The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	India Inc seals M&A deals worth $38 bn in H1 New Delhi, July 7 The value of mergers and acquisitions that India Inc snapped up in the first half of the year surged over seven times to a staggering $38 billion or over Rs 1.8 lakh crore, led by big ticket deals in the telecom and pharma sectors. The mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity involving domestic firms witnessed a surge with the deal value reaching $38 billion in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, global consultancy firm Grant Thornton said in the latest issue of Dealtracker. "The deal values are very close to the heightened level of M&A transaction value that was seen in 2007. The number of deals for the first half of 2010 is the highest-ever historically," Grant Thornton partner for specialist advisory services Srividya CG said. The significant increase in activity is driven by some of the large deals including the merger of Reliance Infratel's tower assets with GTL Infrastructure for $10.86 billion, Bharti Airtel's $10.7 billion acquisition of Zain's African assets and Abbott's acquisition of the domestic formulation business of Piramal Healthcare for around $3.72 billion. The largest contributor to the deal value has been the telecom sector followed by several others such as pharma/healthcare, banking and financial services, metals and ores, the study notes. Interestingly, seven deals have been announced already which have are valued billion-dollar-plus - which is a record for the first six months of a year. Another report from VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle.com, states the M&A deal value during this April-June period touched $24.8 billion against $2.8 billion in the year-ago period. "The second quarter of this year saw some big tickets deals, which sent the total M&A deal value soaring. This signalled the return of investor confidence and liquidity to the market," the VC Edge report notes. In June, the total M&A and PE (including qualified institutional placement) deals were valued at $13.74 billion (67 deals) compared to $1.38 billion (43 deals) and in the same month of 2009, says the Grant Thornton report. Further, total value of outbound deals (domestic firms acquiring businesses outside the country) was $0.13 billion (17 deals) in June. While total value of inbound deals (foreign companies or their arms acquiring domestic businesses) was $0.41 billion (6 deals) in June. The Grant Thornton report says the most prominent region where outbound acquisitions have seen the highest include Africa, followed by Belgium, Britain and the US. The largest acquirer of Indian businesses has been the US so far this year, in terms of both volume and value, it added. — PTI
	Perishable cargo centre for Amritsar Chitleen K Sethi Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 7 The Punjab Government will set up a perishable cargo centre at Amritsar International Airport to promote export of vegetables and fruits from the state. The Airports Authority of India has offered 2.5 acres of land at a nominal lease of Re 1 per annum for the setting up of the centre. The centre will be constructed at a cost of Rs 25 crore, out of which Rs 10 crore would be funded by the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) of the Government of India. This would be the third such facility in India after Mumbai and Cochin. Approving a proposal of the Punjab Agri-Export Corporation (PAGREXCO), the Government of India has also given a go-ahead for the setting up of five pack house facilities for fruits and vegetables in order to maintain a cold chain till the products reach the airport. SK Sandhu, MD, PAGREXCO, said there was immense scope for exporting vegetables and fruits for Punjab farmers but the right facilities were required. He pointed out that the production of vegetables in the state had gone up from 17 lakh metric tonnes in 1997 to almost 28 lakh metric tonnes in 2008. Similarly, the production of fruits in the state had gone up from almost 8 metric tonnes in 1997 to about 11 metric tonnes in 2008. Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Gurdaspur, Sangrur and Faridkot were among the major fruit and vegetable growing districts in the state. “A few farmers in these areas have taken the initiative and have been growing vegetables for overseas markets. They are using the temporary perishable centre facility at the airport but that is not enough if we are looking at exports on a large scale,” said Sandhu. While cold stores had already been set up, sites had been identified for the setting up of pack houses at Mushkabad near Samrala, Saholi near Nabha, Kangmai in Hoshiapur, Lalgarh near Samana, Babri in Gurdaspur, Bring Mohanpura near Chola Sahib in Tarn Taran, Sandhwan near Kotkapura, Malerkotla in Sangrur, Shahkot in Jalandhar and Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala. “The farmers in these areas are already marketing their produce in the neighbouring market yards or supplying to retail chains located close to the growing areas but because of lack of proper transport arrangements they are unable to sell their produce to the distant markets. Pack houses improve the shelf life and conserve the quality of the product and also balances the harvest cycle with the marketing cycle of the product,” said Sandhu. “The Government of India has approved financial assistance for five pack houses and for the rest financial assistance is being sought. A total of about Rs 8.25 crore would be needed for the setting up of the pack houses. The area needed for the centres would be less than an acre and can be arranged by the farmers,” he added.
	Increase lending to farmers, Punjab to FM Sarbjit Dhaliwal/Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 7 With the objective of freeing farmers from the clutches of moneylenders and private finance companies, which charge interest rates up to 48 per cent, the Punjab Government has urged the Union Government to direct the public sector banks to increase the lending to farm sector to 70 per cent. At present, only 29 per cent loans are advanced to the farm sector by the banks whereas 54 per cent loans are advanced by moneylenders, commission agents and others. Raising the issue with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at Chandigarh yesterday, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said there was a need to bring the farmers in banking sector to free them from the moneylenders and others. The state has urged to raise the funds earmarked for banks for debt swapping to 20 per cent from the existing 3 per cent. Raising the issue of credit-deposit (CD) ratio, Manpreet Badal told Mukherjee that the CD ratio was highly skewed in case of Punjab because money collected from the state as deposits was not invested in the state. He said, for instance, against the Rs 100 collected, only Rs 63 were invested in the state whereas in Andhra Pradesh, banks have been investing Rs 140 against the Rs 100 collected in the state. He said by funding the micro industrial units, the banks could improve the CD ratio in a big way. He has urged the Union Finance Minister to enforce RBI instructions strictly in case of public sector banks to advance loans to micro industrial sector in the state. He pointed out that the banks in the state had been asking for big guarantees to advance loan to small industries. Naveen Garewal adds from Chandigarh: Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has expressed displeasure to the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the drastic reduction in share (read pay back) of taxes and duties collected by the Union Government from Punjab. Taking up a case alleging “discrimination” by the 13th Finance Commission, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal demanded that the Centre should pick up at least 50 per cent of the expenditure on account of implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations. Though the finance ministers’ conference held here yesterday was out of bounds for all, except the participants, sources in the Punjab Government said that the finance minister was quite vocal when it came to seeking more funds for the state. He reportedly told the central minister that the centre should provide Rs 12,743 crore as 90 per cent of the cost of maintenance, repair, deepening, widening and expansion of Water Resources Infrastructure in the State. He said the 13th Finance Commission’s marginal increase in States’ share in Central taxes to 32 per cent from 30.5 per cent was welcome, but it was still highly inadequate and certainly not commensurate with the responsibilities and development needs of the State. Presenting a case for higher financial help from the Centre, Manpreet Badal attributed high revenue deficit to high expenditure on salaries, pensions and servicing of debt.
	Airtel to invest $600 m in Nigeria Abuja, July 7 India's largest cellular service company Bharti Airtel will invest $600 million in Nigeria's mobile market following its takeover of Zain Telecom's African business for around $10.7 billion. Manoj Kohli, the CEO international and joint managing director, told reporters in the country's commercial capital, Lagos, yesterday that Bharti would also invest in rural telephony and introduce a corporate social responsibility programme that includes setting up of schools that would offer free quality education to underprivileged children in rural communities. "We are delighted to be in Nigeria and at the outset like to express our deep gratitude to the government of Nigeria for their overwhelming support. We want to be a partner in Nigeria's growth and will work with the government to take the telecom network deep into all corners of the country to touch the common man," Kohli said. He said Bharti would embark on an aggressive expansion in Nigeria in order to boost the profile of the country with a population of 150 million people as an emerging market powerhouse. — PTI
	2G Spectrum Panel to review TRAI’s proposals Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 7 Under pressure from the protesting telecom operators, the Telecommunications Ministry has decided to set up a panel to look into the concerns raised by the mobile firms over the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposals, including levying a one-time fee on 2G radio spectrum. The decision to form the panel came following the meeting between Telecommunications Minister A. Raja and the telecom operators here today. The meeting was called by the minister following protests by the telecom operators over the recent recommendations of TRAI. Those present at the meeting were representatives of Access Service Providers (COAI) and AUSPI and representatives of their member service providers. The CMDs of MTNL and BSNL were also present. The Internal Committee of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would be headed by Member (Technology). Various issues on licences, spectrum, allocation, charging of spectrum and rollout obligations, merger and acquisitions and other related issues were discussed at the meeting. The panel will finalise views on the regulator's proposals and refer them to the Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body within the ministry, the government in a statement said. The meeting came within days of the Telecom Minister agreeing to refer the matter regarding the spectrum holding by the telcos to the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Facing diverse views both from the telecom operators and also from the critical Opposition parties, the DoT had thought it best that the EGoM would be able to solve all problems relating to the TRAI’s recent recommendations on spectrum-related issues. TRAI has recommended a one-time charge for spectrum held by operators beyond 6.2 MHz and suggested that it be benchmarked with 3G-spectrum prices for which auction was held recently. The DoT’s decision came in the wake of a difference of opinion among operators, with old GSM operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular opposing the TRAI report saying the more efficient players are being penalised. Incidentally, GSM operators have also refused to be part of TRAI's latest consultation process for working out the pricing model for 2G spectrum, linking it to 3G. They said the method used by the regulator to fix the price of 2G spectrum they hold beyond the 6.2 MHz mark was neither transparent nor open.Their contention is that these proposals are arbitrary and retrograde, which will nullify the telecom advancements made in all these years. They have been wary of the proposals because if the recommendations are accepted by the DoT, they would have to fork about Rs 20,000 crore for keeping spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.
	Mobile with 72-day battery backup Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 7 One of the country’s fastest-growing handset manufacturing companies, Zen Mobile, has launched a dual SIM mobile phone with a 72-day standby battery and multi-media features. The phone has been priced at Rs 3,400. The company said the phone would give its users freedom from charging the handset frequently. The phone, M25, is equipped with a 2,500 mAh (milliampere hour) battery, offering a backup of 72 days, on standby mode and 16 hours of talk time and application usage. This ensures non-stop usage of voice and data applications and entertainment experience on a big screen, no matter wherever the user travels, the company said.
	Infotel, 3 others get BWA spectrum New Delhi, July 7 The government today allotted spectrum to four operators, including RIL-owned Infotel, in all 22 circles and Bharti Airtel in four, paving the way for starting high-speed mobile broadband. According to senior officials in the Department of Telecom (DoT), 20 Mhz of spectrum has been given to the four firms - Infotel, Bharti, Aircel and Tikona Digital, which have licences to offer services. The other two — Qualcom and Augere (Mauritius) Limited - would be given the radio waves as soon as they procure telecom licences, they said, adding there is no other problem with their cases. The government had recently held auction for selling spectrum for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services and had collected over Rs 1,06,262 crore. With the BWA, the operators can offer mobile broadband services that can facilitate high-speed wireless transmission of data. The speed can be as high as up to 40 Mbps. The operators have already started talks with the telecom vendors like Samsung, Motorola, Ericsson and few Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE for deploying either Wimax or Long Term Evolution technology platform. Both Long Term Evolution and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) are broadband wireless access (BWA) are similar but rival technologies. Infotel, acquired by RIL, was the only successful bidder in all of the 22 circles in the BWA auction conducted recently. Bharti had got in four, Aircel in eight and Tikona in five. — PTI
	Andhra Bank to expand network Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 7 Andhra Bank will be opening at least 500 more branches across the country in the coming three years, informed the chairman and managing director of the bank, RS Reddy, here recently. He said the aim was to break the regional image of the bank. “Andhra bank is not a bank for Andhra Pradesh. We have managed to break the state limitation and opened over 500 branches in the rest of India,” he added. Out of the total 1,550 branches of the bank, about 1,000 branches are in Andhra Pradesh. He said Chandigarh zone had 17 branches most of which had opened in the past two years. “We propose to double the number in the coming years,” he said.