Saksoft inks distribution agreement with FICO

Saksoft, the Information Management Specialist Company and FICO, the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology have entered into an agreement to market solutions jointly in India. The distribution agreement covers FICO’s decision management solutions and custom analytics including FICO TRIAD Customer Manager and FICO TM Blaze Advisor business rules management in combination with Saksoft’s technology, products and systems integration services.
FICO TRIAD Customer Manager is the leading credit account and customer management solution, with advanced analytics and strategy consulting and tools, while, FICO TM Blaze Advisor is the world's leading business rules management system, which provides companies across industries with a scalable solution that delivers agility and easy-to-implement smarter business decisions.
The two companies’ complementary expertise will enable them to deliver technology solutions that optimize business processes and decision management for clients, principally in the banking and insurance space.

Tata Communications says, no intention of holding VSNL‘s 770 acres land

Tata Communications (TCL) earlier know as VSNL, asserted that it had no intention of holding on to 770 acres of surplus land that came under its fold as a part of the privatization of former long-distance monopoly VSNL, because the delay in taking a decision was hurting the company, as it was unable to raise equity. The statement came in the wake of telecom ministry ordering the department of telecommunications to find out why it was taking so long to decide what to do with the land.

Recently, the telecom ministry called for the telecom secretary to constitute a high-level committee to examine the issue and come up with recommendations to secure interest of the government and the investors within this month. In a view, the Tatas were deliberately delaying a final decision on the fate of the land, spread over five locations in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune. Adding to this, in May 2005, opinion of former attorney general Milon Banerjee that claims right from the beginning, the strategic partner was not interested in hiving off/demerger of the surplus land. But TCL quoted that such an interpretation was far from the truth.

Earlier VSNL was acquired by a subsidiary of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, in 2002 when it was privatized by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. TCL does not benefit from the surplus land and has no interest in retaining it or delaying its separation from the company. As a matter of fact, the company has been seeking an expedited resolution to this issue which limits its options in raising non-debt funding. The government is in the process of evaluating various legal and financial alternatives to decide on the demerger process, company officials quoted.

ICICI Bank and Intuit unveils Money Manager

ICICI Bank and Intuit, a leading global developer of business and personal finance management solutions, have launched an online subscription-based personal finance management solution ‘Money Manager’ for its customers. The solution is designed to help the bank’s customers understand their spending habits and organize their finances by providing them with details of all their ICICI Bank accounts on a single platform.

This web-based solution, available through the bank’s website, delivers the flexibility to focus on specific details such as earnings, savings, spends and loans. “Money Manager” makes it easy for customers to quickly and easily categorize their expenses and set and track a realistic budget to achieve their financial goals.

ICICI Bank’s products comprise a comprehensive range of deposits, mutual fund, and investment products, demat services and loans like home loan, auto loan and personal loans to cater to different needs.

Jyothy Laboratories acquires 100% stake in Diamond Fabcare

Jyothy Laboratories’ subsidiary Jyothy Fabricare Services (JFSL) has acquired 100% stake in Delhi-based laundry player Diamond Fabcare (DFPL).

DFPL, the member of Dry Cleaning & Laundry Institute, USA has 62 outlets across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Gaziabad. It enjoys core competency in the laundry segment with the state-of-the-art machinery including use of 100% RO water processing, innovative supply chain system driven by sophisticated IT systems and record keeping.

Jyothy Laboratories is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of products in fabric care, mosquito repellent, surface cleaning, personal care and incense sticks.

Hinduja Global Solutions to recruit around 2,000 employees in next fiscal

Hinduja Global Solutions, leading provider of outsourcing solutions to a global clientele of Fortune 500 companies, will be recruiting around 2,000 people in India and for its other offices in the next fiscal to ramp up its headcount to 22,000. Currently, the company has close to 20,000 employees.
HGS provides outsourcing solutions to over 80 clients through its 45 delivery centers in India, the US, UK and Philippines. It serves industries like insurance, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, banking and financial services, consumer electronics/products, government, media and entertainment, energy and utilities, transportation and logistics.
Hinduja Global Solutions, a part of the multi billion dollar conglomerate ‐ Hinduja Group, excels in providing outsourcing solutions that include Back Office Processing, Contact Center services and customized ITES solutions to its global clientele comprising several Fortune 500 Companies.

Lanco Infratech begins trial run of first 600 Mw unit of Anpara Power project

Lanco Infratech has started the trial run of the first 600 Mw unit of Anpara Power project in Uttar Pradesh.

The company has synchronized the 600 Mw units at Lanco Anpara Power, taking the company's installed power generation capacity to 3,292 Mw. The company won this 2x600 Mw coal based thermal power project through the competitive bid under the Electricity Act.

This move will give more confidence to the company to achieve an operating capacity of 15,000 Mw by 2015 which will be in line with company’s vision, company official quoted.

The Uttar Pradesh government has tied up for the project's coal and water linkages. It has also put in place a 765 KV transmission line for power evacuation and power purchase agreement with distribution companies promoted by the Uttar Pradesh state electricity board.

SJVN expects to generate 7,100 million units of power from Nathpa Jhakri plant

Hydroelectric power producer Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) is expecting to generate over 7,100 million units of power from its 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station in the current fiscal.

The plant has already surpassed its previous best record of generating 7,018.8 million units achieved during fiscal 2009-10. This record power was generated despite heavy rains in the catchments of river Satluj in July and August last year. The downpour led to considerable increase in silt load, forcing the shutdown of plant for 22 days during the current financial year.

The company has reported a net profit of Rs 191.50 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to a net profit of Rs 185.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, up by 3.25%. Its income from operations has increased by 7.17% to Rs 396.41 crore for the quarter ended from 369.89 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

CARE reaffirms the ratings assigned to Birla Cotsyn bank facilities

Credit rating agency CARE has reaffirmed the ‘CARE BBB-‘ratings assigned to Birla Cotsyn (BCIL) long-term bank facilities for Rs 198.07 crore.

The agency has also reaffirmed the ‘PR 2’ ratings assigned to BCIL’s short-term bank facilities for Rs 7.50 crore.

The ratings continue to be constrained by delay in project implementation, low debt coverage indicators, low profit margins and predominantly trading nature of operations. The ability of BCIL to improve its margins in the scenario of volatile cotton prices, optimally utilize its expanded capacities remains the key rating sensitivities.

BCIL produces high quality synthetic, blended ring spun yarns for usage in woven and knitted fabrics, textiles, blankets, towels, upholstery, furnishings, curtains, bed sheets, made-up and industrial fabrics.

Hindustan Copper to expand its copper ore production capacity to 12.41 mtpa by 2016-17

The only copper ore producer in India, Hindustan Copper (HCL), is aiming to invest Rs 3,677 crore to expand its existing copper ore production capacity by four times to 12.41 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2016-17.The company has prepared an ambitious expansion plan to expand capacity of 3.21 million tonnes to 12.41 million tonnes, which would be funded from internal resources, fresh issue of shares and debt.
Meanwhile, the company is also planning to take up greenfield projects for exploration and ore production. HCL would spend a total of Rs 297 crore next fiscal through internal sources for part-funding expansion of the Khetri, Kolihan, Banwas and Singhbhum mines and reopening of the Rakha and Kenadadih mines. HCL has already applied for prospecting leases across the country for greenfield exploration and it proposes to explore and develop these mines in a joint venture with global mining majors.
HCL's existing capacity caters to about 3 per cent of the requirement of optimum utilization of installed capacity for smelting/refining of copper in the country. HCL plans to invest a total of Rs 174 crore for expansion of the Khetri mines from 0.5 mtpa to 1 mtpa. In the Kolihan mines, it would invest Rs 275 crore for expanding the capacity to 1.5 mtpa from 0.5 mtpa now and Rs 91 crore to develop the Banwas mine with a capacity of 0.6 mtpa. The Surda mine's capacity will be expanded to 0.9 mtpa from 0.42 mtpa now at a total cost of Rs 216 crore. HCL is likely to invest Rs 347 crore to reopen the closed Rakha mine and Rs 87 crore is for enhancing the capacity of the Kendadih mines to 0.21 mtpa.
Recenlty, after delaying its follow on public offer due to adverse capital market conditions, Hindustan Copper was in talks with aluminum major Nalco to sell stake in its mines. The company is currently negotiating with Nalco and is looking to sell about 20% equity stake in two of its copper mines. Hindustan copper is looking to expand and the stake sale is aimed to part finance its expansion plans which is estimated to cost over Rs 4,000 crore.

Ganesh Polytex looks to achieve Rs 1,000 crore of revenue in next five years

Kanpur-headquartered Ganesh Polytex (GPL) is looking to achieve the target of Rs 1,000 crore of revenue in the next five years on the back of growing demand for polyester fibre, both in the global as well as the domestic market.
The company recycles PET bottle waste and turns it into Recycled Poyester Staple Fibre (RPSF). It is also setting up a greenfield yarn spinning unit at Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh with the capacity of 25,000 spindles. This project will cost the company around Rs 125 crore and will be financed through a mix of equity, debt and internal accruals.
GPL, which has a total installed capacity of 57,600 tonnes per annum (TPA), is also planning to increase it by another 14,000 TPA to take it to about 72,000 TPA by FY 12-13 and is further planning to venture into plastic waste recycling business.
Meanwhile, the company's revenue, which is growing at 30% per year at present, is estimated at Rs 265 crore in 2010-11.

Khazanah acquires 8.82% stake in Apollo Hospitals Enterprises for Rs 470 crore

Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s arm - Integrated (Mauritius) Healthcare Holdings - has acquired 11,000,000 shares representing 8.82% stake in corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals from Bisikan Bayu Investments, another arm of the Malaysian sovereign fund, for Rs 470 crore. This arrangement is a part of an internal arrangement to consolidate shares under a single entity of Khazanah.

The deal comes eight months after the fund succeeded in terminating attempts of billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh-promoted Fortis Healthcare to acquire a majority stake in Khazanah-controlled Parkway hospital chain of Singapore.

Bisikan Bayu had picked up a 13.2 per cent in Apollo Hospitals in August 2005 from TWL Holdings for $44.23 million.

Pipavav Shipyard sells 7.7% stake to Ovira Logistics

Ovira Logistics has acquired 5.11 crore shares or about 7.7% stake in Pipavav Shipyard at Rs 80.83 a share under bulk deal on Monday. Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, IL&FS Financial Services and IL&FS Employee Welfare Trust sold the shares.

Pipavav Shipyard’s principal activity is to set up shipyard project. It is the sole sponsor of training at two Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) situated at Rajula and Mahuva, Gujarat, in the vicinity of the company's shipyard.

Diamant Infrastructure in green on venturing into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products

Diamant Infrastructure is currently trading at Rs. 55.10, up by 1.35 points or 2.51% from its previous closing of Rs. 53.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 56.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 56.75 and Rs. 54.50 respectively. So far 56,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 67.00 on 06-Jan-2011 and a 52 week low of Rs. 8.13 on 07-Jun-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 57.50 and Rs. 51.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 193.62 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 15.38% while Non-Institutions hold 84.62% respectively.

Diamant Infrastructure has ventured into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products. The commercial production for modular compound wall and SFRC rain water drains has already been started. This is the modern technology where the strength of the product is very high along with long life and very economical compared to traditional method.

The SFRC rain water drains are useful for small to medium industries and very much suitable for Highway Projects. The execution time of laying road side drains on service lane will be reduced to 1/10th of time required for cast-in-situ process.

Modular SFRC compound wall is the latest technology accepted by all the industries for securing their boundaries. The range of products will include box culvert, retaining walls, building walls, SFRC pipes.

Diamant Infrastructure is engaged in the infrastructure business in India. It involves in the development and construction of roads. The company operates in three primary segments: financial, infrastructure and realty.

Essar Steel almost completes capacity expansion at its Hazira plant

Essar Steel's capacity expansion at its Hazira plant is almost complete, while all its units at Hazira (steel plant) will be commissioned in a month or so, excluding coke-oven battery, which will be commissioned in 2012.

This capacity expansion, will take its total production capacity to 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).The company has earlier reported that it would be investing about Rs 30,000 crore to have a total production capacity of 10 MTPA in its integrated plant at Hazira, Gujarat by the end of this fiscal. The company further aims to commission a Corex module capacity of 1.74 MTPA and CSP Caster and mill of 3.5 MTPA capacities by the current fiscal-end.

The company recently has already constructed 12 MTPA pellet plant at Paradip, Orissa and has also got its mechanical commissioning started. Post-commissioning, the company will have a total pelletisation capacity of 20 MTPA as it already has an 8 MTPA pellet plant at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh. Pellet, made from iron ore, is a processed raw material used for steel making.

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 22/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 10916.15
(1st Resistance) 10843.3
Pivot point 10767.15
(1st Support) 10694.3
(2nd support) 10618.15

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 22/03/2011

NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5455.2
(1st Resistance) 5417.65
Pivot point 5387.45
(1st Support) 5349.9
(2nd support) 5319.7

Domestic markets to see some recovery in early trade

The Indian markets witnessed a volatile trade in last session, though the close was flat but the markets never looked in confident condition. Today the start is likely to be good as the global cues are firm, though crude prices are still at the elevated levels and may continue putting pressure on the PSU oil marketing companies with government in no mood to free diesel prices soon. Commodity stocks are likely to make some recovery with report of Japan situation stabilizing. However there is not good news for the India Inc, an RBI analysis has said that rise in raw material cost and soaring salary bill eroded the profitability of India Inc during April-September period of the current financial year. Meanwhile the new banking licence hopefuls too may get disappointed as the new banking licences will be given only after the government vests more powers with the Reserve Bank of India to control the new entities. RBI had earlier brought out a discussion paper in August on licences to business houses and non-banking finance companies, and regulations to foster competition and has said it will look at the business plan for financial inclusion before granting a licence.

The US markets bounced back on Monday making a good start of the week some deals news along with ease in the Japanese crisis took the markets higher while the surge in crude prices led the energy stocks gain momentum. Most of the Asian markets have made a positive start and the Japanese markets after a day of break have surged by about 3 percent in the very early trade.

Back home, Indian benchmark indices staged a lackadaisical performance in Monday’s volatile trading session after remaining in a narrow band to finally settle flat and snap the second successive day below the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000. The tepid close looked shoddier because of the fact that markets across the globe displayed energetic performance and rallied as Japan made progress in cooling nuclear reactors at a crippled plant, while energy stocks benefited from higher oil and commodity prices on escalating geopolitical tensions in the Libya and neighboring nations. Spiraling crude oil prices continued to play spoilsport for the local markets as intensifying air attack in Libya by the US and Allied forces and pro-democracy protests and clashes in Syria with government forces stoked the oil prices to uncomfortable levels. Massive selling by FIIs in the past couple of trading sessions along with risks of towering inflation and solidifying interest rates capped the upside chances for the frontline indices. Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark ricocheted by over 100 points in the opening trade on emergence of buying in fundamentally strong shares at lower levels, driven by a firming trend in other Asian bourses. However, the frontline indices immediately erased all the opening session gains and drifted into the red to touch the low point of the day. Selective buying in some undervalued shares thereafter helped the index claw back in to the green territory in the late morning session. After gyrating in a narrow band and trading in the green for some time, the frontline indices slipped back into the red as investors took profits off the table in the dying hours. Eventually, bourses settled below the crucial support levels for the second straight day and settled with marginal losses of less than a quarter percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 39.76 points or 0.22% to settle at 17839.05 while the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 8.95 points or 0.17% to end at 5,364.75.

US markets soared on Monday and all the major indices were up by about one and a half percent on reports of that Japan's nuclear crisis was stabilizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant appeared to be stabile it further said that containment at three of the plant’s six reactors was intact. Also there were some deals news that helped the markets gain strength, AT&T Inc. said it would buy rival T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, creating the largest US cellphone company, while Charles Schwab Corp. said it would buy online brokerage services provider OptionsXpress for $1 billion.

However, there was a disappointment from the economy front, the National Association of Realtors, an industry group said that sales of previously owned US homes fell unexpectedly sharply in February and prices fell to their lowest in nearly nine years. Sales fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, snapping three straight months of gains. The median home price dropped 5.2 percent in February from a year earlier to $156,100, the lowest since April 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged by 178.01 points, or 1.50 percent, to 12,036.53. The S&P 500 index gained 19.18 points, or 1.50 percent, to 1,298.38, while the Nasdaq composite rose by 48.42 points, or 1.83 percent, to 2,692.09.

Crude prices once again resumed their gaining mood and ended up more than 1 percent on Monday as UN mandated air strikes in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East sparked more worries about supply disruptions. Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes on Libya. Spreading unrest in the Middle East supported prices, but uncertainty about demand from the world’s No. 3 consumer Japan capped gains.

Meanwhile, Japan will allow the release of an additional 22 days worth of crude oil from privately held reserve aimed to ease energy shortages in northern Japan, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Benchmark crude for April delivery settled at $102.33 a barrel, gaining $1.26, or 1.25 percent, after trading in a range of $101.66 to $103.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for May delivery settled up by $1.03 or 0.9 percent at $114.96 a barrel on the ICE.

Fitch Ratings reaffirms BB+(ind) rating assigned to Delton Cables

Credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings has revised Delton Cables outlook to negative from Stable. The rating agency has reaffirmed BB+ (ind) rating assigned to the company’s long term facilities.

The rating agency has also reaffirmed Rs 1.06 crore outstanding long term loan to BB+(ind), Rs 32 crore fund-based working capital limits (reduced from Rs 33.6 crore) to BB+(ind)/F4(ind) and Rs 60.6 crore non fund-based working capital limits (reduced from Rs 61.6 crore) to BB+(ind)/ F4(ind) of the company’s bank facilities.

Delton offers Total Telecom Solution Products from Conventional Telecom Cables to Microwave Accessories and others. It provides competence in Cable technology - covering measurement, control, communication and power distribution applications, as used in exploration, refining or gas processing sites, petrochemical, chemical, power generation and similar applications.

Diamant Infrastructure ventures into Steel Fibre Reinforced Precast products

commercial production for modular compound wall and SFRC rain water drains has already been started. This is the modern technology where the strength of the product is very high along with long life and very economical compared to traditional method.

The SFRC rain water drains are useful for small to medium industries and very much suitable for Highway Projects. The execution time of laying road side drains on service lane will be reduced to 1/10th of time required for cast-in-situ process.

Modular SFRC compound wall is the latest technology accepted by all the industries for securing their boundaries. The range of products will include box culvert, retaining walls, building walls, SFRC pipes.

Diamant Infrastructure is engaged in the infrastructure business in India. It involves in the development and construction of roads. The company operates in three primary segments: financial, infrastructure and realty.

NTPC gains on starting stage-III commercial operation at Korba Super Thermal Power Project

NTPC is currently trading at Rs. 174.35, up by 1.35 points or 0.78% from its previous closing of Rs. 173.00 on the BSE.
The scrip opened at Rs. 174.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 175.40 and Rs. 174.00 respectively. So far 12,000 shares were traded on the counter.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 222.20 on 04-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 168.60 on 25-Feb-2011.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 178.35 and Rs. 172.60 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 142646.53 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 84.50% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 11.78% and 3.72% respectively.
The country’s largest power producer National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has started Stage-III commercial operation at Unit-VII of 500 MW of Korba Super Thermal Power Project with effect form March 21, 2011.
Earlier in this month, the company had commenced operations of its 500 MW unit -I of the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar with effect from March 05, 2011. This project is set up by its joint venture Aravali Power Company (APCPL), along with the national grid.
NTPC posted a marginal increase of 0.27% in its net profit of Rs 2371.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 2364.98 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Its total income has increased from Rs 11961.31 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 to Rs 14165.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010

Kinetic Motor Company to increase its authorised share capital

Kinetic Motor Company has received the board approval to increase its authorised share capital from existing Rs 93.56 crore to Rs 108.56 crore subject to shareholders approval.
Further the board has also approved investment of up to Rs 20 crore in the shares of a group company subject to shareholders approval.
The approval was taken by the board at its meeting held on March 21, 2011.
Kinetic produces a complete two-wheeler portfolio which ranges from mopeds, scooters and bikes. Manufacturing plants of the company are at Pithampur (for scooters), Ahmednagar (for scooterettes and mopeds) and Koregaon (for bikes).

FII DII DATA 22/03/2011

Futures (-97), Net Stock Futures (-26), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,44,823 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,814 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 22/03/2011

INFOSYS Up 0.7 (1.0%), WIPRO Up 0.5 (4.1%), ICICI BANK Down 0.5 (1.2%), HDFC BANK Down 1.8 (1.2%)

Tecpro Systems completes acquisition of its subsidiary

Tecpro Systems has acquired the remaining 49% stake in its subsidiary - Tecpro Trema on March 17, 2011. With this acquisition Tecpro Trema becomes the wholly-owned subsidiary of Techpro Systems.The acquisition of Techpro Trema by Techpro Systems was approved by the board at its meeting held on November 12, 2010.Last month, it has also received its board’s approval for the scheme of amalgamation of Microbase Infosolution, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company with itself.

Recently, Tecpro Systems has received orders aggregating to Rs 188 crore from Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSECL).

Tecpro Systems is an established material handling company in India, engaged in providing turnkey solutions in material handling, ash handling, balance of plant ("BoP") and engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") contracts.

Lords Chemicals to amalgamate Jagati Cokes

Lords Chemicals has approved in-principle amalgamation of Jagati Cokes with the company and other connected matters. The above decision was approved at the board meeting held on March 21, 2011.

The aforesaid board decision is subject to further approval by the shareholders of the company and other competent authorities.

Lords Chemicals is a leading Indian manufacturer of basic industrial chemicals like Sodium Dichromate, Chromic Acid, Chrome Oxide Green etc.

Lords Chemicals has become one of the leading producers of Sodium Dichromate through the use of Continuous Rotary Kiln Process. This chemical is used in a variety of applications like pigments, wood preservation, metal treatment, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Sharon Bio-Medicine In-House R & D Unit recognised

Sharon Bio-Medicine’s manufacturing site at L-6, MIDC, Taloja, Near Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra having its own In-House Research and Development Centre has been recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research which falls under Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi.
As per the provision of the act Sharon will avail exemptions of customs / excise duties and income tax which is available after been recognised by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. This benefit is available till March 31, 2013 and is extendable after meeting certain criteria’s.
Last month, Sharon Bio-Medicine has signed Memorandum of Understanding with The State - Joint Stock Concern 'Uzpharmsanoat' of the Republic of Uzbekistan for setting up Pharmaceutical Plant in Navoi Free Industrial Economic Zone in Uzbekistan.
Sharon Bio-Medicine offers contract manufacturing for finished dosage forms; viz. tablets, capsules and injectables. Sharon has identified niche areas of oncology for export markets.

NHPC, TCS,Madhucon Projects and Essar Steel may witness some action today

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has ordered a high-level committee under a senior government officer to examine the VSNL-Tata divestment. Sibal has sought a report on the matter latest by March 31. He claims the divestment in 2002 was not fair and transparent.

The target of adding 62,000 MW of power capacity in the 11th Plan may come under pressure, as commissioning of NHPC's 2,000-MW Subansiri project in Assam is likely to be delayed by at least two years due to resistance from locals.

Leading IT Company TCS announced plans to ramp up its customers base for its product meant for Small and Medium Business (SMB) to more than 1,000 by the end of current year.

State-run Hindustan Copper plans to invest Rs 3,677 crore to almost quadruple its existing copper ore production capacity to 12.41 million tonnes per annum by 2016-17.

Ruias-owned Essar Steel's capacity expansion at its Hazira plant is almost complete, which will take its total production capacity to 10 million tonnes per annum.

Sheths of Great Eastern Shipping have deployed part of the cash generated from their traditional shipping business to expand their offshore business with Singapore as the hub for global operations.

Emami is keen to acquire Henkel AG's 51 per cent in Henkel India, the consumer goods maker, even as Jyothy Labs bagged a 14.9 per cent stake in the company.

National Aluminium Company (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under the union ministry of mines, Govt. of India, has become the first PSU in the country by implementing a pilot-cum-demonstration project on Carbon Sequestration in its Captive Power Plant at Angul.

Integrated (Mauritius) Healthcare Holdings, an arm of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, has acquired 8.82 per cent stake in corporate hospital chain Apollo Hospitals from Bisikan Bayu Investments, another arm of the Malaysian sovereign fund, for Rs 470 crore.

The $68-billion conglomerate, Tata Group, has become the first Indian brand to figure in the top 50 global companies.

Outsourcing firm Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) will hire about 2,000 people in the next fiscal to ramp up its headcount to 22,000.

Ganesh Polytex (GPL) is eyeing Rs 1,000 crore revenue in the next five years on the back of growing demand for polyester fibre, both in the global as well as the domestic market.

Viceroy Hotels (VHL) is looking to hive-off its Rs 560 crore Chennai project into a separate company to cut debt on its balance sheet.

Madhucon Projects has received a letter of award from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for 4-laning of Ranchi-Rargaon-Jamshedpur section of NH-33from Km 114.000 to Km 277.500 in the state of Jharkhand under NHDP Phase - III on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) on Annuity basis.

Everest Industries, one of India’s fastest growing building solutions company has announced that will set up a new manufacturing facility in East India to cater to the growing demand as it aims to cross Rs 1,000 crore revenue in 2011-12.

The country’s largest power producer National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has started Stage-III commercial operation at Unit-VII of 500 MW of Korba Super Thermal Power Project with effect form March 21, 2011.

The Supreme Court has admitted the petition of Reliance Communications challenging the order of the telecom tribunal TDSAT which had set aside the plea of Anil Ambani group firm challenging penalty imposed by the state-run firm BSNL.

Reliance Industries projected a 13 per cent fall in gas production from its famed KG-D6 block to 38 million metric standard cubic meters of gas a day in 2012-13.

The US Foods and Drugs Administration (USFDA) will be sued by the US pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc, for an injunction on the launch of Ranbaxy’s cholesterol treatment drug Aricept, which is a generic version of Pfizer’s Lipitor.

ICICI Bank and Intuit, a global developer of business and personal finance management solutions, launched Money Manager, an online personal finance management solution.

Global Markets update 22/03/2011

 DJIA Up 178 (1.5%) NSDQ Up 48 (1.8%) FTSE 100 Up 68 (1.2%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Up 270 (2.94%) HANG SENG Up 79 (0.35%) SGX NIFTY Up 24.5

Markets bounce back;metals, auto stocks lead

The Indian equity markets have bounced back from the negative territory to the positive in late morning session as investors turn slightly positive about on metals stocks and some short covering was being seen in the Auto stocks too. Meanwhile, most of the other Asian markets were also trading in green and US index futures were showing similar trend. Though, the markets are trading in green but investors remain jittery after Western forces struck targets in Libya. Brent climbed more than $2 on Monday to top $116 after western forces launched a military campaign against Libya. Back home NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their physiological level of 5,400 and 18,000 mark respectively. In the BSE sectoral indices Realty, IT and TECk counters were still facing some selling pressure. Broader markets were trading mixed the BSE Mid cap index was down 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.  The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which slightly outnumbered advances in the ratio of 1266:1212, while, 110 shares remained unchanged.

Tata Steel trades higher as the company has successfully completed the issuance of perpetual hybrid securities worth Rs 1,500 crore. With the issuance of this bond the company became the first Indian corporate to issue securities of such kind. ICICI Bank and J.P. Morgan Securities India were the mandated lead arrangers for the issuance. The unique features of the securities are that they are perpetual in nature with no maturity or redemption and are callable only at the option of the company. The distribution rate (which may be deferred at the company’s option) on the securities is set at 11.8 percent, with a step up provision if the securities aren’t called after 10 years.

The BSE Sensex gained 43.81 points or 0.25% to 17,922.62. The index has touched a high of 18,007.73 and a low of 17,792.17 respectively.

The BSE Mid cap index was down 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%. 

In the BSE sectoral indices Auto up 0.59%, FMCG up 0.44%, HC up 0.44%, CG up 0.38% and CD up 0.34% were the main gainers. However, Realty down by 0.44%, IT down by 0.34% and TECk down by 0.29% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up 1.52%, HDFC up by 1.35%, Tata Steel up 1.12%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.04% and Tata Motors and up were up by 0.93%.

Hindalco Industries down by 2.18%, Cipla down by 0.78%, Reliance Communication down 0.77%, Infosys down by 0.71% and Maruti Suzuki down 0.31% were the top losers on the index.

Tyre stocks are trading lower on account of higher rubber prices which continued their recovery mood. Apollo Tyres climbed 1.69%, CEAT gained  1.32%, MRF advanced 1.41  and JK Tyre & Industries surged 0.99% .Rubber prices rebounded on easing of demand concerns caused by Japan earthquake and closure of automobile plants and market returned back to fundamentals. Natural rubber continues to be supported by higher prices of crude oil and tight supplies in producing countries.

The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 13.75 points or 0.26% at 5,387.45. The index has touched a high of 5413.30 and a low of 5348.20 respectively.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.20%, M&M up by 1.85%, SAIL up by 1.53%, Dr Reddy up by 1.49% and Suzlon up 1.32%.

The top losers of the index were Ranbaxy down by 4.47%, Hindalco down by 2.13%, Reliance Communication down by 0.91%, Reliance Power down by 0.87% and Infosys down by 0.71%.

Ranbaxy declined over 4% on reports that Mylan has sued US FDA for Lipitor. The company is seeking to block Ranbaxy's lipitor copy. Lipitor was estimated to add $ 500-600 million to Ranbaxy's sales.

All other Asian equity indices barring; Shanghai Composite,  were trading in the positive terrain at this point of time. Hang Seng surged 1.07%, Jakarta Composite added 0.42%, KLSE Composite inched up 0.08%, Straits Times increased 1.26%, Seoul Composite rose 1.13% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.87%.

Shipping Corporation to acquire two AHTSVs

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), under the Ministry of Shipping, is all set to acquire two Anchor Handling Towing and Supply Vessels (AHTSVs) of 120T Bollard Pull capacity each. These vessels were earlier contracted by a Norwegian ship-owner and are in advance stage of construction and will now be delivered to SCI in July 2011 and September, 2011.
However, the contracts were terminated by the owners in January, 2011. Later SCI signed the shipbuilding contracts with Cochin Shipyard in February, 2011 at New Delhi.
Recently, the company took the physical delivery of its Aframax size Tanker named 'm.t. Desh Samman' of 114683 DWT (Dead Weight Ton) capacity.
The company reported an increase of 40.74% in net profit to Rs 123.06 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 87.44 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter surged marginally by 3.77% to Rs 1019.31 crore compared to Rs 982.24 crore in the same quarter last year.

BPCL delays shutdown of its refinery units

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has delayed the shutdown plans of hydrogen unit at its Mumbai refinery and a diesel unit at the Kochi plant in order to meet local fuel demand.  The company had planned the schedule for shutdown in the month of April but it has been deferred, company officials stated.
Indian refiners are struggling to get a good response to their diesel import tenders as traders target more lucrative sales to quake-hit Japan. Last week BPCL bought only one of the four diesel cargoes it was seeking via tender for April delivery at a very high premium.
Further, other refineries like HPCL and IOC have also planned to defer shutdown of their units.
Recently, BPCL's announced that its refinery at Bina, a new unit, is likely to deliver impressive refining margins of $11 a barrel, in spite of soaring raw material prices, company officials quoted. The margin is expected to be more than double the margin of its other units in recent months.
The company reported a decline of 50.57% in net profit from of Rs 187.38 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 379.09 crore in the same quarter last year.

Coal India in talks for 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers to rein in price volatility

Coal India (CIL) - the world’s largest coal miner is negotiating 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers in an attempt to protect Indian consumers from any volatility in global coal prices. The company is in advanced talks with suppliers in Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and the US for securing coal at 10% discount to the global benchmark price.

CIL is aiming to import at least 30 million tonnes of coal in fiscal 2011-12. The company is in negotiations with global firms such as Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Anglo American, Peabody, Massey Energy, Arch Coal, Murray Energy and Sinarmas since the state owned company did not get adequate confirmed responses from domestic consumers.

Further, the company now plans to import larger quantity of the fossil fuel as its expansion plans have been severely hit by factors such as new pollution norms and law and order issues at some of its mines.

Union Bank inks pact with Nokia

Union Bank of India (UBI) has launched Union Bank Money powered by Nokia across India, starting with the National Capital Region in partnership with Nokia. The service is already available to consumers in Gurgaon, and will be soon go live in Delhi, Faridabad and Noida. This will be followed by a nationwide roll-out over the next few months. The unique service specifically targets users, who do not have a bank account, by providing access to financial services through their mobile phones and driving financial inclusion.
Union Bank Money powered by Nokia operates across all handsets in India. Making the service ubiquitous, highly accessible and user-friendly, Nokia is pre-installing the application in a wide range of Nokia mobile handsets across price points. The application can also be installed nearly on all already existing Nokia handsets in the country.
The Financial Inclusion plan will aim at bringing banking services to over 10 million customers across 32,000 villages by 2013. Nokia will supplement the existing 3000 UBI branches across the country with its unparalleled network of retail outlets spread across the country.
Union Bank of India reported a surge of 8.51% in net profit to Rs 579.57 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 534.13 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 4,693 crore, up 24.88% over Rs 3,758 crore for the year ago period.

7Seas gets nomination for FICCI (BAF) Awards -2011

7Seas Entertainment, a Hyderabad based independent IP based games development company have been nominated for the prestigious FICCI (Best animated frames-BAF) Awards 2011.The FICCI nominated one of 7 Seas’ mobile games (The fight 3D) and online games (The dark man) under best mobile game category and best online game category respectively.
FICCI (The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) frames Asia’s largest convention on the business of entertainment held in Mumbai annually, draws 2500 attendees from India and abroad every year.
7Seas is India’s first independent IP-based games development company certified by ISO: 9001-2008. The company with its head quarters at Hyderabad focuses on developing PC Games, Mobile Games, Console Games and Online Games.

Lenders and promoters to acquire stake in Kingfisher Airlines at 64% premium

Both lenders and promoters of Kingfisher Airlines will pick up equity in the debt-laden airlines at a substantial 64% premium to its current market price by March 31 if the company keeps its commitment on timelines earlier agreed upon. However, the company is yet to decide the date and share conversion price based on SEBI formula.
If this plan goes ahead, all the 18 lenders will own over 12 crore shares of the airline, which could be around 19% of the expanded equity base, without considering further equity dilution via the proposed GDR issue. However, the only catch is that all these banks would have to report mark-to-market losses and accordingly make provisions for it since the stock will be trading at a discount to its acquisition price.
At the end of the third quarter, 66.27% shares in Kingfisher Airlines were held by the promoter group (with UB holdings having 30.57% stake). Kingfisher plans to reduce its debt to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 7,650 crore after the restructuring exercise.

Indian Oil Corp may defer shutdown of its unit

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) may consider deferring shutdown of units at some of its refineries to meet local demand. IOC has to re-look at their shutdown plans when Indian fuel demand is rising at a fast face along with international fuel prices, company officials quoted.
Indian refiners are struggling to get a good response to their diesel import tenders as traders are expecting that they could get better price by selling the cargoes to Japan than India. Due to this IOC had called off its award for diesel tender.
Recently, IOC had announced its plans to close some of its secondary units and a naphtha cracker plant at northern Panipat refinery. The company’s biggest refinery is reportedly having a capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude, while its giant naphtha cracker can annually produce 850,000 tonne of ethylene and 600,000 tonne of propylene in the next fiscal.
The company’s net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 has zoomed by 134.68% at Rs 1634.76 crore as compared to Rs 696.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Santowin Corporation inks MoU for gold mine exploring in Ghana

Santowin Corporation has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a party in Ghana for mining of gold in Ghana. The transaction of the business was informed at its board meeting held on March 19, 2011.

The board has empowered the managing director to take all necessary steps towards implementation of the project in Ghana and elsewhere and also empower to execute Power of Attorney agreement, etc in the interest of the company.

It has also approved that, if necessary, it will open a subsidiary in West Africa and seek listing of company at the Ghana Stock Exchange. The board has also approved to open the bank account in Ghana and remit the money so required for fulfillment of terms and conditions of agreement as and when the same is required.

Further, the company has approved to raise loan for the fulfillment of future commitment if necessary.

DLF to launch its luxury homes project 'Bay View' at Marine Drive today

The country's largest real estate company - DLF will be launching its luxury homes project 'Bay View' at Marine Drive today. The project which comprises exclusive air-conditioned apartments have prices ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.8 crore developed in 3.78 acres of land.

The project is in close proximity to the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal and the new Express Highway which connects the container terminal with NH47. The apartments in the complex are in the range of 1300 sq.ft to 2700 sq.ft, approximately and a few exclusive town houses have also been included to cater to very exclusive clients.

The apartments are airy and most of them have east facing entrances to make them Vaastu compliant. The property overlooks the backwaters, harbour and the Bolgatty Island. It also has a 20,000 sq.ft clubhouse with swimming pool, three tier security system with video surveillance, air-conditioned lobbies with lounge seating, convenience store for daily needs, etc. The company is also planning to open an exclusive boutique shopping arcade in the complex.

DLF is primarily in the business of real estate development. It operates in all aspects of real estate development, ranging from acquisition of land, to planning, executing, constructing and marketing of project. The company has reported a net profit of Rs 204.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to a net profit of Rs 224.43 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, down by 8.73%.

Monnet Ispat’s subsidiary completes acquisitions of Indonesian Coal Company

Monnet Ispat and Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary -- Monnet Global (MGL) -- has completed the acquisition of Indonesian Coal Company -- PT Sarwa Sembada Karya Bumi -- at a price of $24 million in Jambi, Indonesia.
The acquisition gives MGL access to one of the largest thermal coal mine spreading over an area of 25,000 hectares. Presently, only 1500 hectares, out of the entire 25,000 hectres, have been explored and the company has been able to establish 65 million tonne of the coal reserves in the mine and expects these reserves to go up substantially after completing exploration of the total land area.
The prestigious Coal Contract of Works (CCOW), also called Peranjinan Karya Pengusahaan Pertambangan Batubara) PKP2B, which was awarded to  PT Sarwa by the Government of Indonesia, subsequent to the acquisition, gets transferred to MGL making it to the amongst the very few Indian companies to have CCOW.
MGL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monnet Ispat, has offices in Dubai, Jakarta and Johannesburg (South Africa) and does all the global acquisition and mergers for the group.

Sadbhav Engineering bags two orders worth Rs 869.23 crore

Sadbhav Engineering has bagged two projects/ works worth aggregating Rs 869.23 crore from the Executive Engineer, Narmada Development Division 20, Mandleshwar, M. P. in joint venture with GKC Projects - Hyderabad.
The first contract worth Rs 349.30 crore comprises execution of Omkareshwar right bank lift canal including its distribution network up 40 Ha, Chak for culturable command area (CCA) of about 29947 Ha, on turn key basis from RD 51.281 Km to 125.00 Km (excluding VRB at RD 51.281 Km Wasvi- Sirsodia Road). The company will lead the joint venture with 60% participation share.
The second contract worth Rs 519.93 crore comprises execution of Omkareshwar right bank lift canal including its distribution network up 40 Ha, Chak for culturable command area (CCA) of about 28073 Ha, on turn key basis from RD 0.00 Km to 51.281Km (including VRB at RD 51.281 Km Wasvi- Sirsodia Road). The company will lead the joint venture with 40% participation share.
Recently, the company had announced that it is all set to commission 3 of its toll road projects 9 - 12 months in advance, against the original completion date of March 2013. The 97 km Bijapur Hungund toll road will be commissioned by Dec 2011.

HPCL may delay 15-day shutdown of Mumbai refinery

To meet fuel demand from local industry, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) may defer the planned 15-day shutdown of its 60,000 barrels per day crude unit at Mumbai refinery to September.
However, the company has no plans to change a 45-day maintenance shutdown of a 60,000 bpd crude unit, a visbreaker unit and a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at Vizag refinery. The shutdown will begin in November. HPCL runs a 130,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Mumbai and a 166,000 bpd plant at Vizag, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Recently, the refinery was planning to add new facilities at its Vizag refinery to convert low-value heavy oils into premium products which will significantly increase refining margins, company officials stated. The refinery is also likely to merge Prize Petroleum (PPCL) with itself after attempts to seek for a 50% stake in its oil exploration firm did not yield favorable response. The company will take a final decision on March 25, when the representatives of PPCL will meet the HPCL board.

Most Asian equities climb in Monday morning trade

Majority of Asian equities climbed in the Monday morning trade as investors tracked the positive cues from the US markets which climbed on Friday while Japan’s progress in battling radiation leaks at a nuclear complex too spurred optimism in the region. However, the surge in crude oil prices on the back of lingering upheaval in Libya, where the US and allied forces launched a military campaign over the weekend in support of a UN resolution, threatening to jeopardize the market's fragile confidence. Stock markets in China remained very volatile in morning trade as oil stocks advanced due to spike in crude prices while copper producers receded on fears that the Chinese central bank may take measures to tame inflation.
Hang Seng surged 234.16 points or 1.05% to 22,534.39, Jakarta Composite advanced 10.51 points or 0.30% to 3,504.58, KLSE Composite added 0.56 points or 0.04% to 1,504.45, Straits Times climbed 25.65 points or 0.87% to 2,961.43, Seoul Composite soared 17.89 points or 0.90% to 1,999.02, Taiwan Weighted jumped 85.86 points or 1.02% to 8,480.61.
On the other hand only Shanghai Composite traded in the negative zone after shedding 4.92 points or 0.17% to 2,901.96.
Stock markets in Japan remained shut on account of Spring Equinox Day holiday.

Tata Steel rises on launching Perpetual Hybrid Securities

Tata Steel is currently trading at Rs 599.00, up by 2.70 points or 0.45% from its previous closing of Rs 596.30 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 600.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs 602.90 and Rs 596.55 respectively. So far 264725 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 737.00 on 26-Mar-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 448.65 on 26-Jul-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 607.00 and Rs 577.15 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 57441.88 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 32.53% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 42.37% and 23.90% respectively. 

Tata Steel has successfully completed the issuance of perpetual hybrid securities worth Rs 1,500 crore. With the issuance of this bond the company became the first Indian corporate to issue securities of such kind. ICICI Bank and J.P. Morgan Securities India were the mandated lead arrangers for the issuance.

The unique features of the securities are that they are perpetual in nature with no maturity or redemption and are callable only at the option of the company. The distribution rate (which may be deferred at the company’s option) on the securities is set at 11.8 percent, with a step up provision if the securities aren’t called after 10 years.

These securities rank senior only to share capital of the company. This provides equity characteristic to these hybrid securities.

Recently, Tata Steel has signed a binding agreement with Canadian iron ore miner New Millennium Capital Corp (NML) for joint development of the taconite iron ore deposit in Canada, 30 kilometers northwest of Schefferville.

Also in a bid to strengthen its downstream capability to serve the automotive sector, the company is planning to set up a new line to double the slitting capacity of its service centre at Gelsenkirchen, in Germany.

Sesa Goa mulls to buy iron ore mine in Kolha-Roida, Orissa: Report

Sesa Goa is reportedly looking to buy iron ore mines in Kolha-Roida, Orissa. The mine is owned by Orissa Minerals Development (OMDC), a company under the ministry of steel and a subsidiary of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam. Sesa Goa is one of the eleven companies and the biggest of the lot to have bid for development of Kolha-Roida mine which was tendered by OMDC in January 2011.
Kolha-Roida mine is spread over nearly 255 hectares (ha). It is the third-biggest mine in the company’s portfolio in terms of area covered. The other bidders include companies like Hyderabad-based Ramky Infrastructure and the mining arm of Kolkata-based Adhunik Metaliks. Sesa Goa had failed to renew a mining contract for Thakurani mine in Orissa in November last year.
Recently Sesa Goa had announced that the Honorable Supreme Court of India has, vide order dated February 07, 2011, upheld the order of single judge of high court of Bombay dated December 18, 2008 approving the Scheme of amalgamation of Sesa Industries with Sesa Goa with appointed date of April 01, 2005.

Info Edge to invest Rs 1 crore in Nogle Technologies

Info Edge (India) has approved an investment of up to Rs 1 crore in Nogle Technologies, an online information sharing portal.
Recently, the company had announced that it is planning to buy multiple internet businesses and build a portfolio of web properties that could be a significant revenue contributor in five years for the company. The company will spend part of its Rs 400 crore cash reserve for these buyouts.
Info Edge (India) owns one of the leading job portals naukri.com. The company is a leading provider of various portals related to online recruitment, matrimonial, real estate and education classifieds and related services in India. The company has a network of 67 offices spread across in 41 cities in India.

BF Utilities trades in green as subsidiary completes FDI process

BF Utilities is currently trading at Rs 753.75, up by 10.00 points or 1.34% from its previous closing of Rs 743.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 755.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 769.90 and Rs 752.00 respectively. So far 74,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1143.90 on 24-Aug-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 649.20 on 10-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 789.90 and Rs. 678.15 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2876.49 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 66.13% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 2.80% and 31.07% respectively.

BF Utilities’ all transactions in relation to the FDI in Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprises (NECE) have been recently completed by NECE. NECE is a company incorporated for and undertaking the implementation of Phase I of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project and an indirect subsidiary of BF Utilities.

The board of directors of BF Utilities, the promoter and indirect holding company of NECE has approved the proposal for, and signing of definitive agreements in relation to, foreign direct investment of a sum of Rs 500 crore. The approval was granted at its meeting held on December 24, 2010.

BF Utilities is engaged in power generation through wind mill technology. The company was set up to satiate the power requirements of the Kalyani Group companies, which have business interests in the areas of steel making, forging, machining, etc.

Call rates surge in the second week of the reporting cycle; tax outflows skew liquidity conditions

The Inter-bank call money rates were at 7.55/60% almost steady compared to its previous close of 7.50 /60% on strong demand at the first day of second week of the reporting fortnight. The call rates are well above the repo level since tax outflows have caused cash crunch leading banks to borrow more in order to cover their mandated requirements. The call rates closed at 7.50/60 in an illiquid market on Saturday.

Banks via Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 87,095 crore through repo window on March 16, 2011. While banks via Second Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 53,375 crore through repo window and parked Rs 300 crore via reverse repo window on the same day.

The overnight borrowing rates has touched a high of 7.75% and a low of 7.55%, so far.

According to the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), the weighted average rate (WAR) in the call money market was 6.99% on Friday and total volume stood at Rs 1631 crore on the same day.

As per CCIL data, WAR in the CBLO (Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) market was 2.84% on Friday and total volume stood at Rs 6395 crore on the same day. 

India Securities Group Company exercise its options

India Securities has been informed by Essar Telecommunications Holdings (ETHPL) that its wholly owned subsidiary, ETHL Communications Holdings (ETHL CHL), has exercised its prepayment option in relation to the Series A and Series B Non Convertible Debentures (in accordance with the terms of issue). The payment towards the redemption would be made on March 29, 2011.
Accordingly, post payment the 10.97% stake in Vodafone Essar held by ETHL CHL will be free from all encumbrances.
India Securities is promoted by Essar (Ruia) group and is a subsidiary of Essar Investments. It is into the business of finance, corporate advisory services, project finance, intermediation services project money and foreign exchange markets.
ETHPL holds 11 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, while the remaining 22 per cent is held through Essar Telecom. Vodafone owns the rest. Vodafone paid $11.1 billion in 2007 for a 67% stake in the firm.
The deal gave Essar the option to sell its entire 33% stake for $5 billion by May 2011, or part of it at a market-determined price. Vodafone has an agreement with Essar that gives it first option to buy out the Indian company’s stake if some or all of the holding is put up for sale. The decision to exercise either put option on or before 8 May, 2011, is entirely the choice of both companies.
Last year in June India Securities (ISL) had said that its board had approved the merger of Essar Telecommunications, which owns an indirect 11 percent stake in Vodafone Essar. Vodafone objected to Essar Telecommunications Holdings' reverse listing into India Securities (ISL) saying ISL's value may be inaccurately used to calculate the value of its Indian telecom joint venture Vodafone Essar.

Bharati Shipyard expects Rs 2,000-crore of orders from offshore and defence segment

Bharati Shipyard is planning to concentrate strongly on the offshore and defence segments and expects over Rs 2,000-crore of orders over the next one year as the offshore and defence segments hold immense potential.

Offshore and defence both the segments are presently growing exponentially and presently, the company's order-book of Rs 5,000-crore has a huge component of off-shore orders at around Rs 3,000-crore and defence orders of around Rs 500-crore. The company expects that there would be a huge demand for defense vessels and it is well-positioned to exploit these opportunities as presently, around 50 ships are under construction at its shipyards due for deliveries by mid-2013.

Recently, Bharati Shipyard was looking to acquire majority 51% stake and management control in Tebma Shipyards for a total consideration of Rs 75.75 crore. The company will infuse fresh equity capital into south-based firm at a price of Rs 19.20 per share of face value of Rs 10 each. Following this acquisition, Tebma’s equity capital base will expand to Rs 77.36 crore from current Rs 7.78 crore.

Tricom Fruit Products to raise Rs 70 crore through issue of equity shares

Tricom Fruit Products has received its borad’s approval for raising of funds to the extent of Rs 70 crore through issue of equity shares of the company, and has appointed merchant bankers for the same.
The board has further approved increasing the authorised share capital of the company to Rs 25 crore divided into 2,50,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each from the existing Rs 17,50,00,000 divided into 1,75,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each.
Tricom Fruit Products is engaged in the processing of wide range of fruits encompassing Mango, Pomegranate, Guava, Papaya, Tomato and Gooseberry (Amla). Supplied in the form of pulp, puree, juice, concentrate they are exclusively customised and processed as aseptic or, frozen based on the customer's requirement.

Voltas inks agreement with KION Group Gmbh for a JV

Voltas has approved the proposal for formation of a joint venture with Linde Material Handling GmbH (LMH), an affiliate of KION Group, Germany for Materials Handling (MH) business of the company. Voltas’s material handling operations will be integrated into a new joint venture company where the KION group will hold a majority share.

The JV Company will be named Voltas Materials Handling (VMH) and is expected to start operations in April 2011. VMH will be KION Group’s sixth brand and will use Voltas to focus on the Indian market with a product range that includes diesel/LPG and electric trucks with load capacities of 1.5 to 16 tons. VMH will have twenty-five branches and dealership all over India.

Voltas would also enter into a supply agreement with the VMH for forklifts to be manufactured at Thane Plant and grant license for use of 'Voltas' brand for forklifts for a period of 5 years on certain conditions.

Voltas is one of the world's premier engineering solutions providers and project specialists. The company offers engineering solutions for a wide spectrum of industries in areas such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, refrigeration, electro-mechanical projects, textile machinery, mining and construction equipment, materials handling equipment, water management & treatment, cold chain solutions, building management systems, and indoor air quality.

The company reported a decrease of 2.59% in net profit after tax to Rs 67.01 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 from Rs 68.79 crore in the same quarter last year.

Elder Health Care to build its own brands

Elder Health Care a part of Elder group of companies is planning to build its own brands. In this regard, the company has lined up about half-a-dozen launches this year. Following this, the company aims to have a 50:50 ratio between in-licensed products and own brands over the next three to five years as against the present 90:10 in favour of in-licensed products

The company is also targeting for a massive increase in its turnover by FY13 at Rs 300-crore against Rs 80-crore in FY10. It plans to launch Octane in April and together with fuel and targeting an 8-9% market share in deodorants.

Elder Health Care is engaged in manufacturing of a range of FMCG and skin care products through research and development and also products through licensing agreements with Indian and International companies. It has a strong portfolio of brands -- Fairone, Tiger, AMPM, Anthical, Eldercoid, Isoace among others -- that are having major market shares in their respective segments. The company has manufacturing facilities in Patalganga and Rabale.

BUY SESAGOA(500295) 21/03/2011

BUY SESAGOA(500295): 258-259 STOP-LOSS:253 TARGET:263 TGT2:269.70  FOR 2-3DAY CALL FOR POSITIONAL  

BANKNIFTY FOR SUPPORT 21/03/2011

BANKNIFTY (2nd Resistance) 11036.7
(1st Resistance) 10896.4
Pivot point 10817.7
(1st Support) 10677.4
(2nd support) 10598.7

NIFTY FOR SUPPORT 21/03/2011

NIFTY (2nd Resistance) 5545.22
(1st Resistance) 5466.03
Pivot point 5423.02
(1st Support) 5343.83
(2nd support) 5300.82

Reliance Power gains on getting 5 power projects in Himachal Pradesh

Reliance Power is currently trading at Rs 122.55, up by 1.30 points or 1.07% from its previous closing of Rs. 121.25 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 122.60 and has touched a high and low of Rs 123.45 and Rs 122.10 respectively. So far 75,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 191.00 on 11-Nov-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 106.15 on 25-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 127.60 and Rs. 120.10 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 34011.63 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 80.42% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 6.46% and 13.08% respectively.

Corporate giant, Reliance Power has got five out of the 18 hydropower projects for which global bids were invited by the Himachal Pradesh. The company was allotment the 300 MW Purthi, 94 MW Teling and 44 MW Shangling, all in Lahaul and Spiti district, 130 MW Sumte Kothang and 104 MW Lara Sumta projects in Kinnaur district.

As per Himachal Pradesh's amended power policy, the bidder who offers more free power to the state in addition to the fixed quota are allotted projects. During the previous Congress government, the projects were allotted on the basis of highest upfront premium.

Himachal Pradesh has ample water resources with a power potential of about 23,000 MW. About 6,672 MW have been harnessed till now by the central and state governments, private players and joint venture companies.

REC to raise $1 billion in FY12 through ECBs or corporate bond

India’s state-run lender Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is planning to mop up about $1 billion in FY12 through issue of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) or corporate bond issues in the USA.

Recently, the company had raised $500-million through a bond issue in the international market. The company also announced to raise $200 million from the offshore loan market by the end of the current financial year.

Rural Electrification Corporation is engaged in providing financial assistance to state electricity boards, state government departments and rural electric co-operatives for rural electrification projects as are sponsored by them. The company reported a surge of 40.08% in net profit of Rs 664.09 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 474.07 crore in the same quarter last year.

Godawari Power get courts sanction to amalgamate Hira Industries and R.R.Ispat with itself

The High Court of Chhattisgarh and Bilaspur have sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of Hira Industries (HIL) and R.R.Ispat (RRIL) with Godawari Power and Ispat (GPIL). The order was passed dated March 17, 2011 and the company has received the certified copy on March 19, 2011.

Pursuant to the said Scheme of Amalgamation GPIL shall issue 36,86,440 equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid to the equity shareholder of HIL. The shares of RRIL shall be cancelled since the entire share capital of RRIL is been held by GPIL. Further as per the scheme of amalgamation 11,25,000 equity shares of GPIL held by the RRIL shall be transferred to GPIL beneficiary trust.

The said Scheme of amalgamation shall come into effect after filing of the certified copy of the said order with Registrar of Companies within 14 days from the date of receipt of copy of the order.

Lanco Infratech’s group company synchronizes its 600 MW unit

Lanco Infratech’s group company - Lanco Anpara Power - has successfully synchronized Unit I (600 MW) on March 19, 2011. With this Lanco Infratech becomes the country's no 1 independent Power Producer (IPP) with present installed capacity of about 3,292 MW.

Recently, Lanco’s another group company - Udupi Power Corporation - has successfully synchronized Unit II (600 MW) with the grid on March 08, 2011. The Unit 1 (600 MW) of Udupi Power Corporation (UPCL) was synchronized with the grid on June, 3 2010.

Lanco Infratech is one of the fastest growing integrated infrastructure enterprises of India, operating across a synergistic span of verticals comprising power generation, power trading, non-power infrastructure, construction, EPC, property development and renewable (solar and wind). Lanco Infratech posted net profit of Rs 133.56 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 114.51 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, up 16.63%.

Kingfisher Airlines, RCom, Monnet Ispat and United Spirits likely to witness some action today

Both lenders and promoters will pick up equity in debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines at a substantial 64% premium to its current market price by March 31 if the company keeps its commitment on timelines earlier agreed upon.

FMCG player, Elder Health Care, has decided to give more focus to building its own brands and has lined-up about half-a-dozen launches this year.

Bharati Shipyard plans to focus strongly on the offshore and defence segments and expects over Rs 2,000-crore of orders over the next one year.

Monnet Ispat and Energy has bought a 100-million tonne coal mine in Indonesia. The company has been in serious talks for the past 5 months to buy a 100-million tonne thermal coal mine in Indonesia. The acquisition is now complete and the announcement will happen on Monday.

Air conditioner maker Voltas has signed an agreement with Germany-based Kion Group to establish a joint venture in India for developing and servicing industrial trucks and warehousing equipment.

The finance ministry said that the government should not arm-twist Cairn Energy by linking the approval of the $9.6-billion Cairn-Vedanta deal with disputes between the British explorer and its estranged partner, ONGC. At a time when the episode of Cairn's acquisition by Vedanta is unfolding, the shareholders of the petroleum explorer are facing a confusing predicament. With crude oil prices soaring above $100, a number of broking houses are valuing Cairn's shares at Rs 420 or higher apiece.

Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits (USL) will invest around Rs 600 crore to set up glass manufacturing plants, as the world's largest liquor firm by volume tries to rein in volatile input costs.

State-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), plans to raise around $ 1-billion in 2011-12 through a corporate bond issue in the USA.

Consumer products major Procter & Gamble’s (P&G’s) recent move to slash prices of its hygiene products, Whisper and Pampers, is likely to push its rivals to take price cuts soon.

With the Centre’s clean energy cess on coal, Coal India (CIL) is set to pay a little over Rs 2,150 crore on it. The cess is expected to put additional burden on consumers.

Ansal Properties & Infrastructure has booked sales of about 2.92 million sq ft, aggregating to sale value of about Rs 294 crore in the month February.

BF Utilities’ all transactions in relation to the FDI in Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprises (NECE) have been recently completed by NECE.

Corporate giant, Reliance Power has got five out of the 18 hydropower projects for which global bids were invited by the Himachal Pradesh.

Union Bank of India has entered into an agreement with Lintas Media Group for a period of two years from October 01, 2010 to September 30, 2012. As per the agreement, Lintas Media will develop, plan and implement media strategy for the bank.

State Bank of India (SBI) has raised around Rs 150 crore through 3 months certificates of deposit (CDs)  at 9.75% and Rs 820 crore via one year CDs at 9.95%.

HDFC Bank, second largest private bank in the country, has inked an agreement with Shri Jirawala Parshwanath Chowis Tirthankar Trust for offering online donation.

Reliance Communications' plan to sell its 50,000 towers asset faces a set back as American Tower Corporation (ATC) is not eyeing these towers. There was an increased speculation that Reliance Communications was being wooed by players to pick up the company’s asset with US headquartered - ATC one among them.

Hindustan Motors (HML), India’s pioneering automobile manufacturing company is set to get its most radical makeover of Ambassador in the six decades of its history.

Spectacle Infotek, a leading provider of software development and support services, has successfully completed implementation of its software to various professional colleges and schools.

Tata Group’s arm Titan Industries (TIL) is likely to enter Indonesia by July this year as a part of overseas expansion plans and it is also looking to appoint local partner in the country.

Engineering solutions company Hindustan Dorr-Oliver (HDO) has received orders worth Rs 54.64 crore from Nuclear Power Corporation of India, or NPCIL, for manufacture and supply of process equipment, namely, emergency condensers and D20 exchangers for its Kakrapar Atomic Power Project in Gujarat and Rawatbhatha Atomic Power Project in Rajasthan.

Markets likely to get a positive start on supportive global cues

The Indian markets once again suffered sharp cuts on Friday; investors were still to overcome from the pressure of rate hike by RBI and the rise in crude prices too weighed on the sentiments. Today the start is likely to be positive as the global cues are supportive, however the crude prices are still moving higher after the Gaddafi violated cease fire and air bombardment from American, French and British forces took place to protect Libyan civilians from government troops. On the domestic front Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the Reserve Bank of India's move to hike key policy rates by 25 basis points would help curb inflationary pressure. On the same time there is a bad news for the oil marketing companies as the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has said that the government would wait for inflationary pressure to calm down before freeing the diesel prices. However the PMEAC has exuded confidence that inflation will decline to below 6 per cent in the first few months of the next fiscal, even as the Reserve Bank revised upwards its March-end inflation projection. The PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan also said that RBI would halt increase in key policy rates once the headline inflation comes down to around 6 per cent.

The US markets managed to close in green on Friday as the Libyan tension eased a bit, also the G7 nations pledge to support Japanese currency from moving higher in the time of crisis helping the markets closed higher. Most of the Asian markets have made a green start and major indices are trading higher by half to one percent.

Back home, Indian benchmarks once again settled in the red zone on the last trading day of the week as hefty profit booking by funds and retail investors continued for the second straight day after the RBI hiked its key policy rates to curb inflation on Thursday. Sentiments remained subdued as investors feared that more rate hikes are on cards as RBI’s tone was hawkish as it battles spiraling inflationary pressures which threaten to derail the robust growth of Indian economy. The gloomy reports from the political front too did no good to the local sentiments as the opposition demanded resignation of Indian Prime Minister following a wikileaks cable showing bribes had been given by the ruling UPA government members for votes during a no confidence motion after an Indo-US nuclear treaty. While in the global space, sanguine cues from the Asian and European markets went largely unnoticed as investors factored in the spike in international crude oil prices which surged in the session after a vote by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) authorizing the imposition of a no-fly zone over the Libya. The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, breached the crucial 5,400 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, Sensex infringed the psychological 18,000 mark after shaving off over two hundred fifty points. The broader markets traded with some resilience though and finished with relatively smaller losses thereby outshining their larger peers. Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark ricocheted by around 100 points in the opening trade, with finance and other sector stocks rising on the back of supportive cues from overnight US markets which surged around one and half a percent on a slew of good economic reports that helped to put aside the fear of Japanese crisis. However, the frontline indices immediately erased all the opening gains and treaded on a southbound journey thereafter, since unpleasant reports related to the index heavyweight RIL’s lower than estimated gas production from its KG Basin block hit headlines. Sentiments were also dampened after the opposition raised questions on Congress, which is already burdened by corruption charges, culpability after wikileaks cables revelation. The bourses touched intraday lows in the dying hours of session as they infringed crucial support levels to eventually settle with losses of around one and half a percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 271.06 points or 1.49% to settle at 17878.81 while the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 72.95 points or 1.34% to end at 5373.70.

FII DII DATA 21/03/2011

Net Index Futures (-510), Net Stock Futures (-273), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,44,986 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 31,711 cr)

India Inc raises $2.7 billion in foreign borrowings

As rate domestic cost of borrowing begins to rise amidst continued monetary tightening by the central bank, India Inc is increasingly looking to overseas sources of funds. In the month of January, Indian companies raised over $2.7 billion through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds, showed the data compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Out of the total amount, around $1.93 billion were raised through the automatic route, which does not require the approval of either the central bank of government. A total of 35 companies availed foreign borrowings under automatic route. The remaining sum of around $773 million was raised by four companies under the approval route.

The biggest funding was availed by the government controlled Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) that raised $400 million through the ECBs for modernizing its plants in India. Another major borrowing came from the construction and Infrastructure company SP Jammu Udhampur Highway that brought in $ 350 million via ECBs for various road projects being undertaken by it.

Indian companies are allowed to raise up to $500 million from overseas sources in a financial year under the automatic route for specified purposes. In case the objective for raising loans is not covered explicitly under the automatic route, the central bank takes a decision under the approval route. Often when the domestic rate cycle is on the uphill journey, as is the case presently, the foreign borrowings of India Inc increase as foreign funds become cheaper in many cases.

Monnet Ispat to acquire Indonesian coal mine

Monnet Ispat is close to acquiring a coal mine in Sumatra, Indonesia. The company would complete the acquisition of the coal mine by this week and will announce the news of acquisition early next week.

Monnet Ispat will utilize the coal from the Indonesian mine for its merchant power plant of about 2000 MW. The company is already setting up a 1050 MW plant in Orissa for which the coal will be sourced from its domestic mines.  It has ventured into merchant power business through its subsidiary – Monnet Power.

As there is mismatch in demand supply of coal due to which there is short supply of coal and prices rises sharply, power and steel companies are scouting for coal assets abroad. To keep control on their coal costs in future the company has been looking for a coal mine from a long time.

Last month, Monnet Ispat and Energy’s subsidiary --Monnet Power Company -- was aiming to invest around Rs 3,300 crore for increasing power generation capacity of its plant being built at Angul in Orissa. The company is engaged in the business of sponge iron, steel ingot and billets and coal mining.

Bharti Airtel set to buy Qualcomm Inc’s 4G licenses

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest integrated telecom services provider is likely to buy Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) India’s yet-to-be-launched broadband wireless licenses for about $1.2-1.3 billion, with a premium of 25-30%. The US-based chip maker is set to be in discussions with the country's largest telecom operator to sell its BWA licences in all four circles.
The U.S. mobile phone chip maker in 2010 had won licenses and bandwidth to offer wireless broadband in four service areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana at a cost of more than $1.05 billion in a government-run auction.
The deal, if it goes through, will give Bharti BWA spectrum in eight circles. At present, it has BWA licences for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kolkata and Punjab. It plans to start 4G services by the end of this year, a few months after the launch of 3G services.
The deal will also help Bharti compete with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which has bought a pan-India BWA licence from HFCL. Reliance and Bharti are both expected to launch 4G services around the same time.

Axis Bank, Idea introduce mobile based financial inclusion initiative -- “Idea MyCash”

Axis Bank along with Idea Cellular has introduced a mobile based financial inclusion initiative “Idea MyCash”, a facility aimed at providing basic banking services including money transfer, using the mobile platform.

This service will provide basic banking services like cash deposit, cash withdrawal and balance enquiry besides enabling money transfer between the migrants in urban areas to their beneficiaries back home. The remittance facility is being offered in the Dharavi -- Allahabad remittance corridor to begin with and will be extended to other remittance corridors subsequently.

As per this scheme, the customer can open a no-frills bank account of Axis Bank at Idea’s outlet by submitting minimal documents. Once on board, he/she can perform basic banking services like deposits and withdrawals at the Idea outlet either free or for a charge.

Biocon’s drug development partner gets US patent for fidaxomicin

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, drug development partner of Asia’s largest biotechnology company Biocon, has received a US patent for fidaxomicin, an antibiotic used in the treatment of clostridium difficile infection (CDI). The patent will be extended up to March 2027.

CDI is an illness caused by an infection that can result in severe diarrhoea and in serious cases, death. Biocon will manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for fidaxomicin.

Biocon produces anti-diabetic agents like Acarbose, Pioglitazone, Repaglinides and Rosiglitazone. In the biological segment it produces Insulin, Erythropoietin (EPO), Filgrastim (GCSF), Streptokinase and Monoclonal Antibodies. The drug major also produces mycophenolate mofetil, sirolimus and tacrolimus.

Jubilant FoodWorks mulls to diversify its present business

Jubilant FoodWorks which is operating Dominos Pizza chain in India is aiming to diversify its business into new areas, including operating hotels and other non-food segments such as garments and fashion accessories. The company will get to know if the shareholders have approved new plan when the result of the postal ballot is announced on April 21, 2011.
As per the company's plan, it is seeking to enter into businesses such as stationary items, fashion accessories, toys, gift items, DVDs, VCDs and home decor items. Apart from this, it is also looking to operate hotels, restaurants, beach resorts, health resorts, cafes and motels. The company has drawn up plans to tap huge market available by venturing into new business initiatives in the food business. Other items that the company could start dealing in are baby and dietetic products, pickles, spices, wines and liquors. The firm also has intentions to cultivate, prepare or market any organic, agricultural or plantation produce and sell it in India or elsewhere.
The company is also planning to construct, own, hire or maintain cold storages, ice plants, warehouses, freezing houses and room coolers for storing food products being dealt by the company as a part of its business in India.