Mumbai, August 13
India has received six proposals from global single-brand retailers seeking permission to own 51 per cent of their operations in the country, the commerce ministry said on Monday.

Retailers who have applied to the government include apparel maker Tommy Hillfiger, clothing retailer Brooks Brother Group, Italian jewellery brand Damiani International, French fashion brand Promod SAS, Fapa Company Ltd and NA Pali Europe SARL, which is a unit of sportwear retailer Quiksilver Inc.

Many of these retailers are already present in India via licensing and joint venture partnerships with Indian retailers. The government has not taken a decision on these proposals, the ministry said. Recently an application by Zara owner Inditex SA to sell a more upscale brand through a joint venture with Tata Group's retail arm, Trent Ltd, was rejected by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

In January, India allowed foreign single-brand retailers to set up wholly owned operations in India, but a requirement that companies source 30 percent from small local firms has discouraged retailers from applying for full ownership.

Only IKEA and Pavers, a British shoe chain, have applied so far hoping to bank in on rising middle-class incomes and an expanding appetite for global brands and lifestyles.

The statement said no decision has been taken on modifying the sourcing norms, a widely expected move from the government as it struggles to attract overseas investors in the sector. — Reuters

New Delhi, August 13
India’s second largest car-maker, Hyundai Motor India, on Monday brought in its high selling new sedan Elantra at an introductory price of between Rs 12.5 lakh and Rs 15.8 lakh, looking to revive its presence in the mid-luxury executive car segment.

While the petrol variant is powered by an 1.8 litre engine, the diesel version has a 1.6 litre engine.

Lacking a model to compete with the likes of the Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cruze, Skoda Laura, Volkswagen Jetta, Suzuki Kizashi and the Honda Civic, Hyundai has brought in the new Elantra which would be available in both the petrol and diesel versions based on its new fluidic design philosophy first seen with the new Verna.

With 750 bookings already in plant, the new Elantra hopes to lead the segment which has been dominated by some of the above models. Elantra was phased-out of India five years ago.

“The new Elantra was launched in the US in 2011 and it has received overwhelming response worldwide. We are confident that in India also this will be a success,” Hyundai Motor India managing director & CEO BS Seo told reporters here.

The executive sedan market size is 2,800 units a month and has dipped 36% to 8,356 units in April-July this year.

Hyundai has invested Rs 200 crore at its Chennai plant to produce the sedan and expects the diesel variant to account for 80% of the demand.

Although the market conditions in India are currently challenging, it is a temporary situation and the company believes in the long term potential of the market, Seo added. "We’ll continue to try new products in the Indian market," he added.

The company which had earlier planned to set up a diesel engine manufacturing plant at its Chennai facility said it has delayed the project due to lack of clarity of government policy on fixing of diesel and petrol prices.

Hyundai’s petrol car sales have dipped 15% this year with diesel cars accounting for 22% of total sales from 17% last year.

New Delhi, August 13
Foreign direct investment inflows for the first two months of fiscal 2012-13 have been almost half of that received in the same period last year. Several reasons have been cited by analysts for the weak inflows including policy paralysis, low investor confidence, instability in the policy regime, retrospective tax amendments.

According to a government statement, FDI equity inflows, amounting to Rs 16,849 crore (US $3,18 billion), were received during April-May, 2012 in comparison to FDI equity inflows of Rs 34,792 crore ($7,78 billion) received during April-May, 2011.

This information was given by minister of state for commerce & industry Jyotiraditya Scindia in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.

According to the statement, the policy on foreign direct investments is reviewed on an ongoing basis, with a view to making it more investor friendly. The government has put in place an investor-friendly policy on FDI, under which FDI up to 100% is permitted under the automatic route in most sectors.

Significant changes have been made in the FDI policy regime in the recent times, to ensure that India remains increasingly attractive and investor friendly.

Mumbai, August 13
Tata Steel on Monday reported a nearly 89% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 597.88 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2012. Profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal was Rs 5,346.55 crore.

Net sales of the company rose by 1.89% to Rs 33,547.73 crore from Rs 32,925.68 crore in the April-June period of fiscal 2011-12, Tata Steel said in a filing to the BSE. A Reuters poll of brokerages had forecast net profit of Rs 6.7 billion.

During the quarter under review, Tata Steel reported total expenditure of Rs 31,725.90 crore, while its interest burden came down to Rs 969 crore from Rs 1,012.95 crore in the same period a year ago, it added.

The steel major’s consolidated results include financial performance of Tata Steel Europe and other global ventures of the leading steelmaker, besides Indian operations.

On a standalone basis (Tata Steel's Indian operations) the firm posted a decline of 38.88% in net profit to Rs 1,356.56 crore in the April-June quarter as compared to Rs 2,219.43 crore of the same quarter of the previous fiscal. Standalone net sales were at Rs 8,820.19 crore, up 13.19%.

Shares in Tata Steel, valued at $7 billion, closed down 1.2% ahead of the results. — PTI/Reuters

New Delhi, August 13
The total loans of the stressed textiles industry that banks will need to restructure are estimated at Rs 36,000 crore. The government has instructed banks to reschedule loans on a case by case basis in accordance with the RBI’s prudential guidelines on restructuring of advances by banks. This was stated by minister of state for textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Bank of Baroda Capital Markets, in its assessment report on stress in the textile industry, has estimated that the total fund based credit (including TUFS) extended to the textiles industry was at Rs1.55 lakh crore.

With the addition of the estimated nonfund credit of Rs 15,542 crore, the total exposure of banks to the textile industry amounts to Rs 1.71 lakh crore On the basis of their calculations, it is expected the outstanding debt at the end of FY12 should be Rs 1 lakh crore of which 25.8% needs to be rescheduled.

This works out to Rs.25,967 crore and, if another Rs 10,000 crore is to be added, which would be the loss in value of the inventory, the total loans that need to be restructured should be about Rs 36,000 crore.

New Delhi, August 13
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has initiated investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by global search engine Google, the government said Monday.

CCI has launched a probe against Google following a complaint by consumer advocacy group Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) International, against anticompetitive practices adopted by the firm.

CCI has received information for contravention of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 by Google. This was stated by minister of state for corporate affairs R.P.N. Singh in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question.

CCI, which is a quasijudicial regulatory body has ordered an investigation in the matter by the commission’s director general.

CCI has also initiated action against cement companies. A large number of cement manufacturers have been found violating the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002.

The commission in two cases had found 11 cement manufacturers in contravention of the Competition Act. In its first order issued in June CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 6307.32 crore on 11 cement companies.