India's GSAT-10 Communication Satellite Launched Successfully

New Delhi: The launch of ISRO's 101st space mission, GSAT-10 satellite, has been a success. At 3400 kg, GSAT-10 is the heaviest Indian satellite that ISRO has built.

After a smooth countdown lasting 11 hours and 30 minutes, the Ariane-5 launch vehicle lifted off right on schedule at the opening of the launch window at 0248 hrs IST today (September 29,2012). After a flight of 30 minutes and 45 seconds, GSAT-10 was injected into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), very close to the intended one.

ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) took over the command and control of the GSAT-10 immediately after the injection. Preliminary health checks on the various subsystems of the satellite, namely, Power, Thermal, Command, Sensors, Controls, etc., were performed and all the parameters were found satisfactory. Following this, the satellite was oriented towards the Earth and the Sun using the onboard propulsion system. The satellite is in good health.

In the coming five days, orbit raising maneuvers will be performed to place the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit with required inclination with reference to the equator. The satellite will be moved to the Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using the satellite propulsion system in a three step approach.

After the completion of orbit raising operations, the two solar panels and both the dual gridded antenna reflectors of GSAT-10 will be deployed for further tests and operations. It is planned to experimentally turn on the communication payloads in the second week of October 2012.

After the successful completion of all in-orbit tests, GSAT-10 will be ready for operational use by November 2012. GSAT-10 will be positioned at 83deg East orbital location along with INSAT-4A and GSAT-12. The operational life of GSAT-10 is expected to be 15 years nominal.

GSAT-10 Satellite has 30 Communication Transponders [12 in Ku-band, 12 in C-band and 6 in Extended C-Band]. Besides, it has a Navigation payload "GAGAN" that would provide GPS signals of improved accuracy (of better than 7 meters) to be used by the Airports Authority of India for Civil Aviation requirements. GSAT-10 is the second satellite in INSAT/GSAT constellation with GAGAN payload after GSAT-8, launched in May 2011.

Tea Trade Association of Cochin to set up trade centre at Rs 100 crore

Kochi: The Tea Trade Association of Cochin has decided to set up a state-of-the-art Tea Trade centre at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. This will be funded partly through the Union Commerce Ministry and partly through equity contribution from various stakeholders. The proposal is supported by The Tea Board of India.

It will be set up at 10 acres provided by the Cochin Port Trust. The association's managing committee has approved the feasibility study for establishing the centre and has decided to identify the potential investors among its members.

The Tea centre will aim at consolidation of various activities connected with tea trade under one roof with key focus on centralizing the warehousing operations, which is presently done by 40 independent warehouse operators.

In addition, the tea centre plans to introduce the concept of common processing facilities, which will be used by various stakeholders as an initiative to promote production of value added tea in the domestic market dominated by trading in dust variety of tea for domestic consumption.

According to V Unnikrishnan, outgoing chairman of the association, the centre could lead to enhancement of tea exports from the centre taking advantage of the facilities of Kochi port.

The Cochin Port Trust chairman Paul Antony said Willingdon Island in Kochi port is the main tea auction centre in South India with large number of brokers, buyers, and sellers transacting about 70 million kg of tea every year.

MyTVS, ABC Bearings joint venture to offer 'one-stop' solution for cars

hmedabad: In what is seen as the equivalent of bigger retail stores possibly ‘edging out’ the neighborhood kirana kiosks, MyTVS, leading multi-brand car service provider from the TVS Group, on Thursday announced to set up about 15 workshops across Gujarat by 2015 to provide one-stop solutions to car owners, post-warranty period.

This may impact the roadside garages, spare part shops and mechanics.

R Srivatchan, President, TVS Automobile Solutions Ltd, said here that these state-of-the-art workshops would provide a “retail experience” to car owners. The after-market industry in this sector isworth Rs 24,000 crore, 50% of which is in the organised sector, he said.

Across India, MyTVS plans to set up nearly 100 such workshops by 2014 whose expected revenues would be around Rs 500 crore per annum, he said.

Srivatchan said that his company has tied up with the promoters of ABC Bearings Ltd, a BSE-listed company in a 70:30 joint venture to set up the first outlet in Vadodara in October. The JV aims to be the

largest multi-brand car service network in Gujarat, providing integrated car service solutions.

Earlier, MyTVS had tied up with the Rajgarhia Group in Kolkata for a similar business. The TVS Group would be expanding this network through such local joint ventures and franchisees, and soon enter the NCR region.

Excluding the cost of land, a workshop would cost Rs two crore each, he said. The JV business would also be entering into annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) with car owners for up to Rs 3,000 per annum.

MyTVS has a brand presence across India through its 24x7 emergency roadside assistance service business. It provides telematics-based vehicle tracking system and immobilizer, car diagnostics, insurance claims management services etc. It currently has 32 own outlets and another 40 franchisee outlets in the four southern states.

The 50-year-old ABC Bearings has three manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Bharuch (Gujarat) and Dehradun, said Sahil Patel, Director.

The 101-year-old, Chennai-based TVS Group had a turnover of $ 6 billion with a workforce of 39,000 in the last fiscal.

TVS Automobile Solutions Ltd (TASL), a subsidiary of TVS & Sons, the holding company, has been in the business of multi-brand car servicing and 24x7 emergency roadside assistance for the last nine years.

Arvind acquires ops of Debenhams, Next, Nautica

Ahmedabad: Arvind Lifestyle Brands, a subsidiary of the Ahmedabad-based denim major Arvind, has acquired the business operations of British fashion retailers Debenhams, Next and American lifestyle brand Nautica in India from Planet Retail.

"The acquisition signals our entry into the department store segment and also the globally fast-growing apparel speciality retail segment. American sportwear lifestyle brand Nautica makes us the dominant player in the sportswear segment. With this, we have taken a big step towards strengthening our position in the Indian fashion industry,” said Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director, Arvind.

These acquisitions will accelerate our growth and contribute to our vision of achieving sales of Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years," he said.

Added J Suresh, managing director and chief executive officer of Arvind Lifestyle Brands: “We plan to achieve Rs 500 crore revenues over the next five years from the current Rs 70 crore by investing Rs 150 crore in these three brands."

The company termed the acquisition of Debenhams as significant mainly because it gives Arvind an entry into the luxury department store segment. Arvind plans to increase the current number of Debenhams stores in India from two to eight over the next three years. While through acquisition of Indian businesses of Next, Arvind will enter the fast-growing segment of the apparel specialty retail. It plans to increase the number of Next stores from three to 12 in the next three years.

Commenting on the acquisition, a Next spokesperson said: "We are very positive about the new franchise partnership and we are looking forward to Arvind Brands re-launching the Next brand in India."

The licensing arrangement with Nautica is believed to further strengthen Arvind's position in high potential sportswear segment of the market. The company plans to set up additional 30 Nautica stores in India, taking the total number of free-standing Nautica stores to 41 in three years.

The company's stock on Thursday ended at Rs 78.65, up 0.32 per cent from Wednesday's close, while the benchmark Sensex shed 0.28 per cent to close at 18,579.50 points.

Tata buys out Croma Oz back-end supplier

Mumbai: Tata Sons-owned electronics and durables retailer Infiniti Retail Ltd on Thursday said it would acquire Woolworths Wholesale (India) Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Australian retail chain Woolworths, for A$35 million (Rs 193.5 crore).

Woolworths Wholesale has been a back-end supplier to Infiniti’s Croma retail stores since 2006. Woolworths move to exit the partnership with Infiniti follows its decision to get out of the consumer durable business in Australia and New Zealand.

"Both parties entered into this venture with the intention of merging the wholesale and retail businesses once FDI (foreign direct investment) regulations were relaxed. However, with our decision to exit the consumer electronics specialty store sector in Australia and New Zealand, we have now decided to sell the wholesale business in India to Infiniti," Ramnik Narsey, India chairman, Woolworths Wholesale, said.

Tata Sons invested Rs 220 crore in Infiniti on Wednesday, which will enable the company to buy out Woolworths Wholesale and expand the Croma business, said Ajit Joshi, chief executive officer and managing director of Infiniti Retail.

Tata Sons has invested a total of Rs 700 crore in Infiniti so far. Infiniti did a business of Rs 1,972 crore last year and plans to add 20 stores to its tally of 85 stores.

“We used to go as two separate teams to vendors and suppliers for our front-end and back-end needs. Now we can go as a united entity and common team,” Joshi said.

Woolworths’ Hong Kong office used to source Chinese products for Infiniti. “We have that option to use their services depending on the commercial terms worked out between them and us,” he said.

Infiniti is already buying 70 per cent of its private lable needs from Indian manufactures now compared to similar number of products from China earlier, he added.

Upon completion of the transaction, the activities and employees of Woolworths Wholesale will be merged with those of Infiniti.

Dubai-India trade reaches US$ 20.5 billion in first-half of 2012

New Delhi: The total trade value between India and Dubai has reached US$ 20.5 billion in the first half of 2012, accounting for 13 per cent of Dubai's total foreign trade.

The total value of Dubai’s imports from India reached US$ 9.5 billion during the first six months of 2012. The imports comprise diamonds, jewellery, electronic devices and mineral oil, according to Mr Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman, Ports, Customs and Free Zone, and the Director-General of Dubai Customs.

During the same period the value of exports to, India comprising mainly gold, diamonds, jewellery and copper wires, stood at US$ 5.17 billion. Dubai's re-exports to India stood at US$ 5.98 billion.

The Dubai-India trade relationship is witnessing a significant growth, due to the distinctive ties between the Governments and people of the two countries and the joint economic agreements, as per Mr T Tiju Ahmed, Indian Economic Consul to Dubai.

Norwest Venture Partners invests Rs 120 cr in Thyrocare

Mumbai:Thyrocare Technologies, a Mumbai-based medical diagnostics services provider, has raised about Rs 120 crore from private equity (PE) firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). Through the deal, Thyrocare has diluted about 10 per cent stake in the company, it is learnt. As part of the agreement, Sohil Chand, managing director of NVP India, would join Thyrocare’s board of directors.

The diagnostics market in India is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore. Thyrocare’s network of 20,000 service centres across 1,000 cities and towns in India accounts for about 1,00,000 doctors, through 600 franchisees. For Thyrocare, this is the second PE investment. In 2010, CX Partners had invested Rs 188 crore for a 30 per cent stake in the company.

A Velumani, managing director and chief executive of Thyrocare Technologies, said, “When CX Partners invested, we were motivated and ventured into Nueclear, (the in-vivo segment). Now, with NVP’s investment, we would explore global markets.” NVP manages about $3.7 billion in capital and has funded 500 companies.

India’s diagnostics sector has been in the radar of PE majors for some time. Early this year, Singapore-based GIC had invested $100 million in Vasan Healthcare, while last year, Goldman Sachs invested about Rs 300 crore for a six per cent stake in Max India.

In 2010, US-based TA Associates had invested $35 million in Dr Lal Pathlabs.

Last year, PE fund Avigo Capital Partners had acquired 9.27 per cent stake in Super Religare Laboratories for Rs 100 crore.

L&T Construction gets orders worth Rs 1,241 cr

Coimbatore/Mumbai: L&T Construction has got new orders worth Rs 1,241 crore during the month.

The company's buildings and factories division has got orders totalling Rs 697 crore for building residential towers and factories.

The railways business division has received orders worth Rs 544 crore from Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.

These include railway electrification work between Guntakal-Raichur-Wadi stations of the South Central Railway and another order for construction, track work, signaling and telecommunication in the Lucknow and Izatnagar divisions of the North Eastern Railway.

UP CM Akhilesh Yadav approves setting up two leather parks in Kanpur and Hardoi to attract investment of Rs 2,000 crores

Lucknow: Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has given an in principle approval for two mega leather cluster projects in Hardoi and Kanpur districts.

In a meeting with leather industrialists from Kanpur, the Chief Minister assured all possible help from the state government to develop these green field mega clusters which would bring an investment of around Rs 2,000 crores.

The CM also directed officials of UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) to make available land for these projects.

According to Industrial and Infrastructure Development Commissioner, Anil Kumar Gupta one of the proposed leather parks would come up on 300 acres of land in Sandila Industrial Area of Hardoi district. The second would come up in Ramaipur area of Kanpur. About 625 acres of land in Kuraina, Bahadurnagar and Senpurabpara villages has been identified for this project.

Gupta said that the proposed integrated leather parks would have world class infrastructure with latest technology equipped production chain to meet the demands of both the domestic as well as export market.

He said that the parks will generate employment opportunity for 10,000 persons and 50 per cent of the factories would belong to the small and medium enterprises sector.

Tax residency certificate now mandatory for foreign investors

New Delhi: India has made it mandatory for all foreigners to furnish a tax residency certificate of their home country to claim benefits under the double taxation avoidance agreement. This will make the process of claiming tax credit easier for foreigners by removing the arbitrariness in the earlier regime.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, the apex direct taxes body, has notified changes to the income tax act prescribing a tax residency certificate. All non residents are entitled to claim benefits under the domestic tax law or the relevant tax treaty to the extent it is more beneficial to them.

Treaty benefits in India is available to a person who is a resident of the treaty country. While there was no requirement prescribed under the law to furnish a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from the country of residence to claim treaty benefits, the revenue authorities were asking for such a certificate wherever treaty benefit was claimed.

Tax experts say this will also makes life easier for Indian companies having overseas operations as well and foreign investors in India. A prescribed format will allow foreign residents to know in advance the essentials required to claim tax credits, said said Sudhir Kapadia, national tax leader, Ernst & Young.

"This would be very useful for Indian multinationals as they will be able to get a TRC in a speedy manner as there is a benchmark template prescribed unlike at present depending on the discretion of tax officers," he said.

The TRC for availing tax benefits was proposed in the 2012-13 budget. "It is noticed that in many instances the taxpayers who are not tax resident of a contracting country do claim benefit under the DTAA entered into by the Government with that country. Thereby, even third party residents claim unintended treaty benefits," said the memorandum to the 2012-13 Budget.

The TRC would have the tax identification number of the assessee, its residential status for the purposes of tax, period for which the TRC is applicable and address of the assessee during that period. However, experts are skeptical about TRCs effectiveness.

"While the notification specifies the details that a TRC of another country should have, it would be worthwhile to wait and watch whether the country issuing such a TRC would be willing to specify all such details in the TRC.

Further, in case the assessee is not able to obtain all details as specified in the TRC, would the Indian Revenue authorities deny the exemption which otherwise would be available to them?," said Homi Mistry. Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells.