have risen to over 30 percent versus 5 percent five years ago.

Mayank Pareek, COO - Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki says "One positive is rural. Overall our sales have declined by 4 percent but our rural growth has been 30 percent. Currently, our share of rural sales stands at 30 percent."

Since April this year Maruti has opened over 20 new sales outlets in these regions. Rival Hyundai too is increasing its rural focus. Over the next six months the company will add 80 rural sales outlets to its existing 270.

According to Rakesh Srivastava, senior VP - Sales & Marketing, Hyundai, in the last two years there has been a noticeable upward sales trend. In 2011 around 15 percent of sales came from the rural and semi urban markets. In 2012, it grew to 16.9 percent and in 2013 it grew to 18.6 percent and we expect it to increase to over 20 percent by 2014."

M&M, which has the strongest rural presence owing to products like the Bolero, says its share will only go up. Currently, 37 percent of M&M's sales come from these markets up from about 32 percent till a few years back. The company is tying up with financial institutions like regional rural banks for boosting rural sales.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reliance Cap to invest Rs 100 cr in wind power proj: Ambani

Financial services major Reliance Capital is investing Rs 100 crore in a wind energy joint venture in the country, partnering with China's Ming Yang Wind Power Group.

Ming Yang entered into an agreement with Reliance Capital last year to establish a joint venture by subscribing to a significant stake in the share capital of Global Wind Power Ltd (GWPL), a leading wind power solutions provider in India.

Giving an update on this partnership, Reliance Capital Chairman Anil Ambani today said that the agreement would be closed soon and an investment of Rs 100 crore would be made.

"Our agreement with Ming Yang Power from China is in place. We believe that it will be closed shortly and investment of over Rs 100 crore will come through the joint venture," Ambani said while replying to shareholders' queries at Reliance Capital's Annual General Meeting here.

Ming Yang announced this agreement with Reliance Capital and other entities of Ambani-led Reliance Group on July 2, 2012, but no financial details were provided at that time.

Ming Yang had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reliance Power to co-develop a large portfolio of clean energy projects in India.

The Chinese firm produces advanced wind turbines with high energy output and provides customers with comprehensive post-sales services. It was one of the top-ten wind turbine manufacturer worldwide and the largest non-state owned wind turbine manufacturer in China in 2011.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Power sector to get gas, but quantum a worry: GVK Power

"From March onwards, we have not been getting gas for our power projects," says A Issac George, Director & CFO, GVK Power and Infrastructure . One of the reasons why this has happened is because all the gas was diverted to fertiliser plants, he adds.

Also Read: Power biz a concern, airport division promising: GVK Power

The shift to power projects may be a positive development, but it all depends on the quantum of gas that will be made available for the power sector, he says. Unless and until the quantum of gas is enough to operate power projects at 70-80 percent capacity, it will not make much sense because the losses on account of heat rate would be substantial, he adds.

Below is the verbatim transcript of A Issac George's interview on CNBC-TV18

Q: In the last few weeks, we have seen the government moving ahead on the clearing fuel supply agreements (FSA) logjam as well promising gas to some of the gas-based power companies, is the situation better on the ground for power companies?

A: We are in the same situation as we were a couple of months back. From March onwards, we have not been getting gas for our power projects. Two of our power projects are still shut down for want of gas. The third gas power project that we have operates only at 50 percent capacity.

One of the reasons why this has happened is basically because all the gas was diverted to fertiliser and power projects have not received the gas. Now with the shift that we are looking at possibly there would be some sort of positive development but one does not know what is the quantum of gas that would be available for the power sector. That is very critical.

Please understand that these power projects have to operate at a minimum load so that they operate efficiently. So unless and until you get gas to operate the power projects at something like 70-80 percent capacity, it will not make much sense because the losses on account of heat rate would be substantial. So I cannot comment on this unless and until I know what is the quantum of gas that would be available for power projects.

Q: You spoke about power but what about the infrastructure space, we did see CCI agreeing to reschedule premiums for public private partnership (PPP) highway projects, if that comes through how much of an improvement could it be for infrastructure projects like yours?

A: That is pretty positive. What the government is now proposing is that premium payment can be backended with NPV remaining the same. The question that we have a concern on is there discounting rates that is used for arising of the NPV. That is we have been given to understand earlier that discounting rates will be 10 percent, but now I have given to understand that it is going to be 12 percent. That will make a substantial difference. It can make or break projects. One has to look at the possibility of bringing it back to 10 percent because basically, the discounting rate is a factor of so many things for example, government yield on bonds etc are the parameters which are used to arrive at the same rate. So I did not understand the logic of taking the discounting rates from 10 percent to 12 percent.

Q: We may be getting ahead of ourselves in that. Do you expect other bidders to challenge because you are changing the terms of contract?

A: There is a possibility, but if the government has the will, I am sure things can go through without any problem.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

RIL cooperating unconditionally with CAG

Aug 27, 2013, 05.01 PM IST

Reliance Industries has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with the CAG for audit on its spending in the flagging KG-D6 gas fields, the Oil Ministry said today.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RIL cooperating unconditionally with CAG

Reliance Industries has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with the CAG for audit on its spending in the flagging KG-D6 gas fields, the Oil Ministry said today.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RIL cooperating unconditionally with CAG

Reliance Industries has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with the CAG for audit on its spending in the flagging KG-D6 gas fields, the Oil Ministry said today.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Reliance Industries has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with the CAG for audit on its spending in the flagging KG-D6 gas fields, the Oil Ministry said today.
    
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi, in a written statement to the Rajya Sabha, corrected a reply she had given on August 6 wherein she had stated that the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) was doing a "performance" audit of KG-D6 block.

Also read: 12 power plants solely dependent on KG-D6 gas lying idle
    
A statement that Lakshmi laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha said it was to correct "the error by deleting the word performance" audit in the reply given on August 8.
    
"The Ministry has taken seriously the issue raised by CAG in audit of KG-D6 block. Initially, there were certain issues being raised by the operator, RIL, relating to scope and coverage of audit to be conducted by the CAG. Due to this, there was a delay in taking up the audit.
    
"However, these issues have since been resolve with continuous engagement of government with audit as well as the operator. Consequently, RIL has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with regard to audit of the block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6). Audit by the CAG is currently under progress," she said.     

CAG Principal Director of Audit (Economic and Service Ministries) A M Bajaj had last month written a letter to the ministry stating that RIL was providing information sought in phases and some records sought were still pending.
    
CAG, at the request of the Oil Ministry, is auditing KG-D6 spending for 2008-09 to 2011-12. It restarted the audit in April after issues like scope and extent of its scrutiny
were resolved.     

RIL had previously stated that CAG cannot contractually perform a performance audit on it and Production Sharing Contract (PSC) only provides for a government appointed auditor to verify reasonableness of all charges and credits.
    
CAG too has stated that it is not planning to do a performance audit of the company but only wants to examine "propriety" of expenses made. For doing that CAG has been given the discretion of requisitioning records as it deems fit.
    
In the August 6 reply, Lakshmi had stated that "RIL has agreed to provide access to all records and cooperate unconditionally with regard to performance audit of the block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6)."

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

ONGC to buy stake in Anadarko gas block for $2.64 bn

Anadarko Petroleum Corp Oil & Natural Gas CorpONGC .NS> for USD 2.64 billion in cash, as the US oil company looks to focus more on its domestic assets.

The deal for Mozambique's offshore Area 1 is expected to close around the end of this year, Anadarko said.

ONGC faces diminishing supplies from its aging oil and gas fields in India and has been buying interests in overseas assets.

ONGC Videsh, the Indian company's overseas arm, recently paid USD 2.48 billion for a 10 percent stake in another Mozambique gas field from Videocon Group.

Anadarko also said it will remain the operator of Area 1 with a working interest of 26.5 percent in the block, which is located in Mozambique's deepwater Rovuma Basin.

The Rovuma field has the potential to become one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producing hubs by 2018, and is strategically located to supply gas to India at competitive prices.

Recent discoveries have turned the Rovuma offshore field into a major draw for global energy producers and boosted Mozambique's natural gas reserves to around 150 trillion cubic feet, or enough to supply the world's No. 1 LNG importer - Japan - for 35 years.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Will finance 10% Anadarko stake buy via overseas mkt: OVL

DK Sarraf, managing director, ONGC Videsh Limited says the company will fund the 10 percent acquisition in Anadarko's Mozambique unit  from the overseas market than finance it internally.

The deal, announced today, will come at a cost of USD 2.64 billion in cash and will enhance ONGC's reserves by giving access to 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) reserves, adds Sarraf.

"We know that the market may not be that helpful as they were a couple of months back, but we are sure that we would comfortably fund this amount from the forex market at a reasonable rate of interest," adds Sarraf.

Below is the edited transcript of Sarraf's interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: It is a 2.6 billion payment that you are making for this 10 percent stake?

A: This is 2.64 billion.

Q: What do you expect in terms of returns and by when from this investment?

A: This block has got 65 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and we have acquired 10 percent of that. This 65 tcf is based on what we called P10, if we say P50 reserves which are the main reserves having better probability, the we should get 50 tcf. We would be getting 5 tcf of reserves which would be little less than 5 million tonne of LNG which would amount to about 30 years.

Q: Do you get this floor right away or is it more a trading gain that you will make, are you expecting this flow starting like immediately?

A: This is just a discovered block and production would take couple of years to start and we expect that the production would start in 2018.

Q: How will you be funding this particular deal?

A: ONGC is a cash rich company, does not have significant amount of debt in its balance sheet. We have the borrowing capacity on our balance sheet. So, we know that the market may not be that helpful as they were a couple of months back, but we are sure that we would comfortably fund this amount from the forex market at a reasonable rate of interest.

Q: How much of your own cash will you use and how much will you borrow?

A: These are all strategic methods. We would deliberate between ONGC and OVL etc and then we would arrive at some decision, but as of now we would not use our internal cash for this deal and the entire amount we would like to raise from the overseas market.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Barclays upgrades LT to 'overweight'

Aug 26, 2013, 10.51 AM IST

However, Barclays cuts its target price on L&T to 900 rupees from 1,000 to reflect impact of rupee depreciation on margins in the near term.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Barclays upgrades L&T to 'overweight'

However, Barclays cuts its target price on L&T to 900 rupees from 1,000 to reflect impact of rupee depreciation on margins in the near term.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Barclays upgrades L&T to 'overweight'

However, Barclays cuts its target price on L&T to 900 rupees from 1,000 to reflect impact of rupee depreciation on margins in the near term.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Barclays upgrades Larsen & Toubro Ltd to "overweight" from "equal weight", saying the engineering firm's earnings cycle is heading closer to a trough and should rebound from the second half of fiscal 2014.

Barclays also cites valuations, noting L&T's earnings are at 10-year lows.

However, Barclays cuts its target price on L&T to 900 rupees from 1,000 to reflect impact of rupee depreciation on margins in the near term.

Action in Larsen and Toubro

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

RBI ups FII investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace to 49%

Aug 24, 2013, 04.12 PM IST

Reserve Bank of India has increased foreign investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace Developers (erstwhile Mahindra Gesco Developers) to 49 percent from 30 percent.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RBI ups FII investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace to 49%

Reserve Bank of India has increased foreign investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace Developers (erstwhile Mahindra Gesco Developers) to 49 percent from 30 percent.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RBI ups FII investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace to 49%

Reserve Bank of India has increased foreign investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace Developers (erstwhile Mahindra Gesco Developers) to 49 percent from 30 percent.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Moneycontrol Bureau

Reserve Bank of India has increased foreign investment limit in Mahindra Lifespace Developers (erstwhile Mahindra Gesco Developers) to 49 percent from 30 percent.

The holdings of FIIs in the company has reached 29.23 percent of the paid up equity capital, according to filing on August 19.

Promoter Mahindra & Mahindra holds 51.04 percent stake in the company as of June 2013

The stock was down 0.2 percent to close at Rs 438.55 on Friday.

Action in Mahindra Lifespace Developers

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Infosys loses another senior executive in Sudhir Chaturvedi

Infosys vice president and financial services head for the Americas, Sudhir Chaturvedi, has put in his papers, marking another high-profile exit at the country's second-largest software services firm.

"Sudhir Chaturvedi has resigned from the company," an Infosys spokesman told PTI.

Also read: TCS, HCL Tech, Wipro to get astrological support: Gupta

The development comes amid an organisational restructuring that co-founder and Chairman NR Narayana Murthy is overseeing after he returned to the company in June to revive its sagging fortunes.

In July, Basab Pradhan had announced his decision to resign as global sales head of Infosys. Shaji Farooq, who served as senior vice-president and head of financial services for the Americas and had been with Infosys for a decade, quit last year to join rival Wipro .

In the June quarter, the North American market contributed 61.4 percent of Infosys' revenue of Rs 11,267 crore. Banking and financial services account for 27 per cent of revenue.

Murthy has made new appointments in its executive council as a part of his turnaround plan. Earlier this week, Infosys named Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan to the high-level body that frames business strategy.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Govt asks TRAI to reconsider cap on ads on channels

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today asked TRAI reconsider the issue of imposing the 12- minute advertisement cap on news channels suggesting the implementation could be made synchronous with
the government's digitisation drive.

"For the news broadcasting industry, the advertisement cap requires a migration path synchronous with the roll-out of digitisation. I hope TRAI would give it a re-consideration to this issue," Tewari said.

TRAI has been pushing for imposition of a rule from October 1 as per which TV channels, including news broadcasters, can show not more than 12 minutes of advertisements every hour. The news broadcasting industry has been claiming such a move would damage viability of channels.

In his speech at the inauguration of National Media Centre, Tewari also said India seems to have bucked the global trend as the newspaper market in the country is showing a double-digit growth and would emerge as the world's sixth largest newspaper market by 2017 as per industry reports.

The regional and vernacular print sector is growing on the back of rising literacy and heightened interest of advertisers wanting to leverage these markets, he said.

He said that in India there are 86.7 crore mobile phones, 12.4 crore internet users, which were expected to grow to 37 crore by 2017 and added the new media is the medium of the future.

Tewari also said a committee under Justice(retd) Mukul Mudgul is winding down its remit to overhaul the archaic Cinematographic Act of 1952 and another task force under Sam Pitroda is close to finalising recommendations on the restructuring of Prasar Bharti.

He added another group of eminent persons is remaining the entire universe of government communications.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Not passing clear control; won’t sack employees: Hexaware

Baring Private Equity decided to acquire 41.8 percent stake in Hexaware Technologies . The information technology services provider clarified that it was not passing total clear control to the firm. Hexaware's founder and chairman Atul Nishar told CNBC-TV18 that there will be no change in management after the deal. He also assured that employees will not be losing jobs on the back of this pact.

Also read: Baring to buy controlling stake in Hexaware for $420 mn

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: I want to clarify on the pricing of the deal. In the share purchase agreement and in the press release, you have clarified that the deal is between Rs 126 to Rs 135 per share. That comes up to Rs 1575 crore to Rs 1687 crore as a whole. So, depending on if Baring's Private Equity touches around 50 percent it will be a higher amount can you just clarify this particular bit?

A: Promoters and General Atlantic (GA) together, we hold approximately 41.8 percent stake in the company. So, we are not passing on a clear control at this percentage.

The deal is that if Baring can get control by whatever methods including the open offer success, then the price goes to Rs 135 per share. The open offer in any case will be at Rs 135.

If, for any reason, they are unable to reach there and they do not gain the control that is 50 percent plus then the price paid to promoters and GA would be Rs 126 per share.

Q: The amount that you are looking at; Rs 1687 crore. Can you break this up? The sale will be for 41.8 percent. How much the promoters will be getting and how much will GA be getting?

A: GA would be getting USD 88 million; that is Rs 570 crore. The promoters would be getting USD 171.8 million. It would mean Rs 1,116 crore. So, if it is Rs 135 this is the value.

Q. When you are saying control you mean 50 percent or higher?

A: Yes 50 percent or higher. We are anyway giving 41.8 percent. So, let's say they are able to get this additional 8 percent plus, then that would be the case. So, USD 260 million would be the amount involved for GA and promoters.

Another USD 160 million assuming 26 percent open offer gets fully subscribed then that would be the amount involved.

Overall, it is around USD 420 million investments as on today. Since they will be eligible to go up to 75 percent and if they happen to then that would mean around USD 465 million of investment, which would make it one of the largest private equity investments ever in the IT space in India.

for the full interview on CNBC-TV18.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tina Ambani withholding facts: CBI

After her husband Anil Ambani, Tina Ambani appeared in a Delhi court as a witness in the 2G spectrum case and CBI claimed that she was "deliberately withholding facts" which the judge found was "adverse" to the prosecution.
   
Special CBI judge O P Saini hearing the case said her adverseness sprang from her failure to recall about the companies, said to be associates of RADAG, relating to which she had signed the documents.

Also read:  Anil Ambani declared hostile witness

"In the instant case, though there is no previous statement of witness (Tina), nor has she introduced any new fact adverse to the prosecution, but has certainly signed some documents, which have been shown to her.

"As such, her adverseness springs from her not recalling about the companies relating to which she signed the documents," Judge Saini said while allowing the CBI to cross-examine its own witness Tina Ambani.
     
Her husband was yesterday cross-examined by CBI lawyer after he resiled  from his statement made during the probe in February, 2011.

During the recording of statement, when Tina said she did "not have any knowledge" of Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, facing trial in the case, special public prosecutor U U Lalit requested the court that he be permitted to put one question to her, "which an adverse party is permitted to put in cross-examination."

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cobrapost effect: RBI penalizes six more banks

Moneycontrol Bureau

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday imposed penalty of Rs 50 lakh to 2 crore on six more state-owned banks for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (ALM) norms. Those public sector lenders included Allahabad Bank , Bank of Maharashtra , Corporation Bank , Dena Bank , IDBI Bank , and Indian Bank .

However, private sector lender IndusInd Bank escaped the wrath of the regulator. The bank was exonerated from alleged violations of norms. 

Also read: RBI clarifies further on SLR bond measures, frames timeline

"In respect of IndusInd Bank Ltd. where such scrutiny has been conducted and the bank's explanation called for, based on written or oral submissions, as the bank's reply was found to be satisfactory or no violation of serious nature has been established; it has been decided not to impose any monetary penalty but only to issue suitable cautionary letter," the RBI said in a release.

In July, the RBI had slapped penalty of nearly Rs 50 crore among 22 banks for the same reason, following its investigation.  Prior to that, the RBI had fined top three private sector lenders including ICICI bank , HDFC Bank and Axis Bank to the tune of Rs 1-5 crore.

Three/four months back, Cobrapost.com, an online magazine, had conducted a series of sting operations on banks and alleged large scale violation of KYC and ALM norms in the majority of banks.

Taking note of, the banking regulator had formed an investigation committee and carried out a scrutiny of books of accounts, internal control, compliance system of those banks.

The Reserve Bank of India had carried out a scrutiny of books of accounts, internal control, compliance systems and processes of these banks at their offices during April and May 2013.

"The scrutiny of these banks revealed violation of certain regulations and instructions issued by Reserve Bank of India, namely,non-adherence to certain aspects of know your customer (KYC) norms and anti money laundering (AML) guidelines like customer identification procedure, risk categorisation, periodical review of risk profiling of account holders, periodical KYC updation non-adherence of KYC norms for walk in customers," RBI said.

Saikat Das

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reliance Industries, BP discover new gas in Cauvery basin

Moneycontrol Bureau

Reliance Industries and its UK-based partner British Petroleum have announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast in the Cauvery basin. The energy giant has notified the government and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons about the discovery named,  D-56.

Preliminary evaluation of well data and fluid samples indicate presence of gas condensate in the reservoir interval with a gross column of 143 metres. The well reached its total depth and RIL , as an operator has conducted drill stem test to evaluate the potential of the discovery, said the firm in a statement.

This is the second discovery by RIL after BP came on board in February 2011. Both firms with 70 and 30 percent interests had on May 24 announced their first discovery of gas and condensate in the KG-D6 block. RIL had then said that the development of this discovery and production thereafter may take another 18 months.

Meanwhile, though brokerages are yet to comment on what the discovery means for RIL in long term, experts say the discovery should pressurize the government to fasten gas price approval process.

The current price of USD 4.20 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) was fixed by an Empowered Group of Ministers in 2007, to be applicable for a five-year period from the date of commencement of gas supply. Supply began in April 2009. This was through a formula when crude was capped at USD 60/ barrel. This price is applicable till March 31, 2014. RIL has for long been seeking a three-fold raise in KG D6 gas price to be at par with global market.

RIL shares climbed marginally  to Rs 810.54 in early morning trade.

Read This: RIL's telecoms unit applies for new permit: Source

 

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Coca Cola expects India to be in top 5 markets by 2020

Coca Cola, the world's largest soft drink maker, today said it won't slow down its USD 5 billion investment plans in India despite the current slowdown, saying it expects the country to be in its top five global markets within the next seven years.

The company, which is celebrating 20 years of operations in India since its re-entry in 1993, however, said it is exploring "other options" for its proposed new plant in Karnataka owing to land acquisition issues.

"There is no slowdown in the execution of our investment plans in India, we don't look at one year. Government is doing what it can to come out of the situation and we are confident that India will come out of it," Coca Cola International President Ahmet C Bozer told reporters here.

He said the world is currently undergoing an economic transition and problems faced by India are not unique to the country and most of the emerging market are facing similar situations.

Last year, the Atlanta-based beverages giant had announced that it along with partners, would more than double the investment in the country to USD 5 billion by 2020.

The investment, higher by USD 3 billion from the previous announcement made in November 2011 for a period of five years, was meant for various activities, including setting up of new bottling plants.

Reiterating the company's faith in India, Bozer said: "If we continue to focus on doing the right things in this market, India could emerge as a top five market for the Coca Cola Company by 2020."

Currently, India is the seventh largest market for the Atlanta-based firm and it is looking to capture growth opportunities in the packaged beverage market.

Also Read: More reforms, investments needed to revive growth: Ficci

"Our investments in India are on track as we build scale, manufacturing capacity, distribution capability and a robust product portfolio to realise our business goals in India," he added.

The company today inaugurated a franchise bottling plant at Greater Noida. Owned and operated by Moon Beverages, the new plant has four lines and has come up with an investment of Rs 140 crore. It can produce juice, still beverages like water and sports drinks.

With the opening of the Greater Noida plant, the company has now 57 plants in India of which 22 are franchise plants, 23 are company-owned and 12 contract packaging plants.

When asked if the company is looking at alternate options for its proposed plant in Karnataka which is facing land acquisition hurdles, Coca Cola Pacific Group Deputy President Atul Singh said: "We are always exploring, looking at other areas. India is a large country and we need to expand."

He said the company has not yet bought land in Karnataka and it was just a memorandum of understanding for a 250 acre project, where it is looking at.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

RIL, BP make new gas discovery off east coast

Aug 23, 2013, 10.31 AM IST

The discovery is situated 62 kilometres from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RIL, BP make new gas discovery off east coast

The discovery is situated 62 kilometres from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

RIL, BP make new gas discovery off east coast

The discovery is situated 62 kilometres from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries and British oil company BP on Friday announced a new gas condensate discovery off the east coast of India in the Cauvery basin.

Also Read: RIL's telecoms unit applies for new permit: Source

The discovery is situated 62 kilometres from the coast in the Cauvery Basin and is the second gas discovery in the block. Reliance is the operator of the block with a 70 percent stake and BP has a 30 percent share.

Action in Reliance Industries

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yes Bank says suit filed by Madhu Kapur not maintainable

Yes Bank on Wednesday took a stand before the Bombay High Court that the suit filed by Madhu Kapur, the widow of bank's co-founder Ashok Kapur, challenging the appointment of directors nominated by the current managing director Rana Kapoor, was not maintainable.

The High court, in its jurisdiction as a civil court, cannot entertain such a suit which challenged election of directors of a banking company, its counsel Ravi Kadam submitted before Justice SJ Kathawala.

He said under Section 10(A)(6) of Banking Regulation Act, a civil court cannot entertain suits which challenge the appointment of directors. Therefore, the Bombay High Court, in a civil jurisdiction, cannot entertain this matter.

Kadam also argued that the decision (to appoint the directors of a company) taken at the annual general meeting by a majority shareholders cannot be challenged in a civil court.

Madhu Kapur has challenged appointment of part-time directors Diwan Arun Nanda and Ravish Chopra and part-time chairman MR Srinivasan who were appointed in an annual general meeting of the bank held on June 8.

She has also challenged the decision of the bank's board to appoint three wholetime directors Rajat Monga, Sanjay Palve and Pralay Mondal. Their appointment, made in a meeting on June 24, is, however, subject to the approval of Reserve Bank of India and the annual general meeting.

Yes Bank argued that as a banking company it was governed by Banking Regulation Act which provides that an election of a director cannot be challenged before a civil court. Such matters concern internal management and a civil court does not have the jurisdiction if majority of the shareholders have already decided them, its counsel argued.

The arguments would continue on Thursday when Madhu Kapur's lawyers would put up her version on maintainability of the suit.  During the past three hearings, the High Court was hearing the arguments of Madhu Kapur's lawyer, Darius Khambata, who has sought a direction from the court to the bank to consider nomination of her daughter, Shagun Gogia, as a director. The suit challenges decision of Yes Bank's board to reject Shagun's nomination.

Advocate Khambata had also argued that his client, Madhu Kapur, was given to understand by Rana Kapoor that a proposal to appoint Shagun as a director will be placed before the Bank's board as a joint nomination of Indian partners (Ashok and Rana). However, eventually, it was rejected by the board and this was very unfair, he said.

Ashok Kapur was killed in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Shagun was nominated by her mother as a legal heir to Ashok's 12-percent stake. Yes Bank was founded by Ashok Kapur and Rana Kapoor. Rana Kapoor, who owns 13.7-percent stake in the bank, is now the managing director and chief executive. 

Also watch the accompanying video

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

SC refuses to give clarification in Mittal, Ruia's case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to pass any order on the issue of proceedings in the special CBI court against Bharti Cellular Limited CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia in a case of alleged irregularities related to allocation of additional 2G spectrum in 2002.

"We cannot give clarification on everything. Order passed by this court is very clear and does not need any order", a bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan said when senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Mittal submitted that they are here because trial court had asked them to seek clarification of apex court's interim order.

The trial court on July 31 had told Mittal and Ruia that there was "no stay" on the proceedings before it in the case and they could seek clarification on this issue from the Supreme Court. A bench headed by then Chief Justice Altamas Kabir on April 26 had passed the order saying "the interim order, which has already been passed in these matters, will continue in the meantime, except that the petitioners (Mittal and Ruia) need not appear before the Court and give a personal bond for their appearance on the next date".

Referring to the order, Salve said "this order needs to be continued" However, before he could make further submissions, Justice Singhvi said "there is no need for any clarification as everybody knows the meaning of the word, meanwhile (meantime). Everybody knows the meaning of 'in the meanwhile'. We can't clarify everything".

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

JSW Steel to hike price by 4-6% as coal gets costlier

Aug 22, 2013, 10.49 AM IST

JSW Steel imports coal and since the rupee depreciated around 9 percent during June quarter, the firm reported forex loss of Rs 850 crore.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

JSW Steel to hike price by 4-6% as coal gets costlier

JSW Steel imports coal and since the rupee depreciated around 9 percent during June quarter, the firm reported forex loss of Rs 850 crore.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

JSW Steel to hike price by 4-6% as coal gets costlier

JSW Steel imports coal and since the rupee depreciated around 9 percent during June quarter, the firm reported forex loss of Rs 850 crore.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Following a steep hike in raw material cost, (especially coal) JSW Steel has decided to raise steel price by 4-6 percent from September 1, reports CNBC-TV18. Imported coal price has moved up over 8 percent to USD 136/tonne and since the rupee depreciated around 9 percent during the June quarter, the firm reported forex loss of Rs 850 crore.

Meanwhile, brokerages don't seem bullish on steel sector, as not only rupee, but weak demand from infrastructure segment will continue to haunt steel makers throughout FY14.

For instance, a recent report by Bank of America Merill Lynch stated that amid bleak economic environment, domestic steel outlook remains weak with lesser possibility of turnaround in the current financial year. The firm also pointed out that many delayed steel projects are likely to be commissioned during the year leading to overcapacity.

Ernst & Young had in its June report said that global steel demand is unlikely to improve significantly in 2013 and sluggish demand combined with factors such as excess steelmaking capacity will challenge the sustainability of high-cost manufacturers.

India Ratings & Research has revised its outlook on Indian steel producers to 'negative' from 'stable' for H2FY13. "The negative outlook is in view of the higher-than-expected deterioration in the financial and liquidity profiles of rated issuers. The continuous weak macro-economic environment in India has resulted in muted demand for steel products from the end-user industries," the credit rating agency said.

Steel makers are going through rough whether as is evident from the 13-share metals index falling over 30 percent year-to-date, compared to only 3 percent fall in Sensex.

Read This: JSW Steel's crude steel production rises 47% in July

 

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

SAIL incurs Rs 42,101 crore capex till July

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has incurred Rs 42,101 crore expenditure till July out of its proposed Rs 61,870 crore investment for capacity expansion during the current phase of expansion.

Steel minister Beni Prasad Verma, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, said SAIL has spent Rs 9,918 crore in Bhilai, Rs 9,679 crore in Rourkela, Rs 1,691 crore in Durgapur facility, Rs 3,662 crore in Bokatro plant and Rs 14,890 crore in its IISCO plant in Burnpur and Rs 2,261 crore in Salem plant.

SAIL is investing Rs 61,870 crore on modernisation and expansion of its existing facilities to increase crude steel production capacity to 21.4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) from 12.8 mtpa now.

Expansion at SAIL's Salem steel plant of has been completed in September, 2010. For other plants, Verma said, efforts are being made to complete progressively by 2014. "Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) is also presently expanding its capacity of liquid steel against which the new blast furnace, oxygen plant, power and water system have been commissioned and are under operation. Other major units are being commissioned during the current fiscal," Verma said.

RINL is also expanding its crude steel-making capacity to 6.3 mtpa from 3 mtpa now with a Rs 12,2910-crore investment. Verma said implementation of modernisation and expansion plans of both the steel firms have been delayed due to unforeseen soil conditions encountered, logistics problems due to the brownfield nature of the job and lack of deployment of technically competent manpower by the contractors.

"All out  efforts are being made to complete the process at the earliest," he said. To a separate question, the minister said India's steel capacity increased to 96.71 mtpa in 2012-13 from 90.87 mtpa a year earlier. India had produced 78.31 mt of steel in 2012-13.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Texmaco may take control of Kalindee Rail by October

Saroj Poddar-led Texmaco Rail and Engineering Ltd may take control of Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) Limited by October after the open offer closes by September-end.

"We are waiting for the open offer to complete before taking control," Texmaco chairman Saroj Kumar Poddar told PTI. "With an over-36.6 percent stake, we are at a comfortable position in Kalindee. But we want to be secured and so we are keen to hike our stake beyond 51 percent," Poddar said.

He said the company crossed a major hurdle after shareholders had approved special resolution through postal ballots to issue 24.9 percent fresh equity on a preferential basis to Texmaco. Texmaco had already bought the Kalindee promoters' 11 percent stake earlier.

Though Poddar expects that the open offer for an additional 30-percent stake will be a success, the same is not linked to taking control in the railway infrastructure company. Asked whether Texmaco will revise the open offer price from Rs 68 a share, Poddar said, "We have lot of time, we will decide later if required."

Jupiter Metal, which was also in the race to acquire Kalindee, had already made a counter-offer seeking to acquire 30 percent for Rs 70 apiece. The open offer from Texmaco at Rs 68 a share will remain open till September 26, unless extended further.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

LT gets Rs 1,500 crore EPC order from PDO

Aug 20, 2013, 06.55 PM IST

Larsen & Toubro today said it has got an Rs 1,500 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order from Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO).

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

L&T gets Rs 1,500 crore EPC order from PDO

Larsen & Toubro today said it has got an Rs 1,500 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order from Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO).

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

L&T gets Rs 1,500 crore EPC order from PDO

Larsen & Toubro today said it has got an Rs 1,500 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order from Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO).

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

Larsen & Toubro today said it has got an Rs 1,500 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order from Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO).
    
"The EPC order is for the Yibal third stage depletion compression (Y3DC) project at the Yibal-Natih gas reservoir in Oman. The project is scheduled to be completed in 39 months," L&T said in a BSE filing.

Also read: 2013 is not 1991; but it feels much worse and matters more
    
Yibal-Natih is a sweet gas reservoir with recoverable reserves estimated at 90 percent. It has been in production since 1972 and undergone a series of expansions to accommodate increasing demand for gas. The Yibal third stage facility will be installed to boost reservoir pressure, L&T said.
    
"With significant growth potential for natural gas in the Gulf, this order is strategic for L&T and reflects its capability to execute such projects in an extremely
competitive environment," L&T said.

L&T is doing two projects for PDO, a leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's crude oil production and nearly all of its natural gas supply.
    
PDO is 60 percent owned by Oman government. Royal Dutch Shell has 34 percent stake among others.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Examine delay in auction of Taj Mansingh hotel: CVC to NDMC

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked New Delhi Municipal Council to examine the delay in auction of Taj Mansingh hotel and submit a report within three months.

Officials said CVC has directed Chief Vigilance Officers of NDMC to examine the matter and submit a report following a complaint by a Delhi High Court lawyer Subodh Jain, who questioned the civic body's delay in auctioning the five star hotel in posh Lutyens Bungalow Zone.

Also Read: Taj Mansingh auction: NDMC to reply to MHA note by Aug end

"The CVC has forwarded the lawyer's complaint to NDMC and asked us to prepare a report. The CVOs will prepare and submit the report in the stipulated time," said an NDMC official.

Tata's Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) had entered into a 33-year lease agreement with NDMC for using the Taj Mansingh Hotel property in 1978, which ended in October 2011. The lease has been extended twice since then.

"NDMC has been delaying the process of auctioning the property since two years. It does not have an intention of auctioning the property as there is a nexus between the Tatas and the civic body," said Jain.

NDMC had received a show cause notice last month from the Home Ministry which asked the civic agency why there has been a "delay" in auction of the hotel.

In September last year, the municipal body had decided to give one-year extension to the Tatas, besides giving the first right of refusal in an auction to be conducted within one year.

Sources said the Home Ministry was concerned that the "provision of the first right of refusal will result in a lower bid in the public auction".

Following this, IHCL had approached the High Court in April to get a stay on the auction of its property. The Delhi High Court had asked Tatas to approach the court if any coercive steps are taken against it by the NDMC. Though the land belongs to NDMC, IHCL has invested in the construction of the hotel's building.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Infosys inducts three members in top decision-making body

Aug 19, 2013, 11.07 PM IST

IT services major Infosys today said it has appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan as members to its Executive Council, the high level body that frames business strategy for the company.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Infosys inducts three members in top decision-making body

IT services major Infosys today said it has appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan as members to its Executive Council, the high level body that frames business strategy for the company.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Infosys inducts three members in top decision-making body

IT services major Infosys today said it has appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan as members to its Executive Council, the high level body that frames business strategy for the company.

Share  .  Email  .  Print  .  A+A-

IT services major Infosys today said it has appointed Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan as members to its Executive Council, the high level body that frames business strategy for the company.

The Executive Council (EC) includes the executive board, heads of key business units and  strategic business enabler units. "On August 19, 2013, Ranganath D Mavinakere, Binod Hampapur Rangadore and Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan were appointed as Members of the Executive Council of the Company, effective immediately," Infosys said in a BSE filing.

Mavinakere heads the Cost Optimisation initiative in the Chairman's Office. From January  2008 to July 2013, he was the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for Infosys, it added. Rangadore heads the new Global Delivery Model initiative in the Chairman's Office, while,  Radhakrishnan is a member of the firm's Executive Council and Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Infosys. Between April 2012 and now, he served as the Chief Compliance Officer and Special Counsel, the filing said.

"As members of the Executive Council they will be entitled to an Executive Council allowance of USD 150,000 per annum pro-rata for the period as member," it added.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

India raises FDI cap in asset reconstruction cos to 74%

India raised the cap on foreign direct investment in asset reconstruction companies (ARC) to 74 percent from 49 percent, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday, another measure to attract capital inflows to support a sagging rupee.

The foreign investment limit of 74 percent in the company will include both foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment with a single portfolio investor not allowed to exceed 10 percent of paid-up capital in the ARC, the RBI said.

Related Links:
- FinMin hopeful of getting Parliament nod on Pension Bill
- PM overrules DIPP, HealthMin to clear Mylan's Strides deal
- Realty isn't beyond redemption, FDI comes to the rescue

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reliance Power may petition CERC for higher Tilaiya tariff

Reliance Power may approach the electricity regulator seeking a higher tariff for its proposed ultra mega power project at Tilaiya due to an increase in raw material costs.

The company is expected to file a petition with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) this week, seeking an upward revision in the power tariff, a source privy to the development told PTI, adding that the reason may be the increase in input costs.

When contacted, a Reliance Power spokesperson declined to comment.

Reliance Power won the bid for the 4,000 MW, coal-based ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Tilaiya in Jharkhand in January 2009, quoting a tariff of Rs 1.77 a unit. This would be the second project for which it has sought a price revision.

The company has already filed four petitions with the CERC, seeking relief for the Sasan UMPP in Madhya Pradesh due to a rise in construction costs and depreciation in the rupee.

Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for UMPPs, has awarded four such projects. Reliance Power has bagged three - Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Tilaiya and Sasan. Tata Power has set up a 4,000 MW plant at Mundra in Gujarat.

A UMPP is a power plant with a generation capacity of about 4,000 MW.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Electricity tariffs are kept artificially low: Tata Power

Country's largest private power producer Tata Power has said that electricity tariffs are "artificially kept low" while acknowledging that the sector is facing challenges across the value chain.

Tata Power, which has an installed generation capacity of 8,521 MW, has said that besides fuel issues, there are challenges in generation, transmission and distribution segments of the sector.

The domestic power sector, crucial for overall economic growth, continues to grapple with multiple woes. Government has been making efforts to address the issues including fuel shortages.

Listing out the sectoral challenges to the shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on August 16, Tata Power said that "power tariffs (are) artificially kept low". Besides, financial health of state electricity boards (SEBs), high aggregate technical and commercial losses and the SEBs resorting to load shedding during peak hours are the major challenges in the distribution segment.

The poor financial health of SEBs has been mainly blamed on lower tariff in comparison with generation costs. Besides, many states are providing subsidies on the balance sheets of discoms (SEBs), which are unable to hike tariffs.

Earlier this month, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that states should take the liability of electricity subsidies on their balance sheets instead of burdening the distribution companies (discoms).

To help the ailing SEBs, the central government has come out with financial restructuring package for them, which includes converting part of the discom's debt burden into bonds by respective state governments. The liabilities of discoms are estimated to be more than Rs 2 lakh crore.

On the fuel front, Tata Power has said there is "lack of sufficient growth in domestic coal production" apart from gas shortages and challenge posed by regulatory changes in markets such as Indonesia.

The viability of Tata Power's 4,000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project, which is fired by coal imported from Indonesia, has been hurt after that country's changed its norms for pricing of the dry fuel.

Following a plea from the company, in April this year, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had directed the concerned parties to work out a compensatory tariff for power generated from Mundra project. A panel, set up in this regard, is deliberating on possible options.

Meanwhile, the company has cited lack of uniformity in the land acquisition policy framework, inordinate delays in environmental clearances and slow development of several transmission projects as other challenges facing the sector.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Why will there be delay in AirAsia India launch?

Moneycontrol Bureau

Even as passengers are looking forward to the launch of AirAsia's India operations pre--Diwali, expect the airline to start flights only by December-end.

Mittu Chandilya, the airline's CEO clarified to media in Chennai that the airline is awaiting necessary approvals and the launch may be pushed to year-end. It is prudent to wait then hurry up the launch, he said.

Read This: AirAsia: The Tony & Mittu show

Here are factors that are pushing the launch at a later date

The airline is yet to get a security clearance. The Supreme Court has recently asked former MP Subramanian Swamy to move the Delhi High Court with his plea challenging clearance given to proposed low-cost airline AirAsia India.

In his PIL , Swamy has challenged the clearance granted to the proposed airline on the grounds that the, foreign investment is only permitted for an existing airline but AirAsia India is a new airline and not an existing carrier.

The aviation ministry is yet to give a no-objection certificate to the venture.

Post securing NOC, airline licence is a must.

There are concerns pertaining to the effective control that should be obviously with Indian hands.In this venture, AirAsia will hold 49 per cent stake, Tata Group 30 percent, while the remaining 21 percent will be with Arun Bhatia's Telstra Tradeplace. There is one foreigner-Tony Fernandes and one NRI (Bhatia) and this has not gone well with politicians.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Now get connected to MLAs, MPs via Swaniti for social work

A masters in public policy from the Howard Kennedy School, 26-year-old Rwitwika Bhattacharya worked with the UN and the World Bank on an idea for a startup that mushroomed in her head. She wanted to create a channel of entry for people to work with governments on policy matters.

The Swaniti initiative launched in 2011 connects young professionals with local MPs, or MLAs offices for a full-time working fellowship to help the MP or MLA plan and execute various government programmes. Presently being run on a not-for-profit model, Rwitwika is now working on a business model that is self sustainable and scalable.

Also Read: Dinasim Learning: Making students fall in love with maths

In India, young minds get an opportunity to be part of the government machinery either through the civil services or political party. Rwitwika decided it was time for change and founded the Swaniti initiative in 2011 to create a new channel to engage young professionals with governance.

The initiative launched its first round of fellowship in February last year and today has over 29 fellows who worked directly under 12 elected representatives.

Rwitwika says: "Where we get young professionals who at an average age of 27-28 go in and work on a specific development problem, for example youth unemployment in Himachal. We worked with the MP there to figure out what are the best ways to reduce unemployment. So, it is very much a consulting style engagement which we work on, on development policies in the constituency. At this point we are the only players in this primarily because it is such an un-pioneered territory, no one else has gone in and worked with elected officials in this capacity and that just gives us a tremendous advantage."

Sanjukta Roy has been working with Member of Parliament from Kendrapara Odisha and our young turk Jay Panda. Under this initiative, fellows work directly with MPs, MLAs and even cabinet ministers on problem areas in their constituencies. The process usually includes conducting research, gathering data or implementing programmes where fellows travel within or outside the constituency.

Jay Panda, MP, Kendrapara Odisha, says: "It is a very good thing that more and more young men and women are interested in devoting some time towards social issues, who are trying to improve the country. What is interesting is many are professionally qualified. The two Swaniti fellows I had earlier worked with had professional degrees in engineering and management and the current fellow is a professional, she has worked in important organisations internationally. So, this is a good sign, these are professionals, qualified and they are bringing specific skills where we have a need for them in the constituency and improving systems of governance."

Currently Sawniti has an operation budget of Rs 3 crore annually, which comes from grants and donations. However, Rwitwika is working towards transforming this venture into a for-profit business. She plans to diversify into providing subsidised consulting services to social enterprises, conducting paid for third-party project feasibility studies in rural areas and much more.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Aurus Network': All about India's new age education

Piyush Agrawal founder of Aurus Network had education that most can only dream about. He had spent both his graduate and post graduate years at IIT Kanpur.

During his stay at Stanford University Piyush decided to turn entrepreneur. So, he founded online learning platform, Aurus Network in July 2010. Today his flagship product CourseHub enables educational institutes to reach out to remote students across the world. It is with the help of internet base live and interactive HD video classes and the kicker Aurus Network works at an internet speed as low as a 100 kbps.

Also read: Dinasim Learning: Making students fall in love with maths

Someone rightly said problems choose their solvers. While pursuing his doctorate in Stanford University, Piyush Agrawal realize that Stanford's extensive online distinct learning programme could be run at a fraction of a cost without compromising reach or quality.

Discovering a video compression technique that would work over low internet bandwidth to make transmission of good quality audio video possible, Piyush hopped on to a flight back to India and founded Aurus Network in 2010.

CourseHub allowed education to institutes to conduct live high quality video based classes over regular broadband networks to have dedicated equipment or satellite connectivity that is bringing down cost manifold. Piyush told CNBC-TV18 about what gave him the confidence to give up a lucrative career in States and return home to make Aurus Network a reality.

He can be on a data card or a dial up connection and can still tune into a live class coming to him at a HD quality. This means that he sees exactly what a physical face to face student would see unlike other solutions where the online class would be much inferior to a real face to face class. So that is certainly the first USP of the solution.

Secondly, it is also an end to end automated solution. This means that the institute especially colleges or universities they do not need to have human intervention for recording or post processing these videos. Once scheduled at the beginning at the academic term for the next six months or the next one year it automatically captures the classes puts them in the right courses, applies the right permission to it and makes them available to the end students.

With inbuilt features like Web based lecture videos, editing, social networking, online testing and performance tracking, the software helps students in understanding difficult concepts at their own pace and revising them effectively whenever needed. Working on a USP model Aurus today partners 40 institutes including IIT Kanpur, IIT Patna and IIM Bangalore. Having raised funding from Indian Angle network led by former HCL Technologies founder Ajay Choudhary, Aurus Network close 2012 at Rs 75 lakh and is looking to grow this network further.

Piyush informed that tier II and tier III towns have some great teachers, but a lot of students are not able to find them out. So he will shortly launch a platform where some of these teachers will not only be able to conduct their classes on his platform but they will also be able to showcase their classes to the rest of the world and find more users. It will provide them not only technical platform but also a platform where they can sell their courses.

In addition to this he is now expanding to other markets or other countries especially US, UK, Australia where lecture capture is an important concept and students are willing to pay extra for this kind of a facility.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Google Impact Challenge' launches in India

Google this week launched the Google Impact Challenge in India. It was the second such challenge to be held globally by the tech giant. The challenge aims to identify for not-for-profits or NGOs that plan to innovatively use technology to solve some of India's most pressing social problems. Google will provide hands-on technical assistance and mentorship to four selected startups who will each receive Rs 3 crore in the global impact award as well.

Also read: Will continue focus on strategy, priority in India: Yahoo

Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director of Google India told CNBC-TV18 to about the challenge. He said that if the technology is in an area where Google has a lot of expertise he will make sure that the engineering and product management teams will be mentors to these startups.

However, it won't be very deep, in that they will send there engineers to work with an NGO to build product but in terms of mentorship, in terms of guidance, in terms of looking at the architecture, thinking to how to deploy the technology. So, that is on the technical assistance. The other area where they will be quite helpful is they actually know how to deploy solutions at scale given what we have done over the years. "So, whether it is from marketing, sales, business development standpoint again our teams are very excited to work with some of these NGOs to help them, mentor them, to implement their program," he said.

Participants can apply online by September 5 and the team at Google will announce 10 finalists on October 21 and only four will make it to the finals on October 31. Of the four finalists, three will be chosen by the judges and the fourth by public opinion.

Anandan said he would encourage not-for-profits who apply to the Global Impact Challenge to think very big, think about how they can make a material impact on India. Then, to really horn in on what are the specific issues, understand the root cause of the problem that they are trying to solve. In the end to figure out what is the innovative, creative way in which one can use technology to solve that problem. Our view is if it was very easy somebody would have already done it. "Focusing on big problems that are hard to solve by using technology in interesting way is what we are hoping to see come out of this," he added.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

SC asks Swamy to move Delhi HC on his plea against AirAsia

The Supreme Court today asked former MP Subramanian Swamy to move the Delhi High Court with his plea challenging clearance given to proposed low-cost airline AirAsia India.

A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan said it was not making any observation on merits of the matter and asked Swamy to move the high court which can hear him in detail.

Also read: AirAsia, Tata JV deal fraught with illegalities: Swamy

"We want to have advantage of high court judgement," the bench said while giving him liberty to file the public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court.

Swamy told the court he was not challenging the policy but questioning the action which has been taken by the government under the policy.

Malaysia's largest budget carrier AirAsia has set up a joint venture with the Tata Group and Telestra Tradeplace to launch the regional airline in India.

AirAsia India will be based in Chennai in which the Malaysian carrier will hold a 49 percent stake. Initially, AirAsia plans to invest USD 30 million in the company.

In his PIL, Swamy has challenged the clearance granted to the proposed airline on the ground that according to the policy, foreign investment is only permitted for an existing airline but AirAsia India was not an existing carrier.

Also watch the accompanying video of Subramanian Swamy talking to the press after Supreme Court asked him to transfer the case to the Delhi High Court. 

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bank of Baroda seeks capital infusion

State-owned Bank of Baroda has sought capital infusion of Rs 1,800 crore from the government, its chairman and managing director S S Mundra said today.
    
"We have sought a capital infusion of Rs 1,800 crore from the government in the form of preferential allotment," Mundra told reporters on the sidelines of FICCI Banking Conclave here.

Also read: Chidambaram says expects calm to return to domestic markets
    
Government holding in the bank stood at 55.4 percent.
    
Mundra said that the focus of the bank was retail lending, agriculture and MSME sectors.
    
In retail, advances grew by 17 percent last fiscal, 14 percent in agriculture and 23 percent in MSME, he said.

"We expect advances to grow by 18 percent to 20 percent in the three sectors this fiscal," Mundra said.

About overseas operations, he said that bank's 30 percent of total business generated was in 24 countries where it had presence.

Nearly 30 percent of the gross profit was from overseas operations, he said.

"We will expand overseas where we have our presence and know the environment," Mundra said.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Revive pharma PSUs to boost generic medicines: panel

A parliamentary committee has suggested revival of pharmaceutical public sector undertakings like HAL and IDPL for large scale production of affordable generic medicines to be provided to common man.

Also read: Adopt capital preservation, bet on IT, pharma: BNP Paribas

"They (pharma PSUs) need to be revived, restrengthened and made dynamic and healthy so that generic medicines and vaccines are produced in larger quantities and made available to the masses at reasonable prices," Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce said in its report on 'FDI in Pharmaceutical Sector'.

The committee, which was chaired by BJP member Shanta Kumar, also felt the need to investigate the reasons behind the poor performance and near closure of PSU's and to ensure that resources are utilised in the appropriate manner.

The committee observed that the absence of a robust public sector health service has impeded the universalisation of healthcare.

"In a situation when the private sector fails to step in and address the health needs of this country, the public sector would be credible system to cater to our growing health needs," it added.

A robust public sector would ensure self sufficiency and shield the pharma sector from adverse affects of market dynamics and investment policies, it said.

IDPL, the largest central pharma public sector undertaking in India, was formally declared sick by the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on August 12, 1992.

The government has already approved the rehabilitation scheme of Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL) on March 9, 2006, which involves the cash infusion of Rs 137.59 crore and waiver of past loans and interest thereupon to the extent of Rs 259.43 crore as of March 31, 2005.

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Orange County in California drags TCS to court

India's largest software services exporter, Tata Consultancy Service ( TCS ), has been slapped with a lawsuit by Orange County in California for making "a series of false promises and intentional misrepresentations" during the bidding process for a contract.

Also Read: Immigration Bill: 8 Indian IT cos form lobbying consortium

TCS declined to comment on the issue, citing it as a legal matter.

The issue relates to a contract for development of a tax collection and management system for Orange County in 2007-2008. TCS won the bid for the job for an amount of about USD 8 million.

According to the contract, Tata America International Corporation (TCS America) was to develop and implement the Property Tax Management System Project for Orange County.

The lawsuit was filed in April this year in the California Central District Court, people with knowledge of the development said.

It alleges that TCS made "a series of false promises and intentional misrepresentations" during the bidding process and "made promises to complete the project on a budget and according to a timeline with which they had no intention of complying."

The lawsuit further claims: "The county has suffered millions of dollars of damages as a result of defendants' wrongful conduct and it will continue to suffer damages for the years it will take to develop a replacement for the failed project."

When contacted, a TCS spokesperson said: "As a matter of policy we don't discuss pending legal matters. We stand by the quality of our work and commitment to customer success as demonstrated by the fact that over 98 per cent of our business comes from repeat clients."

TCS posted strong first-quarter results helped by an all-round performance with strong revenue growth across markets led by the US.

The Mumbai-headquartered firm posted a net profit of Rs 3,831 crore for the June quarter, up 15.5 percent from Rs 3,318 crore in the same period last year.

12.44 | 0 komentar | Read More