New Delhi, May 29
Global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said today it had raised its long-term corporate credit rating of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) due to improvement in its competitive position.

The rating has been upgraded to BBB+ from BBB while the outlook is negative.

"We upgraded Reliance because we believe the company's strategy to grow organically will strengthen its competitive position and support its profitability," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Andrew Wong.

S&P said Reliance's articulation of its growth strategy removes the uncertainty regarding the company's use of its high cash balance.

“We now have greater clarity on Reliance's expansion strategy. The company intends to spend more than $30 billion on growth over the next three years, of which at least 75% will be toward its core businesses of refining, petrochemical, and exploration and production (E&P)”, it said.

The statement said it expects Reliance's planned projects to strengthen the company's competitive position in the refining and petrochemical sector.

“Reliance’s petcoke gasification project should improve the company's refining margins, while petrochemical projects should bring in the benefits of higher value addition and vertical integration. The company's capital spending in E&P will enable it to grow its shale gas business and reverse the fall in production in KG D6 gas field”, it said.

Last week, RIL announced a huge natural gas discovery, possibly the biggest find ever, in the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block that will arrest the falling output.

RIL and its partner BP Plc of UK encountered 155 metres of gas pay zone in the first exploration well drilled on the block in more than five years.

The planned capital spending is also likely to result in better operating performance for the company over the next three to four years, it added.

The rating on Reliance continues to reflect the company's large scale, integrated, and efficient oil refining and petrochemicals businesses, and good business diversity, S&P said.

These factors underpin the company's strong and recurrent, although somewhat cyclical, cash flows. The rating also factors in Reliance's exposure to cyclical industries and commodity prices and the concentration of the company's assets in India, it added.However, it said, the negative outlook on Reliance reflects the outlook on the sovereign credit rating on India.

"We could lower the rating on Reliance if we lower our transfer and convertibility assessment on India, which could happen if we downgrade the sovereign," S&P said.

New Delhi, May 29
The rupee today hit a 10-month low making foreign travel, imports such as oil and gold more expensive but would be beneficial for India’s struggling exports.

The Indian currency closed on Wednesday with a 21 paisa loss at 56.17 while during the day it hit a 10-month low of 56.37. Demand for dollars for gold, oil and defence payments were among the factors responsible for the fall.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced lower at 56.18 a dollar from previous close of 55.96. While it recovered to 56, it quickly fell back to a 10-month low of 56.37, before settling at 56.17 - a fall of 21 paise or 0.38 per cent. On Tuesday, it had tumbled by 39 paise or 0.70 per cent.

A weak currency has the effect of making foreign travel, overseas education and imports like oil and consumer goods more expensive. However, it is beneficial for exporters like software, textiles and gems and jewellery.

A weaker rupee will reduce the gain from fall in international oil and gold prices thereby putting pressure on inflation as imports become costlier.

Even while equity inflows have been robust, the rupee has weakened in May as the dollar has been gaining strength. The rupee has slumped by over 4.4 per cent in May so far.

Concerns about growth and the current account deficit have also added to the weakness of the rupee.

New Delhi, May 29
The automotive sector may continue to be sluggish, but JK Tyre and Industries has decided to focus on expanding its overseas base and markets to remain buoyant.

Dr Raghupati Singhania, who took over as the chairman of JK Tyre and Industries earlier this week, said the company plans to invest over Rs 800 crore to double the capacity of Chennai manufacturing facility over two years. "We are emphasising on markets and facilities in the American and European region," he said while talking to The Tribune.

JK Tyre and Industries Ltd is a part of JK Organisation.

The tyre major which saw a decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 33.70 crore for the quarter ended March 31, posted a robust annual growth with a combined turnover (JK Tornel and JK Tyre) of Rs 7,570 crore. The operating profits recorded a whopping 90% increase at Rs 632 crore and the profit before tax increased to Rs 264 crore.

Dr Singhania said, "The year was tough but our decision to explore alternate markets globally well in time has helped us ease out situations and posting an overall positive annual growth."

The company almost a decade ago started hunting for hubs in emerging economies which could cushion adverse economic impact in its existing markets.

The tyre major is quiet upbeat about its Mexican facility, JK Tornel, acquired in 2008. The division, which comprises three plants and caters to the Latin American, US and the European region contributed to the company's overall annual performance in a big way.

Talking about Tornel, Dr Singhania said: "We plan to expand the Tornel's capacity by 25 per cent at an investment of $25 million. The additional capacity will come in 12 months." Tornel's annual capacity stands at 3.6 million tyres, which will go up to 4.5 million after expansion, he added.

While the company is exploring possibilities to expand its manufacturing footprints in South-East Asian region, Dr Singhania said the company was equally bullish on expanding capacity in India. 

New Delhi, May 29
A Group of Ministers (GoM) today approved a Bill which seeks to set up an independent regulatory authority for the coal sector to address contentious issues like pricing, supply and quality.

The Coal Regulatory Authority Bill will be moved to the Cabinet within 10 days for its approval.

"We (GoM) had a successful meeting on both issues of Coal Regulatory Authority Bill and pass-through mechanism for supply of coal. Both the things are ready and hopefully in a week or next ten days we should be ready to take it to the Cabinet," Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters after the meeting of GoM, which is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Scindia said some of the major functions of the proposed authority would be related to pricing, quality and supply of coal.

"It (Bill) balances the interest of all stake holders, it protects the interest of all stakeholders and at the same time gives a judicious balance to the Regulatory Authority to be able to supervise the supply and demand of coal in the country," he said.

He added that the GoM had achieved closure on pass through mechanism structure as well, and "Coal and Power Secretaries will now be working on putting together a note for the Cabinet to take both these issues forward." Coal 
Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said, "The format for Coal Regulatory Authority Bill has been approved and would be forwarded to the Cabinet.

A pass-through mechanism means that the price charged from electricity distribution companies will absorb the rising cost instead of being cross-subsidised by pooling of or absorbed by the power-generating companies.

Settling the issue of fixing coal prices, the GoM had earlier this month decided that the proposed regulator will not determine fuel rates. — PTI

New Delhi, May 29
To make trading more swift and fast, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) will soon introduce a new technology that will allow execution of as many as 1 lakh orders per second.

The technology for the trading platforms is being acquired from Germany's Deutsche Borse, a senior exchange official said.

"BSE is in the process of acquiring a technology from Deutsche Borse in Germany which will increase the speed of response of the BSE system by about 100 times. (It wil increase) from around 10 milli seconds to 100 micro seconds," BSE managing director and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said here today.

Once the technology is implemented, it would increase BSE’s trading capacity by about five times from present 20,000 orders per second to 1,00,000 orders per second.

"We will be able to take one lakh orders per second and a response time of 100 micro seconds. Now, it is around 10 milli seconds and 20,000 orders per second," Chauhan noted.

According to him, the technology is already being used by Deutsche Borse. — PTI

New Delhi, May 29
ONGC today reported a 40 per cent drop in its March quarter net profit as oil and gas output fell while payments on account of statutory levies rose sharply.

Net profit in January-March at Rs 3,387 crore was 40 per cent lower than Rs 5,644 crore in the same period a year ago, ONGC chairman and managing director Sudhir Vasudeva told reporters here.

The company's March 2013 quarter sales were up 13.1 per cent at Rs 21,460 crore.

BRIEFLY

PowerGrid to raise Rs 8,000 cr
Mumbai: PowerGrid Corporation plans to raise Rs 8,000 crore during the fiscal through domestic and international bonds. This was disclosed by company’s director (finance) RT Agarwal here on Wednesday. The company reported a 7.53 per cent increase in standalone net profit in March quarter at Rs 1,109.44 crore against Rs 1,031.69 crore a year ago. — PTI

TCS bags Rs 1,100-cr DoP order
Mumbai: TCS on Wednesday said it has bagged a six-year contract from the Department of Posts (DoP) worth over Rs 1,100 crore. Under the deal, TCS will manage data migration, infrastructure, Service Level Agreement, call centre and centralised 24x7 service desk operation for DoP, it said. — PTI

HPCL to revive mega refinery
New Delhi: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd is reviving a Rs 50,000 crore refinery-cum-petrochemical project near Vizag in Andhra Pradesh to meet local fuel demand. The company has approached global energy giants like Total SA of France and BP plc to join the stalled project. — PTI

Sony unveils Xperia Tablet Z
New Delhi: Sony India on Wednesday launched the Xperia Tablet Z, which the company claims is the world's thinnest design at 6.9 mm, priced at Rs 46,990. The dust and water-resistant tablet sports a 10.1-inch 1920X1200p WUXGA display with a mobile Bravia Engine 2. — PTI