New Delhi, July 22
The government today said it will divest 10 per cent of its stake in transmission utility PowerGrid Corporation by October, as part of an about Rs 8,400 crore public issue.

The issue will comprise 10 per cent equity dilution by the government and 10 per cent issuance of fresh equity by the company, according to a decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs here.

The proceeds will put money in the hands of the government, whose market borrowing this fiscal accounts for over 40 per cent of the Budgeted expenditure, besides providing the company with funds for expansion.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters that PowerGrid is likely to come out with its follow-on offer by October.

Currently, the government holds 86.36 per cent stake in PowerGrid.

The offer comprises over 84 crore (84,17,68,246) equity shares of Rs 10 each, constituting 18.18 per cent of post-offer paid-up capital of the company.

At the current market valuation, the FPO is likely to mop up about Rs 8,400 crore.

The fresh capital raising would be used for part funding investment requirement of about Rs 58,000 crore of the PSU.

The company had hit the capital market in October, 2007, with its maiden public offer, comprising issuance of 10 per cent fresh equity and 5 per cent disinvestment by the government.

In an effort to raise Rs 40,000 crore from disinvestment during the current financial year, the government would sell stake in about 10 more PSUs, including IndianOil, Coal India, SAIL, RINL and Shipping Corporation.

The company targets to augment transmission capacity to 23,400 MW in the current fiscal from 19,800 MW at present. The shares of PowerGrid settled at Rs 101.40 on NSE, up 1.5 per cent from yesterday's closing. — PTI 

New Delhi, July 22
Food inflation eased marginally to 12.47 per cent for the week ended July 10 as some essential items like vegetables turned cheaper, but experts said it may not deter RBI from hiking short-term rates in its upcoming monetary review.

However, petroleum product prices remained flat week-on-week as the government decision to raise fuel prices had only led to one-time hike in these rates. The fuel, power, light and lubricants inflation remained intact at 14.27 per cent.

But the fuel price hike could lead to indirect impact on inflation and this cascading impact will be felt in near future.

Analysts said the decline in food inflation augurs well for times to come and inflation is likely to go down further due to good monsoon.

On weekly basis, pulses prices declined by 0.84 per cent, vegetables by 0.13 per cent and wheat by 0.11 per cent.

However, poultry chicken, condiments and spices, milk, gram and river fish turned expensive over the previous week.

Year-on-year, a number of essential items like pulses, fruits and milk remained quite expensive. Pulses prices rose by 23.79 per cent, milk by 17.33 per cent and fruits by 10.02 per cent. — PTI

Mumbai, July 22
Carmaker Porsche today announced the launch of Cayenne in India. The car is being launched by Precision Cars India, the official importer of Porsche cars in India.

According to company’s statement, the Indian market will receive the hybrid version of the car, the Cayenne S Hybrid. The car enjoys high fuel efficiency - 8.2 litres/100 km with CO2 emissions of just 193 g/km. The Cayenne S Hybrid combines the performance of an 8-cylinder with the economy of a 6-cylinder running on much less fuel, the company said .

Porsche said its new “Intelligent Performance” technology allows all Cayenne vehicles to offer more power on less fuel, greater efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.

The Cayenne is built using special combination of materials for optimum weight. Thus, the weight of the car is is reduced by 180 kg.

Ashish Chordia, director, Porsche India, said demand for the Cayenne cars in India is very good.

“We already have a strong order bank for the new Cayenne and new Porsche Centres are set to open in Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad," Chordia said.

The price of the Cayenne ranges from Rs 59.2 lakh to Rs 1.27 crore.

New Delhi, July 22
Global consultancy firm KPMG yesterday said three Indian projects were on its list of 100 most interesting infrastructure projects - Infrastructure 100 Project Report, showcasing examples of great infrastructure projects at different stages of development across the world.

The three projects are KG-D6, 4,000-MW Mundra Plant and the newly opened Indira Gandhi International Airport project in the Capital.

KPMG said: “India’s KG-D6 project not only sets new standards in integrated gas infrastructure projects but it also launches an innovated approach to the sale and transportation of energy, helping to accelerate India’s economic growth. The 4,000 MW Mundra Plant, one of the nine Ultra Mega Power Projects, uses unfashionable coal, making it the most energy-efficient plants vital to India’s continuing economic development. The IGI Airport at New Delhi was upgraded and modernised while still functioning, delivering a world-class facility, which is also being turned around in record time.”

KPMG said judges were consistently impressed by the ambition which these projects demonstrate in scale, feasibility, complexity, innovation and impact on society despite huge engineering challenges.

The KG-D6 in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal on India's east coast encompasses subsea equipment, pipelines, a riser platform, and an onshore terminal. The Mundra Project is a 4,000-MW power plant being developed by Coastal Gujarat Power Limited at Mundra in Gujarat. This mega project will establish India’s first 800-MW unit supercritical technology thermal power plant, stated to be the most energy-efficient, coal-based thermal power plant in the country.

Mumbai, July 22
Olive Telecom today announced the launch of the Olive Pad, which it said, was India’s first tablet PC. The Olive Pad, which runs on Google’s Android operating system, doubles up as a smartphone, still and a video camera. The company said the tablet can be used to browse the Internet, multimedia playback, instant messaging, gaming, turn-by-turn directions, reading e-books and also to watch television.

Priced at below Rs 25,000, the Olive Pad will be available across the country by August.

The device was unveiled by Arun Khanna, chairman, Olive Telecom, David Hind, CEO, Olive Telecom, Americas, and Artem Orange, CEO, Olive CIS/CEE.

“With this launch, we are bringing consumers to experience cutting-edge technology that the world has been talking of. It is the true convergence device that brings together the computer, mobile phone and entertainment on one platform,” Khanna said.

BRIEFLY

PFC to raise $1 bn
New Delhi: The Power Finance Corporation on Thursday said it would raise $1 billion (about Rs 4,700 crore) from overseas during the current financial year (2010-11) to fund projects. This was disclosed by PFC chairman-cum-managing director Satnam Singh. Meanwhile, for the quarter ended June, PFC posted a 17.55 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 652.35 crore. The total income rose to Rs 2,417.54 crore against Rs 1,892.92 crore in the same quarter a year ago. — PTI

Bharti-Walmart to hire 1,100
New Delhi: Bharti-Walmart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores, on Thursday said it will hire about 1,100 people as part of expansion of its wholesale business by the end of this year. The additional manpower will be hired for cash-and-carry joint venture of the two partners, Bharti Walmart CEO Raj Jain said. — PTI

Western Union, SBI tie-up
Mumbai: Global payment services major, Western Union has tied up with the SBI to enable international direct cash-to-account transfers. The new arrangement will allow consumers to send money from any one of the 3,70,000 global locations of Western Union into their SBI online account, thus complementing SBI's existing online remittance facility. — PTI