Gurgaon/New Delhi, March 8
Maruti Suzuki India will suspend production of petrol cars at one of its plants on Saturday, a company executive said, as the country's top car maker looks to cut inventory amid slowing sales.

Vehicle assembly line at a Maruti Suzuki plant

The production cut at the Gurgaon factory, near Delhi, is only for Saturday, said the executive at Maruti, who did not wish to be named.

The plant, with a capacity of 4,000 units/day, produces petrol models of the Maruti Suzuki 800, Alto, WagonR, Estillo, Dzire and Ertiga. However, production of car engines for the Manesar facility will not be affected by today’s production cut.

The company blames petrol car market slowdown for the move as according to its sales report a decline of around 7.89 per cent was registered in its total sales in February 2013.

Sales at Maruti, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor, fell 8% in February from a year earlier, with the industry bracing for its first decline in annual sales in a decade, as sluggish economic growth continues to weigh on demand.

Indian carmakers have been hit by high interest rates and rising fuel costs. They had hoped incentives to boost the industry would be announced in the country's budget last month, but instead saw taxes rise on some sports utility vehicles, risking growth in the market's only bright spot.

New Delhi, March 8
The protest rally called by the Hero MotoCorp Gurgaon plant workers’ union on March 20 demanding higher wages has been slammed by industry as well as some other trade unions in the region as “ridiculous”.

The auto industry is closely watching the developments in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt, which already saw violence last year at the Maruti Suzuki plant, and the call by the Hero MotoCorp union for higher wages has been seen as a move that may take away the region’s advantage of cheap labour.

An auto industry expert commented it was ridiculous to call for a rally to demand higher wages for workers who are already amongst the highest paid in this region, drawing annual salaries of over Rs 6 lakh.

The management of Hero MotoCorp and its workers union at its Gurgaon plant are scheduled to hold yet another round of talks on tomorrow in the presence of officials from the district labour commissioner’s office. The workers are demanding that their salaries be revised from Rs 47,000-50,000 to Rs 60,000-65,000 per month.

Hero, on its part, seems to have been fairly balanced in its approach. “As the industry leader, we will take prudent and well-deliberated decision which will be in the best interest of all our workers as well as for the larger good of the industrial environment in the region. Growth has to be steady, sustainable and sensible, and we will continue to pursue this philosophy of the 3 ‘S’ while trying to reach at an amicable wage settlement with our union,” the Hero MotoCorp spokesperson told The Tribune.

He declined to dwell on the specifics of the offer being made to the workers, but according to some reports, Hero has been offering a hike of between Rs 7,000-8,000 per month, over thrice the Rs 2,400-2,500 hike in the last wage settlement in 2008.

However an office bearer of the Hero MotoCorp Workers’ Union said, “We’re asking for a hike of about Rs 15,000-Rs 18,000 per month, spread over a period of three years”.

The Gurgaon-Manesar belt alone produces half of the total cars, motorcycles and scooters in India and the demand from the Hero MotoCorp union may create a situation like that in Faridabad. Similar incidents in that new industrial township drove away all the industries just a few years ago.

New Delhi, March 8
The government today raised Rs 310 crore from the sale of 12.5% stake in Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (RCF) in an offer for sale that managed full subscription barely minutes before the markets closed.

The auction, which started in the morning, got bids for over 7.94 crore shares as of 1525 hrs, against an offer of over 6.89 crore, according to stock exchange data.

The indicative price, which is the weighted average price of all valid bids, was Rs 45.02 a share. At this price, the government would garner at least Rs 310 crore.

The government had fixed the floor price for the 12.5 per cent share auction of RCF at Rs 45 apiece, which is at a 2.6% premium to yesterday's close of Rs 43.85.

Shares of RCF closed at Rs 45.40, up 3.53% from its previous close on BSE. The scrip had touched a high of Rs 46.40 in early trade.

Bids for over 1.91 crore shares were with 100% margin, meaning if the bidder decides to withdraw later they can do so. Bids that came in with zero per cent margin were over 6.03 crore shares, according to NSE data.

The government is selling 6.89 crore shares or 12.5% of its stake in RCF through the offer for sale route. It holds a 92.50% stake in RCF. After stake sale, its holding will come down to 80%.

The Rashtriya Chemicals stake sale would help the government inch closer to the disinvestment target for the current fiscal. According to the revised estimates, the government is likely to raise Rs 24,000 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal, lower than the budgeted Rs 30,000 crore.

So far this fiscal, the government has raised over Rs 21,500 crore through stake sale in PSUs like Oil India, NTPC, NMDC and Hindustan Copper Ltd.

In the remaining weeks of the fiscal ending March 31, the finance ministry plans to sell stake in three more companies — MMTC, SAIL and NALCO. — PTI

New Delhi, March 8
Capital markets regulator will soon ease registration norms for foreign investors, Securities and Exchange Board of India chief U.K. Sinha told reporters on Friday. The government is looking to ease norms for the entry of foreign investors as part of efforts to attract more capital inflows to bridge its widening current account deficit.

PARTICIPATORY NOTES: Meanwhile, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday SEBI and the enforcement directorate have not come across any instance of Participatory Notes (PNs) – an instrument through which FIIs invest in Indian stock markets – being used for money laundering.

"SEBI and the enforcement directorate, which have a regulatory role in the matter, have not come across any instances of PNs being used for money laundering," he said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

At the end of December 2012, the notional value of outstanding PNs stood at Rs 1.51 lakh crore, higher than Rs 1.38 lakh crore at the end of 2011.

Chidambaram said FIIs issuing PNs are required to report details such as name, location, type and jurisdiction of the end beneficial owner of the instrument on a monthly basis to SEBI. "FIIs are also required to provide an undertaking that they have not issued the PNs to Indian residents or NRIs and KYC compliance norms have been followed for the PN’s beneficial owner”, he said.

A PN is a derivative instrument issued by SEBI registered FIIs against underlying Indian securities. The investor in PN has neither ownership of the underlying Indian securities nor any voting rights. — Reuters/PTI

Mumbai, March 8
Pantaloon Retail Ltd agreed to sell a 22.5 percent stake in its life insurance joint venture with Italy's Generali SpA as part of a move to pare holdings in unrelated businesses.

The country's top listed retailer by sales will sell the stake in Future Generali India Life Insurance Co to financial group Industrial Investment Trust Ltd, it said in a statement on Friday. The company did not provide the financial terms of the deal.

Pantaloon holds 25.5% in the insurance venture, while its unlisted parent Future Group has a 49% stake. After the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, the group's combined holding will fall to 52%.

Generali owns 25.5% in Future Generali India Life Insurance, which posted a loss of Rs 71.5 million in the quarter through December, according to information on the company website.

Future Group, whose main activity is running hypermarket chains such as Big Bazaar in the domestic market, has been looking to exit or pare its holding in noncore businesses to reduce its debt.

In June 2012, the group agreed to sell a controlling stake in its Future Capital Holdings Ltd unit, which provides consumer and mortgage loans, to Warburg Pincus LLC for nearly $100 million. — Reuters