The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Growth sentiment propels Sensex, Nifty to record high
Nifty crosses 8,000-mark, Sensex closes at 26,888 points
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1
Boosted by the green shoots in the economy, stock markets touched life-time highs with the NSE Nifty index scaling past the 8,000-point mark for the first time. Riding on the Modi wave, the Nifty has risen by 1,000 points since the exit poll results.

The BSE Sensex hit a record high of 26,888.13 points on Monday, surpassing its previous peak of 26,674.38 points scaled on August 28.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 8,000-mark for the first time and hit a record high of 8,035 before closing at 8,031.80 points - 77.45 points or 0.97% up from its previous close.

Ajay Bodke, Head - Investment Strategy & Advisory at Prabhudas Lilladher, said several factors are responsible for the record highs.

These include strong first quarter GDP numbers at 5.7%, encouraging trends on macro-economic parameters due to the government and RBI's efforts over the past year on the external front leading to strengthening of rupee, lowering of CAD under 2% of GDP and fiscal deficit at 4.1% of GDP.

Motilal Oswal, CMD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said these are the initial stages of a bull phase. "Reasonable valuations relative to other emerging markets, coupled with healthy growth prospects for the economy, lead us to believe that we should move to a bull phase over the next few years", he added.

Oswal added the government is also making the right noises in terms of speeding up clearances of the stalled projects and focusing upon opening up key sectors for FDI. The headwinds to growth are seeing some positive outlook. Oil prices, which were putting pressure on the current account situation, have decreased significantly as compared to earlier levels, he added.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head-Technical Research, Kotak Securities, said the market opened up with a huge gap on the back of better annual GDP numbers, which rose to 5.50% v/s 4.60% of the last year. Technically, Nifty closed above an important psychological resistance level of 8000, which is something really extraordinary for the Indian markets. Outcome on the coal block allocation was also not too harsh as it was expected and that has also helped the market to close at day's highest around 8,034.

UBI declares Mallya wilful defaulter

New Delhi, September 1
State-run United Bank of India today became the first lender to declare debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines and its promoter Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulters.

“We have declared Vijay Mallya and three other directors of Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters,” United Bank of India executive director Deepak Narang said.

The Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of the bank has declared directors Ravi Nedungadi, Anil Kumar Ganguly and Subash Gupte as wilful defaulters.

Post this declaration, these persons and the entity would not be able to borrow from the bank in future. — PTI

BIZ TALK
Coca-Cola to invest $5 bn in India by 2020
Venkatesh Kini President, Coca-Cola India talks to Sanjeev Sharma

The 128-year-old global beverage giant, Coca-Cola has set a target of making India among its top five markets globally by 2020. With global brands like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and home grown brands like Thums Up, Limca and Maaza, the company plans to invest another $5 billion in the country. Venkatesh Kini, president, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, talks about providing hydration products, rural penetration and the plans to launch Coke Zero before the year-end.

Q: What are the investment plans of Coca-Cola for the Indian market?

A: India is a strategic growth market for The Coca-Cola Company and it will play a role in the company attaining its Vision 2020 goals. The Coca-Cola Company has set itself a target of doubling system revenues and servings this decade. We have already invested $2 billion since our re-entry to India and we are on course to invest another $5 billion by 2020.

Q: What are the plans for growing India into the top five markets globally?

A: The India business has a good foundation for long-term growth. Providing consumers with choice and value continues to be the cornerstone of our business strategy. Our business is in an area that is integral to the sustenance of human beings – hydration. We may come across some short and medium-term challenges, for instance being levied an additional 5% excise duty on sparkling beverages in the Union Budget, but we do see long-term growth opportunities in this category. We intend to be among the top five markets of The Coca-Cola Company by 2020.

Q: What is the focus on rural markets?

A: Today, rural markets account for one-third of our total volume. If long-term urbanisation trends are any indications, rural markets are expected to contribute a far higher share. After all, per capita consumption there is about six times lower than in urban areas.

Q: How is the company tackling the seasonal nature of the beverages segment?

A: We see that the consumption curve is tapering and consumers are opting for beverages throughout the year. This is because of (1) their need to have safe, convenient and hydrating options at any given time (2) changing lifestyles where people are on-the-move (3) longer spells of dry weather which leads to a higher degree of fluid loss from the body.

Our products can be had round the year given that they address the core need of hydration. We are now customising our communication to help the business level the seasonality curve.

Q: What have been the recent brand launches?

A: We recently launched Maaza Milky Delite in Punjab and Kolkata. This product has been developed keeping in mind the taste preferences of the Indian consumers. The R&D on this product first started when on a market visit we saw a housewife in Kolkata mixing Maaza with generous portion of milk, and serving it as a delicacy to us.

Currently, we have a suite of “Made in India and Made for India” products – Thums Up, Limca, Maaza, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh, Maaza Milky Delite and also our global brands like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid range of juices etc.

We are working towards launching the globally successful — Coke Zero — before the end of this year.

Q: Which brands will the company focus on and which are the ones showing more potential?

A: We are seeing growth in the sparkling as well as the stills category. This tells us that consumers expect us to offer them choices and they would opt for a beverage that suits their consumption needs at that point in time. Thus, Thums Up and Sprite continue to be the top two selling soft drinks, while Maaza remains the country’s largest selling juice drink. These brands do well on the strength of their great taste, high quality and their refreshment credentials. We have and will continue to focus on making a wider choice of beverages available to our consumers.

Core sector growth slows to 2.7% in July

New Delhi, September 1
Negative growth in crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers and steel has pulled down the growth of the eight core industries to 2.7% in July. The growth of infrastructure sector, which has a weight of about 38% in the Index of Industrial Production, stood at 5.3% in July 2013.

Crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers and steel recorded a negative growth of 1%, 9%, 5.5%, 4.2% and 3.4%, respectively in July, according to the data of the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

However, coal, cement and electricity production grew by 6.2%, 16.5% and 11.2%, respectively, during the month under review.

During April-July, growth in the eight core industries grew by 4.1% from 4.1% in the year-ago period.

Led by healthy growth in cement and electricity, the eight core industries grew to a nine-month high of 7.3% in June. — PTI

Mohali emerging as biotechnology hub of northern India
Punjab allots 70 acres for the biotechnology park
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 1
With the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and the Punjab Government giving it a push, Mohali is emerging as the biotechnology hub of North. Having spearheaded the Green Revolution that made the country food surplus, Punjab will now use biotechnology in agriculture and food to transform agri-food sector into globally rewarding and sustainable biotechnology-based enterprise.

Mohali, once considered a poor cousin of Chandigarh, will be home to a cluster of agri-food and biotechnology institutes. While National Agri Food Biotechnology Institute — an ambitious project of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, has already taken off, the Bio Processing Unit and Punjab Biotechnology Incubator — is set to become operational from Sector 81 of Mohali by the end of this fiscal. The state government has already allotted 70 acres for the Mohali Biotechnology Park, which will house the new campus of Punjab Biotechnology Incubator.

The project had been hanging fire for several years after the US-based private developer had opted out of the project. In order to take the project further, the Punjab Government has now entrusted the task of developing the Mohali Biotechnology Park to GMADA.

Dr SS Marwaha, CEO, Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, said they have got the possession of the land to set up the incubator. Officials of the state’s Investment Promotion Department said they expect the Punjab Biotechnology Incubator to set up its laboratory in the new campus by March.

Maruti, Honda lead car sales surge in Aug

New Delhi, September 1
Riding on an improved sentiment in the market, automobile companies have posted healthy growth of sales of cars in the domestic market. Leading the charge were auto majors Maruti Suzuki, Honda Cars, Hyundai and Nissan, who all reported a healthy growth in domestic sales mainly due to improved sentiment in the market.

Maruti Suzuki India said its August domestic sales grew by 29.3% to 98,304 units, up from 76,018 units in the same month last year.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd saw its domestic sales grow by 19.2% at 33,750 units last month as compared to 28,311 units in August 2013.

Honda Cars India (HCIL) reported a 88% jump in domestic sales in August at 16,758 units against 8,913 units the same month last year. — TNS

Govt relaxes onion import guidelines
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1
To counter any possible hike in onion prices ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in states, including Haryana, and also the coming festive season, the government today relaxed norms for import of the politically sensitive vegetable till November to boost domestic supply and check rates.

A statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry said that the government had allowed fumigation of consignments of imported onions after arrival at Indian port through an accredited agency and has also waived off the four times penal fees on account of non-compliance of the fumigation norms.