Fortis Healthcare announces two new hospitals in Hyderabad, Agra

MUMBAI: Fortis Healthcare (India) Thursday announced the launch of two hospitals in Hyderabad and Agra, thus increasing its India network to 68 hospitals. The hospital in Hyderabad with a 150-bed capacity will be functional in financial year 2013 and is the second project from the company in the city, the company said in a regulatory filing. The hospital in Agra will initially function as a cardiac care centre, in a hub and spoke model, and expand eventually to become a multi-speciality hospital, it added. The 75-bed hospital will be operational by the end of financial year 2012. "These two projects are in line with our commitment to increasing the network and making quality healthcare accessible across the country," said Aditya Vij, CEO, Fortis Healthcare (India). "We are currently present in 17 Indian states and will continue to expand to newer geographies, while strengthening our presence and increasing bed-capacity in existing cities and states," he added.

Super Religare Labs to invest Rs 100 cr to open 25 labs by end of March 2013

NEW DELHI: Super Religare Laboratories (SRL) will invest up to Rs 100 crore to set up 25 laboratories both within and outside the country by the end of next fiscal. "We will be spending up to Rs 100 crore on a continuing basis to open 25 new laboratories by the end of March 31, 2013," Super Religare Laboratories CEO Sanjeev K Chaudhry told reporters here today. SRL's present network consists of 200 laboratories including eight reference laboratories, seven centres of excellence, 19 radiology/imaging centre and over 1,000 collection centres. Outside the country SRL has presence in Gulf, North Africa, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and Europe. The company opened an imaging and diagnostic centre at Vasant Vihar, here. "This state of art facility is SRL's 200th centre offering complete diagnostic services with an added advantage of out patient department ( OPD) facility all under one roof," Chaudhry said. On being about the time line for listing if SRL, Chaudhry said: "The company is prepared for the listing process. Listing can happen as soon as Fortis decides on this." Fortis Healthcare, promoted by billionaire brothers Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh had acquired 74.59 per cent stake in SRL for Rs 803 crore in May this year.

IVRCL bags projects worth Rs 552.31 crore

CHENNAI: Construction major IVRCL Ltd today said it has bagged orders against various projects valued at Rs 552.31 crore. According to a company statement, the company's building division has bagged a Rs 418.51 crore contract for construction of 7,720 houses low-cost houses in New Delhi from Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation. In addition, it secured an order for civil and structural steel works under a fuel and flux crushing project in Chhattisgarh from Engineering Projects (India) Ltd. The company also bagged a contract for establishment of infrastructure for a reserve battalion of CISF personnel at Sivagangai, a project awarded by National Buildings Construction Corporation, Chennai. The company's transportation and water divisions have also bagged projects valued at Rs 74.49 crore and Rs 59.31 crore, respectively. These include widening of roads in Orissa and a water supply project at Muzaffarpur, the statement said.

Godrej Properties to raise Rs 750 crore to bring down promoters' shareholding

MUMBAI: Godrej Properties, the realty development arm of Godrej Group, will raise up to Rs 750 crore through a shares issue over the next 6-12 months to bring down promoters' shareholding in the company from the current 83.79% to 75%, and to finance its ongoing as well as future projects. According to the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, shareholding of promoters of public listed companies need to be reduced to 75% by June 2013, and this is the driver for the proposed fund raising, Pirojsha Godrej, executive director of Godrej Properties, said. The company would prefer a qualified institutional placement of shares or a follow-on issue, but the final call on the instrument is yet to be taken, he said. The fund raising will also enable the company to part finance its ongoing and future projects including the joint development deal with Jet Airways for 2.5 acres in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Adi Godrej, chairman of the group, has said in the past that promoters would consider diluting the stake to comply with the Sebi norm as per the fund requirement of the realty company. As part of the recent 2.5-acre BKC land development deal with Jet Airways, Godrej is required to pay Rs 135 crore to compensate Jet for expenses already incurred, and also acquire the Rs 360-crore debt of the aviation company on this property. Jet and Godrej will share the project's profit equally. "It's (Jet BKC) a capital intensive project, we could use the some funds raised to part finance it. We will need additional capital to fund our growth. But we are not in a great rush to raise it anytime before six months," said Pirojsha Godrej. Currently, the company's market capitalisation is around Rs 4,600 crore and 9% stake dilution can fetch up to Rs 500 crore, Godrej said. "We would like to wait and raise funds when markets are in better shape," he said. Late Friday, the company informed stock exchanges in a notice that the company will raise up to Rs 750 crore through equity issue, but did not mention any timeframe for this. The funds raised will also be used to finance other projects of the company. In the quarter ended September, Godrej Properties entered into five business development deals spread over 8 million sq ft in Hyderabad, Nagpur, Thane, Bangalore and Bandra Kurla complex in Mumbai. On Friday, the company announced entering into another pact with Universal Builders for developing around 4,00,000 sq ft of premium villas spread over 14.5 acres at Electronic City in Bangalore. Godrej Properties will receive 11% of the project's revenue as development manager fees. On Friday, shares of Godrej Properties closed at Rs 668.60 on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.7% from Thursday's close.

Chennai to beat Mumbai in luxury hotel rooms growth

CHENNAI: Chennai is likely to add more luxury hotel rooms than Mumbai between now and 2015, according to realty consultants Cushman & Wakefield. Replying to a query by ET, the consultants indicated Chennai will see an increase in 6,300 rooms by 2015, 100 more than what Mumbai is likely to achieve by that time. However, Mumbai has a far bigger base of existing luxury hotel rooms (18,700) compared to Chennai (4,900), according to its data. In the past, Chennai has had not more than a handful of luxury hotels. Of late, there has been a flurry of activity in this sector, with major global chains such as the Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott entering this South Indian port city, though as part of a bigger pan-India plan. N Hariharan, Office Director, Cushman & Wakefield, attributed the growth in the city to a healthy presence of multiple industries such as IT, banking and auto. "With commercial and tourist traffic gradually picking up and demand expected to increase year on year, every major hotel operator wants to have a presence in Chennai. Another reason has been the emergence of Chennai as the centre for medical tourism in India," he said. "The average occupancy in Chennai in 2011 has been 71% across upscale and luxury hotel segments. While the demand is still driven by domestic arrivals, there has been a significant increase in international arrivals to the city." In 2011, the Chennai airport is expected to see 45 lakh international arrivals (as compared to 37 lakhs in 2009) and 70 lakh domestic arrivals. By 2015, the National Capital Region is likely to see 15,000 additional luxury hotel rooms (the base now being 21,000). Bangalore is likely to see an additional 8,000 rooms (from a base of 8,000 now).

Misleading advertisements come under government scanner

NEW DELHI: The government plans to form an inter-ministerial committee to suggest ways to check misleading advertisements that claim exaggerated benefits like fair skin or full energy, junior food minister K V Thomas said on Thursday. Speaking at a conference organised by the Advertising Standards Council of India, the industry's self regulator, Thomas expressed doubt that the current mechanism works. "What strikes you most is that most of the misleading ads are issued not by small flyby-night companies, but big corporations, who could even be members of ASCI," said the minister of state for food, consumer affairs and public distribution. He cited advertisements issued by the Piramal Healthcare on 'getting complete energy in eight days or money back' and by Airtel Digital TV on 'Free Regional Pack for life'. Thomas said laws such as the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act and the Cable Television Network Regulation Act have failed to prevent misleading ads. Since several ministries are involved in the implementation of some of these laws, the government is now considering an inter-ministerial committee to look at ways to make them effective. There is also a demand for an independent regulator to monitor and certify health-related advertisements, Thomas said. He said the government was open to working with the advertising council to take the matter forward. Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said reviewing consumer complaints on misleading ads will make the self-regulation machinery more effective. "Advertising is the principle motivator of growth in consumer demand, which makes the role of a creative person extremely significant," said Soni. "All of us should sensitise ourselves to ensure that 1.2 billion people can enjoy the freedom entrusted to us," she added. ASCI Chairman I Venkat said the organisation has stepped up the frequency of its consumer complaints council's meetings to twice a month from this month.

Desi online retailers like Flipkart.com, myntra.com unleash ad blitzkrieg

MUMBAI: A fledgling Indian online retail industry has unleashed big buck mass media advertising in the past six months as they seek to build businesses with a broader urban consumer base in the country. Advertising from e-tailing portals surged 228% on television, 78% in print and 797% on radio compared to the same period last year, said data from TAM Media Research. Start-up firms-such as Flipkart.com, myntra.com-flush with funds from private equity investors led the way in creating brand buzz going beyond the top metros, which some skeptics argued was reminiscent of the build-up to the dotcom bubble a decade ago. The growth numbers from TAM are based on ad volumes and not absolute spends. One industry source said the Bangalore-based online retailer Flipkart has marked Rs 100 crore as its advertising budget- significant for a four-year-old firm still soaking in losses. Flipkart, which sells books and electronics online, is labelled as the poster boy of Indian e-commerce and has invested heavily in building distribution and brand visibility across 50 cities. "E-commerce is at a very nascent stage but witnessing a lot of traction with urban audiences. Mass media advertising by e-commerce players will hasten this process and make more people shop online," said Ravi Vora, VP, marketing, Flipkart.com, backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global and Accel Partners. Travel portals like makemytrip, yatra and cleartrip entered mass media advertising sometime back but the rush of brand-building activity from the e-tailing fraternity worries critics, who caution against the hype surrounding online retailing. "It is widely known that advertising does not build a strong online business. Successful online brands like Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and eBay almost never advertised. Great online brands are built through tremendous word of mouth. If you don't organically have it, no amount of ad spend can get it for you," said Mahesh Murthy, founder, Pinstorm, and co-founder, Seedfund. Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet, which runs timesdeal.com and indiatimes.com, agreed, "The advertising push may drive initial traffic but post that the growth will depend on the word of mouth. Advertising does help in creating a differentiator but brands have to maintain their margins to run the business successfully," he said. Flipkart and others have been able to shore up sales riding on the back of ongoing media spends. "We feel our campaign has been successful and we plan to continue with our marketing activities," Flipkart's Vora added. India's consumer internet story has been one of the hottest themes for US investors, which was reflected when makemytrip listed on Nasdaq last year with $1 billion market cap. "The intersection between deepening internet penetration and rising disposable income in India is an exciting sweet spot," said Brewer S Stone, MD, Pacific Crest, a boutique investment bank involved with makemytrip's US listing, in a recent interaction. But Murthy, an internet industry veteran, cautioned: "This happened the last time around when Rediff, Indya and HomeTrade spent loads of cash. It will happen this time around too-just let the dust settle down in a year's time. We weren't prepared for the last bubble." The Indian e-commerce market is expected to cross Rs 46,000 crore in 2011 driven by the travel industry, with Indian Railways accounting for bulk of these transactions. The e-tailing industry is a distant second with 8% share, according to estimates from the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

Sabeer Bhatia's JaxtrSMS to allow free SMSes

MUMBAI: Jaxtr Inc, founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Yogesh Patel, on Wednesday launched JaxtrSMS, a cross-platform open texting application to send SMSes to anyone in the world for free. "We have developed this application that runs on all mobile applications in the world, including iPhones, Androids, Blackberrys, J2MEs, where one can send unlimited free text messages from his phone to any mobile phone in the world," Jaxtr Inc CEO and co-founder and co-founder of Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia told reporters here. At present it is very expensive for sending international SMSes costing Rs 5 per message, he said. JaxtrSMS, which was developed in the country, is expecting at least 100 million subscriber base globally, he added. "We witnessed tremendous response to this application during the soft launch where users across 197 countries downloaded it in a few weeks and expect 100 million subscribers by end of next year," Bhatia said. The company will generate revenue through advertisements and premium services like archiving texts, multimedia, video etc, which will be available by mid next year, he said. The premium services will be available for the subscribers at a very nominal cost, Bhatt said. "We are talking with advertisers," he said. The US-based company is looking at USD 10-15 million investment in JaxtrSMS in another couple of months. "We are in talks with a few investors and are looking at investing USD 10-15 million in a couple of months time," he added. Bhatia said this application would be in accordance with the regulatory provisions of the country. Globally, there are 4.2 billion texters worldwide and it is expected to reach 12 trillion by 2015.

Karnataka to get three new railway lines: D V Sadananda Gowda

BANGALORE: The Railway Ministry has approved three new railway lines in the state, Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said here today. "Three new railway lines - Gadag-Wadi, Kengeri-Chamrajnagar and Srinivasapura-Madanapalled - have been approved (by the Railway Board)," he said delivering keynote address at Business Standard Infrastructure Round Table 2011 here. About Rs 24,000 crore worth projects are being undertaken in the state, including 2,137 km of new railway line in Karnataka, Gowda said. "Gauge conversion and line doubling works also are being undertaken," he added. The state government has also received in-principle approval for Metro Phase II from the Central Government, he added. About air connectivity, Gowda said both Shimoga and Gulbarga airports, being developed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP), would be operational before July 2012. As many as 105 infrastructure projects under PPP format are underway in the state and are at various stages of development involving an investment of Rs 80,946 crore, he said. Karnataka has been at the forefront in various sectors including education, health, business, communication and information technology, he said. "The state contributes up to 8 per cent of India's industrial income and 9.8 per cent of product exports," Gowda said. Karnataka is the seventh largest and fifth most urbanised state and ranks third as a recipient of FDI, the chief minister said. Gowda also said the government was taking up major projects like the greenfield port at Tadadi, Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline, city gas distribution for Bangalore, international transit centre at Subhashnagar and traffic/transport management centre at Hebbal.

Air India owes Rs 2,310 crore to oil companies

NEW DELHI: Air India and its subsidiaries owe Rs 2,310 crore to the oil marketing companies, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi informed the Lok Sabha today. "Till the end of first fortnight of September, Air India has a total due of Rs 2,310.65 crore, of which the cash strapped national carrier owes Rs 1563.67 crore to Indian oil Corporation, Rs 409.82 crore to Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Rs 337.16 to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation," he said in a written reply. He said that in order to help the national carrier, a Group of Ministers last month agreed to grant a credit period of three months as sought by airlines management. "The credit period, however, was agreed without exempting Air India from payment of interest," the Minister said. Facing liquidity crunch, the national carrier has a debt of Rs 22,000 crore as working capital loan and around Rs 21,000 as aircraft acquisition loans. In reply to a separate question, the Minister said Air India has withdrawn its services from 14 routes, which were not profitable. The routes are Mumbai-Sharjah, Calicut-Doha-Bahrain, Mumbai-Vadodara, Kolkata-Ahmedabad/Jaipur-Kolkata, Hyderabad- Mumbai, Chennai-Calicut, Chennai-Mumbai-Kuwait, Hyderabad- Cochin-Coimbatore-Hyderabad, Kolkata-Hyderabad-Kolkata, Bangalore-Singapore, Chennai-Coimbatore, Mumbai-Nairobi, Chennai-Damman and Kochi-Agatti (which was later reinstated). The Minister also informed the House that due to pilots' strike from April 27 to May 7, Air India has suffered a revenue loss of Rs 200 crore.