6.5% GDP forecast for 2009-10 may be revised upward: PMEAC

The Prime Minister's economic panel today said its growth projection of 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal may be revised upward on the back of the high growth of 7.9 per cent in the second quarter. "This (7.9 per cent) has turned out to be much more positive than one has expected. Both industry and services have grown strongly. Overall growth of 6.5 per cent may have to be revised upward," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan told PTI. He further said that the dampening effect of a weak monsoon on agriculture is much smaller than anticipated. Belying predictions, the Indian economy grew by a significant 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal, up from 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter, essentially due to a good showing by the industry and the services sector. Rangarajan further said that he expects no change in fiscal policy by the end of the this fiscal, but the central bank's main focus would now be to tame inflation. "As far as policy stance is concerned, I expect no change in fiscal policy till March-end, 2010. Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy would now be more focussed on inflation," he added. Food inflation has crossed 15 per cent in the second week of this fiscal. The wholesale price index (WPI) of food articles, fish, minerals, manufactured products, electrcity and all commodities has risen by 14.4 per cent, 26.3 per cent, minus 9.9 per cent, 0.1 per cent, 0.4 per cent and minus 0.1 per cent respectively during second quarter of 2009-10 compared to corresponding period last fiscal.

NTPC scouts for more coal blocks in Indonesia

State-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) today said it has identified three more coal blocks in Indonesia for acquisition. "We have identified 2-3 more coal mines in Indonesia," NTPC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma told reporters here. It has appointed Macquarie as consultant for the same. NTPC has already acquired a coal mine in Indonesia. During the current financial year, the total coal requirement of NTPC is 150 million tonnes, out of which the company would be importing 12.5 million tonnes.

Tatas rejects 10 mn pound loan by British govt

Tata Group has rejected a 10 million pound British government loan, which was supposed to be used for developing an electric version of one of its existing models, says a media report. "The Indian conglomerate Tata has snubbed Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, rejecting a 10 million pound loan for a technical centre in the Midlands," the Sunday Times reported. Quoting senior motor industry sources, the report said the Tatas, owner of premium car brands Jaguar and Land Rover and steel maker Corus, has in the past few days told the government that it does not want the money. "It has decided it can get better terms from commercial lenders," the newspaper said citing sources. Mandelson had last month announced the loan (10 million pound), saying that Britain was backing Tata's research into electric cars.

Economy may grow at 7 per cent-plus this fiscal

Telecom products distributor Bharti Teletech today said it has entered into an agreement with RAD Data Communications of Israel for delivering the latter's products to the Indian market. As part of the partnership, Bharti Teletech will offer RAD's Next Generation Network (NGN) solutions for carrier ethernet access, cellular backhaul, multi-service access, voice optimisation and compression and VoIP for Indian customers, Bharti Teletech said in a statement. RAD provides access solutions for data and telecom applications and India has been its second largest market for the past five years, it added. Bharti Teletech, a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises, is engaged in distribution and marketing of products like smart phones, modems, audio/video conferencing products, free-to-air set top boxes and fixed wireless terminals

Tata says plans Nano hybrid cars

Tata Group is planning to produce hybrid versions of its Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, to join in the environment-friendly trend, its chairman said in an interview with a South Korean newspaper. The Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday quoted Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, as saying in Mumbai that low-priced goods would create stronger demand than high-end products in India, and the so-called low-price revolution would continue across the world. Tata Motors, India's biggest vehicle maker, saw the car industry's future lying in economic-friendly models, the daily said. The chairman did not elaborate on the possible launch of cheap hybrid versions. The Nano, at about $2,000 per unit, was first delivered in India in July. The 71-year-old chairman said he was considering exporting Tata Motors' light truck, Ace, to South Korea, and also assembling or manufacturing the model in its South Korean plant. For new growth businesses, he picked biotechnology and bioengineering, saying Tata was looking for ways to enter the nutrient-enriched food market. He added the group was interested in Vietnam and evaluating the U.S. market, in which it has yet to make active investments. The Indian conglomerate is also studying investments in automobiles, software and hotel businesses as well as bio fuel in South American markets such as Brazil and Argentina.

India proposes to invest $6.5 bn in Iran gas fields

India today proposed to invest $6.5 billion to develop gas fields in Iran and sought more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from that country. At the same time, India asked Iran to honour the 2005 LNG import deal and ensure secured supplies of gas through the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. In the first high-level contact in two years, India told the visiting Iranian Deputy Oil Minister and National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) Managing Director, Seifollah Jashnsaz, that it was keen to buy 5 million tonnes of LNG a year besides the ones signed in 2005, sources said. India also asked Iran to give the ONGC Videsh-led group rights to develop the gas field it discovered in the offshore Farsi block. It sought 20-25 per cent stake for the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in the Phase-12 of the gigantic South Pars gas field in the Gulf. Sources said Jashnsaz was told to honour the 2005 LNG agreement which NIOC had previously blocked, saying the gas price in the signed deal was too low. On the $7.4 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, India said it was willing to be part of the project provided Iran guarantees safety of the pipeline in Pakistan. India said it would take delivery of the gas on the Pakistan-India border rather than the proposed sale point at Iran-Pakistan border, sources said, adding this way Iran would be responsible for passage of gas in Pakistan and will have to bear losses if the pipeline is disrupted.

L&T says Dubai exposure at $20-$25 mln

Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro's exposure to Dubai is in the range of $20 million to $25 million, a senior company official told a television channel on Friday. Developer DLF and Punjab National Bank said they had no current exposure to Dubai.a "The expopsure is somewhere between $20 million to $25 million in terms of several retention amounts which are due, which if things go from bad to worse can become suspect receivables," L&T's executive vice president, Shankar Raman, told . "We have no exposure as yet," R.I.S. Sidhu, chief general manager at Punjab National Bank, said over the telephone.

Reliance Cap to take majority stake in Quant Capital Group

Reliance Capital Limited proposes to take a majority stake in Mumbai-based Quant Capital Group. The existing management team at Quant Capital will continue to be responsible for its operations. Quant Capital focuses primarily on the institutional cash equities and equities derivatives business,

Govt to double wind power generation by 2022

The government plans to double wind power generation capacity to over 20,000 MW by 2022 to promote use of renewable resources. The current installed power capacity from renewable sources of energy stands at about 13,300 MW, of which 10,500 MW comes from wind power. The government plans to double wind power generation in the country over the next decade. "Currently, wind power generation in the country stands at about 10,500 MW. We will double this capacity by 2022 and try to triple it," Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event. Meanwhile, the government has set a target of adding 1,300 MW of solar power by the end of the current XIth Five Year Plan (2007-12). "We have to add 1,300 MW solar (power) in the next three years...Time is less we have to do it fast," Abdullah said. The government recently said it has approved setting up of 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. The mission aims to develop solar technologies for making solar power competitive to conventional grid power and install 20 million square metre solar thermal collective area by 2022.

Dependence on repo market a concern: RBI

Excessive dependance by Indian market participants on the wholesale funding market, such as repurchase agreements, is a concern, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. Urgency and momentum for financial system reform is gradually waning, Shyamala Gopinath said at an event in Ahmedabad.

Hindalco closes QIP, fixes Rs 131 as issue price

Hindalco Industries, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, today said it has fixed Rs 130.90 a piece as the issue price for qualified institutional placement (QIP) of its equity shares. The company has determined November 26 as the closing date of the issue and Rs 130.90 per share as the issue price, Hindalco said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company proposes to issue 21.31 crore equity shares to raise aggregate proceeds of Rs 2,790 crore. Last week, the company's shareholders had given approval to issue further securities of the company for an amount not exceeding Rs 2,900 crore.

Asian market ends positive; Shanghai Composite Index up 2%

Asian markets ended on a positive note. The Hang Seng advanced 189 points to 22,612. The Nikkei added 41 points at 9,441. The Shanghai Composite Index increased 66 points or 2% at 3,290. The Straits Times, the Seoul Composite and the Taiwan Weighted Indices were up 0.5% each at 2,791, 1,612 and 7,756, respectively.

TVS launches India's first gearless bike for Rs 41,000

TVS Motor Co today launched, what it claimed as the first gearless motorcycle in India-- Jive-- priced at Rs 41,000 (ex-showroom). The company also introduced a new 110 cc gearless scooterette, Wego, priced at Rs 42,500. "The aim of launching Jive is to maximise all-round benefit of the customer," TVS Motor Co Chairman Venu Srinivasan told reporters here. He said that while Jive will be available in the market across the country by December, the scooterette Wego will come by February 2010. "We have applied for patent for the gearless bike," Srinivasan said, adding the gearbox is sourced from the company's Indonesia plant while the engine is produced at TVS' Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu. Commenting on the sales target of the newly launched products, he said, out of 300,000 motorcycles that TVS plans to sell in India this fiscal, the company is aiming for 10 per cent to be accounted by Jive and the recently launched twin spark engine bike, Flame. He said the company will initially focus on the domestic market with Jive and Wego and is looking at combined sales of around 35,000-40,000 units annually.

KG basin gas supply to light up the future

The performance of the domestic power sector for the quarter to September 2009 has been interesting, with moderate growth in sales, high growth in operating profit, and a marginal growth in net profit. This contrasts with its average performance over four quarters prior to this, when sales and net profit growth was much higher, but operating profit grew at a moderate rate. Sales recorded a growth of 12% against average growth of 20% recorded in the previous four quarters. On the other hand, the profitability at the operating level has seen an impressive improvement with a 28% growth rate against an average of barely 7.4% for the past four quarters. The improvement in operating performance comes about with a decline in fuel prices, which accounts for nearly 60% of sales. However, at the net level, the profit growth has again fallen to barely 4.3%, which was at a high of 20% for an average of the past four quarters. This is mainly because of the nearly 50% increase in depreciation burden and the 25% increase in interest outgo. Most of the companies in the sector are undertaking large capacity expansion in a short-supply market. These companies have invested nearly Rs 40,000 crore in FY09 for capacity expansion. While the financial performance of the sector continues to remain volatile, the outlook has significantly improved, following the production of natural gas from K-G basin. The increase in gas availability has enabled companies to fully utilise their gas-based plants, which were otherwise only adding to fixed costs. Gas availability enabled companies such as GMR infrastructure, GVK Power, Torrent Power and Lanco, to either commission some of their gas-based power plants, which were lying idle for want of gas or increase the utilisation of the plant. Companies engaged in distribution have reported lower sales growth of 7%, but higher growth in operating profit of 47%. This is indicative of improving efficiency of the business, marred by theft and other commercial losses, until some time ago. Companies in pure generation reported sales growth of 15%, but lower growth of 23% in operating profit. Among individual firms, NTPC reported a 12% growth in sales, although profits grew by barely 2%, largely due to various adjustments reducing the tax outgo in the previous year, whereas Tata Power recorded a sales decline of 12% and a profits decline of 30%. Torrent Power recorded the highest growth in profits at 95%, with sales growing 26%, aided by the commissioning of its plant.

900 RIL petrol pumps are back in buzz

More than a year after they were mothballed, about 900 out of 1,432 petrol pumps under the banner of Mukesh Ambani's RIL are back in business and selling about 2,000 kl (kilolitres) of fuels per day. The reopened outlets are mostly owned and operated by dealers. According to company's refinery business head P Raghavendran, most of these outlets are in the Western and Southern markets, and wherever possible, are selling fuels at the price being offered by state-run oilmarketers. The prices of governent firms are cheaper than market costs due to subsidy. RIL had closed outlets in March 2008 since it could not match prices offered by the state-run firms through crude's high run. The government caps motor fuel prices below input costs (international crude price) but gives its oilmarketers bonds to make up for losses. Latest figures show state marketers are losing Rs 3.85 on each litre of petrol and Rs 3.71 on diesel. But industry sources said Reliance dealers would be making some money even while matching state prices. They attributed the profit to the benefits accruing from product hedging by Reliance till December-end, done during recent low prices, and lower operational costs. RIL had earlier sounded out HPCL and IndianOil, offering to sell its outlets or operate them under a JV. While HPCL had declined the offer, IndianOil conducted internal consultations but did not pursue it thereafter. RIL had garnered 16% of the diesel market, the largest-selling fuel, in a short span of time it had been in retail operation before shutting down pumps. The company has surrendered its only-for-export status for one of its two refineries in Gujarat's Jamnagar which is now being used to supply fuel to its outlets. Raghavendran said the model of permanently adopting such a large subsidy programme such as in the fuels business is not sustainable for the economy

GMR says to invest $650 mln by March 2011

Indian conglomerate GMR Infrastructure Ltd which has interests spanning from aviation to power, has 30 billion rupees ($650 million) to invest in existing businesses by March 2011, a top official said. Separate to that investment, the group is also talking to half a dozen investors, including private equity players, about possible stake sales as it looks to scale up its power and infrastructure businesses. "We are in discussion with a number of ... private equity or any other pure financial investors would come in at holding company level, not at project level," A Subba Rao, group chief financial officer of the GMR Group told the Reuters India Investment Summit on Tuesday. GMR, based in Bangalore, builds and manages infrastructure projects such as airports, roads and power plants. Its operations outside of India include power plants in Europe, Mexico and Australia, as well as an airport in Turkey. Shares in GMR Infrastructure, valued at $5.3 billion, rose 0.8 percent on Tuesday in a Mumbai market .BSESN that fell 0.3 percent. The shares have risen 77 percent in 2009, boosted by government focus on infrastructure building, in line with the 78 percent rise in the main index. (For more on the Reuters India Investment Summit.

India's Unitech seeks to raise $700 mln bonds

Unitech Ltd India's second-largest real estate firm, has sought approval from the government and the central bank to raise $700 million through foreign currency bonds,reported on Wednesday. Citing an unnamed company official, the newspaper said Unitech would use the money for building an integrated township project.

Suzlon inks 42 MW contract with Australian firm

Suzlon Energy, one of the leading wind turbine makers, has entered into an agreement with Australia's Infigen Energy to provide 20 units of wind power generators aggregating to a capacity of 42 MW. The agreement is done between Suzlon's Australian operation arm - Suzlon Energy Australia and Infigen. This is the second order from Infigen taking the total order to 183 MW. Currently, Suzlon is delivering Infigen's 141 MW capital wind farm under and engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) turnkey contract. Infigen Energy is a leading specialist in renewable energy business with interests in 41 wind farms (2,246 MW installed capacity) across Australia.

Infosys eyes Ciber Novasoft

Infosys Technologies Ltd. is reportedly in talks to acquire European IT consulting company Ciber Novasoft in a deal valued at around US$200-300mn. The Bangalore-based IT major is not the only one interested in Ciber Novasoft. Hence, a bidding war is possible and it may take some time before a final deal is announced. Infosys is also believed to have short-listed three other companies for acquisition. The company declined to comment on the media reports. Ciber Novasoft has revenues of around US$420mn, which is down substantially from last year. Standard Chartered us advising Infosys on the deal while Ciber Novasoft is being advised by Citi and JP Morgan Chase, according to reports