FDI in India registered 24 per cent growth during April-May 2013

New Delhi: Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India registered a growth of 24.2 per cent year-on-year to touch US$ 3.95 billion in April-May 2013 as compared to US$ 3.18 billion during the same period last year, according to data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

FDI inflows impact positively by supplementing domestic capital, technology and skills to the existing companies as well as through establishment of new companies, said Mr Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

During 2012-13, India attracted FDI worth US$ 22.42 billion. Hotels and tourism, pharmaceuticals, services, chemicals and construction received the highest amount of FDI. The major contributors to the Indian FDI were Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and the US.

The Government of India has liberalised the FDI regime in about a dozen sectors, including telecom, power etc and have also relaxed investment norms in multi-brand retailing.

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TVS Motor to set up bike assembly line in Uganda

Chennai: TVS Motor Company plans to set up a two-wheeler assembly line in Uganda and launch two motorcycle models in the African nation, the company said in an announcement to the stock exchanges.

“During the course of the next two quarters, we intend to set up an assembly line through which we will roll out products tailor-made for the Ugandan region.

“We will also launch two new models during this period, which will be specifically developed and designed for the African conditions.

“These will be assembled at the same facility,” said K. N. Radhakrishnan, President and CEO.

TVS Motor, which has been present in Uganda for about a decade now, has eight dealers offering sales, service and spare parts support in the country. It has appointed Yuvaraj International Uganda Ltd as its new distributor.

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PE firms keen to invest $2 b in realty market, says report

Mumbai: Private equity firms are eager to invest $2 billion (a little over Rs 12,000 crore) in the real estate market, despite a drop in such investments in the first half of 2013, according to a new report.

While PE investments in real estate was recorded at Rs 1,638 crore in H1 2013, which is 46 per cent lower compared to the first half of 2012 (at Rs 3,050 crore) , funds have continued to show a keen interest in the market. A number of deals are in discussion, according to global real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The firm has said the decline in the quantum of PE investment was essentially due to fewer deals, around 13 in H1 2013, though the average ticket size of deals remained the same.

In 2013, the highest value of PE investments was recorded in Pune at Rs 780 crore, followed by Mumbai at Rs 400 crore, NCR at Rs 235 crore and Bangalore at Rs 100 crore. Pune witnessed high value transactions such as the Panchshil Realty and Ireo Management SEZ by Blackstone for Rs 450 crore.

The first quarter of 2013 also saw PE deals worth Rs 700 crore announced in Pune, Rs 270 crore PE deals in Mumbai, Rs 100 crore PE deals announced in Bangalore and Rs 75 crore PE deals announced in the NCR region.

Slow pace
In a report, the firm has said that the pace of growth of the real estate sector in India has been impacted given the current prevailing volatility in the market, including slower growth of the Indian economy and the depreciation of the rupee.

Sanjay Dutt, Executive Managing Director South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield said that despite the slowdown in the construction market and reduced number of investible projects in India, real estate features as the fourth most invested sector by PE funds.

With approximately $2 billion ready to be deployed in the real estate sector across India, Dutt added the fund raising environment, both the domestic and offshore, has consistently improved with more quality capital available.

The report indicated that the total value of investments in the residential segment, recorded at Rs 90 crore, in H1 2013 witnessed a drop of 48 per cent over the last year. The total value of investments in the office segment was also lower in H1 2013 at Rs 700 crore.

However, the report added that there is a strong trend towards investments in ready office space. The growing stability of the market is reflected by the continuous growth of the core investors, with over Rs 7,705 crore invested in ready office space during the last three years

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Highway Ministry to pump in Rs 33, 688 crore for development 6,418km of highways in Northeast

Guwahati: Northeast India will witness investment of Rs 33, 688 Crore for construction of 6418km of roads during the 12th plan period under the special accelerated road development programme (SARDP-North East) and Prime ministers package for Arunachal Pradesh.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes who was in Guwahati on Friday reviewed the progress of National Highway works said around 2000km of roads are sanctioned for this year. This will come up with an investment of Rs 3100km.

Fernandes said that a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was held on July 18 last to review the status of development projects in the region and discussed steps to accelerate the same.

Secretary to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Vijay Chibber also announced that the ministry has also decided to carry out feasibility of Imphal bypass and explore the possibility of highway between Chumukedima near Dimapur in Nagaland and Maram in Manipur. It was also decided to undertake 100 km length road construction to connect Sittwe port in Myanmar.

The ministry has decided for developing 130 km stretch of Agartala Sabroom section of NH-44 to two lane standards this will provide connectivity to Chittagong port through Bangladesh. It was also decided to construct alternative highway to Gangtok.

Chibber added time taken for road construction in Northeast India is twice higher than the national average. "Pre construction activity consumes lot of time. Law acquisition is a problem here. State PWD and BRO are not fully geared up.

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Tenneco opens chromium plating facility

Bangalore: Tenneco, $7.4 billion headquartered in Lake Forest-Illinois in the US, opened its DynaChrome high speed hard chromium plating facility for piston rods at its Hosur plant.

The new facility part of Tenneco India’s vertical integration strategy and will reduce the manufacturing lead time of piston rods – the most critical part of shock absorbers.

Sagar Hemade, Managing Director, Tenneco India, said: “Event celebrates Tenneco’s commitment to quality and innovation in products, processes and services.”

DynaChrome is a fully integrated and closed looped plating system with a high rate of chrome deposition. The process is capable of plating the rod to the required size and it does not require any post chrome grinding operation. This reduces the consumption of chrome and conserves energy.

Tenneco’s piston rod plant in Hosur employs 98 people in the production of piston rods for shock absorbers and struts. The 2.100 square meters facility supplies components for major domestic and international vehicle manufacturers.

The facility opening ceremony was attended by Sudam Maitra, Chief Operating Officer (Supply Chain), Maruti Suzuki, Hari Nair, Chief Operating Officer, Tenneco Inc and T. P. Rajesh, District Collector, Krishnagiri.

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Govt to hike R&D spend to 2% of GDP, says Jaipal Reddy

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Science and Technology S. Jaipal Reddy said that the Government plans to increase the research and development budget up to two per cent of the gross domestic product during the 12th Plan.

Speaking at CSIR-IICT@70 celebrations here, he said, “It is gratifying to note that Indian industry is coming forward to contribute about 50 per cent of the increase in R&D spending.”

The Government has introduced several new schemes with public private partnerships to increase spending on R&D. These schemes will help translate the basic and academic research into products of direct relevance to the industry in quick time.

To encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in new scientific concepts and technologies, the Government has lined up several programmes ranging from venture-capital funding to the development of incubation centres. The CSIR-IICT have taken lead role to establish a biotechnology incubation centre in Hyderabad in association with the Andhra Pradesh Government.

He assured the research community that the Government will ensure necessary resources to support good research and technology proposals. He said some of the important innovations of IICT such as the rice bran oil tech and hydro fluoro carbons had helped save foreign exchange.

The Union Minister laid the foundation stone for Centre of Flurochemicals. This is aimed at working on basic and applied research to develop eco-friendly processes for refrigeration.

He also inaugurated a Cancer Therapeutic Research Laboratory and a Meteorological Tower of Climate Change on Ventor Control Programme. The cancer lab will work on development of affordable cancer therapeutics.

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