Green infra acquires majority stake in TVS Energy

New Delhi: Green Infra Limited (Green Infra), the renewable energy arm of IDFC acquired a majority stake in TVS Energy. Through this acquisition, Green Infra has added to its portfolio 59.75 mw of windfarms across Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra with a commitment to continue to supply power to the TVS Group. This acquisition takes Green Infra's operating capacity to 377 mw and the company is on track to reach 500 mw by March 2014.

"We are delighted to partner with TVS Group and to become the provider of clean, green energy to the group. We remain extremely bullish on the future of renewable energy in the country and are aggressively investing in expanding our footprint"", said Shiv Nimbargi, MD and CEO of Green Infra.

Incorporated in April 2008 by the private equity funds of IDFC Alternatives, Green Infra is one of the leading clean energy independent power producer in both solar and wind segment in the country.

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Anti-infectives, respiratory drugs drive pharma growth in July

New Delhi: Despite the implementation of the new drug pricing policy, secondary drug sales remained resilient in July, growing 9.3 per cent (excluding free units) over the previous year. This is according to data compiled by pharma research firm AIOCD AWACS. Higher sales of anti-infective and respiratory drugs helped the growth, even as chronic (long-duration) therapies such as anti-diabetes and cardiovascular lagged.

In the listed space, the highest growth was clocked by Biocon (48.7 per cent) and AstraZeneca (44.3 per cent), albeit on a low base. A good monsoon aided demand for anti-infective, respiratory and anti-malarial drugs. Anti-infective drug producer Alembic Pharma (18.4 per cent), and respiratory players Cipla (18 per cent) and Glenmark Pharma (18.4 per cent) posted healthy growth during the month, ahead of the market. This also helped anti-malarial drug major IPCA Labs post 16.7 per cent growth for the month.

The ban on anti-diabetic drug pioglitazone in June impacted the growth of the anti-diabetes segment. Companies such as Sun Pharma and Lupin, which derive significant sales from pioglitazone, were affected by the move.

However, with the revocation of the ban earlier this month, growth may improve hereon.

Elder Pharma and Panacea Biotech topped the losers’ list, declining 13.1 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively. Drug sales by multinationals — GlaxoSmithkline Pharma and Sanofi India — declined during the month due to price cuts under the new pricing policy.

The Government has extended the deadline for re-labelling the drugs, to adjust for the price declines under the new policy, by an additional 30 days. This, along with the revocation of ban on piogliatzone, should provide some respite to the Indian pharma market.

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Investments via P-Notes grew to Rs 1.48 trillion in July 2013

New Delhi: Investments in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) through participatory notes (P-Notes) increased to Rs 1.48 trillion (US$ 23.74 billion) at the end of July 2013, according to the data released by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

P-Notes allows high networth individuals (HNI), hedge funds and other foreign institutions to invest in Indian markets through registered foreign institutional investors (FII), while saving on time and costs associated with direct registrations.

The FIIs investments through P-Notes registered a growth of 11.45 per cent in July 2013 as compared to 10.93 per cent in June 2013.

The value of P-Notes issue

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Bombardier to explore market for CSeries in India

Chennai: Commercial aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc has said its 100-160-seater CSeries is expected to take off soon in the Indian skies and that the company is working with the government to find ways for financial institutions to become lessors for airlines.

This comes at a time when Indian airlines are looking at expanding operations to more Tier-II and -III cities.

“I am very excited that eventually we can bring in the CSeries into India. It can offer the latest technology with lower cost of operation, especially as the aviation industry is developing to Tier-II and -III cities,” said Mike Arcamone, president-commercial aircraft, Bombardier.

According to reports, the company has pushed back the first flight of the CSeries three times and recently said it was ready to fly in weeks.

The company has not revealed any timeline to launch the new product in India, but said it would be launched soon, “if the customer demands it”.

Bombardier has already started talks with Indian airlines on the advantages of CSeries aircraft, said Arcamone, who was here.

Advantages
The company claims the CSeries has 12 per cent cost advantage, compared with the new generation aircraft, and compared to old generation plans, the cost advantage is 20 per cent.

So far, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, which opened its regional sales office in Mumbai three years ago, has handed over 15 aircraft to SpiceJet and three CRJ 700 carriers to Air India. “Right now, SpiceJet is a great advocate for our aircraft,” Arcamone said. The airline has an option to buy 15 more aircraft from Bombardier. Asked about the company’s market share in India, Torbjorn Karlsson, vice-president, sales, Asia Pacific of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said: “We don’t calculate the market share per country. We have the 15 aircraft with SpiceJet, and three CRJ 700 with Air India. If you look at what same type of product with our competition, we have a market of 45-50 per cent.” The company, which sees a consolidation in the aviation sector in the US and a rather mature market in Europe, is focusing on three countries inclduing India for its future business.

“India is very important for our future growth because of the opportunities that are present. Outside North America, South America and Europe, there are three areas I am really focusing — India, Russia and China,” said Arcamone. However, one of the developments the company expects to happen in India is the financial support, which could be in a way of banks acting as lessors.

Though there are some small scale lessors in India, the banks in the country are yet to play a major role in the sector. “I would like to see one of my top 15 lessors to be from India,” he said.

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SingTel to pay $302 m for a larger slice of Bharti Airtel

New Delhi: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) will increase its effective stake in Bharti Airtel to 32.34 per cent from 30.76 per cent. South-East Asia’s biggest telecom company will buy 3.62 per cent share of Bharti Telecom for $302 million (Rs 1,851 crore). Bharti Telecom holds 43.57 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel.

“The acquisition would allow SingTel to increase its effective stake in Bharti Airtel, and is in line with SingTel’s strategic focus on maximising the value of its existing businesses, which includes reviewing opportunities to increase shareholdings in existing associates,” the Singapore firm said in a statement

SingTel will buy 788,538 shares of Bharti Telecom from MacRitchie Investments Pte. This will increase SingTel’s share in the Indian holding company to 39.78 per cent from 36.16 per cent. The deal is expected to be completed by August 28, according to SingTel.

This is the second equity deal for Bharti Airtel this year. In May, Qatar Foundation picked up 5 per cent in Bharti Airtel for $1.26 billion. Bharti had issued 19.9 crore new shares to the Foundation at Rs 340 a share.

The SingTel deal indicates that foreign investors still see the Indian telecom sector as an attractive destination despite the regulatory uncertainties. Bharti Airtel will see at least one more equity deal in the next 12 months when Vodafone decides to sell the 4.4 per cent stake it holds in Airtel. Under the new mergers and acquisitions rules governing the telecom sector, a company cannot hold stake in two different operating firms.

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Ministry of Power and Ministry of Water Resources to work jointly on speedy technical clearances of power projects

New Delhi: Ministry of Power and Ministry of Water Resources have drawn up a framework for speedy technical clearances to power projects by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Central Water Commission (CWC). A high level meeting was held between M/o State for Power (I/c) , Mr Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Minister of Water Resources, Mr Harish Rawat in New Delhi today.

It was decided that issues pertaining to 24 items like hydrology, dam design, inter state, gates etc should be cleared immediately through close coordination between CEA and CWC.

It was also decided to hold joint monthly reviews with the developers of the projects to resolve their pending issues in the implementation of the power projects. Timelines for clearances to various components are to be decided at the next joint meeting between CEA, CWC and the developers.

The progress report of the clearances should be submitted to the ministries concerned.

Periodic meetings will be held with all the stakeholders in order to have a proactive approach to clearances. Also, the process of consultations will be continuous to ensure timely technical clearances to the projects.

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Tata Steel to launch 30 new products in Europe this financial year

Mumbai: Tata Steel is set to launch 30 new products in Europe this financial year. “We launched 17 steel products in the European market in FY13 and we will launch 30 more products this year,” Chairman Cyrus Mistry said at the company’s 106th annual general meeting here on Wednesday.

In Europe, demand for steel has been declining since Tata Steel acquired Corus, now Tata Steel Europe, in 2007. Following the acquisition, Tata Steel has about 45 subsidiaries. “We plan to rationalise the subsidiaries acquired,” Mistry said. The company also planned to increase steel deliveries to customers in the small and medium enterprise segment, Mistry added.

Tata Steel has commissioned a three-million-tonne (mt) plant in Jamshedpur. On the first phase of another three-mt plant in Kalinganagar, Odisha, it has spent Rs 10,000 crore so far. The plant was scheduled to be commissioned in the latter part of FY15, Mistry told shareholders at the meeting.

The company reported a consolidated net profit of about Rs 1,000 crore for the quarter ended Jun, primarily owing to high deferred tax.

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