Swedish hygiene products company SCA to set up Rs 145-crore manufacturing facility in India

Chennai: Global hygiene and forest products company SCA will set up a manufacturing facility for hygiene products with an investment of about Rs 145 crore in India. The facility is expected to commence production in 2015, a statement from the company said.

The brands that SCA intends to launch in India over the coming months are TENA - for incontinence care, Libero baby care, Tempo - for hand and face hygiene and Tork, a range of away-from-home tissues.

"SCA aims to grow organically and has extensive experience in the hygiene business, which should help to provide better hygiene for the Indian consumer. The large population and the low penetration of hygiene products provide the potential for SCA's future growth," adds Cecilia Edebo - Vice President Consumer Goods SCA India, said in a statement.

"In order to achieve this goal we have done thorough research of the Indian market and developed a solid plan that takes into account regional specifics as well as preferences of our target audiences," Milind Pingle - managing director of SCA said.

The Swedish company will now compete with Procter & Gamble's Pampers, Kimberly Clarke's Huggies and Unicharm's Mamy Poko Pants in the Rs 4,000-crore baby diaper market in India.

"The investment is in line with our strategy of strengthening SCA's presence in emerging markets", Jan Johansson, president and CEO of SCA said.

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Schneider Electric starts support facility for data centres

Hyderabad: Schneider Electric has commissioned a services bureau in Bangalore as a nerve centre and a support facility for data centres in India and the Asia-Pacific region.

The French major, which provides energy management solutions, describes the new services bureau as a Centre of Excellence. This centre integrates information management systems, monitoring solutions, data science, technical and operational expertise.

This bureau will address the requirement of its data centre services clients in verticals such as telecom, retail banking, healthcare, manufacturing. It has been set up to help customers optimise their infrastructure, senior company officials told Business Line.

Philippe Arsonneau, Senior Vice-President APJ Schneider Electric, IT Business Unit said: “Data centres are becoming increasingly complex to manage and operate, as the business risks associated with failure of such critical infrastructure equipment is too significant to disregard. Schneider Electric through this bureau will help customers optimise their investments without any problems.”

Nikhil Pathak, Vice-President, Schneider Electric IT Business, India & SAARC said: “Over the last two years, our India team has built the expertise and experience in offering complete services for all critical environments. Energy management is a major driver for addressing efficiency as a whole.”

The corporation seeks to build on its close relationship with customers and help them by offering services both on site and through such centres.

For the company, its large installed base provides an opportunity to offer services, spanning energy, IT infrastructure and data centre management. Technical experts, business analysts will facilitate better management of critical data of companies.

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India and US to chart out future cooperation

New Delhi: In order to chart a course for future cooperation in areas including civil nuclear technology, trade, investment and defence, Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and Mr Barack Obama, President of United States of America (USA) will meet on September 27, 2013, at the Oval Office in the White House.

It is also expected that some agreements including in the field of defence will be signed after the summit meeting between the two leaders.

Dr Singh is expected to raise India’s concerns over the proposed changes in US visa norms which would affect the highly-skilled IT professionals from India.

“Over the past decade, our relationship with the US, which is one of our most important relationships, has transformed into a global strategic partnership” highlighted Dr Singh before the meeting. He further added, “The intensive, high—level bilateral visits over the last few months reflect the strong momentum of bilateral engagement. We have also registered impressive progress in our cooperation across the full spectrum of the relationship. My visit is an opportunity to review our joint efforts and chart a course for our future cooperation. ”India sees the US as a long term partner in the country’s development efforts, and in fostering a global environment that is conducive to its growth. The US remains a key source of technology, investment, innovation, resources and one of the most important destinations for our goods and services, said Dr Singh.

President Obama is also looking forward to his meeting with Dr Singh, said Mr Jay Carney, Press Secretary, White House.

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Target to develop 10,000 MW power through solar energy by 2017

New Delhi: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has set a target of generation of 10,000 Megawatt of power through solar energy by the year 2017. Addressing the Solar Power Developers Meet in the Capital today, the Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that the Phase I of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission has been very successful wherein 1685 MW of solar power was generated as against the target of 1100 MW.

The Minister informed that large tracks of land have been identified in Rajasthan, Kargil and Ladakh which have immense potential of generation of solar power. Dr. Abdullah said that the main challenge was starting a transmission line in the areas of Kargil and Ladakh so that power could be evacuated to the other parts of the country. He also focused on the need for breakthrough in new research to ensure storage of solar energy for greater time period. The Minister highlighted the new initiatives for ensuring greater use of solar power in the Government buildings and also said that the Ministry planned to use mobile towers in a way that they could generate power through solar and wind energy.

On this occasion, the Minister gave awards to 13 organisations/ companies for having done commendable work in the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. He expressed the hope that the corporate sector will continue to contribute in a major way to the efforts of the Government in making India one of the leading producers of solar energy.

Mr. Ratan P.Watal, Secretary, MNRE, highlighted importance of development of solar power for meeting the solar requirements of around 40% of the population which lacked access to energy resources. Even providing one unit of power to such houses throughout the year would in itself need a generation of 15,000 MW of solar power. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched on 11th January, 2010 by the Prime Minister. The Mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022. The Mission has targeted a capacity of grid connected solar power generation of 1000 MW within three years of its launch and to reach installed power capacity of 10,000 MW by the year 2017. The target of 20,000 MW for 2022, which if successful, could lead to conditions of grid-competitive solar power.

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Foreign currency bank borrowings norms eased

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday eased the norms for banks borrowing through foreign currency. For bank borrowings exceeding half the unimpaired tier-I capital made on or before November 30 for availing of RBI’s swap facility, the central bank lowered the maturity requirement from three years to a year.

After November 30, the maturity for foreign currency borrowing by banks beyond 50 per cent of their tier-I capital would have to be at least three years, RBI said.

“This move is directed towards attracting foreign flows; it is easier to get borrowings for a year, rather than three years,” said S Srinivasaraghavan, head of treasury at Dhanlaxmi Bank.

Experts said the move was aimed at helping the rupee appreciate against the dollar.

On Wednesday, the rupee ended at 62.44/dollar, against the previous close of 62.77/dollar. It touched a low of 62.89 and a high of 62.33 during intra-day trade. The appreciation resulted from dollar sale by companies and custodian banks.

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CARE Ratings to enter Europe via Singapore consortium

New Delhi: Credit rating agency Credit Analysis & Research Ltd (CARE) is entering the European market through a Singapore-based international arm.

It has joined hands with credit rating agencies in four other countries — Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa and Portugal — to set up a Singapore-based entity called ARC Rating Holding.

CARE will hold 20 per cent stake in this Singapore entity, which will hold 100 per cent in ARC Rating Europe, D. R. Dogra, Managing Director and CEO, CARE Ratings, told Business Line. “We can’t go international on our own and that is why the joint venture route. But we see lot of growth opportunities for us in Europe. ARC Rating Europe will have an office in London,” Dogra said.

ARC Rating Europe will cater only to large companies and not offer rating services for small businesses.

CARE, which had launched an initial public offering in December 2012, is the country’s second largest credit rating agency by revenue.

A presence in London will help it serve Indian corporate clients, which have spread their wings in Europe, better.

Indian companies need not only look to entrenched foreign credit rating players in those markets for their needs, it was pointed out. Dogra also said that CARE will set up an entity in Mauritius this fiscal, in which it would have a controlling interest of 51 per cent.

The remaining stake may be picked up by African Development Bank, South African credit rating company Global Credit Rating (GCR) and others.

CARE would look to enter Africa through the Mauritius entity.

In Africa, plans are afoot to offer rating services for large companies as well as small and medium businesses, he said.

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TCS, GE join hands to create first all-women BPO in Saudi

Pune: India’s largest information technology services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and GE have entered into a joint venture to set up the first all-women business process services centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

TCS and GE will have 76 per cent and 24 per cent equity, respectively. The first anchor customers would be Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s national oil company, and GE. The new centre is to serve as a building block to localise a business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Saudi Arabia. The three partners (Saudi Aramco being the third) are to scale up the new venture, to create up to 3,000 jobs for Saudi female professionals. GE will create up to 1,000 employment opportunities for this initiative.

Cyrus Mistry, chairman of Tata Group, present at the inaugural event, said: “The Tata Group has a long history of encouraging women to achieve their potential and contribute to the community...Saudi Arabia is a focus market for the Tata Group, where we have built strong partnerships, and this ambitious initiative is an example of our commitment to this market.” The Saudi Arabian government is trying to diversify its economy away from a dependence on petroleum, encouraging localisation and growth of a viable employment sector.

“In addition to the array of manufacturing and industrial jobs, services are an even bigger creator of wide-ranging employment...In recent decades, the world, including Saudi Arabian enterprises, has been outsourcing these functions offshore. It’s time to bring those jobs home,” said Khalid A Al Falih, president and chief executive of Saudi Aramco. GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt said: “We are proud to be supporting female employment opportunities in the kingdom.”

Initially providing services to the anchor clients, the centre is to eventually expand the customer base. In due course, GE and TCS will work with leading Saudi educational institutions for specialised training.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services said: “This unique initiative will leverage a new talent pool in the Kingdom to meet the business needs of corporations in the region. It is an example of our long-term commitment to this market. By drawing on our proven global expertise in business process services, our ability to partner with corporations as well as develop talented professionals, we will help achieve the goals of this pioneering venture.”

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