The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Renault exits pact with M&M New Delhi, April 16 Ending months of differences over production of entry-level sedan, Logan, in India, French auto major Renault today announced its exit from the joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra. Paying back in the same currency to its Indian partner, who had in 2008 walked out of a Rs 4,000-crore tripartite manufacturing joint venture in Chennai, Renault said it would sell its 49 per cent stake in Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd to M&M but did not give the valuation. The French auto major, however, said it will continue to support M&M and Logan through a licence agreement and supply key components, including the engine and transmission. The licensing agreement will, however, not cover other vehicles built on the Logan platform such as the Sandero. "Renault is fully committed to the success of Logan in India. We will continue to extend support to Mahindra to help gain market share," Renault executive vice-president Asia and Africa Katsumi Nakamura said. The two companies said they have restructured their partnership, under which Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd will become a 100 per cent subsidiary of M&M. Post the restructuring, M&M will be responsible for the management of the Logan in Indian market but the Renault name and logo will continue to be used till the end of this year, the two companies said in a joint statement. After 18 months, the car will be renamed and will sport only the Mahindra logo, it added. "The new agreement between Mahindra and Renault will give us the opportunity to chart out a new strategy to help drive the Logan brand in India, which will also include engineering changes, keeping in with customer requirements," M&M president automotive Pawan Goenka said. A senior Renault India official said after the new agreement, Renault will not sell the Logan on its own in future in India. Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd, formed in 2005, ran into troubles when Logan sales failed to meet expectations. Launched in 2007, Logan could not make the mark in the Indian market, selling just over 44,000 units since launch. Last fiscal, Logan sales dwindled to just 5,332 units from 13,423 in the previous financial year. M&M wanted to cut the size of Logan to make it qualify for small car definition and get excise benefit but Renault was against changing specifications of the car. The partners had envisaged an investment of Rs 700 crore to produce 50,000 units of Logan per annum at M&M's Nashik plant. While Mahindra held 51 per cent in the JV, Renault owned the rest 49 per cent. In January 2008, M&M had walked out of a tripartite joint venture for a joint manufacturing plant at Chennai with Renault-Nissan alliance. The partners had envisaged Rs 4,000 crore investment with a production capacity of 400,000 units. — PTI
	India, Brazil set trade target of $10 bn Brasilia (Brazil), April 16 India and Brazil on Wednesday said while they were satisfied with the continued expansion of bilateral trade, they accepted need for undertaking increased efforts to achieve the bilateral trade target of $10 billion by 2010. A joint statement issued after a bilateral meeting between visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said both leaders "held detailed discussions on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues and renewed their commitment to strengthen the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership." It revealed that both leaders had expressed satisfaction at the intensified and growing cooperation and collaboration between the two countries. Expressing satisfaction with bilateral trade reaching $5.6 billion in 2009 despite the impact of the international financial crisis, both President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the trade target of $10 billion by 2010 could only be achieved if both countries continued to focus on diversification, particularly in value-added sectors. "In this context, they noted the positive outcome of the Trade Monitoring Mechanism, the second meeting of which was held on March 15, 2010, in São Paulo, and the scheduling of the next meeting in October 2010 in New Delhi. The leaders reiterated their intent to hold the second meeting of the CEO Forum shortly," the joint statement said. Both leaders called on business and industry in both countries to utilise the opportunities available in the areas of energy, agriculture, mining, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and construction, among others to further expand bilateral investments. BRIC banks in pact The state-run banks of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) on Friday entered into a pact to strengthen and enhance trade and economic cooperation. The Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social of Brazil, State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs of Russia, Export-Import Bank of India, and China Development Bank Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard on the sidelines of the second BRIC Summit. As per the MoU, the BRIC countries would develop comprehensive long-term cooperation among themselves to facilitate and support cross-border transactions and projects of common interest. The four nations also agreed to develop a scheme designed to provide financing and banking services for investment projects and also study the feasibility of setting up an inter-bank entity. Addressing the Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the four countries can benefit by sharing their experiences in the field of inclusive growth. — Agencies
	Goldman Sachs accused of fraud New York, April 16 Goldman Sachs Group was charged with fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its marketing of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages that was designed to fail. The lawsuit is the biggest crisis in years for Goldman, which emerged from the global financial crisis as Wall Street's most influential bank. It is also a huge test for chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, who has faced a firestorm of criticism over the bank's pay and business practices. It comes as lawmakers in Washington debate sweeping reform of financial industry regulation. Goldman shares fell as much as 15.6 per cent and broader stock markets fell after the news. The SEC alleged that Paulson & Co - a major hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson - worked with Goldman in creating a collateralised debt obligation, and stood to benefit as its value fell, costing investors more than $1 billion. That is roughly the amount that Paulson is estimated to have made by betting against the CDO. Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman vice-president who, the SEC said, was principally responsible for creating the product, was also charged with fraud. Paulson was not charged. “The SEC has come out swinging,” said Cary Leahey, senior managing director of Decision Economics in New York. “This will be a difficult case to prove. Even supposed experts on Wall Street with years of experience in this area are still scratching their heads trying to figure out who did what.” Goldman defends itself Goldman has vowed to fight the SEC civil suit. “The SEC's charges are completely unfounded in law and fact and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation," it said. Paulson and Tourre were not immediately available for comment. It is a regulatory and public relations nightmare for Blankfein, who has spent 18 months fending off complaints that Goldman is an unfair beneficiary of taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street. He became CEO less than a year before the product challenged by the SEC was created. The lawsuit represents an aggressive expansion of regulatory efforts to hold people and companies responsible for activity that contributed to the nation's financial crises. Other investigations may be in the offing. Robert Khuzami, head of the SEC's enforcement division, said John Paulson was not charged because it was Goldman that made misrepresentations to investors, not him. It is unlikely that criminal charges will be brought, a source close to the matter said. Representatives for the Justice Department declined to comment. In afternoon trading, Goldman shares sank $24.92, or 13.5 per cent, to $159.35 on the New York Stock Exchange, after earlier falling to $155.57. The news sent broader U.S. stock indexes down more than 1 per cent, and major bank indexes down more than 3 per cent. — Reuters
	RIL acquires over 26 pc stake in Deccan 360 Mumbai, April 16 Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries today forayed into the aviation space as a "strategic investor" with over 26 per cent stake in captain Gopinath-founded cargo airline Deccan 360. While the companies did not disclose the quantum of investment, RIL said a wholly owned subsidiary would provide "growth capital" for the new cargo airline. Later speaking to reporters here, Gopinath said RIL's stake would be over 26 per cent, but below 50 per cent. He, however, declined to comment when asked about the capital infused by Reliance Industries. "We want to make it clear that it is not a sale... We would rather say that they (RIL) have invested in the company," he said, adding that RIL would have two nominees on Deccan 360's five-member board of directors. "We were in talks with some private equity players and some other potential strategic investors, but we chose Reliance, not because theirs was the highest bid, but because of strategic advantage of this deal," he said, but did not elaborate further. Gopinath said the company has an employee strength of 300, while it has a network of 60 franchises with an additional workforce of 1,500. "We believe that our collaboration with Deccan 360 will see a transformation in the logistics domain in India," RIL's chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said in a statement. RIL's investment would help Deccan 360 increase its air and surface network coverage across the country, the company said. Deccan 360 is already present in 50 cities and would expand to 100 cities in the next 12-18 months, Gopinath said. — PTI
	JSW Energy buyout New Delhi, April 16 Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Energy today said it has acquired majority stake in South Africa-based Coal Mining Holding Ltd for an undisclosed amount. In a filing to the stock exchanges, JSW Energy said it has acquired 49.80 per cent stake in Royal Bafokeng Capital, a majority shareholder in the South African company. The company also has an option of acquiring the balance 50.20 per cent stake from Royal Bafokeng Ventures Ltd stake in RBC, the announcement said. Value of the deal could not be ascertained as JSW Energy official could not contacted immediately. — PTI
	SanDisk to focus on smaller cities Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 16 The world’s largest supplier of flash memory products, SanDisk Corporation, is witnessing the maximum growth in Category C towns and cities, thus ensuring that the company’s marketing focus now shifts to these cities. With the grey market for these flash memory cards shrinking, thanks to the entry of organised players like SanDisk, towns like Ludhiana, Dehradun, Varanasi, Mussoorie, Jaisalmer, Manali and Shimla are now the new growth centres for these products. Talking to TNS here today, Manisha Sood, country manager, SanDisk, said though the metros were the biggest market for the company, these smaller cities and towns were the fastest-growing market. “It is for this reason that the company has now decided to make inroads into these towns by launching road shows . Other than the big cities, we are doing road shows in these smaller cities,” she said. “The high mobile penetration and the increasing use of mobiles as jukeboxes, mobile offices, even mobile movie theatres, the market for flash memory cards is increasing. Even the computers and digital cameras now need more storage for memory, thus ensuring a high growth rate in sales of USBs and memory cards for digital cameras,”she said. SanDisk is now working to increase its penetration across 20,000 retail outlets by next year. “It is a huge market that we are eyeing - 35 per cent of the 120 million per annum mobile market in the country have memory slots; around 1.5 million digital cameras sold in the country need an average two memory cards, while three million units of USB are sold in a month. Though an estimated 40 per cent of the flash memory card market is still unorganised, we are hoping to change that as we make inroads in these smaller cities,” she said.
	More currency derivatives products on cards Singapore, April 16 Chairman of the Indian securities board SEBI, CB Bhave, today said the market watchdog was planning to introduce more currency derivatives products, beginning with options, to give a wider choice to investors. "We will look into other kinds of derivatives (in currency trading), options to begin with, in order to offer increased products that are available," Bhave said at a CII conference on Indian financial markets. Currency option is a derivative instrument which gives the owner the right, but not the obligation, to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. Bhave said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had launched currency derivatives in India in August, 2008, a month before the global financial crisis hit the world. "Today, currency volumes on any given day are in the range of $6-7 billion and this is when only one pair was allowed three months back and just in futures," Bhave said. The currency futures were limited to rupee-dollars only, but later it was extended to other pairs. Referring to the recently filed prospectus for Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) by Standard Chartered Bank, Bhave said the regulator wants to encourage foreign companies to come and list on Indian stock exchanges in the form of IDRs. "We will look at this experiment eagerly, because it will tell us how efficient our markets are," he said. Bhave said that equal treatment for different classes of investors and efficiency in markets are very high on his agenda. He said from next month, the time taken to list shares from the date of closing of public offers would be reduced to 12 days from the current 22 days, before being reduced further to just seven days within this fiscal. — PTI
	SBI extends 8 pc farm loan scheme Mumbai, April 16 The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, today extended its concessional interest loan offer to farmers, under which it offers loans at 8 per cent against warehouse receipts, till June 30. The state-run lender started offering 8 per cent loan under its Produce Marketing Loan scheme last February with a view to save the farmers from falling prey to distress sale of their farm produce. The scheme ended on March 31, 2010. Farmers can avail of loans up to Rs 10 lakh under this scheme against warehouse and cold storage receipts at a fixed interest rate of 8 per cent for the first 12 months in respect of loans sanctioned and disbursed till the end of June, the bank said in a release here today. Despite disapproval of the Reserve Bank, SBI recently extended its 8 per cent 'teaser' home loan scheme for one more month till April 30, under which it offers 8 per cent fixed rate home loans for a year. In the second and third years, interest will be 9 per cent and the rates will go back to floating from the fourth year. Yesterday, largest mortgage player HDFC launched a dual rate scheme, under which it would offer a fixed rate of 8.25 per cent up to March 2011, then 9 per cent for the next one year and the prevailing floating rate for the remainder of the loan tenure. — PTI