Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Veeru]

Indian economy to grow 8.6% in 2011, per capita income to rise 17.3%

The Indian economy is projected to grow by 8.6 per cent in 2010-11, the fastest in three years, on the back of a sharp recovery in farm output, but high inflation remains an area of concern.

A growing economy would help the country's annual per capita income expand by 17.3 per cent to Rs54,527 at current prices and by 6.7 per cent to Rs36,003 at 2004-05 prices, according to the advance estimates of national income released today.

Per capita income is calculated by evenly dividing the national income among the country's population.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Reserve Bank are however, concerned about high inflation, particularly of food articles.

"All along I was maintaining, it should be around 8.5% plus. 8.6% is accepted," finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said adding, "Now the other issue is inflation, trade balance... these are to be addressed."

In December, general inflation was 8.43% and food inflation for the week ended January 22 stood at 17.05%.

Abundant rains in the last monsoon season would help agriculture and allied activities to expand by 5.4% in 2010-11 compared to just 0.4% in the previous financial year.

Weathering the global slowdown, the Indian economy managed to expand by 8% in 2009-10 and 6.8% in 2008-09.

Expected to grow by a shade better than 8.5% projected by both RBI and the finance ministry, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would expand to Rs48.80 lakh crore in 2010-11 at the constant prices (with a base of 2004-05).

The 8.6%GDP growth prospects, however could not cheer markets. The BSE benchmark Sensex closed almost flat at 18037.19 on concerns of inflation and rising interest rates.

While services such as trade, hotel, transport and communications improved to 11% from 9.7%, the manufacturing remains static at 8.8% year on year.

Mining and quarrying is likely to grow by 6.2%, compared to 6.9% a year ago, while electricity, gas and water production will grow up by 5.1%, as against 6.4% in the previous fiscal.

The chief economic adviser in the finance ministry Kaushik Basu said the "target of 9% economic expansion for the next financial year is well with in the reach."

Indian economy to grow 8.6% in 2011, per capita income to rise 17.3% - Money - DNA

 

[Veeru]

Volkswagen rolls out the 50,000th car from Chakan

Volkswagen India commemorated the roll-out of the 50,000th car today from its manufacturing plant in Chakan, Pune. The 50,000th car rolled out of the plant was a Volkswagen Vento. The Chakan plant currently produces three models, the Volkswagen Polo, the Volkswagen Vento and the Skoda Fabia.

The German car maker has invested Rs 3800 crore in this plant and production at the plant is in line with scheduled ramp-up plans. It covers all stages in the production process from press shop through body shop and paint shop to final assembly.

"Touching the 50,000th car production landmark marks the beginning of Volkswagen’s next growth chapter in India. Realising this target in a year’s time from the start of production is a testimony to the popularity Volkswagen cars enjoy in the Indian market," said Dr Arno Antlitz, Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. John Chacko, Volkswagen Group Chief Representative India and president & managing director, said, "Volkswagen has focused on introducing new products based on understanding of customer needs. The outstanding acceptance of all our products is a testimony to the success of that approach. The continuous support from our employees has made this possible today."

Volkswagen rolls out the 50,000th car from Chakan

 

[Veeru]

Govt mulls sops to encourage hybrid car manufacturing in India

NEW DELHI: The government is working on a policy to encourage manufacturing of hybrid cars in India through excise duty concessions, to protect environment and reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuel.

The proposal will be piloted by Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel , an official said.

Besides, the fiscal sops like differential excise on the car, the policy is likely to incentivise research and development for development of the hybrid vehicle, he said.

"To encourage the production of these cars (hybrids), there is a need to upgrade the laboratory knowledge," he said.

The Department of Heavy Industry would also be seeking the Cabinet nod to form a high-level panel on the issue.

If approved, the panel is expected to come out with a clear-cut policy by September, the official said.

Hybrid cars, which runs both on the conventional fuel as also electricity charged battery, are at present imported in India. But the costs are quite high, as these cars are priced at least 25 per cent more than the regular petrol or diesel fuelled vehicles.

Toyota Prius Hybrid, which is being imported in the country is priced at over Rs 25 lakh. In 2008, Honda had launched its Civic Hybrid Priced at Rs 21.5 lakh, which was slashed to Rs 13.36 lakh but has since stopped selling the car due to cost ineffectiveness.

"We have to see as to how to reduce the price to a reasonable level," the official said.

The department is also conducting a study to assess the infrastructure availability and sops needed for the promotion of these cars in the domestic market.

Cars, which run on conventional fuel, attract excise duty ranging from 10 per cent (for small vehicles) to 22 per cent for sedans. During 2010, India produced 1.87 million cars.

The hybrid technology is pioneered by Japan , the US and Europe.

Govt mulls sops to encourage hybrid car manufacturing in India - The Economic Times

 

[Veeru]

US $42 billion UN pension fund scouts for investment opportunities in India

New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) In a boost for Indian stock markets, the United Nations is looking to ramp up the India portfolio of its $42 billion pension fund with more investments, especially in private projects in infrastructure and real estate.

The members of the investment committee of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF), an expert group that advises on where to invest pension funds, were in India last week and held a series of meetings with asset management firms here.

'We are looking more strategically at diversification of our investments, particularly in emerging markets and specifically with regard to more opportunities the fund could take advantage of here,' said Warren Sach, the UN secretary general's representative for investment of UNJSPF assets.

He pointed out that India has bright prospects for sustained growth, based on factors like demography and growth of the working population.

'The younger age profile than what China has gives us some confidence that the Indian economy is not just going to grow but probably end up growing as fast as, if not faster than, China. That makes it very interesting for us,' Sachs told IANS in an interview during a visit here.

The official said the diversification was also partly necessitated by the financial crisis since 2008 and the resultant market crash, due to which the portfolio fell to as low as $27 billion, even though the Indian markets held their ground.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange had finished 2010 with a gain of 3,044.28 points, or 17.43 percent, over the previous year's close. In contrast, it was a mixed year for other Asian indices during 2010.

Japan's Nikkei fell three percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 5.3 percent higher, South Korea's Kospi finished 22 percent ahead, Jakarta's JSX logged a 46 percent rise and Thailand's SET Index was up around 41 percent.

These apart, Singapore's Straits Times Index ended with a more than 11 percent gain, the Philippine bellwether ended around 38 percent higher and Malaysia's Bursa had ended 19.3 percent up.

At the end of last year, the fund's Indian assets were valued at $419 million, of which $346 million was in equities. The Indian portfolio includes $58 million in Infosys and $42 million in ICICI.

'We have some investments in publicly quoted securities... We are prepared to look at private equity opportunities for infrastructure investments and also in the real estate field,' said Sach.

The biggest proportion of the fund's assets are parked in North America, which accounts for 37 percent. Emerging markets account for 14 percent, which has increased over the years - and Sachs suggested that it would expand further.

Sach said the fund was already ahead of the global benchmark of Morgan Stanley Capital Index and wanted to perform better as part of the diversification programme and take advantage of the growth opportunities in emerging economies like India.

The UNJSPF investments committee held its meeting here last week and also interacted with the top honchos from a host of asset management companies, including those of Asahi Glass, Hero Honda group, Avantha group, as also media company Network 18.

Last year, the committee had gone for a similar exercise to China, where it has pumped in over $1 billion. After India, they will be looking at a whole continent in 2012.

'Probably we'll do a similar exercise like this in Africa next year,' said Sach. The fund, incidentally, was named the 'Institutional Investor of the year 2010' as part of the Africa Investor Investment and Business Leader awards.

$42 bn UN pension fund scouts for investment opportunities in India

 

[indianpatriot]

In 2005 the per capita Income of chandigarh was Rs. 65,000!! which happens to be richest city in India.i hope whole India will become as rich as Chandigarh in 2005 by 2012.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

DMIC-Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project

Japan will provide 73%(!!!) of the total $90 billion!!!

 

[Water Car Engineer]

India, Malaysia to sign economic cooperation pact

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 16 (IANS) India and Malaysia will sign a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) Friday, the Indian High Commission to Malaysia said in a statement here Wednesday.

The agreement will be signed by Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed and Indian Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma, according to Xinhua.

The Indian High Commission said that Sharma will visit Malaysia from Feb 17 to 19, during which he will also pay a courtesy call on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

The Malaysia-India CECA is a free trade agreement that covers trade in goods and services, investment, as well as economic cooperation.

The negotiations had begun in February 2008, but had been put on hold after two rounds of talks.

During a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Malaysia in October 2010, Najib expressed confidence that the CECA would increase bilateral trade between the two countries to $15 billion by 2015.

India, Malaysia to sign economic cooperation pact

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Uranium miners hope India export ban lifts

Western Australian uranium producers have welcomed the federal Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson's comments that Australia should reconsider its ban on exports to India.

Australia has a ban on selling uranium to India because it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Mr Ferguson says Australia could afford to reconsider its position because India has a good history of nuclear non-proliferation.

The Managing Director of WA mining company Paladin Energy, John Borshoff, says Australia should be selling uranium to India.

"I think that it's an inevitable outcome based on the fact that there are many other responsible countries like Canada, the US, the French and the Russians that have already overcome those issues that Australia has with other safeguards," he said.

Uranium miners hope India export ban lifts - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Water Car Engineer]

India could boost rural electricity: study

MUMBAI, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- India could increase electricity supply in rural areas by decentralizing electricity production and distribution, a new World Bank report says.

"Decentralizing power generation and distribution to the local level through the distribution grid of the state utility by using renewable energy sources will help reduce prolonged outages and increase electricity supply in rural areas," states the report, "Empowering Rural India: Expanding Electricity Access by Mobilizing Local Resources."

About 56 percent of households in rural India don't have access to electricity.

The World Bank proposes using what it calls distributed generation and supply franchises, a model that combines generation and distribution.

Aside from distributing power and collecting revenues, the rural franchisee would also generate power locally and supply it to the franchised area. A portion of the generated power goes to the designated area and the balance gets fed into the grid, thus allowing the franchisee to draw power as needed.

The proposed model, the bank says, can be successful in regions with renewable resources such as high solar insulation, perennial local streams and surplus biomass.

India's New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that up to 10,000 remote villages across the country would be electrified with renewable energy sources by March 2012.

Most of the power is expected to come from the first 1,000 megawatts added to the national grid as part of the country's national solar mission, announced November 2009, which aims to increase solar power to 20,000 megawatts by 2022.

World Bank studies in the Kolhapur district of India's state of Maharashtra show that consumers receive on average 8-10 hours of electricity per day, supplementing with kerosene when there's no power.

The combined cost of direct and supplemented electricity, known as the "coping" cost, totals about 25 cents per kilowatt hour, solely for lighting needs.

If the district were to use the model proposed by the World Bank, the area could have 24-hour power supply daily at 13 cents a kilowatt hour, the study says.

India isn't expected to become fully electrified until 2030, the International Energy Agency says.

"India has, no doubt, undertaken several policy initiatives to enhance access and extend its national grid but much still awaits to be achieved," John Henry Stein, senior director of the World Bank's Sustainable Development Network, said in a statement.

India could boost rural electricity: study - UPI.com

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Mobile phones shake up India

Indians are discovering you can have a lot of fun with a mobile phone but it can also get you into a lot of trouble. In India today, more than 730 million subscribers are getting into and out of trouble on their mobiles, according to figures from the Indian telecom regulator.

Two recent events show how the mobile phones shake up society. At the end of last month, a middle level public servant in a town about 200km from Mumbai was burned to death by criminals protecting a fuel adulteration racket.

The official had spotted an illegal transaction and started to photograph it on his mobile phone. He was spotted, attacked, doused with kerosene and set alight; but he grabbed one attacker who was badly burned and arrested - and the mobile phone was recovered.

It is a bad-news story that would not have happened in the days before the mobile phone. Without the phone and its camera, the official would probably not have felt so bold as to stop within sight of the crooks and they would not have felt so threatened at being observed. The outcome would have been different too: Without a photographic record, the likelihood of catching the criminals would have been slight.

The second example of the panic mobile phones can cause involved families, not criminals. Late last year, a panchayat - an unelected gathering of higher-caste males - in a village not far from New Delhi banned mobile phones for unmarried women.

Mobile phones, the panchayat argued, enabled boys and girls to flirt and liaise regardless of their caste or their parents' wishes. Much worse for the old social order, they implied, than Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll. The elders later claimed they had been misunderstood but the story was already out - sent far and wide on mobile phones as well as old-fashioned media.

Such dilemmas are head-spinningly new. Mobile phone usage in India has increased by 400 times in 10 years. In 2001, India had fewer than two million mobiles; but early this year, the number of subscribers will cross 800 million. India has perhaps the cheapest talk time in the world. You can get two hours of talk for a S$1.00. Contrast that with places like Australia where a minute on the mobile adds up to S$1.20 on the bill.

India's new-found ability to talk to itself - nearly everywhere and all the time - unsettles society in good ways and bad.

Some people say the mobile phone brings the biggest personal communications tool since the invention of shoes. Like shoes, mobile phones enable people to go places and do things they could rarely do before; and like shoes, everyone can aspire to own their own and use them every day. The mobile phone is profoundly unsettling for an Indian society that has been based for centuries on jealous hierarchy and dispersed village life.

The phone has dropped a social firecracker into many families. In some, a mother-in-law confiscates a new daughter-in-law's mobile to show who's boss and prevent the neighbours from gossiping about lax morals. In other families, a mobile phone for a new daughter-in-law is seen as a way of helping her to settle in by allowing her to talk to her mother and siblings in her former home.

In some families, mobile phones are seen as enabling younger women to go out alone; the phone provides security, a guarantee of meetings and a ready check on someone's whereabouts. In other families, the mobile phone is an excuse to keep a girl at home: You can have the vegetable-seller bring the order to the house; you do not have to go to the market.

The celebration of mobile telephony for business and "development" is common. The fishermen in Kerala in western India, whose incomes improved when they were able to phone while still at sea to ascertain which harbour would pay the best price, have been pin-up boys in economists' writings for 10 years. Scores of other small enterprises have benefited from the ability to compare prices and supplies.

India has more mobile phones than either toilets or bank accounts and Rs 500 (S$15) will buy a second-hand mobile phone. Visionaries see the phone as the device that will bring banking to the poor and semi-literate who have neither the time nor the confidence to step into a bank.

Eko, a Delhi-based enterprise, is pioneering such banking. Started in 2007, it now has close to 200,000 customers who use local shopkeepers, linked into the Eko network, as their banks. Using their mobile phones, they can make deposits and withdrawals through such outlets and transfer money to participating shops in a number of districts in Bihar, the other region where the Eko network has focused.

In political and social organisations, too, the mobile phone can be a powerful new tool. Low caste people once were limited by their poverty, illiteracy and status in how they could communicate. The mobile phone helps to leap some of these barriers. It is cheap, you do not have to be able to write and your social superiors find it hard to keep tabs on you.

The mobile phone is as different from the postcard or telegram as a repeating rifle was from a bow and arrow and it has the potential to give the less powerful a new tool with which to assert their rights. In doing so, however, they'll still have to face powerful people who would deny them phones at all.

TODAYonline | Commentary | Mobile phones shake up India

 

[Veeru]

Enam Infra Fund gets Govt of India's nod to invest Rs 3,700 cr in India

By Parul Chhaparia Feb 10 2011 , New Delhi

Mauritius-based venture capital fund, Enam India Infrastructure, will invest Rs 3,700 crore in India’s infrastructure and energy projects through a dedicated core sector fund.

Promoted by Mumbai-based Enam Securities, the Mauritius outfit will bring in foreign direct investment worth Rs 3,450 crore through the fund.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs cleared the investment proposal on Thursday.

Enam India Infrastructure is a venture capital fund registered with Sebi in September last year and backed by promoters of Enam Securities.

The private equity fund will essentially invest 80 per cent in infrastructure like roads, power, ports and airports. The rest 20 per cent will be invested in allied units connected with infrastructure sector.

“The funds received are expected to be invested in equity and equity-linked investments in infrastructure and energy sectors,” an official release said.

CCEA also gave a green signal to Power Finance Corporation’s (PFC) proposal for a follow-on public offer. The government-owned company can now issue 17.21 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each constituting fresh issue of 15 per cent of pre-issue existing paid up capital. In addition, it can also issue 5.73 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each.

In addition, the company will also issue five crore equity shares at face value of Rs 10 each, comprising divestment of 5 per cent government holding in the company that stands at 89.78 per cent now. The government in 2007 had divested its 10 per cent stake in PFC. With the FPO, its stake would stand lower than 85 per cent.

The FPO’s actual realisation would be known only after the ministerial panel headed by finance minister fixes the price. The follow-on offer includes a portion not exceeding 0.12 per cent of the issue size for PFC employees. Retail investors and eligible PFC employees will be eligible for a 5 per cent discount on the FPO issue price.

Enam Infra Fund gets nod to invest Rs 3,700 cr in India | mydigitalfc.com

---------- Post added at 06:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------

Reliance Industries to invest $30 bln over 5 yrs

MUMBAI Feb 17 (Reuters) - Indian energy major Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote) plans to invest $25 billion to $30 billion in its major businesses over the next five years, the Economic Times newspaper said on Thursday, quoting a Press Trust of India report.

Reliance, controlled by billonaire Mukesh Ambani, will mainly target petrochemicals, energy exploration and production, and telecoms businesses, the reported quoted the company as saying at an investor conference last week.

A spokesman for Reliance, India's largest listed company with a market value of $68 billion, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reliance plans to invest around $4.5 billion in telecoms, $10 billion on exploration & production of oil and gas, and another $10 billion to $12 billion on petrochemicals, the report said.

Reliance made a dramatic return to the telecoms business last year with a $1 billion acquisition of nationwide licence for broadband wireless spectrum. [ID:nSGE65A071]

The company also holds stakes in three shale gas joint ventures with U.S. firms. (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

Reliance Industries to invest $30 bln over 5 yrs-report | Energy & Oil | Reuters

 

[Veeru]

Tata Steel posts net profit of Rs 1,003 crore in 3rd quarter

New Delhi, Feb 16: It was result time and Tata Steel have something to cheer about as they announced a net profit of Rs 1,003 crore for the third quarter of 2010-11. This is a unprecedented hike of 112 per cent over last years figure of Rs.473 crore. The turnover stands at Rs.29,089 crore from Rs.26,202 crore at the corresponding time a year-ago.

Karl-Ulrich Kohler, the MD & CEO of Tata Steel Europe said, “Higher raw material costs and seasonal factors adversely affected our December quarter. The impact of the raw material costs is acute as barely any steelmaker in the world is fully integrated. Managing the raw material situation is the key challenge for all steel makers.”

Kaushik Chatterjee, CFO, Tata Steel claimed that the company's target of 6.4 million tonnes production in 2011 still remains as is. He added that the major challenge would be the procurement of raw materials.

Kaushik also commented on the company's net debt position and said, “We had taken debt to get the key projects done like the Jamshedpur one of $3.8 billion or Rs.16,000 crore. We had estimated Rs.11,000 crore of debt and the rest being equity contributed. But now that will be reversed that estimate and of the Rs.7,000 crore already spent, Rs.1,000 crore has been debt funded.”

Tata Steel Managing Director H. M. Nerurkar has been quoted as saying, “The performance of the Indian operations in the third quarter, in spite of inflationary concerns, continued to be robust on the back of improved product mix and efficiency enhancement measures.”

Tata Steel is on the expansion track with a target of three-million-tonne project that will be commissioned in late 2011.

Tata Steel | Q3 results | Higher material costs | Hike | Kaushik Chatterjee | Net Profit - Oneindia Money

---------- Post added at 06:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:29 PM ----------

Ansal sells space worth Rs 1,880 crore

Real estate company Ansal Properties and Infrastructure said on Thursday it has sold nearly 17.5 million square feet of space worth Rs. 1,880.53 crore (Rs. 18.805 billion) during this fiscal across various cities in north India [ Images ].

According to an investor presentation, Ansal API has received bookings for 1.66 million sq ft of spaces in January with a sale value of Rs. 166.74 crore (Rs. 1.667 billion).

"The total sales booked in 10 months in FY11 increased to 17.47 million sq ft, aggregating to sale value of Rs. 1,880.53 crore (Rs. 18.805 billion)," Ansal told the investors.

The company received highest bookings for 9.6 million sq ft in its largest township, Sushant Golf City, in Lucknow [ Images ].

Another township Esencia in Gurgaon contributed 2.52 million sq ft to its total sales booked in April-January period.

Sushant Golf City is a 3,530-acre hi-tech township, while Esencia is being developed in 112 acres of land.

When contacted, Ansal API Assistant Vice-President (Investor Relations) Dinesh C Gupta said: "We are seeing very good demand for our project. So far, we have received nearly Rs. 600 crore (Rs. 6 billion) from the bookings and the rest is expected over the next 30 months."

Out of the total sales, plots contributed 8.87 million sq ft, while villas and group housing projects accounted for 4.37 million sq ft, the presentation said.

The company currently has a net land bank of over 8,500 acres in various locations across the country.

In January, it received bookings for 1.66 million sq ft, aggregating to sales revenue of Rs. 166.74 crore (Rs. 1.667 billion).

"Major chunk of the sales were booked in Sushant Golf City of 0.97 million sq ft and in Esencia 0.21 million sq ft," the company said.

Ansal API is currently in the process of raising up to Rs. 350 crore (Rs. 3.50 billion) in 2011 from private equity players by diluting its stake at various projects to fund its ongoing constructions.

Last year, the company had raised Rs. 231 crore (Rs. 2.31 billion) through private placement of shares to institutional investors to reduce its debt and execute ongoing projects.

Ansal API has reported a 4.81 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, at Rs. 32.93 crore (Rs. 329.3 million) compared to Rs. 31.42 crore (Rs. 314.2 million) in the corresponding period previous year.

The consolidated total revenue during the third quarter of this fiscal increased by 6.50 per cent to Rs. 353.17 crore (Rs. 3.531 billion) from Rs. 331.60 crore (Rs. 3.136 billion) in the year-ago period.

Shares of Ansal API closed the day at Rs. 41.05 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange [ Images ], up 2.11 per cent from the previous close.

Ansal sells 17.5 million sq ft of land - Rediff.com Business

 

[Veeru]

World Bank backs India's infra plans

The World Bank has endorsed India’s plans for investment in infrastructure during the next five years. Infrastructure sector analysts see in this endorsement a positive signal from the World Bank and likely assistance from the multilateral financial institution.

“I am not privy to any document with regard to the 12th Five Year Plan. However, the government will have to be ambitious on the development of roads, urban infrastructure, water supply and sanitation, power and agricultural production. The proposed investment is clearly an ambitious one. It also reflects the level of ambition,” World Bank Vice-President (sustainable development) Inger Andersen told Business Standard.

India’s proposed investment of over $1.3 trillion in infrastructure during the 12th Plan period reflected the level of its ambition, said Andersen. She was speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of the launch of the World Bank report on “Empowering rural India: expanding electricity access by mobilising local resources”.

Andersen’s views are crucial, especially when the government plans to almost double the infrastructure spending to over $1.3 trillion in the 12th Plan from $500 billion in the 11th Plan.

She said India was a global player in politics, finance, infrastructure and information technology. “I fully endorse India’s inclusive growth agenda. Even when there has been increase in growth, there is poverty in the country. Therefore, there is a need for sustainable development and equitable distribution,” she said.

On the issue of subsidy allocation, Andersen said it was not prevailing in India alone, but in other countries, too. “There are well-off people as well as those who cannot afford a single day meal. Subsides are essential. However, the only consideration should be such subsidies be given to the neediest and in a right manner.”

World Bank backs India's infra plans

 

[Veeru]

Macquarie-SBI may put Rs 1,000 cr in Indian port

Reghu Balakrishnan / Mumbai February 17, 2011, 0:34 IST

Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF), one of the largest in this category in India, run by Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Management Pvt Ltd (MSIT), is in an advanced stage of talks with a shipping port company to make an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore ($200-220 million). According to sources, the deal is likely to be closed in a couple of months.

MSIF is a $1.2-billion fund and MSIT is a joint venture of State Bank of India (SBI), Macquarie, the Australian financial conglomerate, and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, for investments in infrastructure projects in India.

Along with the mounting interest in Indian infrastructure, ports and shipping are gaining significance in the backdrop of increased cargo traffic. Major private equity investors in Indian infrastructure are taking rising exposure here.

Ramesh Singhal, CEO, i-maritime Consultancy, an advisory firm in shipping, said, “Profitability in the port sector is higher compared with other sectors in India. Usually, about 50 per cent of revenue can be earned as profit. If the port handles cargo of about 30-40 million tonnes, about Rs 700 crore can be achieved as profit out of Rs 1,400 crore revenue. Also, the land where the port is situated brings high valuation. The land value may be Rs 15 lakh-2 crore per acre.”

3i Group, which manages a $1.2-billion India-focused infrastructure fund, had invested in Krishnapatnam Port and in Mundra Port and SEZ. Gujarat Pipavav Port had also raised funds from IDFC Private Equity, IL&FS and NYLIM Jacob Ballas. Gangavaram Port Ltd had received funds from Warburg Pincus. In March 2010, India Infrastructure Fund, managed by IDFC Project Equity, invested Rs 150 crore in Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd. According to the Planning Commission, the port sector in India requires around $20 bn in investment by 2014. According to industry sources, Dighi Port, Maharashtra’s first greenfield (new) port and Gopalpur Port, located in Orissa, are eying PE investments for expansion.

Macquarie-SBI may put Rs 1,000 cr in Indian port

 

[Veeru]

Handicrafts exports to touch Rs. 17,000 cr in the next three years

India’s handicrafts exports is expected to touch Rs. 17,000 crore in next three years on account of increasing demand in markets like the U.S., Latin America and Africa.

“We are focusing on new markets, which are unexplored or under-explored like in Latin America, Central Asia, Africa and South East Asia. Demand is there for Indian handicrafts items,” Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) Chairman Raj Kumar Malhotra said.

During April-January period of this fiscal, the country’s handicrafts exports stood at Rs. 7,284 crore, an increase of 26.7 per cent over the same period last year.

“I hope that we may end up the fiscal by about Rs. 11,500 crore...and in the next years we hope to touch Rs. 17,000 crore,” Malhotra told reporters here after announcing about the Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair from February 19.

On the impact of global economic recession on the sector, he said that “we are still not out of the woods and that is why we are not setting any ambitious target for the next three years...the sector needs some more time.”

The government is targeting to more than double the country’s merchandise exports to about $500 billion in the next three years.

The main handicrafts items exported from India include metal and wood wares, hand-printed textiles and scarves, embroidered goods, shawls and imitation jewellery.

The U.S. and Europe are the major destination of India’s handicrafts exports. The sector is labour-intensive and employs about 60-70 lakh people.

In the fair, as much as 2,300 exhibitors from across the country are expected to showcase their products. Over 6,500 foreign buyers from 31 countries mainly from Latin America, Central Asia, Africa would participate.

“We are hoping to get orders worth Rs. 800 crore in the fair. Last year we got business of the order of Rs. 500 crore,” he said.

On the forthcoming Budget, the sector has asked the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to exempt the sector from income and service tax.

“EPCH has also asked the Finance Minister to further extend the interest subsidy scheme,” he added. The scheme is expected to end this year.

The Hindu : Business / Industry : Handicrafts exports to touch Rs. 17,000 cr in the next three years