Tecpro gets Rs 95-cr order from South Korean firm

Tecpro Systems said it has bagged a Rs 95-crore order from South Korea's SK Engineering and Construction (SKEC) for supply of the entire coal and fly ash handling systems for a power plant it is building in the US. "Tecpro Systems has received an international order worth USD 17.4 million from SKEC for Paco power plant (2X160 MW) in Panama (Central America)," the Gurgaon-based engineering firm said in a BSE filing.

The scope of the order includes designing, manufacturing and commissioning of the entire coal and fly ash handling systems for the power plant. However, no execution time-line was given. SKEC is one of the top Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms in Korea and is involved in a number of EPC jobs in the power sector across the world.

"This order will increase Tecpro's global presence across diversified geographies like Vietnam, Indonesia and South East Asia and Central America," Tecpro's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Amul Gabrani said. The scrip of the company were trading at Rs 150 per share during the afternoon session on the BSE, up 0.94 per cent over the previous closing.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Over 1.71 cr pledged shares of SpiceJet released

Low cost carrier SpiceJet said that more than 1.71 crore shares pledged by one of its promoter, Kal Airways, have been released. Kal Airways, one of the two promoter entities of the carrier, held 15.65 crore or 32.32 per cent stake in SpiceJet as of September quarter. In a disclosure to the BSE, Spicejet said that over 1.71 crore equity shares of the company, pledged by Kal Airways have been released.

Meanwhile, the company's shareholders last week approved proposals to raise Rs 145 crore through issue of debentures and warrants, on preferential basis, to its promoter Kalanithi Maran. About Rs 130 crore would be raised through issue of 14 per cent unsecured compulsorily convertible debentures. Further, by way of allotting warrants with an option to apply for equity shares, the carrier would mop up Rs 15 crore.

Also Read: Kingfisher revival plan has no clear funding proposal

In November, the board had approved issuance of convertible debenture and/or warrants convertible into up to a maximum of 52.177 million equity shares to the promoter of the company on preferential basis. SpiceJet operates over 300 daily flights. Shares of the company fell 1.46 per cent to close at Rs 44 on the BSE.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

MOIL eyes stake purchase in Peru mine

State-run manganese ore producer MOIL has evinced interest in picking up a stake in Maravilloso Mines in Peru owned by Melrose Mines and Minerals. "MOIL has shown interest in picking up a participating interest in Maravilloso Mines in Peru. It has four manganese ore concessions with a proven reserve of 2.95 million tonnes," a source told PTI.

Melrose is a diversified mining firm having operating and developing iron ore and manganese mines with reserves of over 400 million tonnes and 30 million tonnes respectively.

However, MOIL Chairman and Managing Director S P Kundargi said,"Talks are on but nothing concrete has taken shape yet." Meanwhile, Melrose Managing Director Vijay Saxena has in a letter to MOIL wrote, "As per geological report, the outcrop alone is 2.95 MT of high grade manganese that can be offered to MOIL immediately after the signing of the MoU under a mutually agreed price/cost mechanism."

Saxena said Melrose Peru has already incurred significant expenditure towards promotion of four valuable manganese concessions and to reach to the present stage of development of mines.

"Stage is now ripe to offer a participating interest in the manganese ore mine based on physical availability of 2.95 million tonne outcrop in hand," he said. Saxena added the actual reserves in the four concessions could be more and could be gathered following drilling and due diligence by an acceptable company of international repute to be engaged by MOIL.

Melrose has also asked MOIL to work on a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining respective responsibilities with given time-frame.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

MyBox is one of India's leading Set Top Box brands

Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 18:21

MyBox is one of India's leading Set Top Box brands. MyBox wants to ber a leading global brands in this arena across the world.

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MyBox is one of India's leading Set Top Box brands. It has brought together people with the passion and vision to ensure that in coming years MyBox will represent the billions of Indians across the world in becoming a strong Digital set top box brand competing with Global brands in this arena across the world.

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21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Govt offers 17 coal blocks to PSUs, invites proposals

Initiating the process of allocation of coal mines, the government today invited proposals from PSUs for alloting 17 blocks to them, mostly for captive power plants.

"It has been decided to offer 17 coal blocks (14 coal blocks for end use i.e. for power and 3 coal blocks for mining) to different Government Companies/Undertaking (Central and State)," the Coal Ministry said in a statement.

Also read: Eight infra sectors' growth dips to 1.8% in Nov

The development comes in the wake of the government's repeated announcements to make policy for mines allotment transparent, following CAG terming potential losses of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer on account of blocks allotment to 57 private firms without auction.

"The Ministry of Coal has initiated the process of allocation of coal blocks under the amended provisions of Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act and Rules framed thereunder.

"In the first round the Government proposes to allocate coal blocks to the Government companies/Undertakings (Central and  State) for specific end use(power) and coal mining," the statement said.
   
The applicants have been asked to submit their proposals by January 30.

The blocks on offer are: Jilga-Barpali, Baisi, Banai, Bhalmunda, Kente and Kerwa in Chhattisgarh, Gowa, Pachwara South and Kalyanpur-Badalpara in Jharkhand, Mahajanwadi in Maharashtra, Kundanali-Laburi, Sarapal-Nuapara, Tentuloi, Chandrabila and Brahamani in Odisha, Gandbahera-Uhhenia block in Madhya Pradesh and Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harinsingha inWest Bengal.

These blocks on offer have estimated reserves of 8.45 billion tonnes. Under Rule 4 of auction by competitive bidding of Coal Mines Rules 2012, the government has decided allocation of suitable coal blocks to the government companies that are authorised to undertake coal mining, the statement said.

Last week, an inter-ministerial panel, which was set up to look into coal block allocations to government firms came out with pre-determined evaluation criteria that include taking into account allotees' track record of developing the mines given to them.

The criteria include progress of the development of mines given in the past, the coal demand-supply gap of a state and the location of the plants among others.

Earlier, the Coal Ministry had informed the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that it would soon issue notification inviting offers from the public sector for allocation of identified coal blocks.

The Coal Ministry had in May identified 54 mines for allocation. Of these, 16 had been earmarked for government firms, 16 for power sector and 22 for allocation through auction route.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Union Bank raises Rs 800 cr through tier-II bonds

Union Bank today said it has raised Rs 800 crore through issuance of lower tier-II bonds. "We have raised additional capital to the extent of Rs 800 crore by issue of unsecured redeemable non-convertible subordinated lower tier II Bonds," the bank said in a release.

The 10-year bonds have a fixed coupon rate of 8.90 per cent per annum payable annually, it added. Earlier, the bank had announced that it has received an enabling resolution from its board to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore through bonds over the next three months. State-run Union Bank posted 57 percent jump in net profit to Rs 554 crore during the second quarter of current financial year. Shares of the bank closed 1.37 percent up at Rs 274.15 on BSE today.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ratan Tata hangs his boots, Cyrus Mistry takes over

Corporate icon Ratan Tata on Friday retired as chairman of Tata Group after a 50-year run predicting that India's growth will reestablish after the 'passing phase' of a difficult environment, which will most likely continue in the next year.

Turning 75 on Friday, he kept away from the Bombay House headquarters of the USD 100 billion group but instead spent time with employees in the manufacturing facilities of Tata Motors in west Indian Pune city.

"At the request of the union, I spent the day - my last day prior to retirement, in the Tata Motors' various manufacturing facilities at Pune to say farewell to my shop floor colleagues. We have been together in good times and bad and have gained closeness based on mutual trust," he tweeted.

He said in his twitter message that going to the plants and receiving greetings from so many colleagues is a great emotional experience.

"I have been deeply moved by the sincerity and spontaneity of their greetings. I will always carry memories of this day with me through the rest of my life," Tata said.

In a farewell letter to all the employees, he asked the employees to live by the value systems and ethical standards the group had followed all along.

Cyrus Mistry, the 44-year-old chairman designate, who is likely to take over as Tata group Chairman tomorrow visited the office on Friday. He was groomed for the assignment by Tata for a year.

He chose group company Tata Motors' sedan Indigo Manza to travel to work on a day that marked an end of an era.

The narrow lane leading to Bombay House, one of the oldest buildings in the heritage Fort area of south Mumbai, had heavy media presence since morning in anticipation of Tata visiting Bombay House.

In his letter to employees, Tata asked his colleagues to show their "support", "commitment" and "dedication" to achieve success in these somewhat difficult times.

"The difficult economic environment that we face in the current year will most likely continue through most of the next year. We will probably see continued constraints in consumer demand, over-capacity and increased competition from imports," he said.

Tata said there will therefore be great pressure on Tata companies to reinvent themselves in terms of business processes and to dramatically reduce costs, to be more aggressive in the market place and to widen their product range to better address consumer needs.

"We will also need to contain our borrowings and work hard to retain our margins. This environment would once again call on you for your support, your commitment and your dedication to achieve success in these somewhat difficult times," he said.

Tata said the seemingly gloomy picture, however, will be a passing phase.

"I feel confident that the robust growth that India has shown over the past several years will be re-established and the strong fundamentals in the country will result in India once again taking its place as one of the economic success stories of the region," he said.

Tata, who helmed the group for 21 years after being chosen successor by his uncle, the iconic JRD Tata, in 1991, is credited with transforming the group through bold decisions including large global acquisitions, even as some of its peers struggled to stay relevant post economic liberalisation.

Mistry, who has been with the group since 2006 in various capacities hails from the Shapoorji Pallonji family, the largest private share holder of the group's holding company Tata Sons.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mid-tier IT firms outperform big boys in 2012

Moneycontrol Bureau

The global economic downturn weighed on the Indian IT industry in 2012, a year, which saw old leaders slump, even as several smaller rivals thrived.

Tata Consultancy Services cemented its position as the top software services provider. It has maintained that it will grow faster than the 11-14 percent growth forecast by industry body NASSCOM for FY13.

Meanwhile, Infosys , once the benchmark, stopped issuing quarterly guidance this year and only expects to grow around 5 percent. Even this, analysts say, is going to be a tough ask in the current scenario. Many including Bank of America Merrill Lynch expect the Bangalore-based company is likely to miss its guidance.

Infosys' local rival Wipro too has struggled to keep pace in the changed economic environment, where customers are now taking longer than usual in finalising IT budgets and even cutting discretionary spends.

"We expect Infosys to cut their organic FY13 US dollar revenue growth guidance to 4 percent plus (from 5 percent plus) as the impact of accentuated seasonality may result in slower ramp up of deals, especially in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI). We expect TCS to deliver sector-leading US dollar revenue growth (3% quarter-on-quarter) followed by HCL Tech  (2.8% qoq) in organic terms," Goldman Sachs analysts Rishi Jhunjhunwala and Girish Ramkumar said in a recent report.

Wipro, which like Infosys has gone through a management rejig in the last couple of years, is also expected to underperform the broader industry, with just 2 percent sequential US dollar revenue growth in Oct-Dec (it has guided for 1.2-3.2 percent growth) and a weak 1 percent volume growth, according to the Goldman Sachs analysts.

Some analysts, however, have a contrarian view and believe Wipro, could in fact turn out to be the dark horse and stage a recovery next year.

"Wipro is likely to benefit significantly from the surge in IMS deals expected over FY13-FY14, strong growth in Energy & Utilities, and the BFSI's return to stability," says Priya Sunder of Avendus Securities.

While Infosys and Wipro struggled over the last year, smaller outsourcers like Hexaware Technologies saw strong growth.

Atul Nishar, Hexaware's chairman, recently said he was "reasonably" confident of outperforming the wider industry in 2013. This optimism came even as it was forced to cut its fourth quarter (Oct-Dec) guidance to USD 92 million from USD 94.7-96.5 million, due to changes to a project plan for a customer and impact on account of hurricane Sandy, which devastated the US east coast.

TCS, Infosys and Wipro, all have underperformed many of its peers over the last one year. Infosys and Wipro are down 17 percent and 3 percent, weighed down by their slow growth and near-term uncertainties. While TCS has gained 8 percent, many others like HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and MindTree are up 60-75 percent.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyrus Mistry to formally take charge on Monday

Cyrus Mistry, the new chairman of the Tata Group, will formally take charge of his office on Monday, company sources said. Mistry, who was appointed chairman to succeed Ratan Tata, is the sixth chairman of the Tata empire. The Group was founded as a private trading firm in 1868 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. "Today and tomorrow being holidays, Mistry will attend office in his capacity as the group chairman only on Monday," sources at the Bombay House, the Group's headquarters, said.

Ratan Tata retired as chairman of Tata Group after a 50-year run yesterday. He, however, did not attend the office on the last day as he chose to celebrate his Diamond Jubilee birthday celebrations at the Tata Motors manufacturing facilities at Pune. Mistry, who was groomed for the assignment by Tata for a year, had made a visit to Bombay House. Ratan Tata, who helmed the group for 21 years after being chosen successor by his uncle, the iconic JRD Tata, in 1991, is credited with transforming the group through bold decisions including large global acquisitions, even as some of its peers struggled to stay relevant post economic liberalisation.

Mistry, who has been with the group since 2006 in various capacities hails from the Shapoorji Pallonji family, which is the largest private shareholder of the group's holding company Tata Sons. Born on July 4, 1968, Cyrus Mistry completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from London's Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and followed it up with a masters in Management from the London Business School. He was chosen by a 5-member panel last year to succeed Ratan Tata.

During Ratan Tata's tenure, the group's revenues grew manifold, totalling USD 100.09 billion (around Rs 475,721 crore) in 2011-12 from a turnover of a mere Rs 10,000 crore in 1991. Tata led the group into some notable acquisitions, starting from Tetley by Tata Tea for USD 450 million in 2000, to steelmaker Corus by Tata Steel in 2007 for GBP 6.2 billion and the landmark Jaguar LandRover in 2008 for USD 2.3 billion by Tata Motors.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tap local tech knowhow to lead in auto, gadget biz: Hitachi

Welcome to The Forbes India Show on CNBC-TV18.  In this episode, meet Hiroaki Nakanishi, CEO, Hitachi who has been credited for the turning the Japanese company into a global technological giant.

Below is an edited transcript of the show on CNBC-TV18.

Q: This is the first time in Hitachi's over-100 year history that the board is meeting in India. What is the significance of this development? What do you and the board sense about the Indian market?

A: India is a very important market and our presence here is still not big enough. Our Indian operations contribute only one percent to total revenue. But with India growing, we are planning to emphasise our presence in the country.

Simultaneously, we are not simply interested in the business of selling products or manufacturing of products. We wish to be involved in total engineering, manufacturing and maintenance which will strengthen our position and enable us to export products from our Indian unit to other parts of the world.

Q: Your interest in India comes at a time when the economy is slowing down to cause a significant paralysis in manufacturing and infrastructure. So what make you confident about India?

A: India holds significant promise because the government has started to announce measures to boost and implement some of the infrastructure initiatives. The second aspect that has attracted our focus is the rapid rise in population and purchasing power of the middle-class. And that will significantly affect the economic environment in India. It is to emphasise our outlook on India that motivated the board to meet in India.

Q: Do you estimate a tripling of your revenues in India by 2015?

A: Yes, I expect we can do that.

Q: What will be the specific areas of opportunity in India?

A: From the viewpoint of organic growth, one product area that is growing very rapidly is home appliances or white goods. Currently, recently our engineering teams began to adjust air-conditioners to work in India as the weather in India is completely different from that in Japan. This is the kind of new trend that is driving the industry. However we do not have a big presence in other areas such as the automotive sector.

Q: In the US and elsewhere across the globe you are a significant supplier to the auto sector?

A: The Indian automotive industry is growing even though the economy is somewhat shaky. We think we have found the answer to the new challenges facing the automotive industry. We will tap India's strength in engineering, designing, maintenance and technology to enter and strengthen our presence in this sector.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Union Bank raises Rs 800 cr through tier-II bonds

Union Bank today said it has raised Rs 800 crore through issuance of lower tier-II bonds. "We have raised additional capital to the extent of Rs 800 crore by issue of unsecured redeemable non-convertible subordinated lower tier II Bonds," the bank said in a release.

The 10-year bonds have a fixed coupon rate of 8.90 per cent per annum payable annually, it added. Earlier, the bank had announced that it has received an enabling resolution from its board to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore through bonds over the next three months. State-run Union Bank posted 57 percent jump in net profit to Rs 554 crore during the second quarter of current financial year. Shares of the bank closed 1.37 percent up at Rs 274.15 on BSE today.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ratan Tata hangs his boots, Cyrus Mistry takes over

Corporate icon Ratan Tata on Friday retired as chairman of Tata Group after a 50-year run predicting that India's growth will reestablish after the 'passing phase' of a difficult environment, which will most likely continue in the next year.

Turning 75 on Friday, he kept away from the Bombay House headquarters of the USD 100 billion group but instead spent time with employees in the manufacturing facilities of Tata Motors in west Indian Pune city.

"At the request of the union, I spent the day - my last day prior to retirement, in the Tata Motors' various manufacturing facilities at Pune to say farewell to my shop floor colleagues. We have been together in good times and bad and have gained closeness based on mutual trust," he tweeted.

He said in his twitter message that going to the plants and receiving greetings from so many colleagues is a great emotional experience.

"I have been deeply moved by the sincerity and spontaneity of their greetings. I will always carry memories of this day with me through the rest of my life," Tata said.

In a farewell letter to all the employees, he asked the employees to live by the value systems and ethical standards the group had followed all along.

Cyrus Mistry, the 44-year-old chairman designate, who is likely to take over as Tata group Chairman tomorrow visited the office on Friday. He was groomed for the assignment by Tata for a year.

He chose group company Tata Motors' sedan Indigo Manza to travel to work on a day that marked an end of an era.

The narrow lane leading to Bombay House, one of the oldest buildings in the heritage Fort area of south Mumbai, had heavy media presence since morning in anticipation of Tata visiting Bombay House.

In his letter to employees, Tata asked his colleagues to show their "support", "commitment" and "dedication" to achieve success in these somewhat difficult times.

"The difficult economic environment that we face in the current year will most likely continue through most of the next year. We will probably see continued constraints in consumer demand, over-capacity and increased competition from imports," he said.

Tata said there will therefore be great pressure on Tata companies to reinvent themselves in terms of business processes and to dramatically reduce costs, to be more aggressive in the market place and to widen their product range to better address consumer needs.

"We will also need to contain our borrowings and work hard to retain our margins. This environment would once again call on you for your support, your commitment and your dedication to achieve success in these somewhat difficult times," he said.

Tata said the seemingly gloomy picture, however, will be a passing phase.

"I feel confident that the robust growth that India has shown over the past several years will be re-established and the strong fundamentals in the country will result in India once again taking its place as one of the economic success stories of the region," he said.

Tata, who helmed the group for 21 years after being chosen successor by his uncle, the iconic JRD Tata, in 1991, is credited with transforming the group through bold decisions including large global acquisitions, even as some of its peers struggled to stay relevant post economic liberalisation.

Mistry, who has been with the group since 2006 in various capacities hails from the Shapoorji Pallonji family, the largest private share holder of the group's holding company Tata Sons.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mid-tier IT firms outperform big boys in 2012

Moneycontrol Bureau

The global economic downturn weighed on the Indian IT industry in 2012, a year, which saw old leaders slump, even as several smaller rivals thrived.

Tata Consultancy Services cemented its position as the top software services provider. It has maintained that it will grow faster than the 11-14 percent growth forecast by industry body NASSCOM for FY13.

Meanwhile, Infosys , once the benchmark, stopped issuing quarterly guidance this year and only expects to grow around 5 percent. Even this, analysts say, is going to be a tough ask in the current scenario. Many including Bank of America Merrill Lynch expect the Bangalore-based company is likely to miss its guidance.

Infosys' local rival Wipro too has struggled to keep pace in the changed economic environment, where customers are now taking longer than usual in finalising IT budgets and even cutting discretionary spends.

"We expect Infosys to cut their organic FY13 US dollar revenue growth guidance to 4 percent plus (from 5 percent plus) as the impact of accentuated seasonality may result in slower ramp up of deals, especially in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI). We expect TCS to deliver sector-leading US dollar revenue growth (3% quarter-on-quarter) followed by HCL Tech  (2.8% qoq) in organic terms," Goldman Sachs analysts Rishi Jhunjhunwala and Girish Ramkumar said in a recent report.

Wipro, which like Infosys has gone through a management rejig in the last couple of years, is also expected to underperform the broader industry, with just 2 percent sequential US dollar revenue growth in Oct-Dec (it has guided for 1.2-3.2 percent growth) and a weak 1 percent volume growth, according to the Goldman Sachs analysts.

Some analysts, however, have a contrarian view and believe Wipro, could in fact turn out to be the dark horse and stage a recovery next year.

"Wipro is likely to benefit significantly from the surge in IMS deals expected over FY13-FY14, strong growth in Energy & Utilities, and the BFSI's return to stability," says Priya Sunder of Avendus Securities.

While Infosys and Wipro struggled over the last year, smaller outsourcers like Hexaware Technologies saw strong growth.

Atul Nishar, Hexaware's chairman, recently said he was "reasonably" confident of outperforming the wider industry in 2013. This optimism came even as it was forced to cut its fourth quarter (Oct-Dec) guidance to USD 92 million from USD 94.7-96.5 million, due to changes to a project plan for a customer and impact on account of hurricane Sandy, which devastated the US east coast.

TCS, Infosys and Wipro, all have underperformed many of its peers over the last one year. Infosys and Wipro are down 17 percent and 3 percent, weighed down by their slow growth and near-term uncertainties. While TCS has gained 8 percent, many others like HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and MindTree are up 60-75 percent.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyrus Mistry to formally take charge on Monday

Cyrus Mistry, the new chairman of the Tata Group, will formally take charge of his office on Monday, company sources said. Mistry, who was appointed chairman to succeed Ratan Tata, is the sixth chairman of the Tata empire. The Group was founded as a private trading firm in 1868 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. "Today and tomorrow being holidays, Mistry will attend office in his capacity as the group chairman only on Monday," sources at the Bombay House, the Group's headquarters, said.

Ratan Tata retired as chairman of Tata Group after a 50-year run yesterday. He, however, did not attend the office on the last day as he chose to celebrate his Diamond Jubilee birthday celebrations at the Tata Motors manufacturing facilities at Pune. Mistry, who was groomed for the assignment by Tata for a year, had made a visit to Bombay House. Ratan Tata, who helmed the group for 21 years after being chosen successor by his uncle, the iconic JRD Tata, in 1991, is credited with transforming the group through bold decisions including large global acquisitions, even as some of its peers struggled to stay relevant post economic liberalisation.

Mistry, who has been with the group since 2006 in various capacities hails from the Shapoorji Pallonji family, which is the largest private shareholder of the group's holding company Tata Sons. Born on July 4, 1968, Cyrus Mistry completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from London's Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and followed it up with a masters in Management from the London Business School. He was chosen by a 5-member panel last year to succeed Ratan Tata.

During Ratan Tata's tenure, the group's revenues grew manifold, totalling USD 100.09 billion (around Rs 475,721 crore) in 2011-12 from a turnover of a mere Rs 10,000 crore in 1991. Tata led the group into some notable acquisitions, starting from Tetley by Tata Tea for USD 450 million in 2000, to steelmaker Corus by Tata Steel in 2007 for GBP 6.2 billion and the landmark Jaguar LandRover in 2008 for USD 2.3 billion by Tata Motors.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tap local tech knowhow to lead in auto, gadget biz: Hitachi

Welcome to The Forbes India Show on CNBC-TV18.  In this episode, meet Hiroaki Nakanishi, CEO, Hitachi who has been credited for the turning the Japanese company into a global technological giant.

Below is an edited transcript of the show on CNBC-TV18.

Q: This is the first time in Hitachi's over-100 year history that the board is meeting in India. What is the significance of this development? What do you and the board sense about the Indian market?

A: India is a very important market and our presence here is still not big enough. Our Indian operations contribute only one percent to total revenue. But with India growing, we are planning to emphasise our presence in the country.

Simultaneously, we are not simply interested in the business of selling products or manufacturing of products. We wish to be involved in total engineering, manufacturing and maintenance which will strengthen our position and enable us to export products from our Indian unit to other parts of the world.

Q: Your interest in India comes at a time when the economy is slowing down to cause a significant paralysis in manufacturing and infrastructure. So what make you confident about India?

A: India holds significant promise because the government has started to announce measures to boost and implement some of the infrastructure initiatives. The second aspect that has attracted our focus is the rapid rise in population and purchasing power of the middle-class. And that will significantly affect the economic environment in India. It is to emphasise our outlook on India that motivated the board to meet in India.

Q: Do you estimate a tripling of your revenues in India by 2015?

A: Yes, I expect we can do that.

Q: What will be the specific areas of opportunity in India?

A: From the viewpoint of organic growth, one product area that is growing very rapidly is home appliances or white goods. Currently, recently our engineering teams began to adjust air-conditioners to work in India as the weather in India is completely different from that in Japan. This is the kind of new trend that is driving the industry. However we do not have a big presence in other areas such as the automotive sector.

Q: In the US and elsewhere across the globe you are a significant supplier to the auto sector?

A: The Indian automotive industry is growing even though the economy is somewhat shaky. We think we have found the answer to the new challenges facing the automotive industry. We will tap India's strength in engineering, designing, maintenance and technology to enter and strengthen our presence in this sector.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reliance Broadcast rises 4% on increase in market share

Reliance Broadcast Network rose as much as 4 percent intraday on Friday after the company said the BIG - CBS Network fortified its position as the No.1 english entertainment network post successful implementation of Digital Addressability System (Das), garnering a 28 percent market share.

BIG CBS Network is a joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network and CBS Studios International. "According to TAM reports of week 51 (sources December 16-22, Digital 4+ AA Sec A, top 7 metros), BIG CBS Channels - PRIME and LOVE - have topped the charts, registering a cumulative relative share of 28 percent amongst all other competing english GECs," the company said in a release.

At 15:28 hours IST, the stock gained 1.19 percent to Rs 42.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tecpro gets Rs 267-cr order from NTPC subsidiary

EPC firm Tecpro Systems has got a Rs 267.3 crore order from an NTPC subsidiary for supply of the entire coal handling plant package for its Muzaffarpur plant. The company "has received an order worth Rs 267.3 crore from Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam, a subsidiry of NTPC, for the supply of coal handling plant package for Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Project, stage-II," the Gurgaon-based firm said in a BSE filing.

Also Read: Single FSA for PSUs and private coal consumers

Right from designing to commissioning, Tecpro Systems will do the entire coal handling project for the 2 X 195 MW plant. However, no execution timeline was given. "Post this order, we remain L1 (the lowest bidder) in orders worth Rs 350-400 crore and expect these orders to come in shortly," Tecpro's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Amul Gabrani said. The scrips of the company were trading at Rs 148.95 per share during the afternoon session in BSE, down 0.77 per cent over the previous closing.

21.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Expect some capital infusion from GoI in FY13: IDBI

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, BK Batra, Deputy Manager of IDBI spoke about the latest happenings in the ban and the road ahead. He expects credit growth to pick up in the last quarter. However, the bank may end up clocking a growth of around or a little below industry growth of 15 percent.

Further, he added that the government of India may infuse some funds in the bank in FY13. "We are comfortable right now but the requirements are going to go up from January 1 under Basel III regime. We are also in clue before the government asking for supplementing our capital," he added.

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

Also read: RBI's rate easing & Q3 earnings to drive market: PN Vijay

Q: How do you see volume of business growing? That's been the sore point and it's been a particular problem with your own bank. Is there any improvement at all and when would you expect it to improve?

A: As far as our bank is concerned right from beginning we had not targeted any high growth. We have been following a policy of calibrated growth because we needed to look at the composition of our portfolio. We have been trying to actually change the mix which was heavily loaded in favour of corporate loans to retail loans. In that pursuit we have kept our growth target lower than the industry levels.

However, so far it looks that it will be lower even than what we had thought it to be at the beginning of the year. Overall credit growth in the banking sector also has been lower than what was projected. What was projected was more than 17 percent but it has been so far around 15 percent year on year. We are expecting that maybe there will be an up tick in the last quarter and it may still end up around 15 percent. But we are expecting our own growth to be somewhat below or between that.

Q: IDFC is taking over Delhi-Gurgaon expressway asset and there were reports that even you maybe looking at that asset. Now your denial has come through, you are not interested but are banks getting increasingly wary about lending to these road projects?

A: I think it is a case of looking at individual projects. As far as this particular project is concerned we have not been connected with it and we have no proposal before us to get associated with it. However, if there are any other road projects or similar projects where we need to look at their refinancing or securitization after they have become operational, we have been open to it. We will continue to be open to it, in fact that is a good financing opportunity when the project has been implemented. The risk is lower and there is clarity on what is the revenue already and what is it going to be. Therefore, one can make fairly good assessment of the credit.

Q: The industry might not concur because National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not been able to award a lot of projects this year particularly because a lot of the already awarded projects are not be able to achieve financial closure. This area, the road segment could be a problem area. Aside of that is there any other area that you feel could still come under stress because a lot of bankers point out the asset quality usually comes up with a lag, there could be problem issue still?

A: I agree that very few new road projects are getting added to the portfolio. However, what I was talking about was the existing implemented roads, where banks have investment. For asset liability reason some of them might also get it refinanced. That is something which can be an interesting source of investment. As far as other sectors are concerned, we are all aware there have been stresses. This was due to various reasons related to implementation of those projects in particular power projects.

Over there several projects have under gone delays and a bit of a cost overrun also. There also we are looking at those projects one by one. I can say for IDBI Bank that as far as share of that particular stress is concerned we have lesser of that because of better selection of projects in the beginning itself. We also do have some of those projects and we are attempting to find solutions to them as well, one by one.

Q: How much do you think would be the non-performing loans (NPL) or the fresh slippages or restructuring accounts in the third quarter now that you have only couple of working days left?

A: Some restructurings are already there in the pipeline and they are going to get concluded within the next two-three days. I would say that it would now be declining from Q4 onwards because most has been taken up for restructuring. Maybe the restructuring process would be completed in the next quarter. However, thereafter the bulk, the volume and the incidence of restructuring should gradually come down.

It is also related to policy measures having been taken by the government in several areas. We are expecting the confidence will return to industry. Whatever, projects have been under implementation, they will get completed, they will acquire pace and therefore the pain will lessen in months to come.

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India's mineral production rises 17% to Rs 16,975 cr in Oct

The country's mineral production grew by 16.6 per cent in October to Rs 16,975 crore led by coal and iron ore. India had produced minerals, excluding atomic and minor minerals, worth Rs 14,555 crore in October last year, an official statement said. The contribution of crude petroleum was the highest at Rs 5,850 crore. Coal was the second-largest contributor at Rs 5,067 crore followed by iron ore at Rs 2,418 crore and natural gas at Rs 2,130 crore.

Lignite contributed Rs 361 crore to the total value of the mineral production and limestone, Rs 338 crore. "These six minerals together contributed about 95 per cent of the total value of mineral production in October 2012," the statement said. Production of coal and iron ore grew by 23 per cent and 12.1 per cent to 445 lakh tonnes and 100 lakh tonnes, respectively, over the same month last year.

Also Read: Notification soon to invite PSUs for coal block allocations

Bauxite production also grew by 20.8 per cent to 17.45 lakh tonnes. Crude petroleum output increased by 4.5 per cent to 32 lakh tonnes. Among the precious metals, gold production increased by 8.1 per cent to 134 kg. However, production of diamond dipped by 0.6 per cent to 2,501 carat.

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'Diversion of e-auction coal to power cos to hit others'

Amid the power sector facing fuel shortage, the Coal Ministry has opined that diversion of a portion of e-auction coal to power producers will affect the fuel supply to other sectors, including steel and cement. This follows Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal stating that the government will divert coal under e-auction quota to power producers to meet the fuel crisis.

"Five Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) of approximately 40-45 MTPA of e-auction was pertaining to the mines that have rail connectivity. "This portion could be gradually diverted for use by the power sector. However, Secretary, Coal is of the opinion that this would affect the coal supplies to other sectors," an official document on issues relating to coal for the power sector said. Under e-auction, coal is sold at spot market price. Around 10 per cent of the total coal produced by state-owned Coal India (CIL) is sold through e-auction.

The matter had also come up for deliberations at a high-level meeting held recently. Coal Secretary SK Srivastava and Power Secretary Uma Shankar were among those who attended the meeting. "Keeping in view the shortfall in meeting the demand of the power sector and the obligation of CIL to honour Letter of Assurances (LoAs), the issue of reducing the quantity of coal sold by CIL through e-auction was discussed," the official document said.

Earlier, CIL had offered a certain portion of its coal meant for e-auction to power companies to ease coal shortage that caused frequent disruptions in electricity generation. The Power Ministry had also, earlier, requested the Coal Ministry to provide coal supplies for power projects before going ahead with e-auction.

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Audi to raise prices by up to Rs 3.69 lakh from January 1

Luxury car maker Audi said it will hike the prices of its entire range of models by up to Rs 3.69 lakh with effect from January 1 due to rising input costs and falling rupee. "As we have stated earlier, the overall market scenario is challenging. The rise in input cost, depreciating rupee as well as continuous increase in fuel prices have made us re-evaluate our pricing strategy in India and increase the prices of our entire model range," Audi India Head Michael Perschke said in a statement.

Also Read: A lackluster year for auto makers in 2012

Last month, Audi India had said it will raise prices of its entire range of vehicles by up to five per cent from next year, but did not specify details on what will be the exact amount of hike for each model. Elaborating the announcement, the company said: "The price increase would range between Rs 59,000 to Rs 3,69,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) across the model range from January 1, 2013." The company sells various models in India such as sedans A4, A6 and A8, sports utility vehicles Q3, Q5 and Q7 and sports car R8, which are currently priced between Rs 27.85 lakh and Rs 1.7 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi).

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Star Broadband - A world-class ISP using ethernet products

Star Broadband - A world-class ISP using ethernet products

Star Broadband is a business class ISP provider founded in August 2000 in New Delhi. With a long history in Cable TV industry, Star Broadband has focused on building the best possible network & support infrastructure

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Power Min looking into issues raised by pvt power producers

Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is discussing within the Ministry the recent proposals submitted by the private power producers to address fuel supply issues as well as to revive the crisis-hit sector. The Association of Power Producers (APP) on December 20 had submitted a slew of proposals, including pass through of imported coal prices into tariffs and ensuring 100 per cent fuel supplies from Coal India , to the Power Minister.

The Minister has sought views from officials within the Ministry on the revival plans given by the APP, amid sluggishness in the sector, according to a source. One of the suggestions is to ensure that Coal India supplies 100 per cent fuel supplies for power plant once price pooling is in place. Besides fuel issues, the private power generators have suggested that imported coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) should be made part of the country's energy mix.

Also Read:

Govt may discuss usage of extra coal at Sasan on Thursday
Essar Power synchs 600MW unit at Mahan Power Project

Scindia met with members of the Association of Power Producers (APP) -- a grouping of 27 power companies -- on December 20. "We will be able to resolve the issues and make sure that between the Coal Ministry, Power Ministry and all other stakeholders in both these sectors, we will come out with a framework that is fair and equitable for all concerned," Scindia had said after the meeting.

Amid coal shortages hurting the power sector, the government last week had said that most issues related to Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) have been resolved. The announcement had come after a long meeting between Scindia and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal. Private power companies have raised concerns over certain FSA clauses, which they claim are in favour of PSUs.Meanwhile, a joint policy on pooling of coal prices is expected to be prepared soon by Power and Coal Ministries. Pooling is a mechanism where by coal price is discovered after sharing of domestic and international prices.

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Karur Vysya Bank aims to clock Rs 72,000cr biz in FY'13

Karur Vysya Bank aims to generate a total business of Rs 72,000 crore during the current financial year, according to a senior bank official. "The bank is targeting a total business of Rs 72,000 crore for the current fiscal. The current level of business is at Rs 61,500 crore," Karur Vysya Bank managing director and CEO K Venkataraman said.

"The bank has set a target of generating Rs 1,25,000-crore business by 2016 which is also its centenary year," he said. The 500th branch of the bank was recently opened in Ghatkopar, Mumbai and is equipped with locker facility. It is the 13th branch of the bank in Mumbai and 24th branch in Maharashtra.

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Odisha govt to dispose mining renewal lease within 3 months

The Odisha government on Thursday said it would dispose all applications pertaining to renewal of mining leases within three months as directed by the Orissa High Court. "We have already started the process of disposing pending mining lease-renewal applications," director of mines Deepak Kumar Mohanty told mediapersons after the state government reviewed the status of pending applications.

The state government swung into action after Orissa High Court on its order issued on December 21 asked the state government to clear all the pending cases pertaining to renewal of mining leases within three months.

The High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice BN Mohapatra on December 21 expressed anguish saying that they were extremely disturbed over the pending applications for renewal of mining leases and verbally observed that "the state government was deliberately delaying disposal of renewal applications".

Claiming that state government was working on the disposal of applications, Mohanty said there were 323 applications seeking renewal of mining leases. Of these, 50 mines were being operated on a deemed renewal basis. Meanwhile, the state government has recommended the applications of mining leases for approval to the Centre, he said.

Mohanty said one has to be careful before disposing the case as matters like environment and other clearances are closely linked to the process. "We have asked officials to expeditiously dispose the mining-lease applications to meet the High Court deadline," he said.

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Wheat MSP raised by Rs 65 per quintal

The government today announced Rs 65 per quintal hike in the support price of wheat to Rs 1,350 per quintal and allowed additional exports of 2.5 million tonnes of wheat from its godowns to clear surplus stock and ease storage crunch.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved these two decisions in its meeting held here. The minimum support price of wheat has been increased by Rs 65 per quintal to Rs 1,350 per quintal, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here after the meeting.

The CCEA had not fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat while approving the MSPs of other rabi crops for 2012-13 crop year (July-June) in its meeting held in November.

It had asked the CACP, government body that suggests farm pricing policy, to relook into the issue following differences between the Agriculture and Finance ministries. In its proposal, the Agriculture Ministry had suggested an increase of Rs 100 per quintal in wheat MSP.

Earlier, sources had said that the ministry turned down the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to freeze wheat MSP at last year's level and provide a bonus of Rs 40 per quintal to farmers.

The increase in wheat MSP would enthuse farmers to cover more area under crop. Till last week, farmers have sown wheat in  25.3 million hectare, marginally lower than 25.7 million hectare in the same period last year.

The CCEA also approved a proposal of the Food Ministry to allow export of an additional 2.5 million tonnes of wheat from the FCI godowns. In June, the government had allowed export of 2 million tonnes of wheat from FCI godowns to clear surplus stocks. The entire quantity has been contracted for shipment and 1 million tonnes of it has already been exported.

This takes the total approval for wheat exports to 4.5 million tonnes.

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Expect 25% loan growth this fiscal: Karur Vysya

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 K Venkatraman, CEO & MD, Karur Vysya Bank  spoke about the current happenings in the bank and the road ahead . He sees no futher compression on the bank's margins, which would stand at 3 percent going forward. Further, their loan growth in this fiscal would be around 25 percent.

Below is an edited transcript of K Venkatraman's interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: You called a press conference, anything specific that the bank is announcing?

A: We have opened our 500th branch today. Today, we opened a total of 15 branches and 100 ATMs. We had a press meet for that occasion.

Q: What will be the impact on margins in the current quarter? When you last reported, your margin performance improved by 24 bps, are you expecting more?

A: No, I do not expect any further compression, but then margins will remain around 3 percent. We used to be at around 3.3-3.6 and have come down a little, but then it was a conscious decision that we took. If we are going to protect the margins, the problem would have persisted. I have to keep higher interest rates that would not be proper for most of our smaller borrowers and we wanted to avoid that. So we have taken a conscious decision to compress the margin a little as far as this year is concerned.

Q: How would you do in terms of your bad loans? Was there a slight increase in slippages when you last reported numbers?

A: That is a prevailing market condition and because of a slowdown yes, there is still pressure but we do not see very great difficulties in this. We hope we will be in a position to handle this.

Q: What will be the loan growth and the deposit growth this year?

A: Last year we grew by 34 percent. This year we do not propose to grow and may not be in a position to grow to that extent. Around 25 percent loan growth should be possible. Deposit growth is around that or slightly less. Right now the deposit growth is around 23 percent for us.

Q: Ever since the issue of new bank licenses has become imminent and the new bank licensees promoters may get to keep a higher stake of maybe 26 percent, the final rules are not out, there is a growing interest that the new licensees may look for inorganic growth. What would be the position in Karur Vysya Bank, do you plan to merge with some person with deep pockets who could get a new bank license?

A: Existing for 96 years, we would like to maintain our identity going forward. We will not like to be a target for any takeover. For acquiring bank, we may not shy away from an opportunity but we are not actively perusing this as a strategy for growth. Right now the bank is in a transformation process and we would like to put the bank on a stronger wicket rather than looking at the integration issues much high. However, I would not mind looking at a good opportunity for acquiring a bank, if that comes in our way because inorganic growth is not new to our bank. We have been acquiring earlier during our journey of growth but right now we do not have this as an active strategy.

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Govt guarantee, 20-yr period spice up IIFCL bond issue

IIFCL (India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd) has announced an offer of 20-year bonds to retail investors at a coupon rate of 7.9 percent. The PSU finance company plans to raise a minimum of  Rs 1,500 crore and maximum of around Rs 9,000 crore.

SK Goel, CMD, IIFCL, explains to CNBC-TV18 that the guarantee by the government and government agencies along with the special mandate to issue 20-year bonds will see increased investor interest in the issue.

Below is an edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: You have lent a significant portion of your annual disbursement target of Rs 30,000 crore. Will funds from the offering aid in disbursing more than the target of Rs 30,000 crore?

A: IIFCL has sanctioned Rs 71,000-crore worth of projects. Out of that, more than Rs 26,000 crore has been disbursed. We have target of disbursing up to Rs 30,000 crore. The funds we are raising now will be utilised for the entire year of 2013-2014. So, our target remains Rs 30, 000 crore, but the utility of this fund is very essential for the disbursement of the loans sanctioned.

Q: With inflation at over 7.5 percent for the last three years, why do you think your offering of 7.89 percent will be attractive?

A: IIFCL is the only institution which has been permitted by the government to raise the bonds up to 20 years. Bonds offered by other infrastructure finance companies are only for 10-to-15 years. And for our 20-year bonds, we are offering 7.90 percent which I think, makes investment into IIFCL one of the best options. We launched the offer on Wednesday morning and the response received has been quite encouraging because in a low-interest scenario investors want to insulate their returns and avail of tax benefits.

Q: What is your target? Do you expect to raise Rs 9,000 crore?

A: Our minimum target is to raise Rs 1,500 crore which could go up to Rs 9,215 crore on increased investor response. This is to allow the involvement of more investors because when we launched an issue in 2009 at only 6.85 percent, the response was overwhelming. In today's offering, the rate is much better and we don't want this issue, which offers tax benefits, to be cornered by a few investors alone.

Q: What about take-out financing? The Parikh Committee Report suggested that IIFCL should start take-out financing. What is your opinion? Do you think it will improve the financing environment?

A: Take-out finance was operationalised in January 2012 after modification. After that, we have sanctioned more than Rs 6,000 crore as take-out finance of which Rs 2,006 crore has already been disbursed. The scheme has taken off very well. Now as far as suggestions about linking it with IDF is concerned, I think the IDF has to be operationalised and the particular asset management company of the IDF has to decide what it wants to do with the corpus of the IDF.

Q: By when do you think the IDF will be operationalised?

A: Our IDF is in the final stages of being operationalised. We have complied with the requirements of Sebi. So, I expect Sebi to grant approval to the IDF in 10 days' time. We are ready to act immediately on the grant of approval.

Our asset management company has been already registered, the board of trustees is already in place and we have firm commitments from domestic and foreign investors to put money into our IDF. In two months after approval, we will be able to operationalise the IDF, maybe before March.

Q: What is the capital adequacy of IIFCL? What is your cost of funds and what do you make by way of returns on your funds?

A: As capital is fully provided by the government of India, our capital adequacy is around 16 percent. The overall cost of funds with IIFCL is about 7.26 percent. The sources of these funds include the government of India, the ADB, the World Bank, Germany-based KfW and borrowings from the market via tax-free bonds.

Q: Normally, how much are your returns?

A: Our normal returns are around 10 percent.

Q: No bad loans as yet?

A: No. We have a mandate to lend 80 percent to the public-private-partnership (PPP) sector which carries the guarantee of the government and government agencies.

Q: Your loans are guaranteed by the government?

A: Yes.

Q: NHAI, who is one of your guarantors, has not been able to fulfill its target for FY13. What is your opinion on the slump in infrastructure projects and financing? Do you think it will pick up?

A: So far, there has been no occasion to invoke the guarantee despite delays in completion of roads. We are in communication with NHAI which has assured us that the issues will be sorted out and our primary focus is to complete the project, not to invoke guarantees. But the guarantee affords adequate safety in financing these projects.

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BSNL floats fresh tender for network expansion in West zone

State-run BSNL has issued a fresh tender for procuring telecom equipments in its West zone after Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited did not participate in the earlier offer due to various issues.

"We had to float fresh tender for 63 million lines to complete our Phase 7 network expansion. ITI was offered to supply these equipments but they did not take it up," a senior BSNL official told PTI.

After a gap of five years, BSNL floated a 14.37 million line tender to expand its network capacity and part of it was given to ITI for equipment supply under reservation quota.

When contacted ITI, Chairman and Managing Director KL Dhingra said: "ITI did not participate in the tender as ITI could not get ToT (Transfer of Technology) partner." "We had been alloted an order as reservation quantity of 6.39 million line West Zone of BSNL. This project was not commercially viable due to low volumes and highly competitive prices quoted by L1 bidder," he further said.

Chinese firm ZTE had emerged as L1 bidder in the tender and was awarded major portion of this tender and along with Alcatel Lucent, which was selected for supply of equipments for building an intelligent network for BSNL. BSNL has offered other firms, who were in the fray for equipment supply, to match the price at which ZTE has agreed but none of the companies accepted the offer citing very low price quoted by the Chinese firm, industry sources said.

The BSNL official said supplies have started for Phase 7 network expansion and expect to complete all the supplies within estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore.

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SpiceJet shareholders approve raising Rs 145 cr from Maran

SpiceJet today said shareholders have approved proposals to raise Rs 145 crore through issue of debentures and warrants, on preferential basis, to its promoter Kalanithi Maran.

The budget airline, promoted by Sun Group, is looking for funds for expansion. About Rs 130 crore would be raised through issue of 14 percent unsecured compulsorily convertible debentures.

Further, by way of allotting warrants with an option to apply for equity shares, the carrier would mop up Rs 15 crore. Both proposals have been approved by the shareholders, SpiceJet said in a filing to the BSE.

Also Read:  Kingfisher files revival plan with air regulator: source

In November, the board had approved issuance of convertible debenture and/or warrants convertible into up to a maximum of 52.177 million equity shares to the promoter of the company on preferential basis.

The carrier said last month that it needs capital for expansion and would explore options including equity contribution from existing shareholders and raising debt.

Sun Group CFO S L Narayanan had said that in terms of available financing options, the company could look at debt, lease finance and funding from existing shareholders, among others.

Meanwhile, shareholders have also given their nod for election of Kalanithi Maran and and his wife Kavery Kalanithi as directors "not liable to retire by rotation".

Shareholders have approved re-designation of S Natrajhen as Managing Director. SpiceJet operates over 300 daily flights. Shares of the company fell 1.58 percent to close at Rs 43.50 on the BSE.

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Kingfisher files revival plan with air regulator: source

Grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines has filed a revival plan with the airline regulator, a senior government official said on Tuesday, in an effort to renew its operating license before it expires at the end of the year.

Kingfisher, which has not flown since October, has estimated debts of $2.5 billion and owes money to banks, airports, tax authorities, plane leasing companies, and its staff.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which suspended Kingfisher's licence to fly after months of cancelled flights and staff walkouts, has demanded a turnaround plan before the airline is permitted to fly again.

The DGCA wants all creditors to agree to the revival plan submitted by Kingfisher, and has not decided on its course of action, said the government official who has direct knowledge Of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bankers maintain they have the option of restructuring Kingfisher's loans for a second time, or infusing more capital, but they are awaiting a concrete revival or turnaround plan from the company, including capital injection by company chairman Vijay Mallya.

The airline did not say where it would find the money it needs, but mentioned it was in talks with several parties, including one in London, for new cash, the source said.

Mallya's United Breweries Group plans to invest 6.52 billion rupees in the airline as part of the turnaround plan it filed on Monday, according to reports in a local newspaper on Tuesday.

Kingfisher has tried unsuccessfully to raise cash for more than a year. It said earlier this month it was in talks with Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and other potential investors about selling a stake in the carrier.

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Qatar Petroleum keen to buy stake in Petronet LNG

Qatar Petroleum has expressed interest in buying a 5.2 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd, a potentially conflict of interest proposition as it will give the gas supplier a vantage position in India's largest fuel importer.

Qatar Petroleum, the Persian Gulf country's state-run energy firm, has majority stakes in RasGas and QatarGas that along with other liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers in the world compete to sell fuel to India.

If Qatar Petroleum (QP) picks up 5.2 per cent stake as well as board position in Petronet, it will give the company an undue advantage over other suppliers as it will be privy to price and other negotiations, sources in Petronet's promoter firms said.

This will possibly be the first instance of a LNG supplier picking up stake in an importing firm.

Sources said Asian Development Bank (ADB) wants to sell its 5.2 per cent stake in Petronet since last year.

Petronet, which is registered as a private company even though public sector oil firms hold 50 per cent stake and Oil Secretary is its Chairman, has approached QP's 100 per cent subsidiary Qatar Petroleum International offering ADB's stake.

The PSUs -- Indian Oil, Oil & Natural Gas Corp, Bharat Petroleum and GAIL India -- had previously evinced interest in buying the ADB stake but the Oil Ministry blocked the move as it would have turned Petronet into a public sector company.

It was then offered to Qatar Petroleum International.

But the stake being picked up by QP will lead to a potential conflict situation, sources said.

RasGas, in which QP holds 70 per cent stake, supplies 7.5 million tonnes of LNG on a long-term contract to Petronet. It remains a potential supplier for the new terminals that Petronet is building at Kochi and east coast and a board position may give it an undue advantage, they said.

In fact, RasGas had in the contract to supply 7.5 million tonnes LNG promised to give 5 per cent stake to Petronet or its nominee in the liquefication plant in Qatar.

This clause was the same that RasGas had promised Korea's KoGas in a LNG supply deal.

Article 30.7 of the agreement with Petronet promised the stake at "no premium" but RasGas reneged on its commitment and demanded a premium from ONGC , which was nominated to take the stake. The talks broke down on the premium asked, sources said.

Sources said Qatar Petroleum getting stake is like vendor picking up a board position in a company that gives out contracts.

One seller on board will be disadvantage to other sellers, they added. .

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Three steel PSUs look to buy iron ore assets in Brazil

Three state-run firms, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, NMDC and MOIL , under the Steel Ministry are looking to acquire iron ore assets in Brazil, the world's second largest exporter of the steel-making raw material.

 NMDC has already started due diligence in a couple of mines in the Amapa province. The Steel Ministry has initiated talks with the Brazilian authority for identifying potential targets for the other two for acquisition, a source said.

 The source said all three of them are eager to have their presence in the mineral-rich Latin American nation, be it by way of acquiring stake in a company having operative mine or outrightly buying a yet-to-be-developed mine.

 A delegation, headed by Steel secretary D R S Chaudhary visited Brazil in November to scout for mines and investment opportunities by Indian companies in mineral sector.

 Chaudhury was accompanied by NMDC's Technical Director N K Nanda and MOIL's Chairman and Managing Director G P Kundargi, among others.

 "NMDC has the ambition to become a leading global player in the iron ore sector. Hence, it needs to acquire mines in various parts of the world," a senior Steel Ministry official said.

 The company is also increasing capacity to 48 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2014-15 from the current installed capacity of 32 MTPA.

 RINL, which is on the verge of increasing its steel- making capacity to 6.3 MTPA from the existing 2.9 MTPA, operates its plant without any captive mine.

 Manganese-ore maker MOIL has recently been mandated by the Ministry to increase production to cater to the growing needs of the steel industry. Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma has asked the company to look for acquisition of mines abroad for increasing both production and turnover.

 MOIL is also interested in buying manganese ore and coal assets.

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Plan panel sets $100 bn target for pharma sector by 2020

The Planning Commission has set a target for the Indian pharmaceutical industry to reach USD 100 billion by 2020 and account for 5 per cent share of the global drug industry in the next five years.

According to the final draft for 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) by the panel, the objective of the sector will be to cross the USD 60 billion mark in 2017, which will be 5 per cent of global pharma industry.

"By 2020, the (pharma) sector should be at USD 100 billion," it said.

Currently, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is valued at USD 22 billion and is the third largest in terms of volume and 13th in terms of value globally.

According to the draft plan, the exports of pharma products should rise to Rs 1.3 lakh crore by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan.

"The sector should employ 15 lakh people by 2015, 18.98 lakh by 2018 and 24.64 lakh people by 2022," it added.

According to the draft plan, which will be submitted to National Development Council (NDC) tomorrow, all the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) involved in production of pharmaceutical products should be self-sustaining by 2020.

In order to achieve the target, the Planning Commission has recommended various steps which include capacity building of private sector to meet WHO-GMP (World Health Organization- Good Manufacturing Practice) standards and other international manufacturing requirements.

The other recommendations include developing a common infrastructure in drug discovery and development such as manufacturing, distribution, exports and medical devices.

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Plan panel for audit of spectrum usage

The government needs to audit spectrum usage and refarming of airwaves to ensure efficient utilisation of the natural resource, the 12th Five Year Plan document has said.

The 12th Plan (2012-17) said a "significant amount of additional spectrum" would be needed with the introduction of new technologies, high bandwidth applications and increasing user base.

"While effective spectrum planning in this regard needs to be carried out, the requirement of spectrum in 60 GHz and above bands for all backhaul purposes, audit of spectrum usage and refarming of spectrum to ensure the efficient utilisation should also be taken into account during the 12th Plan Period," it added.

Under refarming of spectrum, telecom operators with 900 MHz airwaves will have to give these up and bid for the less efficient 1800 MHz at current prices.

These telcos will be allowed to retain 2.5 MHz spectrum in the 900 mhz band, but that will also have to happen at auction determined prices.

The 12th Plan targets provision of 1,200 million connections, mobile access to all villages and increase rural teledensity to 70 per cent, broadband connections of 175 million by 2017.

It also envisages making available additional 300 MHz of spectrum for IMT services and making India a hub for telecom equipment manufacturing by incentivising domestic manufacturers with thrust on IPR, product development and commercialisation.

"The 12th Plan Programmes for telecom sector are guided by the National Telecom Policy 2012. The thrust of NTP 2012 is on raising the competitiveness of Indian telecom sector, to make it a world leader," the document said.

The 12th Plan suggests that Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund needs to be leveraged for providing incentives for pilot projects, fixed wireline/wireless phones, use of renewable energy sources, telecom infrastructure and for wireline broadband in rural difficult terrain and Left wing extremist (LWE) areas.

On financing of telecom sector, the document said the sector should be allowed to access funding from Indian Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL).

"Telecom Finance Corporation may be created as a vehicle to access funds at competitive rates to facilitate the funding needs of this sector on requirement," it said.

Rationalisation of levies and taxes in the sector may also be reviewed from time to time to ensure affordable delivery of services to consumers, it added.

Further, it added that development of new applications, VAS and devices would be triggered by e-Governance projects and growth of broadband in rural areas.

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IIFCL to raise up to Rs 9,215cr through tax-free bonds

State-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) said it plans to raise up to Rs 9,215 cr through tax-free bonds to fund infrastructure projects in the country. "We plan to raise Rs 1,500 crore with green-shoe option up to the shelf limit of Rs 9,215 crore on first-come first-serve basis," IIFCL chairman and managing director S K Goel said. "These funds will be utilised to provide long-term funding to PPP projects in the sectors like power, infrastructure, etc," he said. There will not be any tax implication at the time of investment in these bonds while interest earned from the bonds is tax free.

Investors have an option to invest for 10 years, 15 years and 20 years and the bonds with no-lock in period would be listed at the BSE. The minimum amount of application is Rs 5,000 with face value of Rs 1,000 per bond. Giving details of the bonds, Goel said retail investors will get 50 basis points higher return compared to other categories like qualified institutional buyer (QIB), High Networth Individuals (HNI) and corporates. For retail investors, the bonds carry a coupon rate of 7.69 per cent for 10 years, 7.86 per cent for 15 years and 7.90 per cent for 20 years, he said.

The coupon rate applicable for the other categories of investors shall be lower by 50 basis points 7.19 per cent for 10 years and 7.36 per cent for 15 years and 7.40 per cent for 20 years. The issue will open on December 26 and closes on January 11. As per the Budget proposal, IIFCL was allowed to raise Rs 10,000 crore from the tax-free bonds during 2012-13.

Of this, it has raised Rs 785 crore from private placement. Asked if IIFCL has requested government for allowing infrastructure financing institutions to raise funds through tax-saving bonds, he said, "it is always our wishlist to get access to cheaper sources of funds. It is up to the government to allow or not." IIFCL has set a target of Rs 30,000 crore loan disbursement for this fiscal. "We have already done around Rs 26,000 crore disbursement. We are on the right path and comfortable to achieve our target by March 31," Goel added.

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LIC's claims record better than pvt insurers: Irda

The Life Insurance Company (LIC) has a better record of paying death claims than that of private life insurers, revealed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) in its latest report.

 "The claim settlement ratio of LIC appeared to be better than that of the private life insurers", said Irda in its annual report 2011-12. While LIC is the only life insurance company in the public sector, there are about two dozen companies in the private sector which provide life cover.

According to the report, LIC has settled 97.42 percent of cases relating to death claims during 2011-12 compared to 89.34 percent by private sector companies. The industry average worked out to be 96.26 percent. "Settlement ratio of LIC increased to 97.42 per cent during the year 2011-12 when compared to 97.03 percent during the previous year," it said, adding that private insurers repudiated higher number of claims as compared to LIC.

On the positive side, the settlement ratio of private insurers improved during the year to 89.34 percent from 86.04 per cent in the previous year. As far as industry is concerned, the settlement ratio increased marginally to 96.26 percent in 2011-12 from 95.58 percent a year ago. LIC had 70-percent market share in 2011-12 in the life insurance industry, while the rest is with 23 private sector players.

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Infosys cutting prices to boost volumes, says JP Morgan

Moneycontrol Bureau

Once the tech bellwether, Infosys , has been hit hard by the global economic downturn in the last couple of years. With clients postponing discretionary spends, Infosys' volumes took a hit.

Yet, it continued to focus on margins, even as rivals like Tata Consultancy Services , Accenture and HCL Tech chased volumes. But now, it seems, the Bangalore-based IT giant is waking up to the harsh reality and leaving no stone unturned to get its business back on track.

And the biggest change could be that it has now quitely started focusing on getting volumes back, even if it means being more negotiable on pricing.

Infosys' head of sales &  marketing Basab Pradhan, confirmed to JP Morgan last week that the company has indeed become relatively flexible in pricing for volume growth.

"Pradhan confirms Infy is relatively more focused on volume growth even through aggressive pricing. Infy is also much more responsive to negotiations with clients. It realizes that clients' perception of Infy being relatively rigid in negotiations was hurting growth prospects and it has taken initiatives to change this perception," said analysts Viju George and Amit Sharma.

The JP Morgan analysts believe the changed strategy to chase volumes is a step in the right direction, particularly considering the difficult market environment and Infosys's declining market share (particularly in multivendor situations).

"Though, every deal is undertaken with a target margin profile in focus, but this target margin is now lower than earlier, in our view. Also, Infosys is responding to requests for proposals more aggressively than earlier. Our channel checks suggest that the pricing flexibility has helped Infosys improve its win rate over the last 1-2 quarters."

And that chase for volumes, while being more flexible on pricing seems to reflect in its EBIT (earnings before interest, taxes) margins, which have declined 350 bps over the last two quarters.

Apart from focusing on volumes, the company has also taken multiple initiatives in sales and marketing to drive change.

For instance, on the accounting side, it now motivates employees to focus more on global-2,000 accounts with potential of meaningful revenue contribution over a period of time. It has also implemented the star account programme, where senior client partners focus on one key account and not multiple accounts, JP Morgan notes.

Things, however, are unlikely to change for Infosys overnight. The demand environment remains uncertain and the company admits that client budgets are not as sacrosanct as before.

Also, Infosys has "meaningful" exposure to capital market clients, who were the worst hit in the recent financial crisis and visibility on IT spending from these clients is very low, say George and Sharma.

Infosys, which has had a string of poor results in recent quarters, cut its EPS guidance for the full year in October, which is now expected to be at at least USD 2.97, down from USD 3.03 it had forecast earlier, following rupee appreciation.

It also lowered its full-year rupee EPS guidance to Rs 160.61 from 166.46.

Infosys is also expecting only 5 percent growth in US dollar revenues for the full year, much lower than 11-14 percent growth expected by industry body NASSCOM. Som Mittal, the president of NASSCOM said last month that growth will still likely be in double digits but probably closer to 11 percent, the lower end of its guidance.

While Infosys may still be uncertain of the road ahead, the JP Morgan analysts say their conversations with peers like TCS, suggests that demand will pick up and 2013 will be better than 2012.

Infosys may have changed tracks, its still likely going to be a slow catch up. The company will announce its third quarter results in January, and many analysts expect Infosys will cut its organic growth forecast  to below 5 percent, given cut back in spending by clients and delays in closing deals.

Infosys closed at Rs 2,322.30, up 1.1 percent on NSE on Monday.  JP Morgan has a target of Rs 2,400 on the stock.

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Coal India bets on domestic growth to meet demand

Coal India Ltd said it prefers to pursue a production increase at home over securing coal assets overseas as it seeks to meet rising demand from India's fuel-starved power plants.

"Our unrelenting focus should be on domestic production," Coal India Chairman S. Narsing Rao said in an interview.

"Just because we have some money, (we) shouldn't really be focusing on something else (overseas acquisition). I simply have no time to even think about that."

The state-run miner, which supplies about 80 percent of India's coal, has been under immense pressure from its industrial customers and the government to increase output quickly after stagnation in the past two years has left many power plants running below capacity.

Coal India is on course to meet its annual output target of 470 million tonnes in the year to March 2013 and 487 million tonnes in 2013/14, Rao said. "(The) number is sacrosanct."

Rao, who took over as chairman of the world's biggest coal miner nine months ago, outlined a strategy that includes producing more from existing mines, opening new "mega" mines, improving operational efficiency and deploying smart underground mining technologies.

India took 15 years to achieve an incremental production of 180 million tonnes, Rao said.

"Now the next 180 (million tonnes) has to come in five years, so you can see the magnitude of the challenge."

Opening new mines has been difficult for Coal India due to slow environmental clearances and politically sensitive land acquisition.

The company will invest in setting up a logistics facility at each existing mine to transport more coal and deploy bigger and more efficient equipment, Rao said.

When it comes to securing overseas coal assets, the miner is risk-averse, he said. "The public-sector DNA is very conservative."

Over the next six months, Coal India will identify coal assets in Africa and persuade the Indian government to negotiate deals to secure energy resources there, Rao said.

A negotiated deal by the government would bring in a safety net, given the resource nationalism in many countries, and the asset could also be procured cheap as it would not be competitively bid, Rao said.

Mature mining markets such as Australia and the United States, which have little scope for government-led deals, would be off Coal India's radar.

The company will also aim to acquire more than just a minority stake in overseas assets, he said. "If somebody is interpreting that (minority stake) also as securing energy, I'm afraid that is a totally disastrous definition of energy security."

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GMDC to set global centre on mining safety and automation

State public sector unit Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) will set up a global centre on mining safety and automation in Gujarat. The centre which is likely to be established on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model to facilitate research on mining and skill upgradation, is expected to be set up by a GMDC-led consortium comprising industry and academia.

Also read: Lanco gets nod to revise coal agreement with Griffin: CEO

"A decision to set up an international centre on mining safety and automation in Gujarat has been taken at the board level. We are looking for a suitable partner from the industry as well as domestic and international universities to establishing the centre," Gujarat's Principal Secretary, Department of Industries and Mines, Maheswar Sahu said at an industry event supported by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"The proposed centre will come up around Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar. It would be like any other centre of excellence, where research and skill upgradation can take place to take mining activities to further heights," GMDC Managing Director V S Gadhavi told PTI. "The concept to establish the centre is expected to be ready by January end. Details are being worked out in collaboration with academia. It would be a place where participants from other mining states could also carry out research activity," Gadhavi said.

GMDC also plans to set up a centre of excellence at Ambaji in North Gujarat for the stone industry. It has begun exploration of lignite, bauxite, limestone and manganese and plans to begin mining at Umarsar lignite mines in Kutch, besides Lakhpat Dhedadi lignite and limestone mines, also in Kutch. Plans are also afoot to begin mining activity at Damlai Padal lignite mines in Bharuch, with an estimated reserves of 19 metric tonnes and it has applied for a mining lease in Ghala near Surat.

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German bank sues over Kingfisher Airlines planes

Germany's DVB Bank SE has sued aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Kingfisher Airlines to have two planes it financed for the troubled carrier deregistered, a possible first step towards recouping its funds.

The case underlines the problems that leasing firms and financing companies face in recovering grounded planes from Kingfisher, as airports, banks and tax authorities scramble for the crisis-hit carrier's assets.

International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) - owned by U.S. insurer AIG - is also struggling to take back Kingfisher planes it owns, one of which, an Airbus A-320, has been impounded by tax authorities for non-payment of dues by the carrier.

The DGCA must deregister the DVB-financed Airbus planes, now parked in Istanbul, before the bank can put them to use or lease them out.

"Our main trouble really is with the DGCA, which should deregister the aircraft," Carsten Gerlach, senior vice president of aviation finance at DVB, told Reuters.

"We have now filed a writ petition at the High Court in Delhi against DGCA and also Kingfisher, strictly focused on deregistration," Gerlach said by phone from Frankfurt.

However, the DGCA argues that those aircraft were not financed by DVB alone, so deregistering them would make the DGCA answerable to other financiers, who are also trying to recover their money, according to a senior government source with direct knowledge of the situation.

The DGCA and Kingfisher did not respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, leasing company IFCL has also asked the DGCA to deregister four Kingfisher-operated planes, but it faces separate obstacles.

These planes include an Airbus A-320 parked at Mumbai airport that was impounded by tax authorities last week after the carrier failed to settle long-pending dues.

"People just go the airport, see a plane in Kingfisher colours, and stake their claim on it," the source said, referring to the tax authorities' impounding of the Airbus.

"What they don't understand is that the plane may not belong to Kingfisher at all."

Kingfisher, owned by flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has hit back at the tax authorities' actions, saying it is illegal for authorities to seize aircraft that are owned by foreign lessors.

"This will send a very wrong signal to any foreigner who wishes to do business in the aviation industry in India," the airline said in a statement last week.

Kingfisher has 33 scheduled passenger planes registered in India, according to data from the DGCA. It had a fleet of 64 a year back, when it was India's No. 2 carrier by market share.

It is saddled with a combined debt load of $2.5 billion, according to one estimate, and has not paid salaries for months.

Kingfisher, which has not flown since October, had its license suspended in October after months of canceled flights and staff walkouts.

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Hinduja group acquires US based- Houghton Int'l for $1bn

The Hinduja group has done some christmas shopping for a whopping 1 billion dollars. Gulf Oil which is owned by the Hinduja group, has acquired US based Houghton International. This will make them the ninth largest in the lubricant space, reports CNBC-TV18's Sajeet Manghat.

This acquisition has been done through debt and equity. The debt comprised 70 percent and 30 percent. This will eventually be infused into Houghton International to work better. Houghton International is a niche player, which is basically into metal working fluids. In the USD 6 billion market, it has a share of 12 percent and that's where Hinduja Group plans to leverage.

It has 12 manufacturing facilities spread over 10 countries. This would enable Hinduja Group to increase its revenues from global markets. Houghton International has a 12 months sale of USD 858 million. It also has earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of USD 132 million. The Gulf Oil today has consolidated sales of nearly Rs 1,300 crore. So that's where the big picture is going to be come in.

It is not going to be an easy job for Hinduja Group because Houghton is in markets. Thes markets are traditionally weak in terms of economic activity, especially Europe, North America and Asia. This means that the improvement in the markets margins would be very modest. However, from the Hindujas point of view the synergies will work perfectly. They can leverage the partnerships and the facilities in across 10 countries. They can also offer Houghton access to new markets in Asia, especially India.

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Single FSA for PSUs and private coal consumers

There would a single "Fuel Supply Agreement" (FSA) draft for both public and private sector power companies seeking coal from Coal India Ltd . "There will be only one single FSA for both private and public parties," Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on the sidelines of a two-day World Confluence on Human, Power and Spirituality conference.

However,minister did not elaborate. Coal India officials said at present, there were minor differences in the draft clauses for public and private power companies such as on security deposit and provision for arbitration clauses. The draft for PSUs allowed arbitration in case of dispute and there were some relaxations on security deposit. Jaiswal expected the FSAs would be signed by the power companies in a month's time.

NTPC , a major consumer had said recently it would sign FSAs after meeting the Coal India chief. Private companies in the past had accused Coal India of drafting the power supply document in favour of public power companies. The minister, however, said that there was no final decision so far on price pooling of coal.

Price-pooling was opposed by power companies, mainly state owned entities, and existing players. Speaking about the proposed coal regulator, Jaiswal said that the Group of Ministers would meet in the next few days to finalise the draft of the coal regulator bill.

Also Read

Environment clearance issue for coal blocks to be examined
India to surpass US as coal consumer in 5 yrs: IEA

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Suicide bombers attack Airtel office in Nigeria

Two suicide car bombers attacked the offices of mobile phone operators India's Airtel and South Africa's MTN on Saturday in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, killing themselves but no civilians, the police said.

"The one who hit the Airtel office was shot by military men before the bomb exploded ... at the MTN office the car rammed into the fence but no civilians were killed," Ibrahim Idris, the chief of police in Kano, told Reuters by phone.

Islamist sect Boko Haram has previously targeted phone companies, saying they help the security forces catch its members.

Also Read: Chargesheet filed in spectrum allocation case in NDA regime

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Maruti to set up second plant in Guj; acquires 600 acres

Maruti Suzuki India said it has started spadework to set up its second facility in Gujarat with acquisition of another 600 acres, in addition to its existing plan to invest Rs 4,000 crore for setting up a plant in the state. The company also said it expects about 6-7 per cent sales growth in 2013-14 after closing the current fiscal with about 6 per cent rise in vehicle sales.

The country's largest car maker also said it will not enter the premium segment of passenger cars in India and will "protect" its image of a small car manufacturer. "We have land at two locations in Gujarat. The first one is offered by the government and the second one is a private land that is directly acquired by us with some negotiations by the government," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman RC Bhargava told reporters.

The company has acquired about 600 acres, located about 40 km from the first site near Mehsana, he added. "The second location is for our future expansion. Once we exhaust the capacity at the first site, we will move to the second one," Bhargava said. He, however, did not share details such as when the firm is likely to start construction at the second site.

When asked if MSI is shifting its focus from Haryana, where it has recently witnessed severe labour unrest, Bhargava said: "We are not moving away from Haryana. We have two plants in the state and going to Gujarat after utilising the capacity completely at Gurgaon and Manesar. We will do the same once we exhaust the capacity in Gujarat also." He said the company will do the ground breaking ceremony for the Gujarat facility early next year.

MSI had earlier this year announced to invest Rs 4,000 crore, its biggest ever outside Haryana, to set up a 700-acre new production facility in Gujarat by 2015-16. Besides, components suppliers of the company are also likely to make an equal amount of investment to set up their respective plants. The capacity in the first phase will be 2.5 lakh units a year. Talking about the company's performance in this fiscal, Bhargava said: "We are going to end this year with a growth of about 6 per cent over last year. Overall, there is a sign of softening in India's car market due to various factors."

During the next financial year, the company is not expecting anything better than the current fiscal and it will grow in single digit only, he added. "We hope to grow 6-7 per cent growth at best in next fiscal, which is going to be the election year and so we don't expect anything drastic happening," Bhargava said. Commenting on exports, MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said MSI is finding it tough due to the decline in European market.

"Last year we had a total export of 1.27 lakh units. This year we may be a little less than that because of the slowdown in Europe, which used to be our biggest overseas market."

MSI has been exploring new markets to keep its overseas sales momentum, Nakanishi said. Bhargava said: "I don't know when the European market will revive but we have been entering new markets like Algeria, which is one of our biggest now and we expect to sell around 25,000 units there." The company has also been exporting both completely built units and completely knocked down units to Indonesia amounting to about 40,000 units.

On the Sri Lankan market, Bhargava said sales have fallen by almost 50 per cent this year due to the increase in import tariffs by the government there. Asked whether the company would look to set up assembly operations overseas, he said: "It is possible in the course of next few years that we have overseas assembly operations in the markets where we are looking."

These overseas assembly plants could be run by Maruti directly and not by Suzuki Motor Corp, he said, adding however that "at the moment there are no such plans to set up assembly operations anywhere". On the company's plans to enter premium segment of Indian passenger car market, Bhargava said: "Maruti and Suzuki Motor grew and became profitable on the basis of small cars. Small cars in India is going to be a big segment in future also. MSI has the image that it is first class small car maker and I would try to protect that image."

He also ruled out MSI diversifying into the commercial vehicle segment. Asked about the progress at the violence-hit Manesar plant, Bhargava said the production has reached normal level of about 1,900 units per day. When asked if the company would reconsider to take back some of the workers that were fired after the violence in July, he replied in negative. While the company has terminated services of over 500 permanent workers alleging their role in the violence, which killed one senior official and injured nearly 100 others, the police has filed charge sheets against about 145 people only.

Asked about the police report, which contradicted MSI's claim of an outside influence and concluded that the violence was an internal matter, Bhargava said: "Police has not given us any specific reason why it happened... It is something like an unknown disease by an unknown virus. "Police evidence says there is no evidence of outside influence. Everybody has its own conclusion. As far as Maruti is concerned, whether there is an external influence or not, it does not matter on our decision (of firing the workers). We have to accept the police findings."

The company took disciplinary action against the workers based on testimonials and evidences gathered from managers and supervisors of the Manesar plant present at the time of violence, he added.

Also Read: Maruti acquires additional 500 acres land in Gujarat

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