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Indian
Firms Raise Huge Sum Abroad
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Indian
companies have raised funds around $8.83
billion from the international market
in 2005 so far. A major chunk of these
funds have been raised through Foreign
Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCB) and
Global Depository Receipts (GDR) routes.
In 2005, $5.21 billion has been raised
through equity or quasi- equity routes
and the rest around $3.67 billion raised
via debt instruments. A senior merchant
banker said in most of the cases, before
going to the international market, promoters
pep up up the stock prices in the domestic
market to get a good price abroad. He
said in GDR market, issue is priced on
the basis of closing price on Indian bourses.
So, if a company wants to get a good price
abroad, it normally rigs the price at
home. Not only this, when companies raise
money from the international market, most
of the time promoters plough that back
in the domestic market to make quick bucks.
Sometimes, a source said they get back
the fund through participatory notes (P-Notes)
with FIIs. As FIIs are not bound to reveal
name of the P-Note holders, the regulator
can not find the source of money, being
invested in the market.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 24, 2005
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Hexaware
Bags $ 5 mn Contracts From US, Germany
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Hexaware
Technologies Ltd Friday said it has bagged
two contracts worth five million dollars
in US and Germany for its independent
testing services. The company will be
setting up two centres of excellence for
software testing in partnership with the
US-based financial conglomerate, the company
informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The
US company plans to outsource the maintenance
testing of the equity research application
to the company, it said. The German organisation
is planning to migrate from the legacy-
based core banking and retail banking
application to a new product. Hexaware
will partner the client to implement the
testing requirements of this project,
it added. "The practice caters to major
industry verticals and is led by experienced
consultants with strong business-technology
knowledge. The independent testing centre,
equipped with cutting-edge tools, offers
dedicated custom test labs through an
off shore delivery model," said P K Sridharan,
Executive Director and Head of India operations,
Hexaware Technologies. However, the communique
did not mention names of the US and German
companies.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 23, 2005
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Auto
Parts Firms Chart Global Route
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Indian
auto parts companies are increasingly
getting hungrier for overseas acquisitions.
This is a trasition from their earlier
supporting role in the global automotive
scheme. In the last 24 months alone, at
least 11 deals have been struck, with
more to come. That Omax Auto has just
appointed KPMG to scout for acquisitions
is another indicator that the appetite
remains far from satiated. According to
Ashok Taneja, president of Automotive
Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA),
"There is a clear realisation that exports
and international business are not the
same. Acquiring global customers can be
a long and tedious process. Buying out
companies abroad is an efficient and smart
way of getting global customers." Though
the domestic automobile industry provides
ample opportunities for component suppliers
to grow exponentially, they have drawn
up global plans for expansion. The most
recent announcement of such a buyout came
from the world's second largest forging
company, Bharat Forge. It bought Imatra
Kilsta AB of Sweden, along with its wholly-owned
subsidiary Scottish Stampings at an market
estimated price of Rs 250 crore. This
is Bharat Forge's fourth such buyout in
the last 21 months. Taneja adds that getting
the latest technology plays an important
role in securing big business. The challenge
of high level of competition in the developed
countries and the ability of Indian component
supplier to deliver the goods at a lower
cost has created a win-win situation.
"In the West, OEs and component suppliers
work closely to develop new products.
This has resulted in flow of know-how
to the latter. Acquiring these companies
abroad gives Indian companies access to
technology that was not available to them,"
says Vishnu Mathur, executive director,
ACMA. Even smaller companies have made
startling announcements on this front.
Casting, forging and components manufacturing
group Amtek, after acquiring three companies
in the last two years, are eyeing two
more - one each in the US and UK. Resources
for acquisitions are being raised through
the FCCB and the debt route. The industry,
according to analysts, is capable of achieving
an export revenue of $20-25 billion by
2015 and an equal amount in domestic sales.
This would mean a pan-industry investment
of Rs 5,500 crore per annum for the next
10 years.
Courtesy:
Business Standard: September 23, 2005
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Long
March: India Steels The Show in Growth
Chart
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Global
production of steel has picked up pace
after two months of lower growth. Latest
production figures from International
Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) for the
month of August '05 show that the steel
production is returning to previous rates
of growth as steel makers push up their
production in view of the recovery in
prices. Of course China remains top of
the heap with production increasing month-on-month
as well as on a yearly basis. India steals
the show with higher growth rates for
two consecutive months. Most of the major
producer countries, on the other hand,
continue to show declines in their production.
The global production of steel in August
'05 was 91.4m tonnes, up 7.4% as compared
to last year. This figure is also 1.2%
higher than the figure for July '05. This
figure includes 61 countries that report
to IISI and together constitute almost
98% of the global steel production. However
if we omit the production figures for
China and India, the quantity of steel
produced shows a decline of 3.1% year
on year. This decline is divided unequally
among the major producers. Japan registered
a decline of about 2%, while US steel
production went down by 8.4%. The trend
is repeated for most major producers,
nearly all of which show a decline in
production as compared to last year. However
the recovery in steel prices has bolstered
the confidence of several producers who
have increased production. Russia's steel
production went up marginally by 0.1%
as compared to last year. The overall
decline is also reduced by the increase
in production from several minor producers.
Even as the rest of the major producers
are showing a decline in their steel production,
there are two major producer countries
that are proving to be an exception to
the trend, China and India. China's output
for the month of July increased to 30.4m
tonnes, an increase of 30% over last year.
However the growth has slowed down for
the month with growth occurring at 30%
compared to over 33% for the previous
three months. Meanwhile, India's output
of 3.6m tonnes in July is an increase
of 39% over the production in last year.
This is the second consecutive month that
India has overtaken China's growth rate,
though from a much lower base. These are
by far the largest increases amongst major
steel producing countries. We cannot readily
compare China with India because of their
disproportionate sizes. The Chinese steel
industry is almost 10 times the size of
the Indian industry. Yet these two countries
are the only major producer nations showing
increase in production year-on-year. This
concentration of production in these two
countries is an indicator of the changing
dynamics of the steel industry. India
has increased it's production on an average
of nearly 2.5% per month over the last
eight months. China on the other hand
has increased steel output by 1.8% every
month during the same period. However
this is where the similarity ends. While
China's addition is equivalent to almost
half percent of the world production added
every month since the beginning of this
year, India's increase is slightly more
than 0.1% of world production per month.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 23, 2005
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Pharma
Sector to Grow 11% to Rs 60k cr: Survey
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The
Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected
to grow at about 11% to Rs 60,000 crore
by 2007-08 from Rs 39,000 crore in 2003-04.
This projected growth will be a result
of growth in exports of generic drugs
to regulated markets of the US and Europe.
According to a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM,
Indian pharmaceutical exports have a potential
to grow around 18% in the next two years
to take its total export volume to about
Rs 30,000 crore from the exports volumes
of Rs 15,500 crore in 2003-04. "The expiry
of patents of several branded products
in developed markets in the coming years
coupled with low production costs will
provide adequate opportunities for Indian
drugs manufacturers to capture a larger
share in the US and the European markets,"
says Mahendra K Sanghi, president of ASSOCHAM.
Globally, drugs worth $ 40 billion are
likely to go off patent in the current
year itself and another $ 70 billion worth
drugs will go off patent by 2008. "This
is against the projection of the US and
European markets which will see patent
expiry of drugs worth $65 billion. Indian
companies are expected to grab around
30% share of the increasing generic market
in pharma sector worldover," says Mr Sanghi.
According to the study, the new product
patent scenario is expected to bring about
consolidation of small players within
the domestic pharma industry. Focus on
research and development will also be
greater by domestic players who will be
faced with greater competition from the
MNC pharma companies. Indian pharma companies
can leverage their strength in terms of
low cost of production and availability
of quality manpower by tapping into unexplored
markets such as those of Africa.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 23, 2005
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TCS
Bags Multi-Million Dollar Russian Deal
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Global
IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
today bagged a multi-million dollar contract
from Russia, the first win by any Indian
company in that country. The Tata group
company has received a contract from Moscow-based
National Depository Centre (NDC) and will
offer its securities product, eClearSettleTM,
to the centre. TCS, however, refused to
divulge the financial details of the deal.
Under the contract, TCS will customise
and implement its securities product that
will provide depository, clearing and
settlement services to NDC. This is also
the entry of an Indian company into the
Russian IT market, in turn, opening up
the market for other companies, the Tata
group company said in a release here today.
N Chandrasekaran, global head (operations)
of TCS, said, 'The assignment with NDC
is strategic from two perspectives. Not
only does it reiterate the strength and
relevance of TCS' asset-based solutions
such as eClearSettleTM for global players
in the securities industry, but also extends
TCS' footprint in Russia which is one
of the emerging markets in the world.'
'With our presence in Brazil, China and
India, and now Russia, we are geared to
play a significant role in the development
and growth of the BRIC countries,' he
added. NDC is the latest customer of eClearSettleTM,
while other global depositories like Kuwait
Clearing Company, the Philippines Depository
and Trust Company, Dubai International
Financial Exchange and National Securities
Depository of India had earlier installed
this product. The Russian depository centre
is setting up a Central Securities Depository
for Russian stockmarket and employ the
solution to make that country's stock
market more liquid with low risks and
high levels of guarantees, the release
said.
Courtesy:
Business Standard: September 23, 2005
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Bharat
Forge Now Snaps up Swedish Firm
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Industry
sources indicate it to be a Rs 250 cr
deal. After buying out three global companies
in less than 21 months, Bharat Forge,
the world's second largest forging company,
has struck another deal. The company today
announced it had acquired Imatra Kilsta
AB, Sweden, along with its wholly owned
subsidiary Scottish Stampings, for an
undisclosed amount. According to industry
sources, Bharat Forge has paid ¤47 million
(around Rs 250 crore) for the acquisition.
But company sources refused to confirm
the figure, citing confidentiality agreements.
The flagship of the $1.25-billion Kalyani
group has bought Imatra Kilsta through
a special purpose vehicle. The Imatra
Forging group is the largest manufacturer
of front axle beams and the second largest
crankshafts producer in Europe, having
manufacturing facilities at Karlskoga,
Sweden and Ayr, Scotland. Imatra Kilsta
AB-Scottish Stampings has a forging capacity
of 100,000 tonnes per annum. With nearly
600 employees, it had an annual turnover
of over 1 billion Swedish Kroners (about
$132 million) in 2004. It is a major supplier
to leading passenger car and commercial
vehicle manufacturers Volvo, Scania, SAAB,
DAF, Perkins, MAN and Iveco. In June,
the Kalyani group had bought Michigan-based
Federal Forgings for nearly Rs 40 crore.
The company acquired a German aluminium
forgings maker in December, 2004. BN Kalyani,
chairman and managing director, BFL, said,
"The acquisition completes our global
dual shore capability. We can now produce
all of our core products -- crankshafts,
beams, knuckles and pistons at minimum
two locations worldwide and provide design
and engineering, and technology front-end
support, to customers for these products.
With this acquisition, Bharat Forge has
world-class manufacturing facilities across
eight locations - two in India, three
in Germany, one in Sweden, one in Scotland
and one in North America.
Courtesy:
www.business-standard.com, September 22,
2005
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IBM
Sets up First A-Pac Lotus Support Centre
in Pune
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IBM,
the over $96bn software and hardware major,
has set up its first Asia Pacific Lotus
Technical Support Centre in Pune. Initially,
it will offer back office support to IBM
customers in Asia Pacific for Lotus software.
Over time, this may extend to the other
five brands it has in the business process
area, including Web Sphere, DB 2, Tivoli
and Rational, said Doug Cox, vice president,
workplace portal and collaboration software
technical support, IBM. "Initially, the
back office support from Pune for the
A-Pac region for just the Lotus business
processes. This could expand to the other
brands in the workplace portal and collaboration
software (WPLC) area," Cox said. This
is the first time an IBM Lotus support
centre is being set up in India. Kalpana
Margabandhu, programme director, IBM India
Software Labs, added that the Pune centre
has worked "significantly" on the Lotus
and Tivoli brands. Earlier, this service
was being provided from the US, Mr Cox
said, adding that the intention now is
to move closer to the customer. "The objective
of setting up a centre here in Pune is
that it can offer local support closer
to the customer. We had a 90% growth in
this market in the second quarter and
we believe there is growth possibility,"
he remarked, now that they have "moved
closer to the customer". Cox pointed to
IBM's investment of $1bn during '03-05
in delivering leadership in collaborative
technology. Ms Margabandhu said India
is the sixth largest of IBM's over 40
labs worldwide. In India, IBM has labs
at Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad,
which it recently brought into the fold
through its acquisition of Accenture.
IBM has 1,700 employees in its software
labs in India and the tech support team
will be formed out of a core team.
Courtesy:
The Economic Times, September 22, 2005
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India
Still First Choice For Global Sourcing:
Gartner
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India
is still head and shoulders above the
competition in global sourcing and should
be carefully considered by organizations
selecting offshore vendors, according
to Gartner. Although more options for
external service provision are becoming
available worldwide, India remains the
market leader with a majority of essential
resources and a sufficiently robust technology
infrastructure. Gartner predicts that
by 2007, total global offshore spending
on IT services will reach $50 billion.
While External Service Providers (ESPs)
have advantages in economies of scale
and specific areas of expertise, they
do not have a magic solution for immediately
correcting flawed outsourcing processes.
Businesses must first master offshore
ESP management if they are to develop
a successful offshore ESP relationship.
The cost of labour is and will remain
a major factor in the choice of country
destination, Ian Marriott, Research vice
president at Gartner said. Gartner has
identified countries best known for their
IT-related activities (such as software
development, outsourcing and IT-enabled
services) and India is currently the clear
leader. It has the majority of essential
resources and sufficiently robust infrastructures
to deliver IT products and services successfully.
Other countries - including China and
the Czech Republic are making inroads,
but they currently lack some of the attributes
to qualify as leaders.
Courtesy:
The Hindu, September 22, 2005
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India
Key Engine of World Economy in Next Decade:
IMF
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Fund
marks up GDP growth to 7.1% for 2005 *
Exports to double by 2010
Revising
India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth
rate forecast by half a percentage point
to 7.1% for 2005, the International Monetary
Fund's World Economic Outlook said an
opening economy with a young population
and rapid growth rates could become a
key engine of world growth over the next
decade.
Courtesy:
www.financialexpress.com, September 22,
2005
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India
is The Fastest Growing Market For Servers
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India
has emerged as the fastest growing market
for servers in Asia-Pacific in the second
quarter of 2005, clocking 30 per cent
growth year-on-year, according to analyst
firm Gartner. In overall market share
of the server market in the region, India
stood at eight per cent. It is the only
market along with China in the region
where the server revenues grew, according
to the analyst firm. "India's healthy
economic conditions were reflected in
the increasing business confidence and
foreign investment during the quarter,"
Gartner said, adding the demand was strongest
in banking, finance, manufacturing and
services with Public sector also being
active. According to the firm overall
Asia-Pacific server revenue in the first
half of 2005 grew 12.9 per cent compared
to the first half of 2004. In the second
quarter alone, the growth of server revenue
was reported at 15.8 per cent year over
year. "China, Korea and Australia continue
to be the largest server markets in terms
of revenue," said Annie Chung, principal
analyst of enterprise systems at Gartner.
"Together, they contributed 67 per cent
of total Asia-Pacific server revenue in
this second quarter", Chung said.
Courtesy:
Hindustan Times: September 21, 2005
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L
& T Bags Order For Rs 430 cr Export of
Process Plant
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Larsen
& Toubro Ltd (L&T) has bagged a slew of
orders valued over Rs 430 crore for plant
and equipment to countries ranging from
France to Australia. The company informed
the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE)today. The
contracts for critical equipment such
as ammonia plants, petrochemical plants,
Liquefied Natural Gas plant and gas development
projects have been secured from leading
EPC contractors like Kellogg Brown & Root,
Bechtel, Foster Wheeler and Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries based in USA, UK and
Japan, said a company statement. The Company
will engineer, fabricate and supply stainless
steel heat exchangers and pressure vessels
for an LNG plant in Australia under a
contract from Foster Wheeler, UK. For
the Air Liquide H2 Plant in France. The
Company will supply a waste heat boiler
package. Critical equipment for petrochemical
plant-Ethylene Oxide reactors-will be
supplied to China as well as filter vessels
for downstream gasifiers. For a gas-to-liquid
plant in Nigeria. The Company will supply
waste heat boiler packages and auto thermal
reformers. The Company has also received
critical equipment orders for a petrochemical
complex in Malaysia. In an export breakthrough
to Egypt, the Company will supply critical
equipment for an Ammonia Plant, including
the ammonia converter, unitized chiller
and the secondary reformer. This order
was secured from the reputed process consultants
Kellogg Brown & Root, USA.
Courtesy:
http://www.uniindia.com, September 21,
2005
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ONGC
Videsh Ltd (OVL) has signed an agreement
with Repsol-YPF of Spain to acquire a
30 per cent participating interest in
seven deep water blocks in Cuba. The acquisition
of the offshore blocks 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 36 and part of block 35 will be completed
after the Cuban government formalises
the contract. Repsol-YPF - the operator
of the blocks - will be left with a 40
per cent stake, while Norsk Hydro of Norway
will own 30 per cent. The acquisition
marks OVL's first foray into the Cuban
oil and gas sector. The blocks are spread
over nearly 12,000 sq km in Cuba's exclusive
economic zone. The hydrocarbon resource
potential in the blocks is estimated to
be in excess of 4 billion barrels. An
exploratory well drilled in one of these
blocks has indicated the presence of hydrocarbons.
These blocks are in the third exploration
phase. The work during this period includes
acquiring 3000 sq km. 3-D seismic data.
Drilling wells on selected prospects will
be decided in the next exploration phase.
OVL chairman Subir Raha said, "Cuba has
drawn the attention of many international
oil companies with the proven presence
of hydrocarbons in its exclusive economic
zone. The blocks have good potential.
This deal is significant for OVL as it
would open the door for other opportunities
in the Latin American hydrocarbon sector.
With this acquisition, OVL will be present
in 13 countries." The breakthrough comes
to OVL after it had lost out to the Chinese
earlier this month the oilfields in Ecuador
owned by Encana of Canada. The opportunity
is also expected to give OVL valuable
insight into the deep sea oil exploration
technology, an area where ONGC has just
entered. ONGC has recently signed an MoU
with Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian company
which specialises in deep sea oil exploration,
for closer business co-operation. The
MoU was part of the broader co-operation
in the hydrocarbon sector between Indian
and Norwegian companies. Petroleum minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar had led the Indian
delegation.
Courtesy:
www.telegraphindia.com, September 21,
2005
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Videocon
Set For Nigerian Drill
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The
Nigerian government has awarded oil prospecting
licence (OPL) to Videocon Industries Ltd
for exploring blocks in that country.
The consortium led by Videocon has been
awarded OPL for block number 471 by the
Nigerian ministry of petroleum resources
under the Nigeria 2005 Licensing Round
for Oil & Gas Exploration and Production,
the company has informed the Bombay Stock
Exchange. Nigeria has put 14 new oil blocks
on offer as part of the 2005 licensing
round. This is in addition to 61 other
fields it put up for bids in March to
boost its oil output capacity. Videocon
had applied for seven blocks in Nigeria.
The company has already signed a memorandum
of understanding with Jordan to develop
four fields as part of its plans to invest
in overseas oil assets. Company officials
said, "Videocon is looking at increasing
its presence in the West Asian and African
countries to tap the oil business. We
have both the expertise and the finances
to invest in the sector." Videocon has
already signed an MoU with the government
of Khartoum province in Sudan and expects
to begin exploration work soon. The company
plans to buy up to 76 per cent stake in
an offshore Sudanese field located in
the Red Sea, which it will explore along
with a consortium of global partners.
The company is also exploring options
to invest in Ukraine. India, which now
imports 70 per cent of its crude requirement,
is aggressively looking for stakes in
foreign oil and gas projects to secure
energy supplies. "As part of the long-term
strategy, we would look at bringing this
oil back home," officials added. Videocon
owns 25 per cent of the Raava oil field
in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the
eastern coast and has bid for three blocks
offered by the government.
Courtesy:
www.telegraphindia.com, September 21,
2005
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TCS
to Open Branch in Israel, Picks Manager
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Tata
Consultancy Services Limited will open
a branch in Israel within six months and
has already chosen a local manager. P.S.
Padmanabhan, executive vice-president,
TCS told business daily Globes about the
company's decision to open a branch at
a conference held here. Asked why Israeli
customers would prefer TCS to US and European
companies, Mr Padmanabhan said, "they'll
take us because of our great know-how
and experience in applying complicated
systems." "Among other things, we set
up the Swiss discounting system. We're
very strong in finances, and can compete
with large consultancy companies," he
said. Tata Consultancy is one of the world's
five largest IT consultancy companies,
competing with IBM's consultancy division,
Accenture and other companies, Mr Padmanabhan
said. Sixty per cent of TCS' business
is in the US, 20 per cent in Europe, 11
per cent in India, and 5 per cent in Southeast
Asia, he said. The IT major is also seen
as a potential candidate for acquiring
provident and mutual funds in Israel owned
by banks, the report said. The Ministry
of Finance is encouraging foreign financial
entities to buy such funds under new reforms.
"It is too early to say whether the company
will operate in Israel in this sector,"
Padmanabhan told the daily. TCS' major
areas of operations are banking and financial
services (40 per cent), industry (20 per
cent), and telecommunications (15 per
cent), the report said.
Courtesy:
The Asia Age, September 20, 2005
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Tata
Steel Plans to Set up Production Facility
in Vietnam
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Tata
Steel Ltd, the country's largest private
sector integrated steel company, is planning
to set up a production facility in Vietnam,
Business Standard reported, citing industry
sources. This follows the company's acquisition
of Singapore-based NatSteel last year
which has a presence in the Asia Pacific
region, including Vietnam, the paper said.
It said that Tata Steel is also eyeing
a fresh acquisition in Southeast Asia.
'Due diligence is on for fresh capacity
acquisition in the region to the tune
of two million tonnes and the deal is
expected to materialise over the next
4-5 months,' a source was quoted as saying.
A Tata Steel spokesperson said the company
is looking at many options in strategic
markets, but declined to go into any specifics,
the report said.
Courtesy:
forbes.com: September 20, 2005
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BoI
to be 1st Indian Bank in China
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Bank
of India, one of the first Indian banks
to venture into China, on Monday made
a formal request to the regulatory authority
in Beijing to allow it to upgrade its
representative office in Shenzhen into
a full-fledged bank and also open another
representative centre in Beijing. "We
have formally su-bmitted a request to
the China Banking Regulatory Commission
for converting our Shenzhen representative
office into a full-fledged bank," P.L.
Gairola, executive director of BoI, said.
"We want to be the first Indian bank to
have full-fledged banking operations in
China," he said. Mr Gairola noted that
BoI, which opened its representative office
in Shenzhen in January 2003 is now qualified
to be upgraded into a full-fledged bank
under Chinese banking norms for foreign
banks. "The Chinese response has been
quite positive," he said while commenting
on his meeting with a senior CBRC official.
Courtesy:
The Asian Age, September 20, 2005
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ABB
May Shift R&D to India
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Power
major ABB is planning to shift high-end
engineering research from high-cost centres
globally to India. "We will cut back on
operations in high-cost centres such as
Germany, Sweden and the US and shift work
to India," Sten Jakobsson, president and
CEO, ABB Sweden, said. These centres focus
on power technologies and automation,
among other things. The company plans
to ramp up its research operations in
India and the number of engineers employed
at its corporate research centre in Bangalore
is slated to nearly double to 500 by next
year. "The number would probably be even
more in the next couple of years. We are
increasing here and decreasing numbers
in the high cost countries," Jakobsson
said, adding that Indian engineers did,
"part of our development and engineering
work in integrated circuit control systems,
engineering core systems and processing
systems". There were also about 200 people
in engineering services within pulp and
paper industry and metals industry. "These
two areas are growing very fast," he added.
There was a dramatic increase in outsourcing
of engineering services to India, both
for development of projects within the
company and for projects ABB gets from
customers, Jakobsson said, adding that
this helped, "support and keep cost low
for our total engineering capacity. India
is a very important hub". The company
has nine corporate research centres- one
each in Finland, Germany, Poland, Norway,
Sweden, Switzerland, US, India and China.
The centre in India was opened in 2002,
followed by one in China in 2005. India
operations are currently focused on meeting
research and development demands of ABB's
software-intensive products and systems.
India is also a very important export
market for the Nordic region, which supplies
big systems such as HVDC technology here,
Jakobsson said.
Courtesy:
Business Standard: September 20, 2005
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India
Set to Forge Energy Alliances Across South
Asia
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India
is looking at the possibility of emerging
as a regional energy hub in South Asia.
It has plans to set up bilateral grids
with some of the neighbouring countries
and forge sectoral alliances with others.
While a strengthening of the existing
grids with Nepal and Bhutan is being planned,
bilateral electricity interconnections
with Myanmar for exchange of power is
high up on the agenda. According to a
senior Power Ministry official, the proposal
for a bilateral grid with Myanmar and
the issue of strengthening of transmission
links with Nepal and Bhutan are to be
taken up at the next Bay of Bengal Initiative
for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting. National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has also
initiated talks with Government authorities
in Myanmar to explore the possibilities
of setting up a gas-based power plant
in the country and wheeling the power
into India, officials said. Plans are
afoot to bring in gas from Bangladesh
to run thermal stations in the eastern
parts of the country. The possibility
of setting up a power station in Bangladesh
by an Indian utility, using Bangladeshi
gas as fuel is being looked at. The power
generated will be transmitted back to
India, officials said. Tata Power is already
in the process of setting up a 1,000 MW
gas based power plant in Bangladesh. Indian
utilities are also creating their imprint
across the South Asian regions. NTPC is
preparing for a Sri Lanka foray, while
Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL)
is already working on augmenting a crucial
transmission link in Afghanistan, officials
said. The project involves the construction
of a 220 kV D/C transmission system connecting
Phul-e Khumri to Kabul and setting up
a 220/110 kV sub station in the Afghan
capital.
Courtesy:
The Hindu Business Line: September 19,
2005
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HPCL
Off to Africa For Retail Binge
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Hindustan
Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is looking
for retail opportunities in the African
countries. It would also be setting up
a liquefied petroleum gas and a lube-blending
plants in Bangladesh shortly. The company
is in talks with a number of petroleum
giants such as the US-based Chevron, Saudi
Aramco, UK-based British Petroleum and
France-based Total for forming joint ventures
in the refining sector. M B Lal, chairman
and managing director, HPCL said the refining
sector with import parity pricing and
high margins is an attractive proposition
for these companies. He said talks with
these companies are on and it might take
some months before things get finalised.
HPCL had earlier announced its intention
to take foreign petroleum majors along
for its Rs 17,000-crore refinery and petrochemicals
complex at Bhatinda and another refinery
in Vishakapatnam. On the interest of these
companies in marketing, he said they are
keen on tie-ups for marketing, but right
now the sector is not attractive enough.
"It is not feasible to do marketing alone.
Therefore, the companies were keen to
have a supply source," he said adding
that HPCL does not need partnership in
marketing since it is already strong in
this sector. As far as looking for opportunities
abroad is concerned, Lal said among the
African countries HPCL is particularly
keen to have ties with the west African
countries that include Senegal and Kenya.
The company had conducted studies in 20
countries for opportunities in the petroleum
sector, particularly for marketing.
Courtesy:
Business Standard, September 19, 2005
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