The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Worst over for exports Show growth of 11.5 pc in January New Delhi, March 2 Continuing its steady rise for the the third consecutive month, India's January exports grew by 11.5 per cent, signalling the worst of the recession is over. Exports increased to $ 14.34 billion in January this fiscal compared to $ 12.86 billion a year ago. With economic activity on the rise and consequently the imports, the country's trade deficit almost doubled to $ 10.36 billion for the month under review from $ 5.3 billion in January, 2009, according to the official data released today. Imports clocked a positive growth for the second straight month after failing for 11 months in a row since December, 2008. Inward shipments rose by 35.5 per cent to $ 24.70 billion in January from $ 18.22 billion in the same period last year. However, during the April-January period, exports remained in the negative zone because of big drops in earlier months of the current fiscal. The consignments declined by 17.8 per cent to $ 131.93 billion for the 10-month period against $ 160.43 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal. Analysts said the rising trend of the past three months shows that the worst for India's exports is over. "Our exports are coming out of the woods," Rakesh Mohan Joshi of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) said. The Commerce Ministry sources said fruits and vegetables, marine products and tobacco did exceedingly well in January, while sectors like tea, coffee, gems and jewellery, drugs and plastics also improved. However, engineering goods, textiles, jute, carpets, handicrafts and leather continued to fare badly. "The figures are clearly reflecting that the exports are coming on the track," FIEO president A Sakthivel said. Oil imports in January went up by 56 per cent to $ 7.05 billion from $ 4.52 billion the same month last year. Non-oil imports grew by 28.8 per cent to $ 17.65 billion compared to $ 13.7 billion in January, 2009. However, oil imports during April-January, 2009-10, dipped by 25.3 per cent to $ 63.97 billion from $ 85.62 billion in the corresponding period last fiscal. Non-oil imports too dipped by 17.1 per cent at $ 154.56 billion. — PTI
	RIL may lose battle for Lyondell: Report New York, March 2 Reliance Industries' $14.5 billion bid for LyondellBasell may be rejected by creditors of the bankrupt Dutch company, a media report said. "Mukesh Ambani's $14.5 billion bid for Lyondell, the world's third-largest chemical company, is expected to be rejected by a creditor group led by Apollo," the New York Post said. Quoting people familiar with the matter, the Post said private-equity firm Apollo Management, founded by billionaire Leon Black, is poised to prevail over RIL in its battle for LyondellBasell. The move would set the way for Apollo to merge LyondellBasell with its Hexion Specialty Chemicals operation, the paper said. A hearing on a reorganisation plan at the US bankruptcy court in Manhattan that would transfer ownership of the company to the creditors is scheduled for next Monday, the paper said. Weighed down by massive debts, LyondellBasell's US operations and one of its European holding companies had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009. In November last year, LyondellBasell and RIL disclosed a "preliminary non-binding offer" by the Indian firm for taking a majority stake in the chemical major. Last month, RIL was reported to have sweetened its earlier offer by $1 billion to $14.5 billion. "...but the Lyondell creditors still think the bid is too low. And while Ambani still has time to raise his offer," the New York Post said quoting sources. Besides Apollo, Lyondell's group of creditors includes Russian billionaire Leonard Blavatnik. "Reliance is making a mistake by not offering more," the paper quoted one creditor as saying. Last month, LyondellBasell had said the unsecured creditor and holders of its substantial debt had agreed to support its reorganisation plan aimed at exiting bankruptcy. — PTI
	But Airtel hopeful for Zain Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 2 Bharti Airtel is hopeful of clinching the $10.7-billion deal with Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain for its African assets, for which the two companies are in exclusive talks till March 25. "We are very hopeful (of the deal)," Rajan Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said on the sidelines of a Ficci conference here. Mittal, who has recently taken over as the president of Ficci, declined to comment on the proposed deal further. Bharti and Zain had entered into exclusive talks last month for the Indian operator to acquire the Kuwaiti telecom company’s African operations based on an enterprise value of $10.7 billion. The two have given each other a period of until March 25 to finalise the details of the deal which would not include Zain's operations in Morocco and Sudan. Bharti said the completion of the deal remained subject to due diligence, customary regulatory approvals and findings of the final transaction documentation. The deal is of great importance to Bharti for it’s to expand the company’s footprints abroad, especially in Africa, which remains one of untapped telecom markets. Bharti feels that this was the appropriate time to enter Africa and tap its vast potential. Last year in September, Bharti's talk with South African company MTN for a $23-billion merger deal fell through due to various regulatory approvals, including dual listing. When asked if there was a possibility of the extension of the period of exclusive talks with Zain beyond March 25, Mittal said it was still too early to talk about extension. There had been three extensions in talks between Bharti and MTN before it finally fell through for the second time.
	Car sales zoom Girja Shankar Kaura Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 2 It has never been so good for the country’s car makers. Backed by low interest rates and easy availability of loans, almost all car makers in the country posted their highest ever sales in February. Leading the pack were Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) and Hyundai Motors (HMIL)- with 22 and 46 per cent jump in sales. Same was the situation with the other car makers with Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) and General Motors India also posting their highest-ever sales. MSIL reported its highest-ever monthly sales of 96,650 units for February, a jump of 22 per cent over the same month last year. On the other hand, sales of HMIL touched a new high with record sales of 31,001 units in the domestic market, registering 46.13 per cent growth over the same month last year. In the domestic market, Maruti sold 84,765 units from 70,625 units in February, 2009, an increase of 20.02 per cent. Exports surged by 38.76 per cent to 11,885 units from 8,565 units in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. Maruti had sold 79,190 units during the same month last year. HMIL's total sales for February, 2010, stood at 54,617 units as against 38,235 units in February, 2009, registering 42.8 per cent cumulative growth. The domestic sales growth accounted for 31,001 units (which is the highest since 1998 when HMIL launched the Santro in September) as against 21,215 units in February, 2009, while the exports grew from 17,020 units in February, 2009, to 23,616 units in February, 2010, reflecting 38.8 per cent growth against the same period last year. However, sales of Maruti's once bread-and-butter model and the common man’s car M800 fell by 22.01 per cent at 3,178 units compared to 4,075 units in February, 2009, the statement said. The A2 segment (comprising Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz) witnessed 19.97 per cent growth at 60,380 units compared to 50,331 units in the same month a year ago. A3 segment sales(consisting of SX4 and DZire) increased by 27.49 per cent to 10,254 units compared to 8,043 units in the corresponding period a year ago, the company said. Toyota recored 101 per cent growth in sales with 5,993 units sold in February, 2010 -- sales of Innova, Corolla and Fortuner at 4142, 863 and 972 units -- as compared to 2,976 units in the same month last year. General Motors India saw its February sales climb over two-fold to 11,111, the highest monthly sales since its inception in the country. The company had sold 4,921 units in the same month last year, General Motors said in a statement.
	Nissan in talks with Leyland for small car Geneva, March 2 Nissan today said it was in talks with Ashok Leyland for developing a small car for the global market that could be priced around $ 4500-5000. The company, which is also a partner in the development of an ultra low-cost car with Bajaj Auto and Renault, said the project was yet to find a solution to produce such a cheap car. "We have a formal agreement with Ashok Leyland for making light commercial vehicles in India...in addition to that we also use Ashok Leyland's engineering services for various purposes. At the moment we are talking to them and many other partners in China, Indonesia...for a price centric vehicle," Nissan Motor Co executive vice-president Collin Dodge told reporters at the Geneva Motor Show here. He said the global small car was aimed at tapping the price bracket of $ 4500-5000, which is set to grow substantially and account for around "20 per cent of the total global car sales in due course of time". "There may be an opportunity with Ashok Leyland on a price-centric car," Dodge added. He said none of the big global car makers like Volkswagen, General Motors or Ford could produce a small car at such a cheap price without partnering with local firms already engaged in low-cost production. Asked which country will be the lead market for such a small car, Dodge said, "China will be the number one as the segment is growing in a big way there with about two million units. India will be the second market." Other countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia and some more Latin American nations are also possible markets, he added. In India, the car could be positioned between Tata Nano at the lower end and Maruti Swift at the upper end. — PTI
	Consensus must on GST: KPMG Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 2 States and the Centre must arrive at a consensus for the smooth implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by April 2011. The implementation of this tax will be the single most reformist step in the indirect taxation. This was stated by Richard Rekhy, head of advisory, KPMG, while talking to TNS on the sidelines of a session on the Budget 2010-11 analysis, held at the CII here this evening. He said since most of the states were earning huge revenue from taxes like purchase tax, octroi and VAT, they could foresee huge deficit in revenue once the GST would replace these taxes. While Punjab and Haryana were bound to suffer losses on account of purchase tax being done away with, Maharashtra, too, would suffer a revenue loss of almost Rs 8,000 crore after GST came into place and octroi as rolled back. “The states are demanding a 60 per cent share in GST, while the Centre says that the GST will have to be shared on a 50: 50 basis. Once the consensus is reached, the implementation of GST will be the single most important tax reform. Given the enormity of the implication of GST, it requires a consensus among all political parties and states,” he said. Once GST is implemented, the general taxes will come down. The indirect taxes, which are between 22-24 per cent, will come down to 16- 18 per cent. This will reduce the tax burden on the consumer. Rekhy, who is the chairman, Economic Affairs and Taxation Sub-Committee, CII, also pointed out other anomalies in the implementation of GST.
	Indian Hotels, M&M among top global brands New Delhi, March 2 Tata group firm Indian Hotels and Mahindra & Mahindra are the only Indian brands to figure in the list of 27 top “Great Brands of Tomorrow” compiled by Credit Suisse. The list also includes Apple, Hyundai Motor, Mercedes-Benz, world's largest watchmaker by sales Swatch, Facebook and online market place Alibaba.com. According to the Credit Suisse Research Institute, the global brands figuring on the list will significantly outperform the market over the next 3-5 years as they build and leverage brand equity to grow in size, scale and profitability. "Strong brand companies have consistently generated out-sized long-term growth and returns for shareholders," said the report, which took an in-depth look at how a company's brand can offer competitive advantages in a modern industry. The survey found that those companies listed on the S&P 500 which spent at least 2 per cent of sales on marketing, outperformed the index by more than 400 basis points annually since 1997, the survey noted. — PTI
	Glenmark to sell anti-Parkinson's drug in US Mumbai, March 2 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said its US-based subsidiary had received the nod of the US health regulator Food and Drug Administration for marketing ropinirole hydrochloride tablets, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The company had got the approval for ropinirole hydrochloride tablets in 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 2 mg, 3 mg, 4 mg and 5 mg strengths and would immediately commence marketing and distribution of the product in the US market, Glenmark said. Ropinirole hydrochloride tablets were the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's requip tablets in the US market, it added. The total sales for ropinirole hydrochloride tablets in the 12-month period ending December, 2009, were around $104 million, Glenmark said. — PTI