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Japan turns bullish on India
Reliance gets 28 acres in Haryana
Haryana mustard oil evokes interest
AP ranks third in investment
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BHEL scouting for acquisitions overseas
Alcatel, Lucent merge to create telecom giant
DoT asks FIPB to clarify
Silver, gold zoom
GM to sell stake in finance arm for $14 billion
Biocon’s drug-making licence cancelled
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Japan turns bullish on India
New Delhi, April 3 He was talking to reporters after meeting a Japanese delegation led by Mr Kiyohiko Toyama, Vice- Minister (Parliamentary) for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Mr Yoshio Yatsu, Chairman, Special Mission Committee on Free Trade Agreements. “The Japanese leaders have told me that now onwards India is their next investment destination. Only about 300 Japanese companies have invested in India as against over 30,000 Japanese companies investing in China,” he said. We are trying to facilitate Japanese investment in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, besides other states, he said, in the areas of food processing, infrastructure and automobiles. The minister said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with an Indian business delegation, would soon visit Japan to discuss the framework for a free-trade agreement between the two countries. Dr Kumar said Indo-Japan economic engagement was set for a major upswing with a slew of major Japanese investments in the pipeline. Big ticket investments in the pipeline include Overseas Development Association (ODA) to Metro projects in Delhi and Bangalore, Mitsubishi chemicals complex at Kolkata, Mitsui Logistics at Greater Noida, Suzuki Motors expansion, Yamaha Motor Project and Hitachi Construction Machinery Project. “In view of the raw material, packaging and human resource advantages offered by India, it has the potential to become food processing hub for the world. It is estimated that an investment opportunity of $22 billion exist in this sector in India for the next 10 years. The sector is growing at a rate of about 20 per cent domestically thus providing immense opportunities.” Highlighting the immense possibilities for further economic collaboration between India and Japan in the manufacturing sector, Dr. Kumar informed the visiting dignitaries that India sought to raise the percentage of manufacturing in its GDP and to increase growth in the manufacturing sector from 9 per cent to 12 per cent in the next five years.
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Reliance gets 28 acres in Haryana
Chandigarh, April 3 The high-level committee for plot allotment chaired by of Mr P.K. Chaudhery, Financial Commissioner, Industries, today met the core team of Dr A. Shankar from Reliance Industries and allotted them 16 acres land at Saha (Yamunanagar) and 12-acre plot at Rai (Sonepat). Reliance proposes to set up food-processing units at both places with an investment of Rs 93 crore. The high-level committee, which clears proposals for investment of over Rs 30 crore, also cleared a project for setting up a sheet metal working machinery by Saraswati Industrial Syndicate at Bawal. The facility is being set up with an investment of over Rs 34 crore. Reliance had demanded 50-acre land for setting up these food parks at both places. Well-placed sources said that the food parks would help in realising the company’s vision of integration of farms with retail business. “Activities like warehousing, distribution, logistics, primary processing, food processing and exports will take place in the two farms, after integration of all links in food value chain from “farm gate to food plate”. The food processing will encourage forward and backward linkages resulting in onward growth of the region. This will also encourage rural development through skill enhancement, technical training, education and basic health services,” a company official said. The setting up of these parks will not only help in identification of produced belts in Haryana for procurement and processing but also increase the yield per unit area through organic farming.
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Haryana mustard oil evokes interest
New Delhi, April 3 The Chief Minister told a delegation from Japan, which called on him today, that as part of the state government’s strategy for crop diversification and adding value to agriculture produce, it was laying stress on production of vegetables, oilseeds and medicinal plants, besides promoting horticulture. Mr Hooda said there was tremendous scope for Japan to source some of agricultural products from the state. He invited Japan to set up cold chains and bring in new technology for food preservation and processing. The Japanese delegation which included Mr Yoshio
Yatsu, Chairman, Party Organisation Headquarters, Liberal Democratic Party and member of the House of Representatives, expressed interest in exploring cooperation in food processing, besides auto components. He identified mustard oil as a potential commodity for trade.
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AP ranks third in investment
Hyderabad, April 3 Making a comparison with the earlier TDP Government, Chief Minister Reddy said the investments in the state had almost doubled in the past two years compared to the previous five years. The total investments in 2004-05 and 2005-06 amounted to Rs 4,844 crore with an average investment of Rs 2422 crore per year. This is a sizable growth compared to the total investment in the five year period from 1999 to 2004, which was only Rs.7,251 crore averaging Rs.1,450 crore per year. Some of the big ticket investments in the state in recent times include those by Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (Rs 15,666 crore ), Fab city (Rs 13,000 crore), Infosys (Rs 12,300 crore) ,ONGC Kakinada (Rs 8,200 crore) and Apache (Adidas shoes) at Nellore (Rs 500 crore). The Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy today took the battle of attracting IT and semiconductor industry between Hyderabad and Bangalore right into the Karnataka capital, wooing companies aggressively and taking a subtle dig at his neighbour. Addressing an industry meet here, he said, infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh was better than any other state in the country but refrained from making any critical reference to Bangalore, where the IT and biotech industries have often complained about poor infrastructure. The event was organised by APInvest, a nodal agency set up by the Andhra Pradesh government to promote investments in the state. Some of the top executives of the industries, including Chairman of Indian Semiconductor Association Dr Rajendra Khare, who is also CEO of Broadcom, and Chief Financial Officer of Infosys Technologies TV Mohandas Pai were among those present. Mr Reddy also said some of the industry leaders informed him that the decision-making process of his government was faster compared to other states. Mr Reddy noted that his state had recently bagged the Fab city project, which is to be set up by SemIndia, in association with the government, with a proposed investment of $3 billion. Besides, Infosys had decided to expand in a big way in Hyderabad. He said Andhra Pradesh recorded 65 per cent growth in the IT and ITeS sector last year.
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BHEL scouting for acquisitions overseas
New Delhi, April 3 Announcing the provisional financial results for the year 2005-06, BHEL CMD Ashok K. Puri said: “With huge cash reserves in hand, we are now ready for acquisitions of small and medium companies in the overseas market with a value up to our cash limits, which could provide us access to new technology or markets.” An internal group has already been set up to study the companies for acquisition, and an announcement can be made in the coming days, he asserted adding “ we are open for joint ventures or collaboration for new mega projects like Freight corridor announced by Indian Railways.” With the projected power capacity addition of 67,000 MW in 11th 5-year plan, he said, the manufacturing capacity of the company is being enhanced from 6,000 MW per annum at present to 10,000 MW per annum by 2007. Besides, BHEL is also gearing up to encash emerging opportunities in Nuclear Power Generation, said CMD. The turnover of the company stood at Rs 14,410 crore over Rs 10,336 crore, representing a 39 per cent increase. BHEL secured orders worth Rs 9,008 crore in terms of power plant equipment amounting to 3,473 MW, Mr Puri said, adding that the “renewed thrust on renovation and modernisation, spare and services businesses resulted in booking orders worth Rs 1,853 crore.” In international business, BHEL recorded the highest-ever orders of Rs 3348 crore, accounting for 27 per cent of the company’s turnover during the year, Mr Puri said. The earnings per share (EPS) has gone up to Rs 66.20, up 70 per cent from Rs 38.95 last year.
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Alcatel, Lucent merge to create telecom giant
Paris, April 3 “Alcatel and Lucent Technologies announced the signature of a merger agreement aimed at creating the world’s leader in communication solutions,” said a joint statement released in Paris yesterday According to sources close to the negotiations, Alcatel is to hold around 60 per cent of the capital of the new company while Lucent will have 40 per cent. The newly formed group, to be based in Paris and quoted on the Euronext bourse, had a combined turnover of around 21 billion euros ($25 billion) for 2005, the statement said. The name of the merged company is to be announced at a later date. With Alcatel worth about $20 billion and Lucent slightly less than $13 billion, their combined capitalisation would be near $33 billion — creating the world’s second-biggest maker of equipment and networks for telephones and the Internet, almost equal with top producer Cisco Systems. “The key objective of this merger is to generate significant growth in revenue and results, by exploiting market opportunities in new generation networks, services and applications, while also carrying out important synergies,” the statement said. The merger would lead to cutting of around 8,800 of the companies’ 88,000 combined workforce, the companies
said. — AFP
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DoT asks FIPB to clarify
New Delhi, April 3 The DoT’s initiative comes in wake of certain key ministries, including Defence, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Department of Economic Affairs raising the security bogey on the same issue. Tata
Teleservices, a completely Indian company, currently has a foreign CEO Darryl Green. Senior officials of the ministry said the government notification, while enhancing the FDI ceiling in the telecom sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, did state that the majority Directors on the Board, including Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO/CFO) shall be resident Indian citizens, enforced through a licence agreement.
— PTI
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Silver, gold zoom
Mumbai, April 3 Silver fineness variety opened high at Rs 17,370 per kg and closed at the highest peak at Rs 17,430 per kg, with a massive gain of Rs 235 from its Saturday’s close. Silver recovered after sharply falling from a new 22-year peak on Friday as investors remained convinced that a proposed exchange-traded fund would boost demand, a report from abroad said. Standard mint gold (99.5 purity) and pure gold (99.9 purity) opened high at Rs 8,485 and Rs 8,525 per 10gm, respectively, and closed at still higher at Rs 8,495 and Rs 8,540 , with a gain of Rs 40 each from the last close.
— UNI
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GM to sell stake in finance arm for $14 billion New York, April 3 The long-awaited sale will generate much-needed cash for the world’s largest automaker, which reported a $10.5 billion loss in 2005. GM hopes the move may also help to restore the financing unit’s credit rating to investment-grade status. GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said in a statement the deal “provides significant liquidity to support our North American turnaround plan, finance future GM growth initiatives, strengthen our balance sheet and fund other corporate priorities. — Reuters
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Biocon’s drug-making licence cancelled
Bangalore, April 3 Replying to a query from M P Nadagouda (JDU) in the Legislative Council, Minister for Health and Family Welfare R. Ashok said the “licence has been cancelled in view of violation of import norms by the company.” He said Biocon had violated rules by importing the raw material used in the drug from China “under a different name.” The government had already written to the Centre in this regard and an inquiry will be conducted by the Drugs Controller, who would visit the Bangalore-based company this month.
— PTI
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Mumbai: State-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has recorded an increase of 23.61 per cent in its profit before tax at Rs 848 crore for 2005-06 as compared to Rs 686 crore last fiscal. The company’s turnover grew 11 per cent at Rs 3,561 crore as against of Rs 3,212 crore a year ago. BEL also achieved exports of $13.58 million this year as against $12.50 million in 2004-05. The turnover per employee for 2005-06 stood at Rs 29 lakh versus last year’s Rs 26 lakh, it informed Bombay Stock Exchange. — PTI
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