New Delhi, March 30
The jinx that kept Bharti Airtel from entering the African telecom market has been broken. The company finally gained entry into one of the fastest growing telecom markets through a deal to acquire the African operations of Kuwait-based Zain Telecom. Bharti had failed twice in as many years to strike a deal with another African company MTN.

The $10.7 billion Zain deal will not only pave the way for Bharti's entry into Africa, but also catapult the Indian entity into the league of the world's top 10 telecom players. Bharti will be placed at the seventh position with the combined subscriber base of close to 170 million.

Firing up Bharti's global ambitions, the latest acquisition comes in the backdrop of diminishing revenues from its India operations due to hyper competition and rock-bottom tariffs.

The transaction, which excludes Zain's operations in Sudan and Morocco, may, however, pose challenges to Mittal in terms of turning around Zain's under-performing networks, particularly in Nigeria, the Kuwaiti company's most important market.

This is the second overseas deal for Bharti in less than three months, after a not-so-satisfying 2009 that saw the domestic player calling off its months-long discussions for a $ 23 billion-deal with MTN marred by regulatory hurdles.

In January, Bharti acquired a majority stake in the Bangladesh-based Warid Telecom for $ 300 million. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
In what will be the first case of an MNC raising capital from India, the UK's StanChart today announced that it would float Indian Depository Receipts to mop up over $ 500 million (Rs 2,250 crore) and list it on bourses by June.

Seeking to float 220 million IDRs, the UK-based banking major moved Sebi for approval of the scheme, guidelines for which were cleared way back in 2004. The bank had earlier said the issue size could be between $ 500 million and $750 million.

"We have a strong presence in India. We are the oldest foreign bank in the country. We have good business and IDR is to give opportunity to Indian investors to participate in the global story," StanChart Plc's CEO (India and South Asia) Neeraj Swaroop told PTI immediately after filing for IDR with Sebi.

StanChart began its Indian operations in April, 1858, in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Asked about the pricing of the instrument, he said at present StanChart Plc was being traded at 17 pounds a share but "we have not decided on the conversion rate." While the banking major was looking for mopping up at least $500 million, it had not fixed any upper limit, Swaroop said, adding that he would also want employees to participate in the issue.

The proceeds would be repatriated to the global entity for normal business activities and there was no shortage of capital adequacy. "We have not faced any shortage of capital in the past. We will not face (in the future). India can get capital if required," he said.

He, however, said no decision had been taken for fixing a quota for employees and it would be decided when the issue neared completion and would depend on a host of issues like retail response.

Asserting that India, which contributes to 20 per cent of global profits, would continue to be the focus area, he said this year the bank would enter a host of specialised corporate equity services to assist IPOs, brokerage and equity solution to the Indian industry.

He said StanChart had posted a significant $1 billion profit in 2009 and added that the outlook was good.

He, however, refrained from giving any numbers for the future but pointed out that profits for the last five years had been growing at an average of 41 per cent, while income was rising at an average of 30 per cent.

In 2009, StanChart for the first time recorded profits of $ 1 billion from its India operations, the second country after Hong Kong to generate such huge revenue for the bank in Asia.

"India is the second largest market for the group and accounts for 20.5 per cent of the group's profits," StanChart said in a statement.

StanChart has over 94 branches in 37 cities in the country. Its combined customer base for retail customers stands at around 20 lakh, among others.

Investment bankers, including Goldman Sachs, UBS, JM, SBI Capital and DSP Merril Lynch advised StanChart on the said issue. — PTI

Mumbai, March 30
The State Bank has decided to extend its 8 per cent special loan scheme, popularly known as teaser rates, till April 30 and has set a target of Rs 3,000 crore disbursal during the month.

Under the extended scheme, new borrowers, who avail home loans, will be charged 8 per cent fixed rate in the first year, and 9 per cent in the second and third years irrespective of the loan amount, a senior SBI official told PTI here last night, adding that after the offer period (April 30), the rates would go back to the floating rate.

"We have decided to extend the special home loan scheme till April 30, considering a variety of factors, including our liquidity position, customer demand and the huge success of the scheme. This will give a boost to our credit growth as well," the official, who did not want to be named, said.

Going by the current indication, the State Bank expects to garner a whopping Rs 3,000 crore in the next one month from the extended scheme, the official said, adding that, "I think a Rs 3,000 crore business is doable." Since the introduction of the scheme in August, 2009, the government-owned lender has so far disbursed close to Rs 30,000 crore, an average of Rs 3,000 crore a month.

The scheme was initially for three months, but was later extended till March 31, 2010, following huge customer demand.

Under the original scheme -- My Home Campaign -- SBI offers special schemes under two categories -- Easy Home loan and Advantage Homeloan.

Under the Easy plan, customer can avail loans up to Rs 50 lakh at 8 per cent interest in the first year and 8.5 per cent in the second and third years. Under the second, loans are available above Rs 50 lakh at 8 per cent in the first year, 9 per cent in the second and third years.

With this announcement, the SBI has effectively rolled out the two schemes into one - SBI Advantage loan.

The SBI's move is likely to prompt at least a few of its competitors to launch similar schemes so as to protect their customer base and push up their credit off-take. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
All nine players, including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Telecom, which had applied for participating in the 3G spectrum auction, have been cleared for the financial bidding, making the competition for bagging for 3-4 slots on offer pretty intense.

According a Department of Telecom notice today, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Anil Ambani group company Reliance Telecom, Vodafone Essar, Etisalat DB, Idea Cellular, Stel, Tata Teleservices, Aircel and Videocon are the operators which are in the fray.

All these nine applicants will now submit their financial bids soon. Before the final auction on April 9, there will be mock auctions on April 5 and 6. Operators, however, can start commercial launch post-September 1, 2010 only.

Though the government had fixed a reserve prices of Rs 3,500 crore for all-India 3-G spectrum, the bid could be much higher as the number of operators in the fray outweighed the number of slots available.

The government could garner at least about Rs 20,000 crore, if one takes into account only the reserve price.

Third generation (3G) telecom services allows faster connectivity than what is available now and will enable applications such as Internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange. — PTI

Malerkotla, March 30
Bharti Walmart is all set to increase its footprint in North India this year. The company will open its wholesale cash and carry store in Zirakpur and Jalandhar and a distribution centre in Delhi.

This was stated by Raj Jain, president, Walmart India and CEO, Bharti Walmart, while talking to mediapersons here today. In the town to check the back-end operations of the company (sourcing of fruits and vegetables) here, Jain said the store in Zirakpur would be opened in April, while in Jalandhar it would be opened later this year.

“We have already enrolled 18,000 wholesale vendors for this store. Since this store will cater to the needs of wholesalers in Chandigarh, this will have more upmarket stuff to offer. Though the price tag will be lower, in keeping with Walmart philosophy, we will offer better brands in Zirakpur store,” he said.

The first Bharti Walmart store was opened in India at Amritsar last year. The company has already enlisted about 20,000 wholesalers at Amritsar and over 30 per cent of the goods stocked there are sourced locally.

“Our aim is to source 30-50 per cent of the goods locally. It is for this reason that we have now tied up with over 110 vegetable and fruit growers in Haider Nagar village here sourcing 30 per cent of our fruits and vegetables,” he said, adding that they had also initiated a number of community development projects here to forge a social relation along with a business relation.

Jain said the new distribution centre of the company would come up in Delhi by the end of the year. “We already have a distribution centre at Banur, but as we expand our operations in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh during this year. We will also set up another distribution centre at Delhi,” added the Walmart India president, adding that at least six other wholesale cash and carry stores would be opened this year.

Since Walmart India also supplies goods to Bharti’s retail venture- Easy Day Stores and Easy Day markets (large format stores), the company is looking at major expansion here, as more Easy Day stores and Easy Day markets will come up. “As of date, there are five Easy Day markets and 65 Easy Day stores,” he said.

Nalagarh, March 30
Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur inaugurated the fifth unit of Dev Bhumi Ispat at Nehla Khera village, near Nalagarh, today. Thakur said the industrial growth was contributing 18 per cent to the state’s GDP while this figure stood at a mere 1 per cent in 1951. He said 36,520 medium, small and large industrial units had come up in the state with an investment of Rs 9,138 crore after the 2003 Central industrial package and they had a provision to employ 2,27,196 people.

In the last two years, nearly 2,051 units, having an investment of Rs 10,640 crore, had been approved out of which 1,616 units having an investment of Rs 2,547 crore had started production.

The company’s MD Ravinder Bansal said the group comprising three units - Dev Bhumi Steel, Dev Bhumi Ispat and Shree Kangra Steel - initiated their operations in 2003 after taking over sick units. An investment of Rs 30 crore had been incurred where employment to 500 people provided.

The group hoped to strengthen its manufacturing base in North India and served the markets of Himachal, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Delhi. It manufactured a variety of products, including MS ingots, TMT bars, round bars, square bars, angles, channels, flats, girdles, etc.

As a step towards transforming into an eco-friendly fuel, the unit would soon switch over to coal gas-based fuel. Having set up a mark in the northern markets, their TMT bars would soon get the much-valued Temcor Licence from Germany which was a stamp of excellence in manufacturing. 

BRIEFLY

HTC smartphone by Airtel
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel today launched HTC smartphone priced at Rs 9,990 in partnership with HTC. Besides, it has also decided to launch the 3G services by the year-end, Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor said while launching a HTC smartphone exclusively on Airtel network. — PTI

Coal to file papers by June 15
New Delhi: CIL today said it would file papers with Sebi for its IPO by June 15. The company also said it was examining five investment proposals worth $ 1 billion (about Rs 4,500 crore) from two companies to buy stakes in overseas assets. — PTI

IL&FS Trans at Rs 287
Mumbai: IL&FS Transportation Networks today listed at Rs 287 on the BSE, a gain of 11.24 per cent over its issue price. Shares of IL&FS Transportation Networks later surged by 14.34 per cent to Rs 295 over its issue price of Rs 258 per share. — PTI