India fourth most economically confident country in world: Ipsos

Mumbai: India's economic confidence has shot up by 8 points to 68% in the month of August compared to the previous month, according to the 'Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World' survey. This makes India the fourth most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Germany.

India's economic confidence, said a report by Ipsos, has got a major boost due to recent big-bang economic reforms such as the hike in diesel prices, FDI in retail, aviation and broadcasting, disinvestment in 4 public sector undertakings and cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Mick Gordon, CEO of Ipsos in India said, Union Government of India unleashed a burst of economic policy reforms that included steep rise in heavily subsidized diesel price, limit on cooking gas subsidy for consumers and foreign investments into critical sectors such as aviation and retail, raising the hope that expected fiscal breach will now be lower and investments will pick up. Borrowers could see better days ahead as banks are expected to cut lending rates following the RBI's decision to unlock Rs 17,000 crore by slashing CRR by 25 basis points. The liquidity infusion would ensure adequate flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy.''

Slightly less than a half of Indian citizens (48%) believe their local economy which impacts their personal finance is good, a marginal rise of 2 points and an optimistic 53% people expect that the economy in their local area will be stronger in next six months.

The online Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World survey was conducted in August 2012 among 20,915 people in 24 countries.

The average global economic assessment of national economies remains static from last month as 38% of global citizens rate their national economies to be 'good'. Countries with the strongest proportion of citizens expecting their local economies to be 'stronger' six months from now include Brazil (65%) followed by India (53%), Saudi Arabia (47%), Mexico (41%), Argentina (40%) and China (38%).

CSIR-NIIST to transfer tech for making wood substitute

Thiruvananthapuram: The CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology-Thiruvananthapuram (NIIST) is ready to transfer the latest home-grown technology.

NIIST will sign a memorandum of understanding with Kerala Furniture Consortium Pvt Ltd (KFCPL) for the purpose on Wednesday.

This is for transfer of the technology for making wood substitute from natural fibre composites, an official spokesman said here.

KFCPL will use the coir composite developed by CSIR-NIIST as a raw material to be used as an alternative substitute for hardwood.

The natural fibre polymer composite named ‘polycoir’ has been found to be suitable as a substitute for wood-based or alternative products, the spokesman said.

The process for making ‘polycoir’ utilises coir fibre as well as other natural fibres such as banana, jute, sisal etc.

Further technical development required for commercialisation of fibre composites will be undertaken jointly by the parties to the MoU.

The composite will be converted by KFCPL into unique design formats of furniture and accessories on market requirements.

Great Potential
According to Suresh Das, director, CSIR-NIIST, there is great potential for employing unutilised or underutilised lingo-cellulosic fibres for making composite material.

The material can be engineered as per requirement and possesses several unique properties like fire, termite and water resistance.

Surface properties as well as physical and mechanical attributes may also be fine-tuned as per requirement.

KFCPL now joins hands with CSIR-NIIST for employing natural resources in the making of alternate materials, which can substitute wood, the spokesman said.

K.P. Raveendran, managing director, KFCPL, said that a range of knocked-down furniture series would be brought out using this material by the end of this year.

Benchmarked Cluster
KFCPL is one of the seven clusters benchmarked by the National Innovation Council under the chairmanship of Sam Pitroda.

It is a common facility centre to pursue seasoning, designing, standardising, testing and finishing of rubber woods for manufacturing furniture.

As an innovation cluster of national importance, KFCPL is dedicated to develop patented alternate substitutes for the deficient rainforest hardwood.

The cluster is destined to boost innovation and competitiveness in the micro, small and medium enterprises sector in the State.

This is sought to be done by upgrading the quality of the furniture and related industry business environment.

Tech Mahindra buys 51% stake in Comviva

Tech Mahindra, on Monday announced the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in mobile value-added services (VAS) provider Comviva Technologies, a Bharti Group company, for Rs 260 crore. The acquisition is expected to shore Tech Mahindra’s top line.

With the new brand identity, Mahindra Comviva, the mobility business of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam combined is expected to clock revenues of Rs 1,000 crore by March 2013.

At present, Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam get around Rs 500 crore of revenues from their telecom mobility business, which includes providing software and billing systems. Comviva gets an annual revenue of Rs 400 crore. The operating margins of the company are in mid-teens.

“By March 2013, the combined mobility practice of the group, which will include revenue of Tech Mahindra, Mahindra Satyam and Comviva, along with CanvasM (another group company), should be around Rs 1,000 crore,” C P Gurnani, managing director, Tech Mahindra, said. The deal will be earnings per share-accretive from the first year.

As part of the deal, Tech Mahindra, the country’s sixth-largest software provider, is making an up-front payment of Rs 125 crore for the stake and the remaining Rs 135 crore will be paid over a five-year period based on the company achieving mutually-agreed performance targets. The deal will be funded through internal accruals.

"It is a positive move. Tech Mahindra has not been able to grow organically, and has been building on competencies outside its domain, inorganically. This acquisition will give Tech Mahindra a foothold in mobile payment and solutions. The top-10 clients account for almost 85 per cent of the company's revenue. They also get to expand into markets like Africa and Latin America. The only concern is Comviva is a Bharti Group company, and Airtel is the top client, " said Ankita Somani, an information technology analyst at Angel Broking.

The current promoter Bharti Group will continue to hold a 20 per cent stake on a fully-diluted basis in Comviva after the deal closure. Investors Sequoia Capital and Cisco Systems, which had nine per cent and six per cent stake in the company, respectively, have exited fully. Another investor, WestBridge Capital, will have a nine per cent stake in Mahindra Comviva.

The deal comes two weeks after the Mahindra group bought the India-based call-centre operations of Hutchison Whampoa for $87.1 million (Rs 484.03 crore), a deal the software services provider said will give it a revenue leg-up of $845 million over the next five years. This deal was financed by funds borrowed from Mahindra Satyam.

This acquisition will significantly enhance Tech Mahindra’s capabilities in the mobile VAS domain, and will provide access to a marquee client base, enabling significant cross-selling opportunities. Tech Mahindra will enable Comviva’s entry into developed markets such as the US and the Europe.

Comviva was founded in 1999 as Bharti Telesoft Limited. It changed its name to Comviva Technologies in 2009. The company’s solutions are deployed with over 130 service providers and banks in over 90 countries across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Europe. It gives services to more than a billion mobile subscribers.

“This is a significant step forward, in our vision of being a complete and comprehensive partner to our clients and, like always, we are confident of making this a successful venture for our stakeholders. In addition to the market leading capabilities, this will also add to our relationship with large operator groups across the world,” said Vineet Nayyar, executive vice-chairman, Tech Mahindra.

Shares of Tech Mahindra on Monday closed at Rs 903.45, down 0.69 per cent from the previous close.

Spices Board joins hands with CII, USFDA for training centre

Kochi: The Spices Board has decided to partner with CII and USFDA to set up a collaborative training centre for food safety and supply chain management. This is to clear apprehension and concern on quality of spices and spices products exported from India.

Inaugurating the collaborative training centre here on Monday, A. Jayathilak, Chairman, Spices Board, said that the centre, the first of its kind in India, is the culmination of the decision taken in the aftermath of the World Spice Congress held in Pune in February this year.

The collaborative training centre for food safety and supply chain management in spices/botanical ingredients is being set up to facilitate capacity building and developing product specific testing procedures in the sector of spices and botanical ingredients.

Spices Board and CII – FACE (Jubilant Bhartia Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence) is partnering with JIFSAN (The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition) / USFDA (US Food and Drug Administration) in establishing the centre.

The first phase of the training has commenced in Kochi on Monday being attended by over 60 officials and functionaries from 50 organisations from both the Government and non government sector consisting of processors, trader, exporters, etc.

The phase two for selected deleparticipants attending phase two would be involved in a series of workshop and gates will be held in the US for two weeks. In phase three, training programmes in different regions of India.

Supply chain help
The training centre assumes importance in the context of most of the countries especially the US and EU bringing in stringent legislations regarding the standards of spices imported to respective countries. This will give producing countries like India, an edge over the other competitors on the export front.

The centre would strengthen the supply chain management for both domestic and international trade through providing technical support to organisations through training, information sharing and technical consultancy to organisations selected by the Board, in the upgradation of their manufacturing, processing facilities, quality control assurance system, implementing hygiene and food safety management system, etc.

Various stakeholders in the supply chain will be provided with training, counselling, consultancy, etc to build up their capabilities and enable them to be globally competitive.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India joins hand with four International Hospitality Associations

The apex hospitality industry body, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has signed four Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with its international counterparts, spanning in USA, Europe, Middle East, UK, China and UNWTO fostering a new relationship between the Indian and foreign hoteliers to exchange expertise and fraternity strategy evolution.

The international associations including, the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA), United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) were present at the recently held 47 thAnnual FHRAI Convention at Goa.

FHRAI adopted IH&RA's iconic programme, Evolution (Global sustainability management platform) for its members in India. FHRAI has become the first Association in India adopting this exclusive programme that was adopted by thousands of hoteliers Worldwide.

Mr. Kamlesh Barot, President, FHRAI, said, "Indian Hospitality industry is on its growth trajectory and the leaders of this industry are committed to the cause of tourism promotion in this country tapping the huge potential of cultural diversity to offer as a showcase to tourists . IH&RA has also invited FHRAI members to join their Emeraude Hotel program."

"With these 2 programs, FHRAI will be the FIRST association in Asia to promote active sustainability at their member hospitality establishments," added Mr. Barot.

RBI cuts CRR; home, auto loans set to become cheaper

MUMBAI: Home and auto loans will gradually become cheaper over the next few months with the Reserve Bank of India announcing a cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by a quarter of a percentage point (25 basis points) to 4.5% in its policy review meeting on Monday. The central bank, however disappointed industry by leaving its key policy rates —repo and reverse repo —unchanged, mainly because of a sudden spike in the rate of inflation for August.

Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow money from RBI in case they are short of funds, while reverse repo rate is the rate of interest banks get when they park their surplus funds with the central bank. CRR, on the other hand is the liquid cash that banks need to keep with the RBI to meet any emergency cash requirement and the central bank does not pay any interest to banks on this money.

Once rate of inflation starts falling, which corporate heads and economists believe could happen around Diwali in November, interest rates would come down at a faster clip, benefiting consumers, home and car buyers as well as corporate entities.

Chances of a cut in interest rates by banks for consumers lifted stocks of consumer industries like automobiles and real estate and led to a 78-point rise in the sensex. The rupee too reacted positively, breaking above the 54 mark to the dollar, a 4-month high, in intra-day trades but closed at 54.01 to a dollar, compared to 54.31 on Friday.

The RBI, in its statement said that the cut in CRR would release around Rs 17,000 crore into the economy, meaning banks will have this much extra money to lend to their borrowers. "Given the comfortable liquidity and the recent reduction in deposit rates by banks, interest rates in general could be expected to trend downwards gradually," said Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank. "However, we will have to continue to keep an eye on funding costs given the level of CASA deposit growth in the system," Kochhar said.

India Inc could also take succour from finance MinisterP Chidambaram statement that the government would take further steps in the next one and a half months to bring more fiscal discipline, while indicating that the response of the central bank on October 30 will be more supportive of growth. Corporates still want more. "A major stimulus in reduction of interest rate and implementation of these policy changes hold the key to long-term sustainable growth," Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises, said.

Economists expect that the RBI will soon decide to buy government securities from the market, called open market operations (OMOs), which would leave even more funds with banks to lend. At a time when credit offtake is slow, the combined impact of CRR cut and OMOs could eventually lead to much greater availability of funds in the system, which in turn could lead to a 50-100 basis points (bps) drop in the rates of interest in the economy, economists TOI spoke to said.

"The policy stance remains cautious given the current high headline inflation and the high chance of the headline print going up further in coming months," said Siddhartha Sanyal, India economist, Barclays Capital. Of late the central bank has been using the liquidity enhancement measures more often (it cut CRR in January, March and now in September and cut SLR in April and exports credit refinance in June) than going for a cut in key policy rates. "The RBI policy of late suggests its hesitation to use the headline repo rate at the moment, while the central bank remains more comfortable easing the liquidity measures further," Sanyal said.

Economists also believe that the cut in CRR has the potential to boost the profitability of banks by about Rs 2,000 crore, since this would lower the amount of non-interest earning cash with the RBI.

In addition to the increasing chances of a fall in rate of interest, the corporate sector is also enthused by RBI's slightly dovish statement now, which accommodates the general concern about the slowdown in economic growth, compared to its earlier stance that earned it the sobriquet of an inflation hawk. "RBI's mid quarter policy statement appears more dovish than its previous statements this year, possibly resulting from recent positive fiscal actions," said Ajay Srinivasan, chief executive—financial services, Aditya Birla Group.

In its statement, the central bank acknowledged that monetary policy also had an important role in supporting the revival of growth in the economy, but given the persistently high inflation, along with risks emerging from twin deficits (current account and fiscal), a stronger monetary policy to perk up growth may even backfire.

NSL to set up 75 MW wind farm in Maharashtra, secures IFC loan

Hyderabad: NSL Renewable Power Private Ltd, a subsidiary of NSL Group, is setting up a 75 MW wind farm in Maharashtra in two phases.

It has secured a $19 million (about Rs 100 crore) loan from International Finance Corporation for its wind power farm.

International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, which had also earlier invested in NSL firm, recently approved the investment to part fund the wind project estimated to cost about Rs 500 crore.

The Hyderabad-based diversified group is setting up several wind farms including a 75 MW wind power project in Chilarwadi village in Satara district of Maharashtra. This is being implemented by its step down subsidiary NSL Wind Power Company (Satara) Private Ltd.

The company proposes to implement the project in two phases with 25.5 MW in the first phase. Each phase will have a construction period of six months from the commencement of work.

For NSL arm, the project involves supply, erection and operations and maintenance of 50 wind turbines with each unit generating 1.5 mw. This is to be supplied by ReGen under a supply pact with NSL Wind. ReGen, a group firm, is also operations and maintenance operator of the project. It has constructed a 220 kV transmission line from pooling station to Maharashtra State transmission company.

The diversified NSL group has interests in seeds, power including renewable energy, sugar and infrastructure.

ITC flags off world's largest green hotel

Chennai: ITC today launched its imposing Grand Chola, a 600-key luxury hotel in Chennai. Inaugurated by J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, this hotel is the company’s biggest property in the country and “the world’s largest LEED Platinum green hotel (an eco certificate).”

Third largest hotel in India
In terms of room inventory, this will be the third largest hotel in the country, after Renaissance (759 keys) and Grand Hyatt (694 keys) — both in Mumbai.

The company has invested over Rs 1,200 crore in the property which spreads over eight acres of land.

Designed to “recall the grandeur and lifestyle of the imperial Chola dynasty,” the integrated upmarket hotel complex also houses one lakh sq.ft. of conference and exhibition facilities, which, according to the company, is by far the biggest in the country — 10 food and beverage outlets, a spa, a preview theatre and 40,000 sq.ft. of retail space. It will carry the tag of ‘Luxury Collection’ — one of the brands franchised from the US-based international hospitality group, Starwood Hotels. This is the ninth ‘Luxury Collection’ hotel of the group.

Addressing the media at a conference organised here to mark the launch of the property today, Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Ltd, said this kind of banqueting space will market Chennai in a big way, and will bring in a lot of new businesses.

Though at present, Chennai seems to be a little “over-supplied market,” the city needs such a product, “as we see greater demand in the months to come,” he said. According to industry experts, with 0.55 rooms per every 1,000 people, Chennai has the lowest hotel room penetration among the major cities. For example, Mumbai has 0.57 rooms, New Delhi has 0.59; Hyderabad 0.62 and Bangalore 0.84 room per 1,000 people.

Intended to be a game-changer, will Grand Chola cannibalise ITC’s other properties in the city, and eat into the market share of other brands for the time being? “Yes, it will. But, every brand has to compete,” said Deveshwar.

Dubai-based KEF Company to invest Rs 1,600 cr in Kerala

Kochi: The Dubai-based KEF Company has unveiled plans for three projects in the State, involving an investment of Rs 1,600 crore.

They include a luxury hotel, integrated manufacturing facilities with pre-cast concrete technology and a super speciality hospital in Kozhikode.

Faizal Kottikollon, chairman, told reporters here that a modern integrated manufacturing facility, specialising in precast concrete technology, is the first project being planned.

A world-class 500-bed tertiary care hospital and a five-star hotel are next in line. These projects are expected to create 5,000 to 10,000 jobs in the State, he said.

Integrated Factories
Three factories will have integrated manufacturing facilities with pre-cast concrete technology for making kitchens, toilets, doors and windows at an investment of Rs 300 crore.

The precast plant, he said, is envisaged as a high-tech, quality-controlled facility for the development of infrastructure sector. It will ensure enhanced quality and expediting on-time project execution.

Quoting studies, he said that precast technology provides significant benefits in early completion of the project, with time savings of up to 40 per cent over conventional methods of construction.

Hospital Project
The 500-bed super-specialty hospital is being built as a joint venture with the PeeKay Group, a leading business group in Kerala and Ali Faizal, a renowned cardiologist in Kozhikode.

The facility, which is expected to open by the end of next year, will primarily focus on cardiac sciences, neurosciences and orthopaedics, along with a world-class rehabilitation programme. The company is aiming to create a research based centre of excellence and establish it as a novel centre of medical tourism in the region.

5-Star Hotel
The hotel will be set up on 30 acres at Chelambra in Kozhikode with a modern convention centre to accommodate 3,500 people.

The KEF Company that operates out of Dubai International Financial Centre is a multi-tiered holding company with interests across eight verticals that include infrastructure, healthcare, hospitality, education, investments, agriculture, metals and sports.

Biocon and Manipal Education Malaysia ink pact for talent management program

Bengaluru: Bangalore-based biotechnology firm Biocon entered into a partnership with Manipal Education Malaysia (MEMp) for a graduate program on Talent Management in biotech sector. The MOU will include an internship and graduate employment program for students of Manipal International University who will be trained and employed in Biocon's Malaysian factory.

"As we expand our footprint into Malaysia, we want to ensure that we play our part in the development of the Malaysian Human Resource for the biopharmaceutical industry. Our biopharma facility in Bio-XCell, Iskandar Malaysia will be a fully-integrated manufacturing and R&D facility which will require many talented graduates, not just in biotechnology, but also in other management disciplines. We would like to hire a large number of good local talent and nurture them further to shape up into fine biotech professionals, " said CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Biocon is developing its manufacturing and R&D facility in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor with an investment of over RM 500 million, which will be operational in 2014.

"Universities cannot operate in isolation. Industry linkages are crucial to ensure continuous relevance between syllabus with industry development and latest R&D. Industry linkages also provide our students with industrial training and employment opportunities, thus, it is our aim to forge linkages with global industry leaders, like Biocon."