NEW DELHI: Motorcycle maker TVS Motor Company on Thursday said it will invest Rs 200 crore by April next year to increase its production capacity to 28 lakh units.
The company also said it will set up a design centre in Indonesia where it has a manufacturing facility.
"There is an increasing demand and to meet that we are increasing our production capacity to 28 lakh units from the existing 21 lakh units per annum. It will entail an investment Rs 200 crore by April 2011," TVS Motor Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan told reporters on the sidelines of the SIAM summit here.
He said the company expects to sell 18 lakh of two wheelers in the domestic market and export 2.5 lakh units this year.
On the three-wheeler front, the company expects sales of 50,000 units.
Commenting on the overseas operation, Srinivasan said TVS expects its Indonesian arm to break even by next year. "By next year we should have a design center there," he said.
He also said TVS plans to make Brazil, where it has an assembly unit, to be the hub for the Latin American market.
"We have a capacity of assembling 50,000 units in Brazil per year. We want this to be the hub of Latin America and supply to countries like Columbia, which is an interesting market," Srinivasan said.
The company assembles its motor cycle 'Apache' in Brazil right now. He also said the company is looking to increase export to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and ASEAN countries.
TVS Motor reported a rise of 14.80 per cent in its total two-wheeler sales at 15,21,912 units in the last fiscal year.
Success in my Habit
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Auto component sector to see 4-fold growth by 2020
NEW DELHI: The Indian auto component industry expects to grow by over four-fold to $113 billion by 2020 as there have been projections of a similar jump in car manufacturing in the country in the next decade, said Automotive Component Manufacturers’ Association.
The total passenger car production in the country will jump four times to reach 9 million cars in the next ten years, the industry body said in its forecast report on Friday. Although a major chunk of this will come from the fast growing domestic market, exports are likely to form around 35% of the total market by 2020.
“India would be among the top-five vehicle producing countries in the world by 2020,” said ACMA executive director Vinnie Mehta.
Indian component industry is expected to clock a total revenue of $25 billion in the current fiscal. Given high growth projections, the local component industry is looking to invest $35 billion over the next decade.
Production of two-wheelers and three-wheelers are expected to double to 2.2 crore units by 2015 and reach three crore units by 2020 driven by current low penetration levels, expanding rural sales and growth in exports. Commercial vehicles production is forecast to cross the 22 lakh-units mark in the same period.
ACMA also said the local component industry would create an additional employment for over 10 lakh people in the next decade. To meet the increased requirement of skilled hands the government has decided to set up a dedicated skill development body for the auto industry to train 25 million people in the next decade. The Automobile Skill Development Council — under the umbrella of the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) — is expected to be established soon, a government official said on Friday.
To maintain competitiveness of the domestic component makers, ACMA has sought safeguard measures from the government against cheap imports of finished parts, primarily those coming from China. “Imports from many countries particularly from China and Thailand have risen significantly. There has been virtual dumping of certain spares from China and we have asked the government to take preventive measures,” said ACMA president Jayant Davar.
The total passenger car production in the country will jump four times to reach 9 million cars in the next ten years, the industry body said in its forecast report on Friday. Although a major chunk of this will come from the fast growing domestic market, exports are likely to form around 35% of the total market by 2020.
“India would be among the top-five vehicle producing countries in the world by 2020,” said ACMA executive director Vinnie Mehta.
Indian component industry is expected to clock a total revenue of $25 billion in the current fiscal. Given high growth projections, the local component industry is looking to invest $35 billion over the next decade.
Production of two-wheelers and three-wheelers are expected to double to 2.2 crore units by 2015 and reach three crore units by 2020 driven by current low penetration levels, expanding rural sales and growth in exports. Commercial vehicles production is forecast to cross the 22 lakh-units mark in the same period.
ACMA also said the local component industry would create an additional employment for over 10 lakh people in the next decade. To meet the increased requirement of skilled hands the government has decided to set up a dedicated skill development body for the auto industry to train 25 million people in the next decade. The Automobile Skill Development Council — under the umbrella of the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) — is expected to be established soon, a government official said on Friday.
To maintain competitiveness of the domestic component makers, ACMA has sought safeguard measures from the government against cheap imports of finished parts, primarily those coming from China. “Imports from many countries particularly from China and Thailand have risen significantly. There has been virtual dumping of certain spares from China and we have asked the government to take preventive measures,” said ACMA president Jayant Davar.
Tata Motors in tie-up with IndusInd Bank
CHENNAI: Automaker Tata Motors has entered into an understanding with IndusInd Bank for financing its range of passenger vehicles .
A MoU was signed in this regard by senior executives of the both companies, Tata Motors said in a statement.
"..IndusInd ranks in the top retail financiers for Tata Motors commercial vehicle segment today and we are happy to extend this partnership for our passenger vehicle business as well, ", Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Vice President R Ramakrishnan said.
"With this tie-up IndusInd Bank would be in a position to cater the financial needs of Tata Motors customers for the entire range of vehicles sold by Tata Motors," IndusInd Bank Consumer Finance Division Executive Vice-President S V Parthasarathy said.
IndusInd Bank currently has over two million customers and a network of 224 branches and 533 ATMs across 28 states, it added.
A MoU was signed in this regard by senior executives of the both companies, Tata Motors said in a statement.
"..IndusInd ranks in the top retail financiers for Tata Motors commercial vehicle segment today and we are happy to extend this partnership for our passenger vehicle business as well, ", Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Vice President R Ramakrishnan said.
"With this tie-up IndusInd Bank would be in a position to cater the financial needs of Tata Motors customers for the entire range of vehicles sold by Tata Motors," IndusInd Bank Consumer Finance Division Executive Vice-President S V Parthasarathy said.
IndusInd Bank currently has over two million customers and a network of 224 branches and 533 ATMs across 28 states, it added.
I am the least-paid Fortune 500 CEO: SBI Chairman
The State Bank of India broke into the Fortune 500 club during Om Prakash Bhatt’s current five-year tenure as chairman — surely something to celebrate. And he is proud of the fact that not only did he get SBI there, but the bank has also been inching up a few notches with every passing year.
However, there is something about that list which bothers him. He points out that he is the lowest-paid CEO on the Fortune 500 list. (The SBI chairman’s compensation in the last financial year was Rs 27 lakh, while on an average a Fortune 500 CEO earns more than $10 million or Rs 47 crore a year).
Maybe Bhatt has something to look forward to when he hangs up his boots as the top boss of the bank in March 2011. Being the head of the country’s largest commercial bank, he would get a red carpet welcome from any financial services company in the private sector, which wants to fortify its position in the country and there would be a willing candidate in Bhatt.
By his own admission , he cannot afford to retire on the pension of SBI. “I need to work to support my family,” he says rather humbly over coffee in his rather spacious 18th floor office in Mumbai’s central business district — Nariman Point.
The building is like a fortress with two sets of checks and a barricade, designed to keep out a moving vehicle without credentials. And why not? It’s the headquarters of the country’s largest bank with a deposit base of over Rs 8 lakh crore and a turnover of Rs 86,000 crore.
His room has a lovely view of the Arabian Sea and parts of Marine Drive and there are at least three sets of room ACs to keep the temperature, of a place where some of the hottest decisions of the banking sector are taken, a little low.
A replica of Krishna and Arjun at the battlefield of Kurukshetra rests on a table, perhaps reminding him of the continuous battle to keep his place under the sun.
There are innumerable trophies which line a cabinet on one side of the room from the various battles won. Besides, there is a hockey stick, which adorns one wall — signed by the Indian hockey team which won the Asia Cup a few years ago.
Dressed in a black suit, looking every inch the proverbial banker, the 59-year-old from Dehradun, answers all the questions in a similar soft tone throughout the course of the two-hour-long chat.
ED takes over Raju's 4,000-acre property
HYDERABAD: Charging that the property was acquired from the proceeds of the Satyam scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday took possession of 4,000 acres belonging to Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and his family members in Loyapalli village near Ibrahimpatnam of Ranga Reddy district.
The ED, which has attached 347 such properties so far, gave some time to the Rajus for handing over these properties to them and when that didn’t happen, it began taking physical possession of the land. The property in Loyapalli is one among the 347 properties that has been attached but is the single largest asset. The ED began the process of physical attachment of the property after its adjudicating authority in Delhi last week confirmed the provisional orders issued by the ED on these properties.
Taking physical possession includes installing a board that carries a warning on it saying that this is now a property of the government and that trespassers will be prosecuted etc. Among the remaining assets which have been attached by the ED but where the physical possession is still to happen are the spacious Jubilee Hills residence of Teja Raju, son of Ramalinga Raju.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Blackstone invests Rs 1,350 cr in Moser Baer's energy biz
New Delhi : Largest investment by a single PE investor in power sector.
US-based private equity (PE) fund Blackstone has invested $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) in Moser Baer Projects Private Ltd (MBPPL), the unlisted energy business of Delhi-based global technology company Moser Baer India.
The investment will fund MBPPL's plans of commissioning 5,000 mega watt (Mw) of power generation capacity — 4,000 Mw of thermal power, 500 Mw of solar power and 500 Mw of hydro power — over the next six years in India and Germany. The group's 1,200-Mw Annuppur Project-1 in Madhya Pradesh, which has achieved financial closure, is the most advanced one.
The largest investment by a single PE investor in the Indian power sector will help MBPPL establish, what it called, "one of the country's leading independent power generation business".
"We have an appetite of investing $1 billion (around Rs 4,500 crore) in the power sector over the next five years, provided we get good deals," said Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India Private Ltd.
MBPPL has a 7.4-Mw operating solar farm asset in Germany and a 5-Mw solar power project under construction in Tamil Nadu. Besides, the company will invest in the country's largest solar power plant, a 45-Mw one, in Gujarat, whose financial closure is expected within a month.
"We have not done anything on the solar thermal front as yet and we will look at coal from Coal India and its subsidiaries. Our power projects will be fuelled from domestic coal," said Deepak Puri, founder of MBPPL. Moreover, Moser Baer doesn't intend to list MBPPL this year, though it is considering listing in a few years.
"We don't need more private equity and we think we will reach grid parity in three years," Puri said.
The PE fund has so far invested $1.25 billion (around Rs 5,600 crore) in 12 Indian companies. It recently secured a 12.5 per cent stake in Monnet Power Company (MPCL) for $60 million (Rs 275 crore). It also has investments in Indian companies like newspaper firm Jagran Prakashan, garment maker Gokaldas Exports, Allcargo Global Logistics, Nagarjuna Construction and Emcure Pharmaceuticals.
"The accelerated development of India's infrastructure industry in general and the power sector in particular is a pre-requisite for unlocking our country's economic potential and availability of growth capital will remain essential to enable this development. We have put together a highly qualified investment banking team to exclusively advise infrastructure companies on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions," said Venkat Ramaswamy, executive director, Edelweiss Group, which acted as the financial advisor to MBPPL.
Blackstone has said that infrastructure development continued to remain one of its key investment themes in India. Moser Baer's shares closed 6.6 per cent higher at Rs 66.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
US-based private equity (PE) fund Blackstone has invested $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) in Moser Baer Projects Private Ltd (MBPPL), the unlisted energy business of Delhi-based global technology company Moser Baer India.
The investment will fund MBPPL's plans of commissioning 5,000 mega watt (Mw) of power generation capacity — 4,000 Mw of thermal power, 500 Mw of solar power and 500 Mw of hydro power — over the next six years in India and Germany. The group's 1,200-Mw Annuppur Project-1 in Madhya Pradesh, which has achieved financial closure, is the most advanced one.
The largest investment by a single PE investor in the Indian power sector will help MBPPL establish, what it called, "one of the country's leading independent power generation business".
"We have an appetite of investing $1 billion (around Rs 4,500 crore) in the power sector over the next five years, provided we get good deals," said Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India Private Ltd.
MBPPL has a 7.4-Mw operating solar farm asset in Germany and a 5-Mw solar power project under construction in Tamil Nadu. Besides, the company will invest in the country's largest solar power plant, a 45-Mw one, in Gujarat, whose financial closure is expected within a month.
"We have not done anything on the solar thermal front as yet and we will look at coal from Coal India and its subsidiaries. Our power projects will be fuelled from domestic coal," said Deepak Puri, founder of MBPPL. Moreover, Moser Baer doesn't intend to list MBPPL this year, though it is considering listing in a few years.
"We don't need more private equity and we think we will reach grid parity in three years," Puri said.
The PE fund has so far invested $1.25 billion (around Rs 5,600 crore) in 12 Indian companies. It recently secured a 12.5 per cent stake in Monnet Power Company (MPCL) for $60 million (Rs 275 crore). It also has investments in Indian companies like newspaper firm Jagran Prakashan, garment maker Gokaldas Exports, Allcargo Global Logistics, Nagarjuna Construction and Emcure Pharmaceuticals.
"The accelerated development of India's infrastructure industry in general and the power sector in particular is a pre-requisite for unlocking our country's economic potential and availability of growth capital will remain essential to enable this development. We have put together a highly qualified investment banking team to exclusively advise infrastructure companies on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions," said Venkat Ramaswamy, executive director, Edelweiss Group, which acted as the financial advisor to MBPPL.
Blackstone has said that infrastructure development continued to remain one of its key investment themes in India. Moser Baer's shares closed 6.6 per cent higher at Rs 66.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Kurl-on to invest Rs 150 cr in Saudi, India plants
Ahmedabad: After diversifying from sleep comfort to providing end-to-end home comfort solutions last year, Kurl-on Ltd will invest around Rs 150 crore in the next couple of years on setting up three mattresses manufacturing plants, one in Saudi Arabia and two more in India.
In Saudi Arabia, the Karnataka-based company, part of the Rs 2,000-crore Manipal Group, is looking to invest around Rs 60 crore, and expects to initially sell nearly 12,000 high-end mattresses a month, Mr T. Sudhakar Pai, Chairman, told Business Line here. Kurl-on is a well-known brand in West Asia.
The company's aggressive plans are aimed at giving its expansion activities a definitive direction. It is repositioning itself as a player in India's Rs 1 lakh crore home comfort industry. Thus, operating on a bigger canvass, it would manufacture a whole range of products for home comfort also.
Furniture business
Kurl-on is also focusing on furniture and furnishing. It has already signed a joint venture agreement with Mr Cesare Giacomuzzo for the manufacture of furniture and is looking for partners across India to manufacture other products.
To fund its expansion and diversification plans, which includes finding partners and franchisees across India for making various home comfort products, Kurl-on may also raise funds from the capital market next year. Based on the current market evaluation of Kurl-on at Rs 1,600 crore, the company could raise up to Rs 400 crore via an IPO and get listed on the bourses. “We have the shareholders' nod. And many a private equity (PE) player have also approached us,” he added.
India plans
In India, where the company currently has five manufacturing units, it will establish two more plants with an investment of around Rs 90 crore, to double its current production capacity.
One of these plants will be in the Jhagadia industrial hub, near Ankaleshwar, in Bharuch district of Gujarat, where the company will invest Rs 60 crore. Last week, the company was allotted 25 acres at Jhagadia for the purpose.
Mr Pai said Kurl-on is also planning to set up a new plant in the North-East, preferably in Assam, with an initial investment of Rs 30 crore. Kurl-on is expecting to increase its turnover from Rs 417 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years. With this objective, he said it aims to expand its network to a total of 150 exclusive company-owned flagship showrooms, called “Kurl-on Nests”, on a partnership or franchisee basis, and also 500 other outlets on the shop-in-shop model in the next three years.
Ashok Leyland wins order for buses from Sri Lanka
Chennai: Ashok Leyland has bagged an order for 1,000 buses from the People's Leasing Company in Sri Lanka, according to a press release from Ashok Leyland. The $26-million order represents Ashok Leyland's largest single order for buses from Sri Lanka.
The delivery of the ‘Viking' model buses, of 42-58 seats, is to commence immediately and is to be completed before March 2011. The order is being part funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Ashok Leyland of the Hinduja group is a leader in the Sri Lankan bus market with sales of more than 8,000 over the past six-seven years.
Tata-Sikorsky venture to roll out aerospace components from Nov
Hyderabad: The Tata-Sikorsky joint venture to manufacture aerospace components and systems at the Aerospace Park on the outskirts of Hyderabad will start rolling out products from November.
Announcing this at MAN'EXE, the 7th leadership series on manufacturing excellence organised by the CII here on Wednesday, Mr Kanna Lakshminarayana, Minister of Industries, Andhra Pradesh, said the new industrial policy (2010-15) announced by the State would give a big thrust to manufacturing.
The State has come up with several incentives, has the lowest power tariff for industries and the largest number of notified SEZs (Special Economic Zones), over 50. It is also looking at the National Manufacturing Investment Zones, being proposed by the Centre, he said.
Tata Advanced Systems, the Tata Group company, formed the venture with Sikorsky Aircraft, US, to manufacture aerospace components in India. As part of it, they set up a manufacturing unit at the Aerospace & Precision Engineering SEZ (special economic zone) at Adibatla village to begin making components and assembling Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cabins. It will also make components for other aerospace OEMs.
Transforming india
In his keynote address, Dr V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Hinduja Automotive and Board of Director of Ashok Leyland said a “Combination of planning and entrepreneurship was a must for India to achieve the goal of transforming into a happy, developed country.”
He cited two recent headlines: By 2015, Indian GDP will cross China's and India to emerge a Detroit of the East.
While they read great and achievable, there is cause of concern, because we tend to celebrate too early. These are goals which need tremendous work and effort to achieve. India needs relentless investments in infrastructure, especially power and energy to drive the high growth rates.
He listed several advantages the country has in terms of the large youth force and low cost demand driving innovation and frugality, an old world virtue internalised amongst the people that could be channelized for the growth story.
Trump card
Dr Sumantran said India's trump card would be IT-enabled manufacturing. Cloud competing, he said, makes small and medium enterprises competitive. However, he expressed concern about the general lack of high quality across industries. This has to be addressed.
Earlier, the Chairman of CII-AP, Mr Shakthi Sagar, in his welcome, said India was emerging as a manufacturing hub with more companies shifting their units.
The national manufacturing policy and the manufacturing investment zones should provide an impetus.
Announcing this at MAN'EXE, the 7th leadership series on manufacturing excellence organised by the CII here on Wednesday, Mr Kanna Lakshminarayana, Minister of Industries, Andhra Pradesh, said the new industrial policy (2010-15) announced by the State would give a big thrust to manufacturing.
The State has come up with several incentives, has the lowest power tariff for industries and the largest number of notified SEZs (Special Economic Zones), over 50. It is also looking at the National Manufacturing Investment Zones, being proposed by the Centre, he said.
Tata Advanced Systems, the Tata Group company, formed the venture with Sikorsky Aircraft, US, to manufacture aerospace components in India. As part of it, they set up a manufacturing unit at the Aerospace & Precision Engineering SEZ (special economic zone) at Adibatla village to begin making components and assembling Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cabins. It will also make components for other aerospace OEMs.
Transforming india
In his keynote address, Dr V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Hinduja Automotive and Board of Director of Ashok Leyland said a “Combination of planning and entrepreneurship was a must for India to achieve the goal of transforming into a happy, developed country.”
He cited two recent headlines: By 2015, Indian GDP will cross China's and India to emerge a Detroit of the East.
While they read great and achievable, there is cause of concern, because we tend to celebrate too early. These are goals which need tremendous work and effort to achieve. India needs relentless investments in infrastructure, especially power and energy to drive the high growth rates.
He listed several advantages the country has in terms of the large youth force and low cost demand driving innovation and frugality, an old world virtue internalised amongst the people that could be channelized for the growth story.
Trump card
Dr Sumantran said India's trump card would be IT-enabled manufacturing. Cloud competing, he said, makes small and medium enterprises competitive. However, he expressed concern about the general lack of high quality across industries. This has to be addressed.
Earlier, the Chairman of CII-AP, Mr Shakthi Sagar, in his welcome, said India was emerging as a manufacturing hub with more companies shifting their units.
The national manufacturing policy and the manufacturing investment zones should provide an impetus.
Domestic airlines registered a 17 per cent growth during January-July 2010
New Delhi: India’s domestic airlines witnessed a surge of nearly 500,000 passengers in July 2010 in comparison to the corresponding period in 2009.
It is the 7th consecutive month for the domestic airline industry to report an increase in the passengers flown in comparison with the same period in 2009.
As per the latest data collated by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the domestic airlines flew 17.56 million passengers during January-July 2010 as against 14.53 million passengers carried during the same period in 2009, thereby, registering a 17 per cent growth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)