Hyderabad: Indian School of Business, which charges a premium for its courses, is going to do something different. It is going to help 1,000 engineering students establish start-ups, realising their entrepreneurial dreams.
Those who want to become entrepreneurs can opt for an elective on entrepreneurship in the first semester of their third year.
In association with the IT Ministry of Andhra Pradesh Government, ISB will select 50 students each from 10 top engineering colleges. ISB is in the process of preparing a curriculum for the elective, which will be introduced from the second half of next calendar year.
“We will pick them in the third year. And for the next four semesters, they will undergo training on various aspects of starting an enterprise. Right from turning a business idea into a business project to execute it,” Aruna Reddy of ISB’s Entrepreneurship Centre, directing the initiative, told Business Line.
At the end of the course, short-listed students would be invited present their project ideas to a gathering of PEs and angel investors at the ISB.
From the Government side, Jawahar Knowledge Centres is funding and coordinating the programme. IIIT (Hyderabad), BITS (Hyderabad), NIT (Warangal) and Srinidhi institute would act as hub centres. Faculty from these centres would get training from the business school. They, in turn, would train the faculty of the other colleges that will join the course.
The State Government would collect Rs 2,000 from each student taking up the entrepreneurship course. “Instead of ending up as job seekers, they can employ people. We will connect them with the seed funding agencies and private equity players,” Sanjay Jaju, Principal Secretary (IT and Communication, Govt of AP), said.
Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri, Chief Executive Officer of JKC, said only a fraction of the two lakh employees found jobs, leaving a large number of students jobless. “But if you help them turn entrepreneurs, they can provide jobs instead,” he said.
Though they are tying up with only 10 engineering colleges in the initiative, the Government is planning to bring in more colleges under the purview of the programme.
“The students will have both theoretical and practical classes. They will get to listen to experts once in six months. We need to improve product ecosystem in order to create more jobs,” Ponnala Lakshmaiah, State Minister for IT, said.
Success in my Habit
Monday, December 16, 2013
Nod for anti-depressant cheers Indian pharma
Five companies get US regulator's approval for Cymbalta generic
Mumbai: Five Indian generic drug makers — Sun Pharmaceuticals, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Reddy’s Labs — have got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for selling the generic version of antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine delayed-release capsules), one of the most widely prescribed treatments for depression, anxiety and other related disorders in the US.
“Health care professionals and consumers can be assured that these FDA-approved generic drugs have met our rigorous standards,” said Kathleen Uhl, acting director of the Office of Generic Drugs in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Cymbalta, the fifth largest selling drug in the world, is US drug maker Eli Lilly's best-selling drug, with an annual sales of $4.7 billion. The drug's patent expired on Wednesday. Launched in 2004, Cymbalta accounted for 22 per cent of Lilly's $22.6 billion in revenue last financial year.
Sun Pharmaceuticals will soon start marketing the drug’s 20 mg, 30 mg and 60 mg dosages in the US. Mumbai-based Lupin said it has launched its generic version of Cymbalta in the US. Apart from Indian companies, Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals has also received an FDA nod for the drug’s generic.
Sun Pharma shares closed at Rs 575.35 on BSE, down 1.5 per cent, while Lupin closed at Rs 877.4, up 0.2 per cent on Thursday. Dr. Reddy’s shares were down 1.6 per cent to close at Rs 2,403.75.
Duloxetine and other antidepressant drugs have a boxed warning describing the increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior during initial treatment in children, adolescents, and young adults of ages 18 to 24, said the FDA statement. Common adverse reactions reported by people taking Cymbalta include nausea, dry mouth, drowsiness, fatigue, decreased appetite, increased sweating, and dizziness.
During last 2 years, the US-based Lilly has lost patent protection for a few of its top selling drugs such as the antipsychotic Zyprexa, which had global sales of over $5 billion per year.
Earlier this year, Lilly also lost US patent protection for its diabetics drug - Humalog, which had annual sales of $2.4 billion in the US.
Grabbing a small pie of the largest selling drug could be a boost to the US revenue of the Indian pharma companies. A few of the Indian companies are still struggling to retain their US revenue after the FDA has banned import from their plants in India which are under the scanner.
Mumbai: Five Indian generic drug makers — Sun Pharmaceuticals, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Reddy’s Labs — have got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for selling the generic version of antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine delayed-release capsules), one of the most widely prescribed treatments for depression, anxiety and other related disorders in the US.
“Health care professionals and consumers can be assured that these FDA-approved generic drugs have met our rigorous standards,” said Kathleen Uhl, acting director of the Office of Generic Drugs in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Cymbalta, the fifth largest selling drug in the world, is US drug maker Eli Lilly's best-selling drug, with an annual sales of $4.7 billion. The drug's patent expired on Wednesday. Launched in 2004, Cymbalta accounted for 22 per cent of Lilly's $22.6 billion in revenue last financial year.
Sun Pharmaceuticals will soon start marketing the drug’s 20 mg, 30 mg and 60 mg dosages in the US. Mumbai-based Lupin said it has launched its generic version of Cymbalta in the US. Apart from Indian companies, Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals has also received an FDA nod for the drug’s generic.
Sun Pharma shares closed at Rs 575.35 on BSE, down 1.5 per cent, while Lupin closed at Rs 877.4, up 0.2 per cent on Thursday. Dr. Reddy’s shares were down 1.6 per cent to close at Rs 2,403.75.
Duloxetine and other antidepressant drugs have a boxed warning describing the increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior during initial treatment in children, adolescents, and young adults of ages 18 to 24, said the FDA statement. Common adverse reactions reported by people taking Cymbalta include nausea, dry mouth, drowsiness, fatigue, decreased appetite, increased sweating, and dizziness.
During last 2 years, the US-based Lilly has lost patent protection for a few of its top selling drugs such as the antipsychotic Zyprexa, which had global sales of over $5 billion per year.
Earlier this year, Lilly also lost US patent protection for its diabetics drug - Humalog, which had annual sales of $2.4 billion in the US.
Grabbing a small pie of the largest selling drug could be a boost to the US revenue of the Indian pharma companies. A few of the Indian companies are still struggling to retain their US revenue after the FDA has banned import from their plants in India which are under the scanner.
Indian solar power mission set to make India a global leader in the sector
Lucknow: The latest World Bank report on the the state of India's solar power mission has said the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Phase 1 (JNNSM), which was launched in 2010, is well-poised to make India a global leader in the development of solar power. The report says the Mission mode project has, in a span of three years, taken India forward in implementing its green growth agenda by increasing its installed capacity of solar power from around 30 MW to more than 2,000 MW.
What is significant is that JNNSM has been instrumental in bringing down the cost of solar power to a level that is competitive across the world, says the report. It has reduced the costs of solar energy to $ 0.15 per kWh, making India amongst the lowest cost destinations for grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) in the world.
The report, 'Paving the Way for a Transformational Future: Lessons from JNNSM Phase1', says solar power can reduce India's dependence on imports of diesel and coal for power generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to energy security. Growth in this sector will help India increase its share of clean energy and help meet its target of reducing emissions per unit of its GDP by 20-25 percent by 2020 over 2005 levels.
The report identifies two unique features of the solar program which has helped reduce tariffs - bundling of solar power with unallocated thermal generation and adoption of reverse auctioning. Such bundling of solar power with cheaper conventional power helped reduce solar power tariffs for distribution utilities. The reverse bidding mechanism enabled qualified bidders to benefit from declining global prices for solar components, thereby reducing the purchase price of both solar PV and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) for the utilities.
"In a short span of three years, India has made impressive strides in developing its abundant solar power potential. With more than 300 million people without access to energy and industry citing energy shortage as key growth barrier in India, solar power has the potential to help the country address the shortage of power for economic growth," said Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director in India. "However, while India is clearly emerging as a global leader in the area of solar power, to achieve its target of adding 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, it needs to address the key barriers and constraints that could come in the way of scaling up the solar program," Ruhl added.
The report highlights several challenges that could act as a barrier to India achieving its solar targets by 2022. These include lack of access to low cost financing; inadequate solar infrastructure; lack of raw materials for several solar PV manufacturers; and an underdeveloped supply chain leading to high inventory costs.
"Building on the success of Phase 1, the program now needs to focus on promoting financing of solar projects by commercial banks, developing shared infrastructure facilities such as solar parks and identifying comparative advantage of Indian manufacturing across the supply chain", said Ashish Khanna, Lead Energy Specialist and one of the authors of the report. The report also identifies various key challenges, including the need for active participation of commercial banks to scale up to investments in the solar power sector. The government, the report says, also needs to design risk reducing financing instruments such as subordinated public finance in order to attract long-term commercial lending to ensure long-term viability, the report says.
The report recommends publicly developed infrastructure such as solar parks to help increase efficiency and lower costs. A Solar park in Charanka (Patan district) in Gujarat is today the largest solar park in Asia. Such shared infrastructure facilities helps in developing critical infrastructure, including facilities for power transmission, roads and water, thereby ensuring the rapid development of solar projects as well as local employment generation, the report adds. In addition, India's plans to develop ultra-mega solar projects will help showcase the potential for large scale grid connected solar projects to the entire world, it says.
Facilitating public funding, creating an enabling environment for manufacturing and focusing on cluster-based project development will go a long way in achieving the outcomes of JNNSM during the subsequent phases, the authors conclude.
What is significant is that JNNSM has been instrumental in bringing down the cost of solar power to a level that is competitive across the world, says the report. It has reduced the costs of solar energy to $ 0.15 per kWh, making India amongst the lowest cost destinations for grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) in the world.
The report, 'Paving the Way for a Transformational Future: Lessons from JNNSM Phase1', says solar power can reduce India's dependence on imports of diesel and coal for power generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to energy security. Growth in this sector will help India increase its share of clean energy and help meet its target of reducing emissions per unit of its GDP by 20-25 percent by 2020 over 2005 levels.
The report identifies two unique features of the solar program which has helped reduce tariffs - bundling of solar power with unallocated thermal generation and adoption of reverse auctioning. Such bundling of solar power with cheaper conventional power helped reduce solar power tariffs for distribution utilities. The reverse bidding mechanism enabled qualified bidders to benefit from declining global prices for solar components, thereby reducing the purchase price of both solar PV and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) for the utilities.
"In a short span of three years, India has made impressive strides in developing its abundant solar power potential. With more than 300 million people without access to energy and industry citing energy shortage as key growth barrier in India, solar power has the potential to help the country address the shortage of power for economic growth," said Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director in India. "However, while India is clearly emerging as a global leader in the area of solar power, to achieve its target of adding 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, it needs to address the key barriers and constraints that could come in the way of scaling up the solar program," Ruhl added.
The report highlights several challenges that could act as a barrier to India achieving its solar targets by 2022. These include lack of access to low cost financing; inadequate solar infrastructure; lack of raw materials for several solar PV manufacturers; and an underdeveloped supply chain leading to high inventory costs.
"Building on the success of Phase 1, the program now needs to focus on promoting financing of solar projects by commercial banks, developing shared infrastructure facilities such as solar parks and identifying comparative advantage of Indian manufacturing across the supply chain", said Ashish Khanna, Lead Energy Specialist and one of the authors of the report. The report also identifies various key challenges, including the need for active participation of commercial banks to scale up to investments in the solar power sector. The government, the report says, also needs to design risk reducing financing instruments such as subordinated public finance in order to attract long-term commercial lending to ensure long-term viability, the report says.
The report recommends publicly developed infrastructure such as solar parks to help increase efficiency and lower costs. A Solar park in Charanka (Patan district) in Gujarat is today the largest solar park in Asia. Such shared infrastructure facilities helps in developing critical infrastructure, including facilities for power transmission, roads and water, thereby ensuring the rapid development of solar projects as well as local employment generation, the report adds. In addition, India's plans to develop ultra-mega solar projects will help showcase the potential for large scale grid connected solar projects to the entire world, it says.
Facilitating public funding, creating an enabling environment for manufacturing and focusing on cluster-based project development will go a long way in achieving the outcomes of JNNSM during the subsequent phases, the authors conclude.
Government approves two proposals of foreign direct investment (FDI) amounting to about Rs. 97.85 crore
New Delhi: Further to para 7 of the Press Release dated October 25, 2013, wherein it was stated that decision about the five (5) proposals will be communicated separately, the Government of India has approved two (2) proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to Rs. 97.85 crore.
Following two (2) proposals have been approved:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal FDI/NRI inflows (Rs. in crore)
1 M/s Acebright (India) Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Karnataka A foreign owned Indian pharma company to receive additional foreign investment by way of fresh issue and transfer. Post-facto approval is also sought for an earlier transfer. 95.00
2 M/s Aerrianta International CPT, Ireland To set up a 50:50 JV company to engage in running duty free shops at Mumbai airport. 2.85
The following one (1) proposal has been deferred:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal
1 M/s AU Housing Finance Limited, Jaipur An Indian Housing Finance Company proposes to increase direct and indirect foreign investment upto 95%, without meeting the minimum capitalization norm of USD 50 million.
In the following one (1) proposal, the applicant may be given clarification:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal
1 M/s Brampton Pvt. Ltd. Clarification regarding limit on percentage of shareholding to be held either by Indian partner or foreign partner for forming the joint venture company.
Decision in the following one (1) proposal has been kept in abeyance:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal FDI/NRI inflows (Rs. in crore)
1 M/s Manipal Technologies Ltd., Karnataka Induction of foreign investment in order to invest in the subsidiary to enter into cards payment system management and processing services for all kinds of alternate delivery channels including ATM. 154.04
Following two (2) proposals have been approved:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal FDI/NRI inflows (Rs. in crore)
1 M/s Acebright (India) Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Karnataka A foreign owned Indian pharma company to receive additional foreign investment by way of fresh issue and transfer. Post-facto approval is also sought for an earlier transfer. 95.00
2 M/s Aerrianta International CPT, Ireland To set up a 50:50 JV company to engage in running duty free shops at Mumbai airport. 2.85
The following one (1) proposal has been deferred:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal
1 M/s AU Housing Finance Limited, Jaipur An Indian Housing Finance Company proposes to increase direct and indirect foreign investment upto 95%, without meeting the minimum capitalization norm of USD 50 million.
In the following one (1) proposal, the applicant may be given clarification:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal
1 M/s Brampton Pvt. Ltd. Clarification regarding limit on percentage of shareholding to be held either by Indian partner or foreign partner for forming the joint venture company.
Decision in the following one (1) proposal has been kept in abeyance:
Sl. No. Name of the applicant Particulars of the proposal FDI/NRI inflows (Rs. in crore)
1 M/s Manipal Technologies Ltd., Karnataka Induction of foreign investment in order to invest in the subsidiary to enter into cards payment system management and processing services for all kinds of alternate delivery channels including ATM. 154.04
India, UAE ink investment pact
Investments from UAE set to increase, India to tap UAE's sovereign wealth fund
New Delhi: India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday signed a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (Bippa) that seeks to accelerate fresh capital inflows from the Emirates and provide a thrust to stalled projects.
The deal was signed between Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, UAE’s minister of state for financial affairs, and Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena.
The move, less than a week after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod, comes amid the visit of UAE’s Foreign Minister, Zayed Al Nahyan.
While the Centre was engaged in revising all Bippas with various countries, it had “worked out an exception” with the UAE, sources told Business Standard. UAE controls the second-largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, under the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (assets worth $627 billion). India had been keen to tap the SWF to finance major infrastructure projects. However, the UAE hadn’t shown interest in the absence of a Bippa, sources said.
With the agreement being signed, it is expected the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company might invest $700 million in Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, Dubai Ports World had kept its expansion plans in India on the back-burner, as it was awaiting the Bippa to be signed.
It is also expected the stalled free trade agreement between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council will be concluded. Under this agreement, India is seeking preferential access for its textiles exports to the UAE. The agreement had became a major bone of contention between India and the UAE, especially after the Jet-Etihad Airways deal came under the scanner due to allegations Indian foreign direct investment rules were flouted.
UAE’s telecom major, Etisalat, had to wrap up operations in India, after the Supreme Court cancelled its licences in 2012, in connection with the 2G telecom spectrum scam.
To ensure adequate protection for its investors, the UAE has been pushing India to sign a Bippa. The matter was raised and discussed during the visits of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to the UAE earlier this year.
The UAE is India’s largest trading partner. Trade between the two countries stood at $75.45 billion in 2012-13. However, investment from the UAE in India has been only $3.68 billion.
New Delhi: India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday signed a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (Bippa) that seeks to accelerate fresh capital inflows from the Emirates and provide a thrust to stalled projects.
The deal was signed between Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, UAE’s minister of state for financial affairs, and Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena.
The move, less than a week after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod, comes amid the visit of UAE’s Foreign Minister, Zayed Al Nahyan.
While the Centre was engaged in revising all Bippas with various countries, it had “worked out an exception” with the UAE, sources told Business Standard. UAE controls the second-largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, under the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (assets worth $627 billion). India had been keen to tap the SWF to finance major infrastructure projects. However, the UAE hadn’t shown interest in the absence of a Bippa, sources said.
With the agreement being signed, it is expected the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company might invest $700 million in Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, Dubai Ports World had kept its expansion plans in India on the back-burner, as it was awaiting the Bippa to be signed.
It is also expected the stalled free trade agreement between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council will be concluded. Under this agreement, India is seeking preferential access for its textiles exports to the UAE. The agreement had became a major bone of contention between India and the UAE, especially after the Jet-Etihad Airways deal came under the scanner due to allegations Indian foreign direct investment rules were flouted.
UAE’s telecom major, Etisalat, had to wrap up operations in India, after the Supreme Court cancelled its licences in 2012, in connection with the 2G telecom spectrum scam.
To ensure adequate protection for its investors, the UAE has been pushing India to sign a Bippa. The matter was raised and discussed during the visits of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to the UAE earlier this year.
The UAE is India’s largest trading partner. Trade between the two countries stood at $75.45 billion in 2012-13. However, investment from the UAE in India has been only $3.68 billion.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Britannia sets up manufacturing facility in Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Britannia Industries Ltd on Wednesday announced the opening of its first manufacturing unit for bakery products in Gujarat at the Jhagadia industrial estate.
The unit, set up at an investment of Rs 75-100 crore has a total capacity of producing 45,000 tonnes of products per annum, Varun Berry, Executive Director, said in a statement here.
The company has already set up units in Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. The Jhagadia facility would cater to the markets in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, besides being close to a port for export purposes.
Vinay Singh Kushwaha, Vice-President, Supply Chain, said the new biscuit manufacturing facility in Gujarat will produce brands such as Good Day, MarieGold, and Bourbon. The factory will employ nearly 750 employees.
Britannia Industries, a leader in the bakery and dairy segments, had annual revenues of over Rs. 6,000 crore. Its products are available across the country in over 35 lakh retail outlets and reach over 40 per cent of Indian homes.
The unit, set up at an investment of Rs 75-100 crore has a total capacity of producing 45,000 tonnes of products per annum, Varun Berry, Executive Director, said in a statement here.
The company has already set up units in Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. The Jhagadia facility would cater to the markets in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, besides being close to a port for export purposes.
Vinay Singh Kushwaha, Vice-President, Supply Chain, said the new biscuit manufacturing facility in Gujarat will produce brands such as Good Day, MarieGold, and Bourbon. The factory will employ nearly 750 employees.
Britannia Industries, a leader in the bakery and dairy segments, had annual revenues of over Rs. 6,000 crore. Its products are available across the country in over 35 lakh retail outlets and reach over 40 per cent of Indian homes.
BP-RIL to quadruple natural gas output by 2020
New Dehi: UK-based BP Plc and its Indian partner Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will quadruple natural gas output in the country by 2020, said Sashi Mukundan, Regional President and Head of Country, BP India, on Wednesday.
While addressing the 12th Petro India Summit organised by the India Energy Forum here, he did not give any number on the quantum of output, but said all blocks its joint venture has in India will see output quadruple.
“With the two recent significant deepwater discoveries, our exploration effort is well on the way to unlock the next major hub for development in the East coast. An opportunity awaits the BP-RIL joint venture to quadruple production by 2020 as we rework the fields and get into the next phase of development of already discovered resources,” he said.
Mukundan added the joint venture alone could help bring down India’s import bill by $100-$150 billion.
“We had two discoveries in Cauvery. We are getting ready to drill wells next year (2014). All these together give us the feel that there is lot of potential,” he said. “Our main purpose is to make sure that we continue producing from D-1 and D-3 fields in the D6 block. If we get the right regulatory framework, we would see much more production coming out of our blocks than what you are seeing today.”
The explorers have completed a new well at the MA field that is expected to produce starting next month. Also, it is reviving three existing wells at the D1 and D3 fields in the KG basin. Currently, the KG D6 block produces less than 10 mmscmd.
Asked how much investment the explorer is looking at, Mukundan said: “We talk about somewhere around $5-10 billion. It is important that we get the right enabling regulation to move forward.”
The BP executive added it is important to get clarity on pricing of natural gas to go ahead with the development programmes. “We need to have a clear pricing policy. This is important to have broader development of the KG D6. We got whole bunch of new discoveries which we need to bring on (to production). We have got R-Series project, which is getting ready to make an investment decision. It is important we have the pricing regime understood. That is the critical bit.”
Pricing issue
Meanwhile, Vivek Rae, Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the Finance Ministry has sent its response on the issue related to pricing of natural gas.
He, however, did not divulge if the Finance Ministry has agreed to the proposal made by the Petroleum Ministry.
The latter is of the view that if RIL wants to benefit from the revised gas price, it should submit a bank guarantee for the unmet supply commitment from its KG-D6 block.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will take the final decision on the issue.
While addressing the 12th Petro India Summit organised by the India Energy Forum here, he did not give any number on the quantum of output, but said all blocks its joint venture has in India will see output quadruple.
“With the two recent significant deepwater discoveries, our exploration effort is well on the way to unlock the next major hub for development in the East coast. An opportunity awaits the BP-RIL joint venture to quadruple production by 2020 as we rework the fields and get into the next phase of development of already discovered resources,” he said.
Mukundan added the joint venture alone could help bring down India’s import bill by $100-$150 billion.
“We had two discoveries in Cauvery. We are getting ready to drill wells next year (2014). All these together give us the feel that there is lot of potential,” he said. “Our main purpose is to make sure that we continue producing from D-1 and D-3 fields in the D6 block. If we get the right regulatory framework, we would see much more production coming out of our blocks than what you are seeing today.”
The explorers have completed a new well at the MA field that is expected to produce starting next month. Also, it is reviving three existing wells at the D1 and D3 fields in the KG basin. Currently, the KG D6 block produces less than 10 mmscmd.
Asked how much investment the explorer is looking at, Mukundan said: “We talk about somewhere around $5-10 billion. It is important that we get the right enabling regulation to move forward.”
The BP executive added it is important to get clarity on pricing of natural gas to go ahead with the development programmes. “We need to have a clear pricing policy. This is important to have broader development of the KG D6. We got whole bunch of new discoveries which we need to bring on (to production). We have got R-Series project, which is getting ready to make an investment decision. It is important we have the pricing regime understood. That is the critical bit.”
Pricing issue
Meanwhile, Vivek Rae, Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the Finance Ministry has sent its response on the issue related to pricing of natural gas.
He, however, did not divulge if the Finance Ministry has agreed to the proposal made by the Petroleum Ministry.
The latter is of the view that if RIL wants to benefit from the revised gas price, it should submit a bank guarantee for the unmet supply commitment from its KG-D6 block.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will take the final decision on the issue.
Moody's acquires investment research firm Amba Investment Services
New Delhi/ Mumbai: NYSE-listed global credit ratings agency, Moody's Corp has acquired Amba Investment Services, a provider of investment research and quantitative analytics for financial institutions, for an undisclosed sum underscoring large scale strategic appetite for big data and knowledge outsourcing start-ups.
Even though financial details of the deal were not disclosed, sources aware of the agreement, say the deal value is estimated to be between $80 million and $85 million (Rs 490.5 crore and Rs 521.1crore).
Upon completion, Amba's existing venture capital backer, Helion Venture Advisors will completely exit the venture, along with its 4 original founders - all investment banking and equity research veterans from marquee institutions like Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs - who had teamed up ten years ago.
The venture fund had invested between $7 million (Rs 42.9 crore) and $10 million (Rs 61.3 crore) in Amba five years ago from its first fund - Helion - I.
Amba will now operate as part of Moody's Analytics subsidiary, Copal Partners, a company release said. Moody's, in 2011, had picked up a majority stake in Copal.
According to a statement released by Moody's the deal, which is not expected to have a material impact on credit rating agency's earnings per share, was funded from cash on hand. Amba expects to generate nearly $39 million (Rs 239.1 crore) of revenue in 2013.
"Amba is highly regarded for its offerings to investment research firms and asset managers, and Copal is known for its strong services for corporate finance. Together, their scale, talent and resources offer global financial institutions a broader array of research and analytics," said Mark Almeida, president, Moody's Analytics.
ET was the first to report in August last year that Helion Venture Partners, India's largest domestic venture capital firm with assets under management of $605 million (Rs 3,709.3 crore), was in talks to sell its stake in Amba, a potential deal which could also see the Bangalore and New York-based start-up's founders exit the venture.
Avendus Capital acted as the advisor for Amba Research. In the past, companies like Genpact pursued this buyout, but the initial valuation expectation of over $110 million (Rs 674.4 crore) turned out to be a deal breaker. Moody's have been in exclusive negotiations with the Amba management for months.
Founded in 2003 by four Wall Street veterans, Amba Research is today has emerged to be amongst the leading financial research and analytics outsourcing firms working with leading investment banks, hedge funds and asset management companies.
Starting with a team of 10 in Sri Lanka, Amba currently employs over 900 employees. Its delivery centres are in Bangalore, Colombo San Jose, Costa Rica with sales offices in New York, London and Singapore.
Fully benefiting from the founders' own background, Amba's service offering in its formative years was equity research support.
Over the years, striving to widen its competitive edge, Amba has expanded its service offerings to include fixed income and credit research, quantitative research, sales and marketing, corporate finance, research production, compliance, and commercial lending support.
Amba's client base of 80-plus global clients includes seven of the top 15 global investment banks. Further, over 35 asset management firms, managing over $8.5 trillion, use their services.
Over the last two to three years, the company has added corporate banks to its clientele, covering both investment banking and commercial banking support services.
Analysts tracking the space say, the knowledge process outsourcing space is increasingly witnessing a bigger consolidation. After a string of deals in business process outsourcing, the KPO industry is now seeing some of the early founder-promoters exit.
Unlike business process outsourcing, which relies more on scale, KPO is a more niche, focused play and attracts buyers in operating the same segment or bigger outsourcing players, which want to expand to acquire capability in that niche space.
According to Nasscom-Crisil study, KPO sector is expected to grow at CAGR of 22% and reach $5.6 billion in revenues in 2015, with financial services being the largest contributor.
In December last year, US consumer credit reporting agency, Equifax, acquired a majority stake in Bangalore-based data analytics and business intelligence firm Nettpositive for an undisclosed sum.
Nettpositive also provides analytics and business intelligence solutions to the financial services, insurance, retail and telecommunications sectors.
Separately, global private equity firm TA Associates shelled out $25 million (Rs 153.3 crore) to acquire a significant minority stake in advanced analytics company Fractal Analytics, earlier this year.
Way back in 2004, Crisil had acquired iRevna while in 2011, following Moody's, it again bought Coalition. Investment bankers specialising in such transactions said, typically deals take place at 2.5 to 3 times sales.
Even though financial details of the deal were not disclosed, sources aware of the agreement, say the deal value is estimated to be between $80 million and $85 million (Rs 490.5 crore and Rs 521.1crore).
Upon completion, Amba's existing venture capital backer, Helion Venture Advisors will completely exit the venture, along with its 4 original founders - all investment banking and equity research veterans from marquee institutions like Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs - who had teamed up ten years ago.
The venture fund had invested between $7 million (Rs 42.9 crore) and $10 million (Rs 61.3 crore) in Amba five years ago from its first fund - Helion - I.
Amba will now operate as part of Moody's Analytics subsidiary, Copal Partners, a company release said. Moody's, in 2011, had picked up a majority stake in Copal.
According to a statement released by Moody's the deal, which is not expected to have a material impact on credit rating agency's earnings per share, was funded from cash on hand. Amba expects to generate nearly $39 million (Rs 239.1 crore) of revenue in 2013.
"Amba is highly regarded for its offerings to investment research firms and asset managers, and Copal is known for its strong services for corporate finance. Together, their scale, talent and resources offer global financial institutions a broader array of research and analytics," said Mark Almeida, president, Moody's Analytics.
ET was the first to report in August last year that Helion Venture Partners, India's largest domestic venture capital firm with assets under management of $605 million (Rs 3,709.3 crore), was in talks to sell its stake in Amba, a potential deal which could also see the Bangalore and New York-based start-up's founders exit the venture.
Avendus Capital acted as the advisor for Amba Research. In the past, companies like Genpact pursued this buyout, but the initial valuation expectation of over $110 million (Rs 674.4 crore) turned out to be a deal breaker. Moody's have been in exclusive negotiations with the Amba management for months.
Founded in 2003 by four Wall Street veterans, Amba Research is today has emerged to be amongst the leading financial research and analytics outsourcing firms working with leading investment banks, hedge funds and asset management companies.
Starting with a team of 10 in Sri Lanka, Amba currently employs over 900 employees. Its delivery centres are in Bangalore, Colombo San Jose, Costa Rica with sales offices in New York, London and Singapore.
Fully benefiting from the founders' own background, Amba's service offering in its formative years was equity research support.
Over the years, striving to widen its competitive edge, Amba has expanded its service offerings to include fixed income and credit research, quantitative research, sales and marketing, corporate finance, research production, compliance, and commercial lending support.
Amba's client base of 80-plus global clients includes seven of the top 15 global investment banks. Further, over 35 asset management firms, managing over $8.5 trillion, use their services.
Over the last two to three years, the company has added corporate banks to its clientele, covering both investment banking and commercial banking support services.
Analysts tracking the space say, the knowledge process outsourcing space is increasingly witnessing a bigger consolidation. After a string of deals in business process outsourcing, the KPO industry is now seeing some of the early founder-promoters exit.
Unlike business process outsourcing, which relies more on scale, KPO is a more niche, focused play and attracts buyers in operating the same segment or bigger outsourcing players, which want to expand to acquire capability in that niche space.
According to Nasscom-Crisil study, KPO sector is expected to grow at CAGR of 22% and reach $5.6 billion in revenues in 2015, with financial services being the largest contributor.
In December last year, US consumer credit reporting agency, Equifax, acquired a majority stake in Bangalore-based data analytics and business intelligence firm Nettpositive for an undisclosed sum.
Nettpositive also provides analytics and business intelligence solutions to the financial services, insurance, retail and telecommunications sectors.
Separately, global private equity firm TA Associates shelled out $25 million (Rs 153.3 crore) to acquire a significant minority stake in advanced analytics company Fractal Analytics, earlier this year.
Way back in 2004, Crisil had acquired iRevna while in 2011, following Moody's, it again bought Coalition. Investment bankers specialising in such transactions said, typically deals take place at 2.5 to 3 times sales.
‘India to spend $3.9 bn on cloud services by 2017’
The public cloud services market in India is on pace to grow 33.6% in 2013 to touch $404 mn, an increase of $101 mn from the 2012 revenue of $303 mn
Hyderabad: Around $3.9 billion will be spent on cloud services in India from 2013 through 2017, of which $1.7 billion will be spent on software-as-a-service (SaaS), according the latest outlook of IT research and advisory company Gartner Inc.
The public cloud services market in India is on pace to grow 33.6% in 2013 to touch $404 million, an increase of $101 million from the 2012 revenue of $303 million. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), including cloud compute, storage and print services, is expected to grow 33.9% in 2013 to $59.2 million, it said.
“The public cloud services market continues robust growth in India through over the forecast period of 2011 through 2017. While SaaS dominates as the largest cloud segment, the high growth rates of IaaS and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) make them important markets to watch,” Ed Anderson, research director at Gartner, said in a release on Wednesday.
According to Gartner, cloud services in India will be strong across all cloud segments through 2017. While business-process-as-a-service (BPaaS) is expected to grow from $63.6 million in 2013 to $168 million in 2017, SaaS is expected to grow from $174 million in 2013 to $552 million in 2017. IaaS is forecast to grow from $59.2 million in 2013 to $156.3 million in 2017.
The Indian market has shown particularly strong growth for the past few years and is predicted to continue to be one of the fastest growing countries in Gartner’s cloud forecast. IT spending on public cloud services in India is expected to reach $1.3 billion in 2017, it said.
Gartner also said that the serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multi-function product (MFP) market in India totaled 861,212 units in the third quarter of 2013, a 13.2% increase from the corresponding quarter of last year.
“Indian organisations are still largely paper-driven.But there is an increasing importance of digitisation and the need to access information anytime, anywhere. This represents an opportunity for print providers to expand their services into optimising the document workflows that support business processes,” said Zalak Shah, research analyst at Gartner.
Hyderabad: Around $3.9 billion will be spent on cloud services in India from 2013 through 2017, of which $1.7 billion will be spent on software-as-a-service (SaaS), according the latest outlook of IT research and advisory company Gartner Inc.
The public cloud services market in India is on pace to grow 33.6% in 2013 to touch $404 million, an increase of $101 million from the 2012 revenue of $303 million. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), including cloud compute, storage and print services, is expected to grow 33.9% in 2013 to $59.2 million, it said.
“The public cloud services market continues robust growth in India through over the forecast period of 2011 through 2017. While SaaS dominates as the largest cloud segment, the high growth rates of IaaS and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) make them important markets to watch,” Ed Anderson, research director at Gartner, said in a release on Wednesday.
According to Gartner, cloud services in India will be strong across all cloud segments through 2017. While business-process-as-a-service (BPaaS) is expected to grow from $63.6 million in 2013 to $168 million in 2017, SaaS is expected to grow from $174 million in 2013 to $552 million in 2017. IaaS is forecast to grow from $59.2 million in 2013 to $156.3 million in 2017.
The Indian market has shown particularly strong growth for the past few years and is predicted to continue to be one of the fastest growing countries in Gartner’s cloud forecast. IT spending on public cloud services in India is expected to reach $1.3 billion in 2017, it said.
Gartner also said that the serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multi-function product (MFP) market in India totaled 861,212 units in the third quarter of 2013, a 13.2% increase from the corresponding quarter of last year.
“Indian organisations are still largely paper-driven.But there is an increasing importance of digitisation and the need to access information anytime, anywhere. This represents an opportunity for print providers to expand their services into optimising the document workflows that support business processes,” said Zalak Shah, research analyst at Gartner.
Entry of foreign universities to set up their campuses in India
New Delhi: The Government has prepared the University Grants Commission (UGC) (Establishment and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Educational Institutions) Rules, 2013. Under the proposed Rules, Foreign Educational Institutions (FEIs) can set up campuses in India once the FEIs have been notified as Foreign Education Provider (FEPs) by the UGC, subject to fulfillment of certain eligibility conditions.
The Rules would ensure that only high quality foreign educational institutions are permitted to set up campuses and offer education services in the country, since only the top 400 institutions as per global rankings would be eligible to open campuses in the country. Existence of high quality FEIs would contribute to enhancing existing capacity of higher education system; arresting the brain drain and drain of resources from the country; availability of education and research facilities of international standards; quality gains in Indian higher educational institutions through collaborations and partnerships etc. This would also facilitate higher investments in the higher education system including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the higher education system. Indian students would be benefitted with the entry and operation of FEP through access to globally renowned and quality academic institutions in Indian higher education sector at relatively lower costs. These FEPs would also add to the existing capacity in higher education in India.
The Ministry had sought comments and observations of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on the Rules. Both DIPP and DEA have supported the proposal.
The HRD Minister, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju gave this information in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
The Rules would ensure that only high quality foreign educational institutions are permitted to set up campuses and offer education services in the country, since only the top 400 institutions as per global rankings would be eligible to open campuses in the country. Existence of high quality FEIs would contribute to enhancing existing capacity of higher education system; arresting the brain drain and drain of resources from the country; availability of education and research facilities of international standards; quality gains in Indian higher educational institutions through collaborations and partnerships etc. This would also facilitate higher investments in the higher education system including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the higher education system. Indian students would be benefitted with the entry and operation of FEP through access to globally renowned and quality academic institutions in Indian higher education sector at relatively lower costs. These FEPs would also add to the existing capacity in higher education in India.
The Ministry had sought comments and observations of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on the Rules. Both DIPP and DEA have supported the proposal.
The HRD Minister, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju gave this information in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
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