Finance Minister tables Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill in Parliament

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday tabled the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill - 2011 in the lower house of the Parliament. The main aim of the Bill is to improve the regulatory powers of the central bank and reform the norms governing voting rights in both the public sector and private sector banks.

In case of the nationalized banks, the Bill proposes to raise the ceiling on voting rights of shareholders from 1% prevailing currently to 10%. It also proposes to enable the nationalized banks to increase or decrease their authorized capital with approval from central government and RBI. Presently, the nationalized banks are subjected to a ceiling of Rs 3,000 crore authorized capital.

In case of private banks it proposes to remove the voting right restriction of 10% for private sector banks in the total voting rights of all the shareholders of the banking company. It is proposed to “remove the existing restriction on voting rights limited to 10% of the total voting rights of all the shareholders of the banking company,” said the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.

The Bill also includes provisions to further empower the central bank. Such a step was felt necessary before new banking licenses were issued so that the central bank is in a better position to regulate the industry. Once the bill is passed, it will be mandatory for anyone to obtain prior approval from RBI to acquire 5% or more of the share capital of a bank and the central bank will have the right to impose whatever conditions it deems fit for such acquisitions.

The bill will also exempt bank mergers and acquisitions from provisions of competition act. This is being done to ensure that bank mergers and acquisitions are exempted from scrutiny of competition commission of India (CCI) and continue to be overseen by the RBI only. This point was request by the central bank itself as bank mergers also often have to be evaluated from point of view of stability of overall banking industry. Many times a bank merger might become necessary to rescue an ailing bank even if it leads to significant increase in market share of acquiring bank.

SEBI grants MF license to Indiabulls, IIFL and UBI

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given a final approval to Indiabulls Financial Services, India Infoline (IIFL) and Union Bank of India-KBC Asset Management to start their mutual fund business. Indiabulls and India Infoline had applied for a mutual fund license in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Union Bank had applied in 2009.

India Infoline will be launching the products in two months time. The company is looking to launch Index and ETF products. With a GDP of 9%, India Infoline feels that the mutual fund is a long-term business in India and it has a huge growth proposition.

SEBI is not comfortable in granting licenses to financial services companies and has expressed concerns over granting mutual fund licenses to non-serious players. Currently it has around 23 pending mutual fund applications.

The MF industry is witnessing a phenomenal 9% growth with close to asset under management of Rs 6.2 lakh crore. The new entrants in the mutual fund industry feel that India's asset management industry is underpenetrated and doesn't even constitute even 10% of the GDP. At the same time the industry is also witnessing exits by HNIs from mutual funds to other short-term investment opportunities.

The financial crisis in 2008 has seen many new entrants in the mutual fund business burning their fingers.  Also the market regulator has removed the entry load barrier which many fund houses see as a boon to the MF industry.

Assocham sees excessive use of monetary policy hurting growth

A recent study by the industry body Assocham has concluded that continued monetary policy tightening by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was beginning to have negative impact on Indian businesses as rising cost of funding was not only squeezing profit margins but also rendering some investment plans unviable.

“The country is pursuing a high growth strategy and braving the pains of high inflation. If the economy continues to use monetary policy without fiscal consolidation of appropriate degree, higher interest rates will continue to fuel high cost of production and squeeze profit margins of India Inc,' observed the study conducted to evaluate current economic health of the country.

It advocated that the government should also begin focusing more on the fiscal consolidation and try to focus on improving the efficiency of public spending. The central bank too had pointed out a number of times that a high fiscal deficit was hindrance to effective working of monetary policy. While the government has budgeted the deficit for current fiscal at 4.6%, which sounds reasonably low in current circumstances, experts doubt that there could be upside to the budgeted level in wake of surging crude prices and implied increase in subsidy outgo.  

The study by Assocham also observed that a large part of the inflation problem stemmed from food prices that were rising because of supply shortage. Even though some food article prices were cooling, the food articles index was still hovering at 10% rate from previous year. This could result in a more broad-based inflation in manufactured sector as well, concluded the study.

Further, while inflation was high, industrial growth was slowing down. The Assocham noted that the industrial production dropped to 5.5% in the third quarter of current fiscal year from 9.1% in second quarter and 12% in the first. While there was a slowdown in consumer goods too, greater worry was the slump seen in capital goods sector. The latter reflected that future industrial growth prospects too would be weak until the investment cycle picks up further. This however is unlikely while the central bank is hiking its policy rates in every review.

Essar Oil inks pact with Graphite India for the supply of 55,000 scmd of coal-bed methane

Essar Oil has inked a pact with K K Bangur - controlled Graphite India (GIL) for the supply of 55,000 scmd (standard cubic metre a day) of coal-bed methane (CBM), latest by the fourth quarter of 2011. Gas will be supplied from Essar's CBM block near the industrial city of Durgapur in West Bengal. The Durgapur facility is the largest as well as the oldest of the GIL facilities in India (three) and abroad (one in Germany).

Essar for this has also recently approached the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to build a 3-km dedicated pipeline connecting the graphite facility in Durgapur. The proposal is reportedly approved by the regulator.

Based on an expression of interest (EoI) submitted by Essar, PNGRB recently invited bids for laying a trunk pipeline from Asansol to Howrah (approximately 200 km) in the State. If implemented, it will be the first common carrier pipeline in the State as well as the Eastern region paving way for monetization of CBM assets in the coal bearing areas of Bengal and Jharkhand.

Essar produces coal-bed methane from 38 production wells. The company further hopes that the production is likely to reach between 40,000 and 60,000 scmd by end of March and would be ramped up to 80,000 - 1,00,000 scmd by July-September.

Essar Oil (EOL) offers a spectrum of products to bulk customers in the industrial and transport sectors. It supplies aviation turbine fuel to Indian Armed Forces. It the first private company in India to enter into petro-retailing sector through franchisee model.

Godrej Properties to jointly develop residential properties

Godrej Properties is in talks with various firms to form a joint venture as quickly as possible, since there is huge demand coming from residential properties. It is negotiating for jointly developing residential properties and expects to announce a couple of them in the first quarter of FY12.
Godrej Properties had earlier entered into joint ventures for construction of commercial properties.
Realty sector is expecting a price correction over the next 3-4 months but Godrej Properties has no plans to cut prices while in most of their project the prices are increasing. The company expects the sales to double in FY11 on strong growth across regions and segments.
Recently, Godrej Properties acquired the entire paid up share capital of Udhay OK-Realty from HDFC Ventures Trustee Company (in its capacity as trustee of HDFC Property Fund). This is pursuant to an approval of the shareholders in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on July 17, 2010. Godrej Properties reported a net profit of Rs 13.25 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 17.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, declined 24.67%.

HCL Infosystems unveils new range of laptops and desktops

HCL Infosystems, India’s premier hardware, services and ICT system Integration Company, has launched its new range of laptops and desktops. The laptop series - HCL ME 1014 and HCL ME 1015 and desktop series - HCL Infiniti M A365 Pro are packed with unique features embedded with latest technologies.

The newly launched HCL laptop and desktop series are amongst the first dual-core computers in India powered by the new latest 2nd Generation Intel Core family of processors. The products are also available on quad-core platform. The new devices from HCL are empowered with powerful configuration along with excellent features like Multi-touch Gesture Touchpad for laptops, HCL Desktop Management Software (HDMS) for desktops, one touch in-built customer service button with HCL Touch, in-built data recovery button with EC2 etc. will ensure a better and more-enhanced experience to the users.

The newly launched HCL computing devices ensure better customer experience with enhanced computer performance and better energy efficiency. This a breakthrough for providing robust media processing, more computing muscle for higher workloads, and a smoother multi-tasking experience without compromising on the style factor. It supports faster encoding and decoding of different media formats, along with smooth HD playback with high visual quality and colour fidelity enhancements.

Kotak Bank’s property investment arm to raise $500 million by the second quarter of this year

In a bet on the long term case for property in Asia's third-largest economy, Kotak Realty Fund, the property investment arm of India's Kotak Mahindra Bank, plans to raise as much as $500 million by the second quarter of this year. The fund intends to raise about $150-$200 million from domestic investors and another $300 million from global markets. Separately, Kotak is raising a $300 million private-equity fund to invest in infrastructure projects in the country.

Kotak Realty Fund had in the last week, sold one of its property assets - Peepul Tree Properties - to Tata Realty Fund for Rs 525 crore or $117 million. The fund had made an initial investment of Rs 95 crore.

Further the fund, which has about $750 million worth of assets under management, plans to invest close to $100 million over the next couple of months in major Indian cities. The investments will mainly be in the residential property assets.

Private equity funds, including four domestic and 10 international funds, have invested a total of $14 billion in Indian property during the last ten years. Of that, private equity firms have sold Indian property holdings worth nearly $2 billion.

Perfect Octave’s album “Silsila Suron Ka” gets GIMA Award 2010

Perfect Octave Media Projects’ album -- Silsila Suron Ka -- has won the prestigious GIMA Award 2010 for Best Classical Music Instrumental Album of the year. The album featured world’s best Indian Music instrumental Jugalbandi by legendry maestros Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma.

The company owns the copy rights in the said album. While retaining the copy right in the said valuable IP, the company has recently licensed this album to Times Music and now is available at leading music stores.

Recently, the company had also won an award by prestigious MTV-IMMIS for its one of the best selling album titled “Hari OM Tat Sat” by Jagjit Singh as best devotional album of the year.

Content creation is an ongoing and continuous process. The company’s objective is to create classic, thematic and world class music products in the targeted musical segment.

Godrej Consumer products to hike soap prices

In an effort to battle mounting raw material costs, personal care products maker - Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is planning to hike soap prices by 4-5% starting in month of April. The company is hiking the price since vegetable oil prices have rose significantly. Rising crude prices due to unrest in North Africa and West Asia will affect the fuel prices and freight cost.
GCPL has already hiked the prices of soap on two occasions one in September by 5% and other in January by 3-5 %. In the new fiscal year, the company is also planning to launch its own brand of air freshener along with various other new launches.
GCPL in FY12 hopes to continue announcing new buys in domestic and overseas market and expects Rs 30-40 crore in revenue, from recently acquired Naturesse Consumer Care Products and Essence Consumer Care Products which own brands like Swastik and Genteel.
Recently, FMCG major GCPL had announced its plans to boost growth in Rs 7,500 crore soap market through more acquisitions. Godrej Consumer Products has reported a surge of 18.19% in net profit to Rs 66.39 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 56.17 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

BHEL secures Rs 1,590 crore worth of order from Power Grid Corporation of India

State-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) in consortium with ABB, Sweden has bagged an order from Power Grid Corporation of India for 800 kV 6,000 MW HVDC Multi-Terminal System Package associated with the NE/ER-N/WR Interconnector-1 project.

This will be world’s first 800 kV, 6,000 MW Ultra High Voltage Multi-terminal DC transmission link. The link comprises three converter terminals and a power transmission system with a built in capacity of up to 8,000 MW which is the largest HVDC transmission system ever built. In financial terms, this is the largest order finalized in T&D sector anywhere in the world and is valued at Rs 1,590 crore. The 800 kV North-East Agra UHVDC link will have a capacity to transmit up to 6,000 MW of clean hydroelectric power from the North-East Region of the country to Agra across a distance of 1,728 kilometers.

BHEL together with its partner ABB, Sweden, will execute the project involving system engineering, design, supply and installation of three HVDC converter stations. The first stage of the system is scheduled to be operational in 2014 and the second stage in 2015.

Lanco Infratech consortium emerges as the lowest bidder for a power project by Maha Tamil Colleries

A consortium of Lanco Infratech and US-based Massey Energy Company emerged as the lowest bidder for a power project by Maha Tamil Colleries. The company informed that the final decision is yet to be announced as the bids were opened today. The developer has to supply 35 per cent of the coal obtained to Maharashtra and can use the rest of the coal to set-up a power project.
Half of the power produced from this project should be supplied to Tamil Nadu state government and the other half can be sold via the merchant route by the company. As per the rules of the bid, any excess coal should be diverted back to the joint venture company.
The 1,980 megawatt power project located in Raigarh, Chhatisgarh includes the development of the coal mine, which has an estimated annual production capacity of 10 million tonnes and reserves to the tune of 650 million tonnes. Maha Tamil Collieries is a joint venture company of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation, each an arm of their respective state governments.
The project had six other bidders, all of whom have submitted bids where they charged Maha Tamil to supply coal which is developed from the mine. Reliance Power asked for a price of Rs 380 per tonne, Sterlite’s bid asked for Rs 175 per tonne, GMR put in a bid for asked for Rs 234 per tonne, and GVK’s at Rs 405 per tonne and L&T Power put the highest bid at Rs 819 per tonne, while the Lanco and Massey consortium submitted a negative bid of Rs 112 per tonne where instead of charging Mahatamil, they would pay them for the coal used

IDFC plans to raise 250 crore long-term capital

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) is planning to raise 250 crore long-term capital through the private placement subordinated debt market before the end of the current fiscal. IDFC plans to raise funds via private placement as the company did not have enough time to come out with the fourth tranche of tax saving infrastructure bonds.
The company has mobilized around 1,500 crore by selling bonds to tax payers in three tranches, 56% less than what it had targeted to raise via retail bonds.
IDFC fixed the coupon rate at 9.33% a year for the 15-year bond issue. The bonds will carry a call option at the end of 10 years. ICICI Bank and Trust Capital are the lead arrangers to the issue.
Recently, IDFC has extended the closing date of its Rs 3,400 crore bond issue by five days from its scheduled closure date of March 16, 2011 and the issue consequently closed on March 21, 2011.

Reliance Industries’ FCC unit likely to start production from this week

Reliance Industries’ fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit is likely to start production from this week. Earlier, the FCC unit of about 2, 00,000 barrels per day (bpd) at reliance‘s older refiner at Jamnagar was closed for maintenance in early February.

The FCC converts vacuum gas oil into light value-added products like liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline-blending components and diesel.

Recently, the company is reported to have paid Rs 1054 crore in the fourth and final installment due on 15 March 2010 against Rs 770 crore in the similar quarter previous year.

The company’s net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 rose by 28.14% to Rs 5136 crore as compared to Rs 4008 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. On the other hand, the company’s net Income rose by 5.52% at Rs 60530 crore for the December quarter for the year 2010 as compared to Rs 57364 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Mindtree completes pilot execution of software testing course at RVCE

Mindtree, a global IT Solutions and product Engineering Service Company, has successfully completed the pilot execution of a software testing course at R V College of Engineering (RVCE) in Bangalore as part of the core syllabus for the final year Information Science and Engineering (ISE) students.

The company designed and developed the entire curriculum of this course in association with ISE department faculty with Vishweshwaraya Technological University’s (VTU) guidelines as base line.

MindTree offers IT services across the consumer goods value chain, spanning product development and manufacturing intelligence systems, supply chain execution and optimization solutions and customer and consumer management solutions.

CESC to double Balagarh thermal power plant capacity: Report

RPG Group Company CESC is reportedly planning to double the earlier planned capacity of its Balagarh thermal power plant in West Bengal from 660 mw to 1,320 mw. The Balagarh project, which is likely to be commissioned by 2016, would be set up for an investment of Rs 6,800 crore, making it the single biggest investment in a power project. CESC’s planned investment in thermal power projects of 4,440 mw capacity now stands at Rs 22,700 crore. The company has already received the terms of reference for the environmental impact assessment report but is awaiting final approval.
Meanwhile, the company is in the process of setting up projects in Orissa, Jharkhand and Maharashtra apart from West Bengal, where all its existing plants are located.
By 2016, CESC is also looking to commission 600 MW each at Chandrapur in Maharastra, Haldia in West Bengal and Dumka in Jharkhand apart from 1,320 mw at Dhenkanal. By 2018, CESC’s 1,000 MW capacity at Pirpainty in Bihar, 1,320 mw in Orissa under second phase and additional 300 mw in Haldia would be executed.

CARE reaffirms the ratings assigned to Amtek India’s bank facilities

Credit rating agency, CARE has reaffirmed AA- rating assigned to Rs 1,815 crore (enhanced from Rs 1,411.90 crore) long term bank facilities of Amtek India. The rating agency has also reaffirmed PR1+ rating assigned to Rs 38 crore short term bank facilities. Further, the rating agency has also reaffirmed PR1+ rating assigned to Rs 200 crore commercial paper of the company.
The rating continues to derive strength from experienced and resourceful promoters, long-standing relationships with a large number of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and relatively improved industry scenario resulting in increased sales & profitability.
Amtek Auto manufactures components such as connecting rod assemblies, flywheel ring gears and assembly, steering knuckles, suspension and steering srms, CV joints, crankshaft assemblies and torque links. It is backed by in-house design and development facilities engaged in developing new product and processes.

Tata Steel looking to buy coking coal mines in western Canada: Report

Tata Steel, the world's No. 7 steel-maker, is reportedly in talks to buy coking coal mines in western Canada. The company has initiated talks with the government of British Columbia, a Canadian province, to acquire coking coal mine.
Tatas are keen to acquire coking coal mines for its European operations, which have zero raw material integration. The company needs to find more mines as coking coal prices continue to go up, pressurizing the margins for the company.
On Tata Steel Europe's raw material integration, iron ore from its Canadian DSO project is expected to reach its mills from 2012 onwards. So is coking coal from the Benga project at Mozambique. Tata Steel has 100 per cent off take at the DSO project, which will be producing four million tonnes of iron ore every year from 2012.

Shoppers Stop opens one new store at Durgapur

Shoppers Stop has opened one new store at Durgapur. With the opening of this store, the company has now 37 stores (including two airport stores) under its operation.

Further, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary - Crossword Bookstores - has also opened one franchisee store at Sadashiva Nagar, Bengaluru. With opening of this store, there are now 69 Crossword stores.

Recently the company’s subsidiary - Crossword Bookstores opened one franchise store at Junction Mall, at Durgapur.

Shoppers Stop is engaged in the retailing business. It runs a chain of departmental stores with brands including Shopper’s Stop, Home Stop, Crossword and Cafes and Restaurants etc. The company has reported a surge of 45.03% in net profit to Rs 27.86 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 19.21 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Total income of the quarter stood at Rs 458.68 crore, up 26.50% over Rs 362.60 crore for the year ago period.

Elder Pharmaceuticals plans to raise Rs 105 crore through seven-year bonds

Elder Pharmaceuticals, one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in India, is planning to raise Rs 105 crore through seven-year bonds at 11.25%. The bond features repayments in 10 equal semi-annual installments commencing two years after the issue date.

Meanwhile, proceeds from the secured non-convertible debenture issue will refinance existing higher cost debt. Almondz Global Securities is the sole arranger of the deal.

Elder Pharmaceutical is engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceutical brands, surgical and medical devices. It holds market leader position in three therapeutic segments - Women’s Healthcare, Wound Care and Nutraceuticals.

Sugar stocks trade higher on allowing exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonnes

Sugar companies stocks continued their upward journey for yet another session after the government decided to allow sugar exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonnes.

Shree Renuka Sugars is currently trading at Rs 73.80, up by 1.60 points or 2.22% from its previous closing of Rs 72.20 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 73.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs 74.85 and Rs 73.10 respectively. So far 6,12,298 shares were traded on the counter.

Balrampur Chini Mills is currently trading at Rs 72.70, up by 1.15 points or 1.61% from its previous closing of Rs 71.55 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 72.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs 73.75 and Rs 72.50 respectively. So far 1,11,039 shares were traded on the counter.

Bajaj Hindusthan is currently trading at Rs 72.05, up by 1.60 points or 2.27% from its previous closing of Rs. 70.45 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 70.65 and has touched a high and low of Rs 73.15 and Rs 70.65 respectively. So far 2,46,555 shares were traded on the counter.

Rana Sugars is currently trading at Rs 6.06, up by 0.16 points or 2.71% from its previous closing of Rs 5.90 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 6.11 and has touched a high and low of Rs 6.17 and Rs 6.05 respectively. So far 1,29,663 shares were traded on the counter.

Ballarpur Industries trades in green on the BSE

Ballarpur Industries  is currently trading at Rs. 32.85, up by 0.05 points or 0.15% from its previous closing of Rs 32.80 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 33.15 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 33.25 and Rs. 32.70 respectively. So far 136218 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 43.55 on 11-Nov-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 23.45 on 06-Apr-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 33.90 and Rs. 30.40 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2173.06 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 49.40 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 35.71 % and 14.89 % respectively.

BILT Paper Plc - unit of Ballarpur Industries is planning to raise at least $330 million from a London listing next month to fund its expansion and to pay its debt. The paper production capacity of BILT Paper has increased by nearly 90 percent over the last two years and it plans to grow it by another 50 percent by the end of 2014.

Ballarpur owns a 79.5 percent stake in the firm, part of the Mumbai-based Avantha group, with the rest held by private equity investors JP Morgan Mauritius and Lathe investment.

The company would be raising $330 million from the sale of new shares while the private equity investors may also sell some secondary shares in the offering, is also expecting to be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 250 index.

The listing is expected to be completed in mid-April with a price range due during the week of April 4. Citigroup and JP Morgan are joint global co-ordinators and joint book runners of the initial public offering.

Recently, Ballarpur Industries has acquired entire paid up capital of Premier Tissues India (PTIL), a company engaged in business of manufacturing and trading of tissue paper and related products under the Brand names “Premier” and “Royal”.

Most Asian equities trade with marginal gains despite weak global cues

Majority of Asian benchmarks are trading in the green terrain this Wednesday morning session, however, the gains remained capped as weak cues from the Wall Street and towering crude oil prices on concerns that conflicts in Middle East could pinch oil supplies spoiled investors’ mood. The over one and half a percent plunge in Japanese stocks on reports that workers at Japanese nuclear plant were unable to continue work at reactor no 2 due to high radiation levels,that too did no good to the regional sentiments. The Singaporean benchmark, Straits Times remained the top gainer in the space as they climbed around half a percentage point.
Shanghai Composite advanced 12.01 points or 0.41% to 2,931.15, Jakarta Composite added 8.22 points or 0.23% to 3,525.94, KLSE Composite rose 11:41  0.41 points or 0.03% to 1,509.51, Straits Times climbed 14.34 points or 0.48% to 3,017.09, Seoul Composite inched up 1.45 points or 0.07% to 2,015.11 and Taiwan Weighted gained 2.94 points or 0.03% to 8,510.98.
On the other hand Hang Seng fell 57.77 points or 0.25% to 22,800.13 while Nikkei 225 plummeted 153.26 points or 1.60% to 9,455.06.

Aurobindo Pharma gets USFDA approval for Famciclovir Tablets

Aurobindo Pharma’s tentatively approved ANDA for Famciclovir tablets 125mg, 250mg and 500mg has received the final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA).

Famciclovir tablets 125mg, 250mg and 500mg is the generic version of Novartis Pharamaceuticals Corp’s Famvir tablets 125mg, 250mg and 500mg and is indicated for the treatment of recurrent mucocutaneous herpes simplex infections in HIV-infected patients and suppression of recurrent genital herpes in immunocompetent patients.

The products have a market size of approximately $175 million for the twelve months ending September 2010 according to IMS and are ready for commercial launch. Aurobindo now has a total of 132 ANDA approvals (100 final approvals and 32 tentative approvals) from USFDA.

Last month, Aurobindo Pharma has received tentative approval from the USFDA to manufacture and market Venlafaxine Hydrochloride extended-release capsules 37.5mg, 75mg and 150mg.

NMDC expects to renew a five-year iron ore contract with Japan by the end of March

India's top iron ore miner - NMDC - is planning to renew soon a five-year iron ore contract with Japanese customers which expire by the end of March. The company currently supplies to a consortium of Japanese steels companies called Japan Steel Mills and to POSCO in South Korea.

Surprisingly, Japan despite facing power shortages from the earthquake and tsunami that crippled production at several steel mills and other industrial units, did not asked for supplies to be halted from the company.

The company is confident of bagging the order since they feel that the Japanese customers would try to maintain the continuity notwithstanding the fact that the physical lifting will be affected by their economic condition.

NMDC's contract with Japan Steel Mills was on an annual basis for the first four years. The buyers had then agreed to switch to a quarterly price mechanism in line with other firms such as BHP Billiton for the 2010/11 fiscal year.

However, the company’s contract with South Korean importers is also up for review. The company current price agreement for the January-March period with Japanese steelmakers and South Korea's POSCO has been fixed at about $140 per tonne for iron ore fines and about $158 for lump variety on free on board (FOB) basis.

revises the ratings assigned to Simplex Projects’ bank facilities

Credit rating agency CARE, has revised the ratings assigned to Simplex Projects’ long-term bank facilities from ‘CARE A-‘to ‘CARE A’.  The amount is also enhanced from Rs 1,151.00 crore to Rs 2,130.00 crore. It has reaffirmed the ‘PR1’ ratings assigned for short-term bank facilities of the company. The amount is been enhanced from Rs 35.00 crore to Rs 300.00 crore.
The agency has also revised the long/short- term bank facilities from ‘CARE A-/PR1’ to ‘CARE A/PR1’ for Rs 145.00 crore. Further, the agency has reaffirmed the ‘PR1’ rating assigned for the company’s Short Term Debt (including CP) for Rs 70.00 crore.
The revision in the long term rating takes into account the healthy order book position, high growth in revenue, profit level and cash accruals in FY10 as well as comfortable debt-equity ratio and interest coverage ratio and improved average collection period during the aforesaid period.

Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea starts production from its Haldia Plant

Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea has commenced production from its Haldia Plant which was shut down after a fire broke out in raw material store of the plant. The production from the plant has started at the rate of 420 TPD and full capacity is expected to be achieved shortly.

Further, the company’s Haldia Unit-2 project implementation is going on as per schedule and is expected to achieve mechanical completion by March 2012. Meanwhile, implementation of IT SEZ project first phase of 365000 sq ft is in full progress and is expected to be completed by June 2012. Second phase implementation is scheduled to start within 3 months from now.

Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea reported a net profit of Rs 24.99 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 down by 4.67% as compared to Rs 26.21 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Viceroy Hotels gets approval for assignment deeds for hiving-off its 'Bangalore Project Division'

Viceroy Hotels’ board of directors have approved the execution of assignment deeds between the company, Viceroy Bangalore Hotels (VBHPL) and the owners of the land on which the Bangalore Project is implemented for assignment of the lease pursuant to hiving-off the 'Bangalore Project Division' to VBHPL.
The company’s board of directors also took in consideration the revised terms of the proposed investment by JP Morgan India Property Mauritius Company II in VBHPL and approved the draft Supplemental Agreement to be executed with VBHPL and JP Morgan India Property Mauritius Company II inter alia, thereby amending the terms of the Share Subscription Agreement and the Shareholders' Agreement dated April 13, 2010.
According to revised terms of such proposed investment VBHPL will cease to be a subsidiary of the company. Further, the investment under the Supplemental Agreement is proposed to be made immediately pursuant to the transfer of the Bangalore Project division to VBHPL.
The board approved to hive-off the said division at a consideration of Rs 205 crore and also approved to make investment in the equity share capital of the said WOS.

Glenmark Pharma’s US arm gets USFDA approval for Norethindrone and Ethinyl Estradiol

Glenmark Generics’ (GGL) United States (US) subsidiary -- Glenmark Generics Inc., (GGI) -- has been granted final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Norethindrone and Ethinyl Estradiol, USP 0.4 mg/0.035 mg tablets, their generic version of Ovcon 35 tablets by Warner Chilcott, Inc. The product will be marketed under the trade name Briellyn and distribution is expected to start immediately.

Briellyn provides a continuous 28 day regimen for oral contraception derived from 21 tablets composed of Norethindrone and Ethinyl Estradiol to be followed by 7 inert tablets and is indicated for the prevention of pregnancy. Glenmark remains the only Indian company to be granted ANDA approval for an oral contraceptive product and today’s approval marks their fourth female hormonal product authorized for distribution by the USFDA.

The company received approval in April 2010 for Heather tablets, their generic version of Watson’s Nor-QD tablets as well as approvals in July 2010 for Norethindrone 0.35mg tablets, their generic version of Micronor tablets by Ortho McNeil Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Norethindrone Acetate 5 mg tablets. Total market sales of Glenmark’s current hormonal product line are approximately $141 million for the 12 month period ending December 2010.

The company’s current portfolio consists of 69 generic products authorized for distribution in the U.S. market and approximately 40 ANDA’s filed with the US FDA pending approval. In addition to these internal filings, GGI continues to identify and explore external development partnerships to supplement and accelerate the growth of the existing pipeline and portfolio.

Glenmark Generics (GGL) is a subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and aims to be a global integrated Generic and API leader. GGL has an established presence in North America, EU and Argentina and maintains marketing front-ends in these countries.

India Infoline gets SEBI approval for IIFL Mutual Fund

India Infoline (IIFL) has received SEBI’s final approval for IIFL Mutual Fund sponsored by the company. This enables commencement of mutual fund business and launching of mutual fund schemes in due course.
IIFL is engaged in business of equities broking, wealth advisory services and portfolio management services. The company was incorporated in October 1995 as Probity Research and Services and later in April 2000 the name was changed to India Infoline.com. In March 2001 the company again changed its name to India Infoline. The company is part of India Infoline Group. It has pan- India presence through its distribution network of 607 branches, 151 franchisees located in 346 cities.

M&M to establish tractor manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh

Auto-maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is planning to establish its tractor manufacturing unit at its existing facility at Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh to give boost to industrialization in the backward Telangana region. In this regard, the company will invest Rs 300 crore on the tractor manufacturing facility over the next three years and provide direct employment to about 2,000 people and indirect employment to another 5,000 persons.
This will be the company’s first facility in South India which intended to manufacture 90,000 tractor units per year and also 3 and 4-wheeler commercial vehicles.
At present, the company has its automobile plant spread over 343.36 acres of land at Zaheerabad, 136-km from Hyderabad, where its products like UV (Maxx), 3-wheelers (Champion Alfa), Light Commercial Vehicles and buses are manufactured. It now has employee strength of 641 and a vehicle assembly capacity of 218 vehicles per day.
M&M reported a surge of 77.59% in net profit from ordinary activities after tax of Rs 734.68 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 compared to Rs 413.70 crore in the same quarter last year.

BILT Paper planning raise $330 million from a London listing

BILT Paper Plc - unit of Ballarpur Industries is planning to raise at least $330 million from a London listing next month to fund its expansion and to pay its debt. The paper production capacity of BILT Paper has increased by nearly 90 percent over the last two years and it plans to grow it by another 50 percent by the end of 2014.

Ballarpur owns a 79.5 percent stake in the firm, part of the Mumbai-based Avantha group, with the rest held by private equity investors JP Morgan Mauritius and Lathe investment.

The company would be raising $330 million from the sale of new shares while the private equity investors may also sell some secondary shares in the offering, is also expecting to be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 250 index.

The listing is expected to be completed in mid-April with a price range due during the week of April 4. Citigroup and JP Morgan are joint global co-ordinators and joint book runners of the initial public offering.

Recently, Ballarpur Industries has acquired entire paid up capital of Premier Tissues India (PTIL), a company engaged in business of manufacturing and trading of tissue paper and related products under the Brand names “Premier” and “Royal”.

Jain Irrigation in green on its bank facilities getting ratings upgrade by CRISIL

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 264.57 on 09-Aug-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 155.15 on 01-Feb-2011.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 187.00 and Rs. 178.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6987.15 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.76% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 57.82% and 10.78% respectively.
Credit rating agency, CRISIL has upgraded its ratings on the bank loan facilities of Jain Irrigation Systems to ‘A-/Stable/P2+’ from ‘BBB+/Stable/P2’. The upgrade reflects rating agency’s belief that the company’s business risk profile will benefit on the back of healthy growth in revenues and continued strong profitability. The rating agency also believes that the company will fund its ongoing capital expenditure towards capacity augmentation with prudent proportion of debt and accruals, thereby improving its financial risk profile.
The ratings continue to reflect the company’s diversified revenue profile and strong market position and benefits. The company is expected to derive the healthy growth prospects from the micro irrigation system (MIS) segment in India over the medium term. These rating strengths are partially offset by Jain Irrigation’s large working capital requirements and the high dependence of the company’s MIS division on government policies.
Jain Irrigation is a diversified company with a market capitalization of Rs 7,500 crore approx. Jain’s product portfolio includes Irrigation Products, Piping Products, Plastic Sheets, Dehydrated Foods, Fruit Puree and Juice concentrates.

Jindal Saw gains on talks to acquire a logistic firm

indal Saw is currently trading at Rs. 184.50, up by 1.50 points or 0.82% from its previous closing of Rs. 183.00 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 184.70 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 185.30 and Rs. 184.50 respectively. So far 5,171 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 234.40 on 25-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 170.00 on 26-Nov-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 194.35 and Rs. 181.05 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 5054.96 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 46.00% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 33.84% and 20.16% respectively. 

Jindal Saw is in talks to acquire a logistic firm that operates container trains and owns terminals for about Rs 100-150 crore. The deal is likely to be closed in three months, officials stated.

The company is planning to acquire a firm in such a space which has terminals at critical locations. At that level, it would probably become India's only multi-modal logistics company which has its own terminals, its own rail operations and ships.

The company has consistently created value by creating low-cost capacities in capital-intensive industries in businesses largely overlooked by other corporate. Jindal SAW had recently launched its Jindal ITF (infrastructure, transportation, fabrication) subsidiary.

Golden Tobacco to ink pact with Sheth Developers and Suraksha Realty

Golden Tobacco has received its members’ approval to enter into an agreement with Sheth Developers and Suraksha Realty or their affiliates/nominees for the joint development and or sale or otherwise disposal of plots of land owned by the company admeasuring about 31128.48 square meter situated at S V Road, Vile Parle (West) in Mumbai.
The company is engaged in manufacturing of cigarettes and tobacco related products. Its first manufacturing zone is a primary manufacturing division which is a tobacco processing plant located at Vadodara. This unit caters to the needs of the factory, as well as the requirements of Mumbai unit.

AI Champdany Industries suspends work at its Rishra unit

AI Champdany Industries has declared suspension of work at one of its 100% EOU - Wellington Jute Mill unit located at Rishra from March 21, 2011. The company has declared suspension for eradication of all wasteful practice, indiscipline, frequent concerted stoppages of work on one pretext or other, state of lawlessness throughout the mill and to comply with manning pattern followed in the industry by the workers of the unit.

In January this year an incident of fire occurred on the night of January 21, 2011 in the same unit. The fire came under control in the early hours of January 22, 2011. The fire caused damage to the mill's finishing department. The work has been resumed on January 24, 2011 after suspension of work on 22nd & 23rd January 2011.

AI Champdany Industries has gradually moved from manufacture of traditional Jute products like Hessian, Sacking etc. towards more value-added non-traditional Jute Products like Jute Yarn, Blended yarn made of Jute blended with other natural and man-made fibres like Cotton, Ramie, Viscose, Poly Propelene, Flax, Wool etc. Special Food Grade Jute Bags, Jute blended carpets, Fabrics for soft luggages / shoe uppers / wearing apparels for export markets.

CARE upgrades the ratings assigned to D. B. Corp

Credit rating agency CARE has upgraded the Long Term Loans (including Working Capital Limits) of D. B. Corp from ‘CARE AA (Double A)’ to ‘CARE AA+ (Double A plus)’.
Recently, DB Corp’s subsidiary company - DB Power is planning to raise Rs 2,625 crore to part-finance its mega power project in Chhattisgarh.
DB Corp is the only media conglomerate that enjoys a leadership position in multiple states, in multiple languages and is a dominant player in its all major markets. The company’s other business interests also span the radio segment through the brand - MY FM - radio station with presence in 7 states and 17 cities and a strong online presence in internet portals.

Domestic markets likely to consolidate after a big rally

The Indian markets went for a rally in previous session with a broad based buying after round of sluggishness. Today the start is likely to be flat-to-cautious as the global cues are not very supportive. Sugar stocks that have rallied in last session may move up further as government allowed sugar exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonnes. The move comes after a delay of about 3 months after the Food Minister announced exports of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar in December last year. But, the issue was referred to EgoM in the wake of surging inflation. There will be lots of scrip specific actions keeping the market buzzing however the continued rise in crude prices is likely to put further pressure on the PSU oil marketing companies.

Meanwhile, the government cleared the Bureau of Indian Standards (Amendment) Bill, 2011 paving the way for introduction of mandatory hallmarking of more products including gold. At present, about 77 items including cement, mineral water and milk products are certified with mandatory hallmarking under the BIS Act to conform to the quality level of goods and services to consumers.

The US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday, though there was no economic report to influence the trade but the continuous rise in crude prices led the momentum go slow. The weakening of housing markets weighed on the sentiment. Most of the Asian markets have made a soft start and the Japanese markets are once again reeling deep in red, it has been reported by the nuclear safety agency that workers at Japan nuclear plant are unable to continue work at reactor no.2 due to high radiation levels.

Back home, after remaining most part of the session around the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000, the domestic benchmarks have snapped the day with about a percent gain but off the day’s high level. The local markets were outclassed by the markets across the globe by a large extent on Monday, however, the frontline indices smartly bounced back in day’s trade as many investors, smarting from huge losses, took up reverse positions, vowing to avenge the next day. Sanguine local and global cues too buttressed the chances of a rebound for the domestic indices which were reeling under the pressure of spiraling crude oil prices for three consecutive days. The consolidation in crude prices was seen as an opportunity by the local investors who resorted to broad based buying as they closely watched the developments in Parliament where the Indian finance Minister tabled GST and Banking Laws Bill. On the sectoral front, the high beta Realty index amassed 2.19% as strong position build up in stocks like DLF and Mahindra Lifespace which rose 3.17% and 3.66% respectively pulled the index to the top of the table. The other counter which saw huge buying interests was rate sensitive Auto which surged 1.53% on the back of jump in bellwether stocks like Maruti Suzuki up 3.58% and Apollo Tyres up 4.09% in the session. Meanwhile, shares of Healthcare companies like Opto Circuits and Fortis Healthcare jumped 3.46% and 2.23% respectively after Pranab Mukherjee rolled back the proposed 5% service tax on healthcare announced during the federal budget for 2011-12. While sugar stocks also surged on the buzz that Government will be allowing 200,000 tonne of sugar exports under unrestricted sales or the open general license (OGL). The benchmarks got a gap-up start and the indices gradually gained traction and conquered the crucial support levels of 5,400 and 18,000 and gyrated around those levels for most part of the trade. Some bouts of profit booking were witnessed in late trade when the frontline indices touched intra-day highs which dragged the bourses below crucial supports. However, some short covering in dying minutes helped the indices to snap the three day losing streak with gains of almost a percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 149.25 points or 0.84% to settle at 17,988.30 while the S&P CNX Nifty climbed by 49.10 points or 0.92% to end at 5,413.85.

US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday to snap the three days winning streak, though there was not much on economy front, the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan and the crisis at the country's nuclear plants that followed sent stocks lower. Energy stocks rose higher for the second day as Crude oil prices, a major source of concern, rose $2 per barrel. Oil briefly topped $105 on concerns that conflicts in the Middle East could pinch oil supplies as demand begins to rise.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly home-price index US home prices fell for a third straight month in January, adding to evidence that the housing market is weakening even though the economy is improving. Home prices fell 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in January compared with December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.90 points to close at 12,018.63. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell by 4.61 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,293.77, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 8.22 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,683.87.

Crude prices rose to their highest level on Tuesday since Japan's devastating earthquake struck 11 days ago, as fighting in Libya and tensions in the Middle East renewed and Allied air strikes against targets in Libya stoked more concerns about supply disruptions. raders will receive an update on US oil and fuel supplies from the Department of Energy on Wednesday, oil inventories are expected to rise.

However, American Petroleum Institute reported a 970,000 barrel build in domestic crude stocks last week, far less than the expected. The API data showed a 7.9 million barrel drawdown in gasoline stockpiles and Distillate stocks fell 612,000 barrels.

Benchmark crude for April delivery settled up $1.67, or 1.6%, at $104 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With the expiration of the April contract, the more heavily traded May contract rose $1.88, or 1.8%, to settle at $104.97 a barrel. In London, Brent crude for May settled up 74 cents, or 0.6%, at $115.70 a barrel on the ICE.

Maruti, Hero Honda, M&M and Vascon Engineers may hog the limelight today

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India will consider taking different measures after April to protect its margins due to fluctuation of Japanese Yen, post the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Honda and the Hero group have ended their joint venture. However, they have signed an agreement under which Honda will give technology for new and upgraded bikes to Hero in return for royalty till June 2014.

In a major fillip to industrialisation in the backward Telangana region, Mahindra and Mahindra will set up its tractor manufacturing unit at its existing facility at Zaheerabad in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh.

Cairn Energy Plc raised expectations of Indian approval for the long-delayed sale of a stake in its Indian business to Vedanta Resources, as the UK oil explorer posted a return to profit in 2010.

The Aditya Birla Group's plans to re-enter the power sector have had a setback, as its move to buy into a Chhattisgarh-based power unit has fallen apart. AB Group is very close to purchasing Sona Power, which had plans of putting up a 660-Mw power project in Chhattisgarh.

India's top iron ore miner NMDC expects to renew soon a five-year iron ore contract with Japanese customers which expires at the end of March. The state-owned miner plans to build steel plants in India, has moved closer in its bid to acquire a coal mine in the US.

A fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at India's Reliance Industries' old plant could start product output from today.

The need for raw material integration for its European operations is keeping Tata Steel officials busy. The company has initiated talks with the government of British Columbia, a Canadian province, to acquire coking coal mines.

Monnet Ispat & Energy, flagship Company of the Monnet Group, has bought a 65-million tonne coal mine in Indonesia for $24 million (Rs 290 crore). And, it is in talks to buy another coal mine, besides looking to set up power plants, in that country.

A consortium of Lanco Infratech and US-based Massey Energy Company, emerged as the lowest bidder for a power project by Maha Tamil Colleries.

Kotak Realty Fund, the property investment arm of India's Kotak Mahindra Bank, plans to raise as much as $500 million by the second quarter of this year, in a bet on the long term case for property in Asia's third-largest economy.

BILT, the country’s largest producer of writing and printing paper, plans to raise $330 million from London Stock Exchange, through a book building process and making offer to select institutional investors.

China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Co and India's Aditya Birla Group are among parties preparing to submit second-round bids for Australian coal miner Whitehaven Coal, which is seeking offers of more than $3.5 billion.

Chennai-based information management solutions provider Saksoft has signed an agreement with US-based analytics and decision management technology firm Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), to market the latter's solutions in India.

Indian drugmaker Elder Pharmaceuticals plans to raise 1.05 billion rupees through 7-year bonds at 11.25 percent.

Arvind International’s board has approved the right issue price at Rs 13.50 per equity shares. The approval was granted at its meeting held on March 22, 2011.

Vascon Engineers has secured two contracts worth aggregating Rs 241 crore.The company bagged first order worth Rs 131 crore for construction of miscellaneous building for ESIC at MGM in Mumbai. However, the second order worth Rs 110 crore is for carrying out civil work for residential project in Chennai.

Jindal Saw is in talks to acquire a logistic firm that operates container trains and owns terminals for about Rs 100-150 crore. The deal is likely to be closed in three months, officials stated.

Reliance Communications, India’s largest integrated telecom operator announced the launch of free website package for all its Netconnect users.

Zylog Systems' board of directors, have given their approval for the expansion plans of the WiFi business of the wholly owned subsidiary - Zylog Systems (India).

Acropetal Technologies has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100% equity in Line Beyond Inc and 70% of the equity in Optech Consulting Inc for a consideration of $ 4.90 million each.

Bafna Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with NR Jet, an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson, for the acquisition of the TradeMark --RARICAP-- and the transaction is expected to be closed by the first week of April 2011. 

US markets close marginally down after a volatile trade

US markets closed marginally lower on Tuesday to snap the three days winning streak, though there was not much on economy front, the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan and the crisis at the country's nuclear plants that followed sent stocks lower. Energy stocks rose higher for the second day as Crude oil prices, a major source of concern, rose $2 per barrel. Oil briefly topped $105 on concerns that conflicts in the Middle East could pinch oil supplies as demand begins to rise.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly home-price index US home prices fell for a third straight month in January, adding to evidence that the housing market is weakening even though the economy is improving. Home prices fell 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in January compared with December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.90 points or 0.15 percent to close at 12,018.63. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell by 4.61 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,293.77, while the Nasdaq composite index closed lower by 8.22 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,683.87.

Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Tuesday, Infosys was down by 0.68%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.01% and Tata Motors was down by 0.17%.

On the other hand HDFC Bank was up by 0.02% and MTNL too was down by 0.02%.

FII DII DATA 23/03/2011

Net Index Futures (1664), Net Stock Futures (127), Derivative Market: Total Open Interest (Rs 1,44,520 cr), Stock Futures Open Interest (Rs 32,414 cr)

Indian ADRs Update 23/03/2011

INFOSYS Down 0.7 (1.0%), WIPRO Up 0.0 (0.0%), ICICI BANK Down 0.0 (0.0%), HDFC BANK Up 0.0 (0.0%)

Global Markets update 23/03/2011

 DJIA Down 17.9 (0.2%) NSDQ Down 8.2 (0.3%) FTSE 100 Down 23.4 (0.4%) Asian Markets as on 8.45 AM  NIKKEI Down 153 (1.6%) HANG SENG Down 66 (0.29%) SGX NIFTY Down 28

Patel Engineering bags Rs 160.69 crore worth upgradation project from Government of Karnataka

Patel Engineering, an integrated infrastructure company, has bagged Rs 160.69 crore, 73.80km Tinthini kalmala road upgradation project from Government of Karnataka, Karnataka State highways improvement projects (Public Works, Ports and Inland Water Transport Department).
The project comprises upgradation of 73.80 km long stretch from Tinthini to Kalmala, a part of state highway 61 and state Highway 15. It is expected to be completed within two and half years.
Patel Engineering provides a wide range of civil engineering services involved in design and construction of power projects, hydroelectric projects, commercial building, industrial complexes, dams, tunnels, underground structures, steel and concrete structures, bridges, marine works, flyovers and national highways in India and abroad.  It has an experience of 75 dams, 30 hydro electric projects, 30 micro tunneling projects and 130 Km of tunneling, etc.

Bond yields trade range bound on Tuesday

Bond yields are trading range bound on Tuesday in the absence of fresh triggers. High global oil prices which stoke inflation fears might send the yields higher, but hopes for an improvement in cash supply and the lack of debt sale until April would limit the gains of bond yields.

The yield on the most-traded 8.08%-2022 tad low at 8.12%, from its previous close of 8.13 % in the absence of fresh triggers, with price rises seen limited due to more monetary tightening in the offing

The yields on less liquid 10-year benchmark, the 7.80%-2020 bond yield was at 8.00% from its previous close of 8.01%.

The benchmark five-year interest rate swap was at 8.03% higher from its previous close of 8.06% on Monday.

Three State Governments have announced Auction of State Development Loans 2021 for Rs 218.650 crore on March 22, 2011.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced the auction of 91-day and 364- day Government of India Treasury Bills for notified amount of Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively. The auction will be conducted on March 23, 2011 using 'Multiple Price Auction' method.

Call rates steadily high on Tuesday

The Inter-bank call money rates were steady at 7.70/75% from its previous close as tightness in liquidity persisted following large advance tax outflows, while demand for fund remained strong even in the second week of the reporting fortnight. Banks via Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 55,400 crore through repo window on March 21, 2011. While banks via Second Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 23,490 crore through repo window and parked Rs 55 crore via reverse repo window on the same day.

The overnight borrowing rates has touched a high of 7.70% and a low of 7.80%, so far.

According to the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), the weighted average rate (WAR) in the call money market was 7.71% on Monday and total volume stood at Rs 12,545 crore on the same day.

As per CCIL data, WAR in the CBLO (Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) market was 6.71% on Monday and total volume stood at Rs 55,609 crore on the same day. 

Rupee picks up pace on Tuesday; surging oil prices weigh

Rupee strengthened on Tuesday supported by gains in the stock market and dollar weakness against other currencies. However, surging oil prices have maintained lid on further appreciation of the local unit, while, even demand for dollars by oil importers may play spoilsport for the rupee's gains during the day. Brent crude futures were supported near $115 on Tuesday by supply concerns triggered by the spreading unrest in the Middle East, while uncertainty about demand from the world's No. 3 consumer Japan capped gains.
Meanwhile, dealers are also turning more optimistic about the rupee's outlook in the near term on expectations of robust dollar inflows with companies getting funds via ECBs , and remittance in this quarter due to the Middle-East crisis.
The partially convertible Rupee is currently trading at Rs 44.96/97, stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 45.01/02 on Monday. It touched a high of 45.00 and a low of 44.96 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's Reference Rate for the US dollar stood at Rs 45.05 and for Euro it stood at Rs 63.81 on March 21, 2011. While, the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at Rs 55.65 and the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 73.0508 on March 21, 2011. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

Date	1US$	1GBP
March 21,2011	45.05	73.0508
March 18,2011	45.09	72.8226

                                                       RBI-reference rate

Prefer direct investment to portfolio inflows: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Tuesday that it preferred greater amount of long-term and stable flows through foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country rather than often short-term oriented foreign institutional investment (FII) to bridge the current account deficit (CAD) that faces.

The Governor of the central bank D Subbarao said that while inflow of foreign capital was welcome for bridging the CAD, the RBI would always prefer the stable inflows in terms of FDI, which comes with a long term commitment, rather than volatile portfolio inflows which can reverse in case of even a small change in either domestic of global economic scenario.

In fact the RBI had raised the issue in its last two monetary policy reviews as well. The Central bank had expressed concern about the widening of the CAD and the nature of its financing in its third quarter review released on Jan 25. Going by the recent robust export performance though, the CAD for 2010-11 is now estimated to come lower than earlier expected, at around 2.5% of GDP.

overnment tables GST Bill in Parliament

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday tabled the Bill aiming at amending some of the tax related constitutional provisions required for implementing the much awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST), the country's most ambitious tax reform yet.

The constitutional amendment would allow states to levy tax on services for the first time. As per the current provision in the constitution, the states cannot tax services while the Union government can also not tax goods beyond the factory gate. Therefore, taxation powers of both the Union government and states will have to be raised to bring them in line with the GST. This will need a constitutional amendment bill to be first passed by the two houses of Parliament and then by at least two-third of state assemblies.

However, the road to implementation of the GST is not very clear so far as there is no complete agreement among states yet. A number of states, particularly the opposition ruled ones, are still firm on their stand that GST in its proposed structure will erode the fiscal autonomy of states, as provided in the Constitution. The Union government has already brought out a fourth revised draft of amendment bill that takes care of some of the issues raised by the states.

For instance, the third draft had proposed setting up a GST Council by the Act of Parliament, instead of President’s order. This was not acceptable to States as it would have resulted in provincial government’s autonomy being at the mercy of Union Parliament in many other situations. In the fourth draft that has been tabled in Parliament, it is proposed to set up a GST Council by Presidential order.

The purpose of the GST is to integrate all the indirect taxes on goods and services at the state and central levels including the value-added tax (VAT), excise and service taxes etc. Since the GST will bring all these taxes under one head, it will be easy to pay and collect taxes resulting in reduced cost of collection and greater compliance. The finance ministry has in a recent study pegged the benefits from GST in terms of national output at Rs 70,000 crore in 2004-05 prices. 

Global steel production up 8% in Feb, falls marginally in India

In a signal of improving global economy, world crude steel production increased by 8.8% to 117 million tonne in the month of February 2011 compared with the same month last year, showed the data compiled by World Steel Association (WSA). However, in India, crude steel output dipped marginally by 0.5% to 5.1 million tonne during the same period.

The decline in India is mainly due to some supply constraints rather than demand weaknesses. In fact, demand for steel has been seen rising over last few months even as steel companies hiked prices at least three times in Dec-Feb period owing to higher cost of production and better demand-supply scenario in the market. Local steel producers expect that output will increase in coming months as demand from infra and auto space is likely to remain buoyant.

In case of China, the largest steel producer in world, steel production for February 2011 stood at 54.3 million tonne, up 9.7% compared to February 2010. Japan produced 8.9 million tonne of crude steel in February 2011, an increase of 5.7% compared to the same month last year. However, Japanese production is expected to be much lower in March due to ongoing nuclear crisis. In South Korea, production jumped massively by over 25% to touch 5.0 million tonne in February 2010.

Looking at the European Union, Germany’s crude steel production for February 2011 stood at 3.7 million tonne, up 7.9% on year-on-year basis while Italy’s crude steel production was 2.3 million tonne, up 4.9% compared to the same month last year. In other European countries too production was seen increasing between 6-10%, indicating that the continental economy was continuing recovery despite some sovereign debt concerns.

Elsewhere in the rich world, the US produced 6.6 million tonne of crude steel in February 2011, 5.6% higher than February 2010. Brazilian crude steel production in the month under review was 2.7 million tonne, an increase of 11.4% on February 2010. The world crude steel capacity utilization ratio stood at 82.0%, better than upwardly revised figure of 80.9% for January 2011. On year-on-year basis the utilization ratio was 2.7 percentage points higher.

IMG advocates amendment to APMC act for curbing food inflation

The inter-ministerial group (IMG) on inflation has pointed out an urgent need for states to amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) acts to facilitate the free movement of essential food items, which, according to the group, is very important for achieving and sustaining a lower food inflation level.

The IMG was set-up at the suggestion of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ‘in order to review the inflation situation and suggest corrective measures.’ The second meeting of the IMG on inflation was held on Monday under the Chairmanship of Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Ministry of Finance.

In Monday’s meeting, there was a discussion on the need to revise the APMC act and encourage competition among traders and also to promote efficiency in retailing. Dr Basu stressed that there were certain natural rises and falls of price which are the market’s way of signaling information to consumers and it was not a good idea to flatten out these natural price movements.

He added that it was only when a small shortfall in production results in a disproportionate rise in prices that one realizes that there might be flaws in the marketing system. Basu said that it was these flaws that we need to correct. Towards this end, the IMG felt an urgent need to reform the APMC acts and in fact the overall marketing system as far as farm produce was concerned.

While some states have already amended their APMC Acts, many states are yet to relax the norms that restrict sale of agriculture produce. Until greater freedom in movement of food articles is grated, observed the IMG, it would be very difficult to improve efficiency in marketing and bring down the difference between farm gate and consumer prices. It has been earlier noted by government agencies as well as independent economists that major reason for high food inflation was large difference between retail and wholesale prices which indicated substantial inefficiencies in marketing and distribution.

Government may allow 200,000 tonne of sugar exports today

Having waited for several months, the government is likely to allow around 200,000 tonne of sugar exports on Tuesday under unrestricted sales or the open general license (OGL) which will be first tranche of the half a million tonne of exports announced earlier.

Last December, the Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had announced sugar exports to the tune of 5 lakh tonne. However, the government, hit by high food inflation, kept the issue undecided and later referred it to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The group is slated to meet on Tuesday to consider operationalising the announcement.

The reason behind not allowing sugar exports even as domestic production scenario seemed rosy and prices were crashing was overall high food inflation. The government had withheld the request by the farm ministry as food inflation was not witnessing the traditional decline over the months of Nov-Dec. However, with the food inflation now showing significant decline in the months of Jan-Feb, there is a possibility that government will allow some exports. 

The meeting of the EGoM is being held after Pawar sought the intervention of the Mukherjee for an early decision on this issue because the window to export sugar from India is available only up to end of April. In May, sugar from Brazil, the largest sugar producer in the world, will start coming into global markets, making it very difficult for Indian producers to exports. Also, global prices might come down further by then, which will make exports unprofitable by Indian exporters.

According to the agriculture ministry, extension of stock limits and substantial surplus production of the sweetener has depressed domestic prices below cost of production. If prices remain down, it will impact the payments to cane growing farmers, which in turn will impact the area under sugarcane cultivation in the next season, thus impacting sugar output next year. 'If sugar prices are not stabilized and cash flow to mills are not improved, I fear that we will end up paying a huge subsidy to clear cane payment arrears of farmers,' Pawar said while seeking intervention of Mukherjee in exports.

Most Asian indices extend gaining run; Japan ascends about 3%

Majority of Asian equity indices have extended their gaining run for the third successive session this Tuesday taking sanguine leads from the overnight upsurge in the US markets which garnered about one and a half percent on reports of stabilizing nuclear crisis in Japan along with some acquisition report. The investors' mood also got filliped on watching the Japanese benchmark, Nikkei 225 index, mount around three percent points, after a day of break, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission there said that situation at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant appeared to be stable and containment at three of the plant's six reactors was intact.

Shanghai Composite added 4.90 points or 0.17% to 2,914.04, Hang Seng advanced 72.45 points or 0.32% to 22,757.67, KLSE Composite rose 0.47 points or 0.03% to 1,509.35, Nikkei 225 jumped 270.74 points or 2.94% to 9,477.49, Straits Times gained 6.86 points or 0.23% to 2,990.37, Seoul Composite climbed 8.13 points or 0.41% to 2,011.55 and Taiwan Weighted surges 69.53 points or 0.82% to 8,537.24.

On the other hand only Jakarta Composite traded in the negative zone after shedding 9.12 points or 0.26% to 3,509.73.

US markets surge on some deals news and easing Japanese crisis

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.

Majority of the Indian ADRs made a green closing on Monday, Infosys was up by 0.65%, Wipro was up by 0.54%, MTNL was up by 0.03% and Tata Motors was up by 0.55%.

On the other hand HDFC Bank was down by 1.79% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.53%.

Tata Communications surges on the BSE

Tata Communications is currently trading at Rs. 216.70, up by 6.25 points or 2.97% from its previous closing of Rs. 210.45 on the BSE.
The scrip opened at Rs. 207.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 218.45 and Rs. 204.75 respectively. So far 138375 shares were traded on the counter.
The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 354.30 on 02-Sep-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 192.65 on 10-Feb-2011.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 222.65 and Rs. 204.75 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6133.20 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 76.15% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 13.47% and 3.29% respectively.
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.

Amtek Auto spurts on CARE reaffirming ratings assigned to its bank facilities

Amtek Auto is currently trading at Rs 142.00, up by 8.45 points or 6.33% from its previous closing of Rs 133.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 134.40 and has touched a high and low of Rs 143.40 and Rs 132.40 respectively. So far 737363 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 200.85 on 12-Apr-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 106.00 on 10-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 143.40 and Rs 120.70 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 3067.10 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.26% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 42.93% and 26.81% respectively.

Credit rating agency, CARE has reaffirmed ‘AA’ rating assigned to Rs 1845 crore (enhanced from Rs 1775 crore) long term bank facilities of Amtek Auto. The rating agency has also reaffirmed ‘PR1’ rating assigned to Rs 40 crore short term bank facilities of the company. Further, CARE has reaffirmed PR1 rating assigned to Rs 300 crore commercial papers of the company.

The rating continues to derive strength from the company’s established business position, diversified client base, long-standing relationships with automobile companies as the preferred Original Equipment (OE) supplier, reasonable profitability levels and improved capital structure.

Amtek is one of the largest suppliers of automotive components to auto companies such as Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. It is also the first automotive component maker to foray into vehicle manufacturing. Amtek operates 43 manufacturing facilities in India and abroad. The project is expected to start with the medical vehicle segment and will have high localization.

Sesa Goa surges on acquiring assets of Bellary steel & alloys

Institutions held 28.84% and 15.43% respectively. 

Sesa Goa, the largest exporter of iron ore, has acquired the assets of the upcoming steel plant unit of the Bellary steel & alloys (BSAL) for an all cash consideration of Rs. 220 crore. The secured creditors to BSAL represented by IFCI had taken over possession of the properties of the BSAL in association with the official liquidator. IFCI then conducted sale process for the asset of the BSAL under the SARFAESI Act, 2002.

BASL is coming up with a 0.5 mtpa steel plant project at Bellary. The properties of the under construction plant acquired are free hold land or 700 acres, building and structure, plant and machinery and other assets of the steel plant.

The assets have been transferred on an ‘as is where is’ basis to SGL on March 22, 2011. The company is presently conducting a detailed assessment in order to determine the best way forward for commissioning the steel plant at the earliest.

Apollo Hospitals surge on Khazanah acquiring 8.82% stake in it

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise is currently trading at Rs. 490.60, up by 6.10 points or 1.26% from its previous closing of Rs. 484.55 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 490.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 502.00 and Rs. 488.10 respectively. So far 22,950 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 599.00 on 13-Oct-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 327.75 on 21-May-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 502.00 and Rs. 470.05 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6131.40 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 33.24% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 27.47% and 32.00% respectively.

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.

CARE retains ratings of various bank facilities of Gujarat NRE Coke

Credit rating agency, CARE has retained ‘AA-’ rating on Rs 726.39 crore long term bank facilities of Gujarat NRE Coke. The rating agency has also retained PR1+ rating on Rs 1,230 crore short term bank facilities of the company. Further, the company has reaffirmed PR1+ rating assigned to Rs 100 crore commercial paper of the company.

The said ratings continue to draw strength from long track record of the company, experience of the promoters, company’s leadership position in the Low Ash Metallurgical Coke (LAMC) industry, reputed clientele, inherent advantages of sourcing of coking coal from mines owned by its subsidiaries, successful operation of the steel unit, moderate financial position, improvement in equity base through infusion of funds by the promoter and improving outlook for LAMC industry in both international and domestic arena.

Gujarat NRE Coke is the largest producer of metallurgical coal, also known as met coke. It is the only Indian company which has coking coal mines in Australia.

Indusind Bank to acquire Deutsche Bank's India credit card business: Report

Indusind Bank is reportedly looking to acquire the German lender Deutsche Bank's India-specific credit card business.  Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank are the only two bidders narrowed out of 11 bidders by Deutsche Bank and the deal is expected to conclude over the next quarter. Its credit card business in India has 1,50,000 active cards and outstanding of Rs 225-250 crore.
IndusInd is close to striking the deal with Deutsche Bank and could offer a small premium to the amount outstanding on the current credit card base, which is in the range of Rs 225-250 crore.
IndusInd Bank seems to have an edge over Axis Bank which is in the last leg of deal and would be able to absorb the 217 people employed in the credit card division of Deutsche Bank. It would be a lift and drop deal with IndusInd Bank as it is in the process of launching its credit card business.

Geometric to unveil CAMWorks 2011 at PMTS 2011

Geometric, a leader in developing advanced manufacturing software is planning to demonstrate the new features in CAMWorks 2011, the latest version of its solid-based CNC programming solution at Precision Machining Technology Show 2011 (PMTS), from 19 to 21 April, 2011 in Columbus in Ohio.

CAMWorks 2011 is intended to be a more focused upgrade in the CAMWorks line, and provides significant new capabilities including enhanced automation, improved knowledge-based machining information, smarter tool paths, and more.

CAMWorks 2011 introduces VoluMill the ultra-high performance tool path plug-in engine for high speed milling for 2.5 axis and 3 axis roughing operations. It is ideal for prismatic parts and complex 3-D shapes as its algorithms result in more intelligent tool paths to machine pockets, slots, and arbitrary shapes.

Recently, the company had unveiled eDrawings Professional for Google SketchUp version 8.0 with support for Google SketchUp 8.0 and eDrawings 2011. eDrawings is the first email enabled collaboration tool designed to ease the sharing and interpretation of 2D and 3D product design data.

Geometric is a specialist in the domain of engineering solutions, services and technologies. Its portfolio of Global Engineering services and Digital Technology solutions for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) enables companies to formulate, implement, and execute global engineering and manufacturing strategies aimed at achieving greater efficiencies in the product realization lifecycle.

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.