London, September 19
Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover, part of Tata Motors group, said it will invest 355 million pounds (Rs 2,650 crore) on a new engine plant in central England, which fought off competition from India with backing from the UK government.

The government, keen to support manufacturing in Britain, will provide up to 10 million pounds for a plant expected to create 750 jobs and thousands of jobs across the wider UK economy.

"JLR choosing Wolverhampton for its new engine plant in the face of tough international competition is a tremendous boost for manufacturing in the UK and the West Midlands in particular," said business secretary Vince Cable.

Cable, a member of the Liberal Democrat junior coalition party, marked the announcement by visiting a JLR production plant in nearby Solihull. The Lib Dems are holding their annual conference in Birmingham, the largest city in the region.

Mike Wright, executive director at Jaguar Land Rover said they had considered building the facility in a number of locations within the UK and outside the UK.

“One obvious location would have been India,” Wright told journalists.

"There are a whole host of factors that go into these decision ... but on the balance of all of those factors, we determined with the support of Tata Motors, in this instance, the UK was the best option," he said.

Jaguar Land Rover already employs more than 19,000 people in Britain and supports up to 140,000 jobs. It has been boosted by strong demand from emerging markets such as Russia and China for its cars.

“As we invest 1.5 billion pounds a year for the next five years on new product developments, expanding our engine range will help us realise the full global potential of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands,” said Ralf Speth, JLR CEO.

Britain is seeking to support manufacturing as part of efforts to rebalance an economy that had been over-reliant on financial services.

Britain’s car industry is now largely foreign-owned but employs around 800,000 people and accounts for 10 per cent of exports.— Reuters

New Delhi, September 19
The government today announced that it has cleared 12 proposals for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, worth a total of Rs 242.88 crore, including one from Indian Rotorcraft to carry out the assembly of both military and civil helicopters.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), however, deferred decisions on 15 FDI proposals, including those of Vodafone Essar and Bangladesh-based Rahimafrooz Batteries, and rejected seven applications.

“Based on the recommendations of the FIPB... The government has approved 12 proposals for FDI amounting to Rs 242.88 crore,” the Finance Ministry said.

Mumbai-based Indian Rotorcraft had sought permission to induct foreign equity to carry out the business of final assembly of both military and civil versions of helicopters. The proposal, if implemented, would attract Rs 17.42 crore in FDI.

The board, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, also gave its nod to an Allcargo Global Logistics' proposal for FDI worth Rs 141.36 crore.

The Mumbai-based firm had sought ex-post facto approval for the issuance and allotment of optionally convertible warrants to raise funds for setting up multi-modal transport operations and inland container depot/container freight stations as part of its logistics business.

Another major FDI application that was cleared in the FIPB meeting held on September 2 was of Checkmate Services. The Gujarat-based firm had sought the government's permission for induction of foreign equity in its private security services business.

The proposal of PTC India Financial Services, Delhi and Haryana, for transfer of shares by way of a share swap to carry out the business of power generation, as well as Honda Siel Cars India’s application for FDI in a vocational training institute on automobiles and related fields were also cleared.— PTI

Washington/New Delhi, Sept 19
Led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and his three Cabinet colleagues, India will make an aggressive pitch to US industrialists to invest in the country's infrastructure sector.

Mukherjee, who will be on a five-day visit to the US from September 21, will address the Eight Annual India Investment Forum Meeting.

The theme of his address will be India's continuing growth story, a finance ministry statement said. Mukherjee is expected to ask the US corporate to invest majorly in India's infrastructure sector, which needs more than a $1 trillion over the next five years.— PTI

Chandigarh, September 19
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance is looking at traditional insurance products to enter into the insurance sector.

The company currently offers a mix of traditional and Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP)-based insurance products. However, its strategy in the Indian insurance sector will be its bouquet of traditional products.

Most other insurance companies have a bigger basket of ULIP products, which are not finding many takers now.

The company began operations in July and is now working to have a pan-India footprint in two years.

Deepak Mittal, CEO said that the company will be opening 44 branches across India in the next two years, and has already infused Rs 550 crore in its operations here as base capital.

“We will be opening 22 branches this year, and another 22 branches in the next year. In the coming week, we will open branches at Jalandhar and Karnal, which will be followed by two more at Ludhiana and Gurgaon next month,” he said.

The company expects assets under management to touch Rs 35 crore to Rs 40 crore in its first year itself.

“We will be initially looking at the urban population, we are working on creating specific products to tap the huge rural uninsured population,” he said.

Mittal said that though the insurance sector now had many players, there was still scope for new entrants as the insurance penetration in the country is quite low.

“Of an estimated 60 crore insurable population, only 20- 25 crore people are insured. We are positive that with our insurance products, we will be able to offer insurance cover to a large section of uninsured population,” he said. 

New Delhi, September 19
The number of mobile connections added to India’s mobile connected population has been on a falling trend for seven months now.

Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that 6.56 million users were added by telecom operators in July.

This is seen as an indication of saturation in the country’s urban market.

GSM operators’ umbrella body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) says that 7.6 million subscribers were added in July, this too was much less than the June addition of 8.58 million subscribers.

July has been the weakest month for over the last months.

Experts point out that no industry can keep growing exponentially. The decline in new additions were expected as most urban markets have reached saturation point and now the growth is expected only from the rural markets which although remain a slow moving point.

Experts say that the gross additions could decline further as the industry concentrates on creating healthier revenues from high-spending customers and increase call rates, a phenomenon which has already begun with the country’s top mobile operators announcing hikes in call charges.

Experts also point out that most operators would now be concentrating on the rural segment as that is where they envisage the future growth.

Bangalore, September 19
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi today said the Air India (AI) would appoint ‘four new senior directors from outside’ in its board as part of government’s plan to revive the national carrier.

Ravi said one of the four directors would look after Human resources, one would look after Marketing, one Commercial Activities and one would look after Finance.

“There is a long term strategy to make it AI profitable. One day you cannot change everything. The PM has also agreed to my suggestion to recruit four new senior directors from outside, from the open market,” Ravi said.

“Now, it is difficult to even pay the salaries (of AI employees). We want more cash flow. For that also we are evolving a strategy. That meeting is going to happen this week or next week”, Ravi said.

“The GoM (Group of Ministers) would meet every month and discuss the issue. Already Rs 2,000 crore has been given by the government to AI. Now more money will come from the government”, Ravi said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

NHB posts profit of Rs 279 crore
New Delhi: National Housing Bank (NHB) has posted a net profit of Rs 279 crore for the financial year ended June 30. It had gross loans and advances of Rs 22,581 crore. Full collection efficiency was maintained during the year, with ‘Nil’ gross NPAs and net NPAs. The Bank made a total loan disbursement of Rs 12,035 crore, out of which rural housing had the share of 48%, amounting to Rs 5,789 crore. — PTI

LIC, IDFC get nod to issue infra bonds
New Delhi: To attract long-term investments for the infrastructure sector, the government has allowed IFCI, LIC, IDFC, IIFCL and certain NBFCs to issue tax-saving bonds this fiscal. “The volume during the fiscal shall be restricted to 25 per cent of the incremental infrastructure investments made by the issuer during 2010-11,” the Finance Ministry said.— PTI