Intel Capital to invest $40 million in technology companies

Mumbai: Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment and M&A organisation, said it will invest up to $40 million in 10 innovative technology companies.

The investments will go into companies such as Hungama.com, FocalTech, Jelli, LIFO Interactive, NewAer, PagPop, cloud services provider Tier 3, 3-D game developer Transmension, and mobile advertising provider UUCun. Financial details of each investment were not disclosed.

“Business deals happen when Intel Capital brings together our vast global network with our portfolio company innovators,” said Arvind Sodhani, President of Intel Capital.

Indian company Hungama.com, which received an undisclosed sum from Intel Capital, is India’s leading digital entertainment company that launched India’s first and largest on-demand digital entertainment storefront.

Sudheer Kuppam, Managing Director at Intel Capital, APAC and Japan, said of the investment, “Hungama.com is another great example of an innovative Indian company. It has become India’s largest on-demand Digital Entertainment storefront, which serves audio, video and imagery to South Asians across the world. We’ve been aware of Hungama.com’s success for some time, and we’re excited about working with the company to develop the brand and build upon the success it has found in India by taking the venture global.”

Intel Capital has been investing in India since 1998. Since then, Intel Capital has invested over $300 million in more than 80 companies across 10 cities in India.

GSPC to buy BG Group stake in Gujarat Gas for Rs 2,464 cr

Ahmedabad: Barely a week after the British Gas’s (BG’s) stake in Gujarat Gas Company Limited (GGCL) was put on the block, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) has signed a definitive agreement to pick up the entire 65.12 per cent stake for Rs 2,463.8 crore at Rs 295 a share.

Initially, a consortium of PSUs, including GSPC, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), had bid for the controlling stake in the BG group's city gas distribution company. However, according to a person close to the development, GSPC later decided to go solo through its fully owned company, Gujarat Distribution Networks Ltd (GDNL).

BG’s sale of Gujarat Gas marks the beginning of its exit from the city gas distribution business. The company has a strategic holding in Mahanagar Gas Ltd, the city gas distributor in Mumbai.

The deal is scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2013, BG said in a statement. "With this announcement, we have non-core asset sales agreements in place that will release some $4 billion from our balance sheet. We have made outstanding progress since announcing our two-year $5 billion release programme only eight months ago, and we remain focused on the successful delivery of our growth projects," said BG Group CEO Sir Frank Chapman.

GGCL's stake sale comes at a discount to BG, whose asking price for its stake was Rs 3,500 crore. GGCL's current market capitalisation stands at Rs 4,318 crore. GGCL shares closed at Rs 336.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. It needs to meet the takeover code of stock markets regulator Sebi and get approvals from the Competition Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India.

"We are pleased to announce this acquisition that enhances GSPC group’s presence in the state of Gujarat. The acquisition is in the long term interests of the industrial and retail customers of Gujarat," Tapan Ray, managing director of the GSPC Group said in a statement.

The acquisition bears a significant strategic importance and will add significant customer base to GSPC’s existing business in Gujarat, the statement said. Besides, the acquisition is consistent with the stated strategic objective of expanding the company’s presence in upstream and downstream segments of the energy value chain and realising the vision of developing Gujarat as natural gas driven economy, the statement added.

GSPC Group is one of the leading oil and gas exploration, development and production companies in India. It is also one of the largest gas trading companies of the country. The Group has a significant presence in the gas transmission and gas distribution businesses. The government of Gujarat is a majority shareholder in the Group.

Reliance signs crude oil supply deal with Venezuelan firm

Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd and Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, SA have signed a 15-year heavy crude oil supply deal. The Indian petrochemical major also inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Petroleos to further develop Venezuelan heavy oil fields.

RIL is estimated to invest around $8 billion to develop the oil fields. The company refused to comment on the investment. RIL is also looking to invest close to $20 billion from 2012-13 till 2015-16 on sectors including petrochemicals and refining.

The Venezuelan company is to supply between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan heavy crude oil to Reliance’s two refineries in Jamnagar, under the crude oil supply contract.

As per the MoU, RIL is to explore upstream options for joint participation in heavy oil projects of the Orinoco Oil Belt. RIL will also co-operate with Petroleos by providing technical assistance in the areas of offshore upstream, refining and other downstream projects.

In a statement, Rafael Ramirez, the People’s Minister for Petroleum and Mining and President of Petroleos, said the first official document signed with the Indian company was an MoU that would allow Reliance to participate in crude oil exploration and production activities in the Ayacucho and Boyaca four blocks in the FPO.

“This agreement ensures the sale of our oil to countries that have a sustainable growth,'' Ramirez stressed. He added that Venezuela is currently sending 270,000 bpd to the Asian country, while India’s oil consumption currently amounts to 4.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Takeda, Advinus in drug discovery pact

Mumbai: Japan-headquartered Takeda Pharmaceutical and Advinus Therapeutics, privately held drug major promoted by the Tata Group, have entered into an agreement to initiate a three-year discovery collaboration. The alliance will focus on novel targets for therapeutic areas including inflammation, central nervous system and metabolic diseases.

Advinus will be responsible for leading the programmes to create optimal investigational new drug (IND) ready compounds for pre-defined targets.

It Advinus will receive research funding of $36 million, $9 million in milestones leading to candidate selection, and is eligible to receive future clinical and regulatory milestone payments of up to $45 million per product, plus royalties on product sales worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda is to receive worldwide commercial rights to drug candidates emerging from this alliance.

India and Austria Sign Agreement on Technology Cooperation in the Shipping and Ports Infrastructure Sector

New Delhi: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Technology Cooperation in the Shipping and Ports Infrastructure was signed today between India and Austria. The MoU was signed by Shri G. K. Vasan, Minister of Shipping with Mrs. Doris Bures, Austrian Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation & Technology in New Delhi.

While welcoming the Austrian Minister, Shri Vasan recalled that traditionally, India – Austria relations have been warm and friendly. There has been regular exchange of high level visits between the two countries during which the special emphasis is put on strengthening economic and commercial cooperation and scientific cooperation.

Austria derives its importance by virtue of its active role in international organizations. With its central location in the heart of Europe and historical linkages and legacy with the countries of the region, Austria is also well placed to serve as a gateway to emerging market economies in Central & East Europe. Cutting edge technology is Austria's forte in several niche areas of interest to us, particularly in infrastructure.

Shipping continues to dominate as the world’s most efficient means of transportation and it is the endeavour of the Ministry of Shipping to take necessary initiatives to recognize, reward and promote quality whenever and wherever it is found within the industry.

New technologies for implementation of International Ship & Port Security code, use of radio frequency identification in logistics and transport planning and optical character recognition in terminals to speed up the processing of containers in and out are the areas where Austrian expertise could be utilized in India.

Realtime Kinematics (RTK) measurements of tides and currents for facilitations of berth to berth navigation in Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Khambat could be developed with Austrian expertise.

Since more than 300km of Danube river in Austria is used for navigation purpose with a well-developed and regulated inland waterway system their experience and expertise in the field of Inland Water Transport would be beneficial to the development of Inland Water Transport in India.

The Minister also hoped that signing of the MoU will pave way for sharing appropriate know-how, scientific knowledge and research and development capabilities between the two countries. It will enable the Indian organizations in the Ports and Shipping Sectors to acquire latest knowledge and technology etc. from Austria.

GAIL in 20-year pact to buy LNG from Russia’s Gazprom

New Delhi: In what could be seen as another milestone in GAIL India Ltd’s race to secure gas supplies, the state-run company has signed an agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom to buy 2.5 million tonnes per annum of gas for 20 years beginning 2018-19.

The company has “signed a legally binding 20-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales and purchase agreement with Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom Marketing and Trading,” GAIL said in a press statement here.

LNG will come from Gazprom’s Shtokman production facilities, which have 130 trillion cubic feet of in place reserves. “Under the contract, LNG will be sustainably priced with an oil-indexed formula and delivered to Dahej (Gujarat), Dabhol (Maharashtra) and Kochi (Kerala) terminals in India,” GAIL said without sharing price details.

Shtokman field, one of the world’s largest natural gas fields, lies in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea.

According to B C Tripathi, chairman and managing director of GAIL, the long-term LNG supply agreement with Gazprom, which holds the world’s largest gas reserves, is another milestone in the Indian–Russian energy cooperation.

In August this year, GAIL had signed a contract with French energy giant GDF Suez to import 800,000 tonnes of LNG from 2013 to 2014. GAIL has been expanding its global presence to secure gas supplies. It had earlier signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC, a unit of the US-based Cheniere EnergyPartners, for supply of 3.5 million tonnes per year of LNG beginning 2017.

It has also executed a gas sales purchase agreement with Turkmengaz of Turkmenistan for buying 38 million standard cubic meters per day of gas for 30 years through the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.

SAIL production up 7 per cent in Q2 of FY'13

Kolkata: Steel AUthority of India Limited (SAIL) recorded a 7% growth in hot metal production in the second quarter between July-September 2012, compared to the corresponding period last year. SAIL produced 3.6 million tonnes (mt) in Q2 of FY'13.

The company reported a growth in crude steel and saleable steel production to the tune of 5% and 4%respectively during Q2 of FY'13 compared to the previous corresponding period. The company's production of crude steel and saleble steel reached 3.39 mt and 3.17 mt respectively in the second quarter of FY'13.

In September 2012, SAIL registered a 6% growth in hot metal production and 4% growth in production of crude steel and saleable stee compared to the same month last year. In terms of operational performance, blast furnace productivity showed substantial increase of 8% in Q2 of FY'13 over previous corresponding period.

In the first half of the current fiscal, (April-September 2012), SAIL registered a 3% growth in production of both hot metal and crude steel, over same period last year. Improved techno-economic parameters in H-1 of current fiscal supported the growth trend with BF productivity, specific energy consumption and coke rate registering improvements of 4%, 3% and 2% respectively.

The production growth is in tune with SAIL's ongoing modernization & expansion plan, as it reaches the advanced stages of completion. SAIL also hopes to produce new variety and range of products to cater to new market segments.

Auto parts industry attracts heavy online traffic: Study

Is among the top three sectors on B2B site in terms of the number of buyers it attracted from developed and developing countries
New Delhi: A report by IndiaMART.com, one of India’s largest online B2B marketplaces, has found that the SME-dominated automotive sector is among the top three sectors on the site in terms of the number of buyers it attracted from other countries, both developed and developing.

The report, The Automotive Components Sector, reveals that the US emerged as one of the leading countries in terms of the number of its buyers visiting IndiaMART.com’s automotive category for their sourcing requirements — 12.8 per cent of its total buyers did so.

Over one million SMEs from sectors such as auto components, apparel and fashion accessories, engineering and industrial, home decor, and others are registered with IndiaMART.com, which acts as a B2B matchmaking platform for these suppliers and helps them generate leads from over five million buyers from across the globe.

Asian countries are also key buyers for auto products from India. The portal’s automotive category had visits from buyers based in Pakistan (8.2 per cent), China (7.6 per cent), Malaysia (7.3 per cent) and Bangladesh (7.2 per cent). Buyers from India alone accounted for 28.3 per cent of online visitors for auto parts.

The sector also attracted 6.8 per cent of the total buyers from the UK, followed by 6.5 per cent of Canadian buyers, 6.4 per cent of buyers from Germany, and 6.3 per cent of Australian buyers. Other countries from where buyers showed interest in online sourcing of auto components were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran.

The importance of the automotive sector was also indicated by the number of suppliers from this sector as a proportion of the total number of suppliers from each key country.

At the top was Canada, 13.8 per cent of whose registered vendors were from the auto parts sector, followed by Denmark (12.3 per cent), China (12.1 per cent), Australia (7.4 per cent), France and Germany.

The report reveals that the most popular product searches were for air pollution control devices, fuel injection parts, digital tachometers, security gadgets, gear parts, and car cables.

Information on “buy leads” – buyers’ sourcing inquiries that are aggregated by IndiaMART.com and purchased by interested suppliers, who then contact potential buyers to generate business – reveals that the most number come from Maharashtra, which contributes 25.6 per cent of the total buy leads generated in India.

Maharashtra was followed by Gujarat (12.8 per cent), Tamil Nadu (11 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (7.2 per cent) and Delhi (6.9 per cent).

Among the Indian suppliers registered on IndiaMART.com, the auto component sector features in the top five categories, contributing 11.8 per cent to the whole pie.

Among Indian cities, Mumbai has the maximum number of auto component suppliers, followed by Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Hyderabad.

Of the countries from which most buy leads are generated, the US tops the list with 10.7 per cent, followed by UK (6.1 per cent), Turkey (4.7 per cent), Iran (4.1 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (3.7 per cent).

Product categories such as pumps and pumping equipments bag the top slot with 8.1 per cent buy leads posted on them, leaving behind products such as nuts and bolts in second place and lights and accessories in third position.

Every third tech start-up in US has Indian DNA

The number of technology firms in the US co-founded by the Chinese has also gone up to 8.1% compared to 6.9 in 2005
Bangalore: At a time when the US has started to see a drop in the number of immigrant-founded technology companies, Indians and Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs have not followed the trend.

According to a recent study by Kauffman Foundation, based on a sample survey, about 33.2 per cent of the co-founders of engineering and technology companies incorporated in the US during the last six years were Indians. This is an increase of about seven percentage points from what a similar study that examined immigrant-founded companies between 1995 and 2005 found.

The number of technology companies in the US co-founded by the Chinese has also gone up to 8.1 per cent compared to 6.9 in 2005, it says.

The study, “America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Then and Now”, is based on a survey among a random sample of 1,882 companies of the total 107,819 engineering and technology companies founded in the last six years in the US. Of those, 456 had at least one foreign-born founder.

It found the proportion of immigrant-founded companies in the country slipped to 24.3 per cent from 25.3 per cent in 2005. The drop was more pronounced in Silicon Valley, where the percentage of immigrant-founded start-ups declined from 52.4 per cent to 43.9 per cent.

“The exceptions to this downward trend were immigrants from India... Indians, in fact, founded more of the engineering and technology firms than immigrants born in the next nine countries combined,” the study said.

The implications of the findings, conducted by researchers at Duke University, The Berkeley School of Information and Stanford University, have now been encapsulated in a book ‘The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent’. The book has been written by Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University.

“The US risks losing a key growth engine just when the economy needs job creators more than ever,” said Wadhwa. “The US can reverse these trends with changes in policies and opportunities, if it acts swiftly. It is imperative that we create a start-up visa for these entrepreneurs and expand the number of green cards for skilled foreigners to work in these start-ups. Many immigrants would gladly remain in the US to start and grow companies that will lead to jobs,” he added.

Immigrant founders employed about 560,000 workers and generated an estimated $63 billion in sales from 2006 to 2012. “For several years, anecdotal evidence has suggested an unwelcoming immigration system and environment in the US have created a ‘reverse brain drain.’ This report confirms it with data,” said Dane Stangler, director of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation.

“To maintain a dynamic economy, the US needs to embrace immigrant entrepreneurs,” he added.

HSBC's PMI stood at 52.8 in September 2012

New Delhi: The HSBC’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)—a measure of factory production—stood at 52.8 in September 2012. The September PMI reading was supported by faster output growth and rising export orders, as per the HSBC survey.

The index has remained above the 50 mark for more than three years now, below which it indicates contraction.

“Economic activity in the manufacturing sector held steady supported by faster output growth and rising export orders,” according to Mr Leif Eskesen, Chief Economist for India and the ASEAN, HSBC.

The Government of India has taken number of initiatives to boost the economy such as allowing multi-brand retail sector to foreign direct investment (FDI), hiking diesel prices by over Rs 5 a litre, plugging the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to six per family a year, allowing foreign carriers to pick up stake in domestic airlines besides liberalising FDI rules for broadcasting sector.

In addition, HSBC highlighted that job creation, on the employment front, was recorded in September 2012, the seventh successive month of growth. Payroll numbers increased to meet stronger demand, with some signalling expansions in marketing departments.