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FDI inflow up over 40 pc in August
World Bank to lend $4.2 bn
Car exports zoom 36% in H1
Continue stimulus for two years: Assocham
India fastest growing telecom market
TRAI to come out with paper on M&A norms
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Spurious Drugs
Oswal to market Gadoni in India
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FDI inflow up over 40 pc in August
New Delhi, October 13 In August India has received foreign direct investment of $3.26 billion, a robust growth of 40.51 per cent over the same month last year. FDI inflow in August last year stood at $2.32 billion, the Reserve Bank said in its bulletin. The country attracted $3.51 billion FDI in July this year against $2.25 billion in the same month last fiscal. Portfolio investment in August also increased by 56.15 per cent to $926 million compared to $593 million, the bulletin said. The total FDI inflows during April-August, however, contracted by about 3.41 per cent to $14.14 billion compared to the same period in 2008-09, due to poor accruals in the opening months of the fiscal. In the first five months of 2008-09, it was at $14.64 billion. During the first five months of this fiscal, portfolio investment increased to $11.23 billion from $4 billion in the same period last year. In 2008-09, the government had set a target of attracting $35 billion FDI, but was able to receive only $27.3 billion due to the global financial crisis. PTI adds: The country had attracted $100 billion of FDI in equity since 2000 up to July this year. Experts see signs of recovery as also global investors' confidence in the Indian economy. "Foreign investors are confident about the India growth story," Axis Bank economist Saugata Bhattacharya said. HDFC Bank economist Jyotinder Kaur said as the recovery become apparent, FDI inflows are likely to rise in the coming months. "The inflows would rise because foreign investors see India as a good long-term destination," she said. Factory output grew by 10.4 per cent in August on the back of robust growth in mining and manufacturing sectors, the official data released yesterday said. Crisil Principal Economist DK Joshi said the rise in FDI inflows indicate reaffirmation of India growth story. — PTI
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World Bank to lend $4.2 bn
New Delhi, October 13 State-run PowerGrid Corp of India, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) signed pacts for $1 billion and $1.195 billion, respectively. The Centre signed the agreement for $2 billion to recapitalise the state-run banks, which require capital infusion during 2009-2011 to maintain credit expansion and to help contain adverse effects of
global slowdown. The loans from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, an arm of the World Bank, for the banking sector and PowerGrid have a maturity period of 30 years, while that to IIFCL has a 28-year maturity, with some grace periods. The funding to IIFCL has two components, IBRD loan of $1.195 billion long-term finance to infrastructure projects and a grant of $5 million for capacity building
of IIFCL, which finances infrastructure projects. The loan will be utilised for strengthening transmission systems for Sasan, Mundra and Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Projects and South-West interconnection. This would further result in the strengthening of the National Grid, it said.
— PTI |
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New Delhi, October 13 According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM), car exports during April-September stood at 2,10,088 units as against 1,54,783 units in the year-ago period. The European Union (EU) nations had incentivised buying of new cars in exchange of the old ones under a scrappage programme in May that will run till February 2010. The growth in exports were largely driven by the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India as its overseas shipments rose over two-fold during April-September to 65,752 units from 29,699 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said. Hyundai Motor India, the country's largest car exporter Hyundai reported 16.02 per cent jump in exports at 1,39,971 units against 1,20,648 units in the same period last year. There is, however, a question mark on whether car exports can sustain the momentum it witnessed in the first half of the fiscal as the scrappage scheme is subject to the condition that respective governments in the EU have not exhausted their allocated funds till the deadline. "The question is whether you will see European car market growing once the scrappage programme is taken back. So we are cautiously optimistic for the export sector in this fiscal," SIAM Director General Dilip Chenoy told reporters here. According to SIAM's latest data, the overall vehicle exports from India grew by 4.41 per cent during the first half of this fiscal at 8,08,455 units as against 7,74,302 units during the same period of last fiscal. All other segments of the industry, however, registered decline in overseas sales in April-September period. During the period, motorcycle exports were down marginally at 4,97,611 units compared with 5,02,031 units. Total two-wheeler exports also fell by 1.30 per cent to 5,12,939 units as against 5,19,684 units in the year-ago period, it added. Exports of commercial vehicles decreased to 17,466 units in the six months from 27,146 units in the corresponding period in 2008, down 35.66 per cent. SIAM said exports of the total passenger vehicles, including utility cars, grew by 34.29 per cent in the six months at 2,11,645 as against 1,57,601 units in the same period last year. — PTI
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Continue stimulus for two years: Assocham
New Delhi, October 13 "The stimulus has really worked well...the double-digit growth in industrial production reflects the impact of the measures and these should be continued for another 1-2 years," Piramal told reporters here. The first woman president of any apex industry body said with over 10 per cent increase in factory output in August Assocham will revise its earlier GDP estimate of 7 per cent for the current fiscal. "I think the IIP will continue to grow like this in the next two quarters also...we will revise (upwards) our economic growth estimates for 2009-10," she said. The government had announced a slew of measures like cut in excise duties, additional spending on infrastructure, two per cent interest subsidy to exporters and service tax exemptions to prop the slowdown-affected Indian industry. In the first quarter this fiscal, the Indian economy grew by 6.1 per cent and is expected to grow by over 6 per cent in 2009-10 as per government's estimates. Piramal also said it was time for "quick disinvestment" of profit-making public sector enterprises (PSUs) as it would "immediately" help soften interest rates and assist fiscal management. "The government should allow disinvestment in PSUs to raise Rs 30,000 crore," Piramal said. The government has estimated fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent for 2009-10. Commenting on the Draft Tax Code (DTC) Piramal said, "in theory it is very good but there are 2-3 things, about which the industry is worried." She said the government should drop the proposal to introduce Minimum Alternate Tax in DTC on assets as it is like levying wealth tax on loss-making companies. MAT is more like wealth tax to be paid even by loss making companies, those that are yet to start business and even on assets yet to be put to use, she added. On implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the president said it should be implemented at a flat rate of 12 per cent by April 2010. — PTI
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India fastest growing telecom market
New Delhi, October 13 Global rating agency Moody's, while terming India as "world's fastest-growing market", has said in the past 18 months, "India's net additions of 10 million (subscribers) per month have far outpaced China's monthly rate of increase, now below eight million". It said the innovative methods adopted by the telcos has also helped operators keep the service charge low, which remain at as low as 50 paise per minute and now even at per-second cost. Two years ago, China had the maximum number of new subscribers being added every month. "Although emerging markets with relatively low penetration continue to have above-average rates of increase in new subscribers, those numbers tend to be slowing, except in India ," Moody's said. The agency said divestment of non-core assets like selling or sharing cell phone towers as a way to control costs and optimise capital expenditure had helped Indian operators in expanding coverage. For the Asia-Pacific region, the agency while assigning a "stable outlook" said the revenue growth would drop sharply by year-end from the double-digit growth rates of the past five years. However, the full-year revenue growth for the industry this year will remain marginally positive. — PTI
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TRAI to come out with paper on M&A norms
New Delhi, October 13 The consultation paper, which is expected to come by next month, is expected to start another round of consolidation in the sector. "Our target is to float a consultation paper by November on mergers and acquisitions," TRAI Member RN Prabhakar told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here. The paper would deal on issues related to spectrum allocation and
pricing, he added. According to reports, TRAI was considering changes in the M&A norms to facilitate consolidation in this competitive sector. The paper would also deal on the issues whether telcos be allowed to trade in the wireless spectrum and buy each other out. At present, spectrum
trading is not allowed in the country. Moreover, there is a three-year lock-in clause that prevents promoters of new telcos from selling stake and exiting a venture. The paper is expected to take a look at this clause also, which, incidentally, was implemented recently after some of the start-up
firms sold out part of their stake in the company to foreign investors. |
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Spurious Drugs
Chandigarh, October 13 The small drug manufacturers rue that as per the new provisions of the Act, they could be taken to task if the medicine loses its potency because to lack of cold chain facilities, or owing to lack of properly equipped testing laboratories and trained staff. Making it a cognizable offence would lead to unnecessary harassment by the drug inspectors, they complained. In a letter to Prime Minister, the SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC) has demanded that rather than making out a cognizable offence, only departmental action should be initiated against legitimate manufacturers, unless they are habitual offenders with intentions to profit by making spurious drugs. It may be noted that the amended Act enhances the penalty for manufacture of spurious drugs to a minimum imprisonment of 10 years, which may extend to a life term, and a minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh or three times the value of the drugs confiscated, whichever is higher. And it makes the offence non-bailable in some cases. Talking to TNS, Jagdeep Singh, secretary general of SPIC, said in many cases the manufacturer may not be at fault, but will have to suffer as per the amended provisions of the Act. “If say, in a batch of 1 lakh multivitamin capsules, the potency of folic acid decreases because of absence of cold chain or other best manufacturing practices, the sample will be called spurious and the manufacturer will be prosecuted. Somebody who has invested Rs 20 crore on setting up the business, will have to face 10 years imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 10 lakh because a component in the drug was found missing, which is unfair,” he said. |
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Oswal to market Gadoni in India
Ludhiana, October 13 Oswal Knit has entered into agreement with the Italian brand after a successful stint with Pringle of Scotland for
several years. The tie-up will entail marketing and distribution of the brand by opening its exclusive stores in different cities across the country. “We are shortly going to open an exclusive store in Ludhiana followed by more stores in other cities by 2010,” said Ricky Oswal of Oswal Knit. The company has plans to open stores in Chandigarh, Bathinda and Dehradun, among other cities. The brand will also be made available at multi-branded showrooms in metros and small cities as well as per its plan to expand it into a 50 crore venture in the next three years. |
Merck acquires Bangalore-based firm Areva T&D bags
PowerGrid order Sun Direct eyes 6 million subscribers Mjunction forays into
retail space Videocon to shift
steel project Geojit BNP Paribas
profit up 150 pc PVR to expand network
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New Delhi, October 13
