New Delhi, February 27
Forced by doubts over the recent decision of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) to let its parent company Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) take over its new plant in Gujarat, the country’s largest carmaker said the SMC would operate the plant on no-profit, no-loss.

To allay fears among the investors and shareholders, the MSIL has said if the contract manufacturing agreement expires and in case it is not extended by mutual consent, the assets of the Gujarat SMC would be transferred to MSIL at a fair value to be determined by independent valuation.

A grave uncertainty for minority shareholders had cropped up following the announcement that it will expand capacity at the Gujarat plant through a wholly owned subsidiary of SMC, forcing the MSIL stocks to fall in the country.Until now, shrinking demand for passenger cars was a matter of concern for the shareholders of MSIL. But the announcement late last month that the new investments would be made directly by the SMC had put pressure on the investors and the shareholders.

Seeking to clarify its position as regards the SMC, MSIL has now come out with a clarification to the stock exchanges and investors, which says that, “The Suzuki Motor Corporation's subsidiary in Gujarat would operate on the basis that while it would not make any losses, it would also not accumulate any cash surpluses”.

The cost of production of vehicles, produced by the SMC, would be calculated in an identical manner to that followed by MSIL in Haryana and as would have been done if the Gujarat project had been executed by a 100% subsidiary of MSIL. This cost would not include return on investment and profits.

In Haryana, MSIL marks up the cost to generate profits, which includes the return on capital employed, to arrive at the ex-factory sale price to its dealers. The amount of the mark up is determined, at all times, by market conditions.

MSIL said the capex needs of the Gujarat subsidiary would be met by the depreciation amount available with the SMC by an amount generated as net surplus from the car pricing and by SMC infusing fresh equity to the extent necessary.

The amount of surplus added to the cost would be such as would ensure that the total ex-factory price of cars made available to MSIL remains less than its cost plus the mark up. MSIL would sell the cars to dealers as usual at this cost plus mark up.

The capex needs of SMC would be determined jointly by MSIL and the parent company and consistent with the production needs of Maruti from the Gujarat project, the company said. 

Chandigarh, February 27
Bharatiya Mahila Bank — the first women’s bank in the country — will open 80 branches across the country by March 2015. Though started with a capital of Rs 1,000 crore this year, it aims at business worth Rs 60,000 crore in six years.

Though the bank was conceptualised exclusively for women, it will allow deposits to flow in from all quarters. The bank will also lend to all segments, though primarily major lending will be to women. More than 60% of the lending will be for women customers. For this, special financial products are being designed to suit the needs of women entrepreneurs. These are for startups such as day-care centres, catering services, SMEs and for boutiques.

Talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the inauguration of the bank’s branch here today, Usha Ananthsubramanian, CMD of the bank, said the Chandigarh branch was the 10th branch and by March 31 this year the bank is targeting to open 25 branches.

“As of now, we are opening the branches in all state headquarters. From April onwards, we will move to tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Of the 80 branches, 20 will be in the rural areas,” she said, adding the bank will not be an all-women operated bank and that most of the staff is being brought on deputation from other leading banks.

She said so far they are tying up with Self-Help Groups and other women groups besides lending to corporate and retail customers. ”We have managed to rope in 30,000 beneficiaries and are looking at extending credit worth Rs 100 crore by the end of March,” she added.

New Delhi, February 27
Much-awaited rules for the new 'corporate social responsibility' regime were notified today, under which companies with sizable businesses would need to spend minimum 2% of net profit for benefit of society.

The CSR activities will have to be within India, and the new rules will also apply to foreign companies registered here. However, funds given to political parties and the money spent for the benefit of the company's own employees (and their families) will not count as CSR.

Listing out the permitted CSR activities, the government said that they need to be undertaken as per approval of the company's board in accordance with its CSR Policy and the decision of its CSR Committee.

The CSR rules will take effect from April 1, as part of the new Companies Act. They will apply to the companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit, or Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth. Such companies will need to spend 2% of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year, beginning the next fiscal, 2014-15.

For the purpose of deciding the CSR spending eligibility of a company, profit from overseas branches and dividend received from other companies in India will be excluded from the net profit criteria. — PTI

Amritsar, February 27
The city-based printing and packaging machinery industry received a shot in the arm as Saudi Arabia-based companies have placed orders to procure the machinery from here.

Indian Printing Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufacturers Association (IPAMA) chief KS Khurana, who attended the Print Pack Arabia-2014, an event organised in Saudi Arabia recently, said there had been fruitful talks with Saudi Arabian printing-packaging businessmen.

He said the IPAMA had made an alliance with Sharjah and Saudi Arabia. He said at this juncture it was difficult to quantify the number of machineries to be exported but there was a possibility that local printing and packaging industry would grow by 15% in the next fiscal.

Amritsar city is the hub of printing, packaging and binding machinery and it meets over 50% demand of the printing and packaging machinery in the country. There are 250 units in Amritsar which are engaged in manufacturing this type of machinery and they were financially supporting around 5,000 families.

He said businessmen in Saudi Arabia were impressed by the Indian machinery, its quality and prices. He said Indian Ambassador in Saudi Arabia Hamid Ali Rao had invited them to the event. The Indian embassy had organised a meeting of Saudi Arabian businessmen wherein members of the IPAMA gave presentation about the printing and packaging machinery.

He said there were tremendous business opportunities in Saudi Arabia for printing and packaging machinery industry as there was no printing/ packaging machinery unit there.

At present, Saudi Arabia imports printing-packaging machinery from the UK, the USA and Germany and their machinery is 60-70% expensive than Indian machinery.

He said the Indian industry has an edge over its competitors as it is less expensive and of good quality. He said the opening of export channel to Saudi Arabia would bolster the local industry and improve employment opportunities.