The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	JSW Steel to buy Ispat controlling stake Mumbai, December 21 India’s third-largest steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd agreed to buy a controlling stake in smaller rival Ispat Industries for $476 million (Rs 2,157 crore), catapulting it to the top spot on the list of the nation's steel producers. JSW will subscribe to 1.09 billion shares through a preferential allotment at Rs 19.85 per share, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The deal would give it a 42 per cent stake in Ispat, a source directly involved in the deal said. Based on the closing price of Ispat shares on Thursday, JSW is buying the stock in the debt-laden and loss-making company at discount of 15.4 per cent. Ispat is controlled by Pramod and Vinod Mittal, the brothers of the world’s fifth-richest man, billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who heads the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal. Lakshmi Mittal branched out on his own in 1976 due to differences with the family but his company ArcelorMittal was cited in media reports to have been one of the bidders for Ispat. Pramod and Vinod Mittal will maintain 26 per cent stake in the new company, to be renamed JSW Ispat Steel Ltd. Indian steel consumption is seen more than doubling to 122 million tonnes in 2015, driven by robust investment and infrastructure demand in Asia's third-largest economy. JSW said it would make a mandatory open offer for Ispat shares in accordance with takeover regulations. Shares of Ispat fell as much as 17 per cent after the news while shares in JSW Steel rose as much as 5 per cent. Analysts said JSW ended up paying less for the deal than expected. "If you translate these figures, they will come at a cheaper price to them because, at any point of time 4 million tonnes of capacity will cost them at least $3.3 billion. The iron ore capacity would be at least $7 billion,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at brokerage firm KR Choksey. The deal would give JSW Steel about 4.1 million tonnes of Ispat's existing capacity, bringing the company's total steel producing capacity to more than 11 million tonnes. JSW will also get about 100 million tonnes of iron ores reserves. The company has long-standing plans of adding 3 million tonnes of its own capacity by February 2011. In July, Japan's JFE Holdings said it would spend about $1 billion for a 14.9 percent stake in JSW Steel, helping the Indian firm cut debt and fund its ambitious expansion plans. Ispat has posted losses for the past five years except for fiscal year 2008. Its net loss narrowed to Rs 320 crore in the year-ended March 2010 compared with a loss of Rs 690 crore ($152 million) in the 2009 fiscal year. It had debt of Rs 7,157 crore ($1.6 billion) as of June 30. Shares of Ispat had risen more than a quarter since the beginning of December on speculation that ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and JSW were looking to buy the struggling firm. Kotak Investment Banking represented Ispat on the deal, sources previously told Reuters. — Reuters
	Maruti has no inventory to dispatch during this year’s plant shutdown New Delhi, December 21 The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India today said it will not be dispatching any vehicle to dealers during its week-long annual plant maintenance shutdown as it has no stock due to high demand. The company will be closing all its plants at Gurgaon and Manesar for a week from December 27 to January 3. Usually, the company keeps inventories for up to seven days to supply to dealers during the maintenance shutdown, which is done twice in a year in June and December. “We will have our annual maintenance shutdown from next week. So during this period, one week’s production will not be available for dispatches,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told PTI. According to sources, the company is likely to lose about 25,000 units during the week-long period and is unlikely to have any inventory to dispatch to the dealers. "Usually MSI has 5-7 days of stock. However, this time, it does not have any inventory due to very high demand throughout the year," a source said. The company's domestic sales crossed one lakh units twice in October and November at 1,07,555 units and 1,02,503 units respectively. The figures for October were its best numbers so far for the domestic market. "In December, MSI is unlikely to sell one lakh units in the domestic market," the source said. Including exports, MSI sold a total of 1,12,554 vehicles in November, the sixth time in this fiscal that the company's monthly sales figure crossed one lakh mark. The company had reported its highest ever total monthly sales at 1,18,908 units in October, registering a robust 39.21 per cent jump over the year-ago period. The carmaker had said that it would ramp up production by about 10 per cent to nearly 1.1 lakh units every month from October this year, taking its annual output to 13 lakh units in 2011-12. At present, MSI, which is 54.2 per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki, has an annual capacity of 8.5 lakh units at its Gurgaon plant, while Manesar can produce 3.5 lakh units annually, with the overall capacity totalling to 12 lakh units per year. The company had announced to invest 35 billion yen (Rs 1,925 crore) to set up a third plant with an installed capacity of 2.5 lakh units inside the Manesar facility. Currently, MSI is investing Rs 1,700 crore on a second plant at Manesar, having an annual capacity of 2.5 lakh units. — PTI
	Sibal assures telcos of resolving 3G issues Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 21 Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today assured telecom operators in the country of resolving all issues surrounding the launch of 3G services in the country. The assurance came at separate meetings the minister held with Sunil Bharti Mittal from Bharti, Anil Ambani from Reliance Communications and Ratan Tata from Tata Teleservices. Security agencies had recently asked telecom operators to put the launch of 3G services on hold, in the wake of lack of surveillance capabilities with telcos. The telcos were told that they would be prevented from offering non-voice 3G mobile services, unless they demonstrate that these facilities can be tapped live. In fact, last week DoT halted video-calling services citing security concerns at the home ministry’s behest, as these can be traced only a few minutes after they have ended. While intelligence agencies complain that such calls cannot be monitored live, executives with telcos say there is no technology available globally for real-time tapping of video calls. Sibal told the three industry leaders that he had met Home Minister P Chidambaram to deal with the contentious issue of interception on video calling. During a meeting yesterday among representatives of telcos, the home ministry and security agencies, the Intelligence Bureau had sought a temporary ban on all 3G data services. Operators have been given up to seven days to demonstrate that data services can be tapped in real time, failing which the services will be disallowed. IB officials too have said they will discuss internally some of the proposals suggested by telcos during Monday’s meeting, and come back within the next couple of days. Private operators and state run companies together paid Rs 67,000 crore to the government for 3G airwaves after an auction held in May. In addition, companies have spent several hundreds of crores on infrastructure to deploy these services. The meeting was held in constructive and productive atmosphere, with Sibal assuring them that there would be no witch hunting in the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam.
	FM to inaugurate infra conclave today New Delhi, December 21 Key ministries including finance and road will deliberate from tomorrow on steps needed to encourage public-private-partnership for developing the infrastructure sector, which is estimated to require $1 trillion during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). “Besides, drawing out future strategy for increasing PPP in country’s infrastructure building, there will be stock taking of the present situation as well,” a finance ministry official said. Pranab Mukherjee will address the inaugural session. The two-day 'India PPP Conclave' is being organised by the finance ministry in association with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank. “A significant share of these investments are expected to be met through private investments and the PPP model,” the official said. A major highlight of the programme will be the ‘ministerial forum’ and launch of pioneering capacity building knowledge products and services. Besides the infrastructure ministries like power, ports and road and officials of state government, representatives from private sector including L&T and GMR will participate in the conference. The government has taken number of steps to create an enabling framework for PPPs. — PTI Montek for several debt funds to build infrastructure sector New Delhi, December 21 The Plan panel has asked the finance ministry to examine the possibility of setting up several Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) to fund core sector development activities in the country, which are estimated to cost $1 trillion during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17). Following up on the suggestions made during the recent visit of US President Barack Obama to India, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has written a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee suggesting modification of the regulatory framework and also on the need to exempt IDFs from payment of withholding tax. "It would be very good idea if we can have not just one debt fund... (but) several debt funds. In order to make it possible, you need several regulatory relaxations or modifications. I have sent a note to the finance minister giving my assessment. I believe that it is being examined in the finance ministry," Ahluwalia told reporters. During Obama's visit last month, the governments of India and US gave in-principle approval to a proposal from the industry to set up a $10 billion infrastructure fund. — PTI
	Banks borrow Rs 1.57 lakh crore from RBI Mumbai, December 21 Reflecting a big cash crunch in the system, banks made huge borrowings from the Reserve Bank for the second consecutive day today, amounting to Rs 1,57,625 crore - a little less than yesterday's record. Banks had borrowed all-time record of Rs 1,59,210 crore from the RBI on Monday through the repo window, which is a one-day facility from the central bank against government securities. These figures are on net basis, since banks lent money as well to RBI through the reverse repo route. Huge borrowings by banks continue even as the RBI, in its second mid-quarterly review recently, announced plans to buy up to Rs 48,000 crore of bonds from the secondary market over the next four weeks. The first tranche of Rs 12,000 crore would be purchased tomorrow. The tight liquidity condition has prompted banks to seek the repo route increasingly to deal with their requirements. The extent of liquidity crunch can be gauged from the fact that banks have been borrowing Rs 1 lakh crore on an average daily through the repo window since quarterly review in November. — PTI
	Sony eyes 42% in camera market Tribune News Service Chandigarh, December 21 Sony India targets a market share of 48 per cent in the compact digital still camera across North India this fiscal. In the camera segment as a whole, it has set a market share target of 42 per cent for the region including, Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Takahiro Hirata, product head, Digital Imaging Sony India, said that the estimated market size of compact camera segment in North is expected to be around 80,000 this fiscal. The company plans to ramp up the number of business partners (cyber shot outlets) from the current 225 to 250 next year. “Nationally, we have about 2,800 business partners and plan to reach the 3,000-mark during the next fiscal. A budget of Rs 50 crore has been kept aside for promotion and advertisement activities involving print, electronic media, online, outdoor and shop-front. We will spend around Rs 2.5 crore in North for the same,” said Hirata.