CCEA approves road projects worth Rs 2,000 crore in Gujarat and Bihar

The Japan International Cooperation Agency will provide a loan with 100% financing for civil construction and supervision works for the project
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved two road projects worth Rs 2,000 crore, to be undertaken in Bihar and Gujarat. The project in Bihar is expected to cost Rs 1,408 crore, while the project in Gujarat is expected to cost Rs 503 crore.

“The CCEA has approved the project for the development of four laning of the (approximately) 93 km-Gaya-Hisua-Rajgir-Nalanda-Bihar Sharif section on the National Highway-82 in Bihar. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,409 crore, including Rs 1,216 crore as civil construction and supervision works and Rs 193 crore as the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and pre-construction activities. The project will be completed within three years of signing of the contract agreement,” a statement from the roads ministry said.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide loan assistance for the project in Bihar. JICA had earlier sanctioned loans worth Rs 1,300 crore for undertaking road projects in Bihar this year.

CCEA’s decision to award more road projects comes at a time when the road ministry has been struggling to award projects during the current financial year. So far, the ministry has awarded projects worth 500 km, while it had set itself a target of 9,000 km at the beginning of the financial year. The inability to fast-track the awarding of road projects during a crucial election year also had the prime minister allowing the road ministry to award more projects under the government-funded mode as against the public private partnership or PPP mode.

The ministry is now looking at awarding 2,000 km of road projects before the end of the financial year through the government-funded mode, after the private sector decided to stay away from undertaking infrastructure projects. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also been allowed to tap the bond market to raise Rs 3,500 crore through a bond issue, while the government will invest the remaining Rs 12,000 crore to construct 2,000 km of roads during the year.

OTHER DECISIONS
Proposal to amalgamate State Farms Corporation of India with National Seeds Corporation cleared, both wholly owned public sector undertakings
Pension proposal cleared for 43,000 employees of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam who joined the public sector company from the department of telecom, which would the government an estimated Rs 500 crore
Proposal for non-Plan budgetary support of Rs 116.9 crore for liquidation of statutory dues and pay from April 1 to August 31 this year for 11 central PSUs which are financially ailing cleared
Proposals to establish a National Cancer Institute at a cost of Rs 2,035 crore on the Jhajjar (Haryana) campus of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a Rs 640-crore welfare scheme for fisherfolk cleared
Proposal for the sale of Air India’s five long-haul Boeing 777 aircraft to Etihad Airways cleared
Industry experts have often slammed the government for the lack of a single window clearance policy for the mess in the road sector after private sector participation hit a record bottom in the past year. In addition, private companies have also been requesting the government to restructure their premium payments, due to NHAI over the next 20 years to relieve their financial burden as the economy goes through a slowdown. A policy allowing private developers to exit projects is also being considered currently.

The roads ministry is looking to award road projects worth Rs 5.8 lakh crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan and the setting up of a road regulator to address issues concerning dispute resolutions. Earlier this year, the NHAI had to scrap projects worth Rs 3,000 crore due to land acquisition troubles in Kerala and Goa.

Govt clears Rs 3-lakh cr investments in public enterprises

Hyderabad: The Government has so far cleared pending projects involving Rs 3 lakh crore of investment by Public Sector Enterprises, according to O.P. Rawat, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.

To drive growth
“This has been done in several of rounds of the Cabinet Committee on Investment. The total pending projects of PSEs involve about Rs 30 lakh crore,’’ Rawat told newspersons on the sidelines of Golden Jubilee Celebrations at Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) here on Thursday.

Pointing out that this was expected to drive growth in public sector, the official said the business figures of the first six months of the current financial year ended September 30, 2013 showed positive growth though the performance of PSEs was not up to the mark during 2012-13.

Going by the present trend, it was expected that public sector enterprises could grow by 15 per cent this year, he added. When asked on the performance of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), he said it was making losses due to pending projects and building up of huge inventory before receiving actual orders.

AUTONOMY
To improve the performance of public sector enterprises, the Government is considering allowing Maharatna and Navaratna companies to take independent decision involving investments up to Rs 10,000 crore, Rawat said. At present Rs 5,000 crore is the upper cap in this regard.

More funds needs
Earlier, addressing the gathering, P. Rama Rao, President, Board of Governors, IPE, said there was a need for greater investments in education, research and development. “The only group of companies which can show the way forward in this regard are public sector enterprises,’’ he said.

Mytrah Energy adds 150 MW wind power capacity

Hyderabad: Mytrah Energy Ltd has added wind power generation capacity of about 150 MW in the three southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This has increased its installed wind power generation capacity from 309.9 MW to 459.9 MW.

The wind power generation company, based in Hyderabad and listed on the Alternative Investment Market of (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, is implementing wind farms with total capacity of 238.2 MW at three locations — Burugula (37.4 MW) in Andhra Pradesh, Savalsang (100.3 MW) in Karnataka and Vagrarai (100.5 MW) in Tamil Nadu.

It has commissioned additional capacity at these sites. All the three projects are being commissioned on a rolling basis with the stabilisation process conducted throughout the first quarter of 2014.

Burugula and Savalsang are Mytrah’s first two self-development projects constructed on the company’s land with Gamesa. This provides the company with diversification when combined with its turnkey agreement with Suzlon.

India Cements gets Centre’s nod for capacity expansion

The company is setting up a 40 MW power plant at one of its facility in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 810 cr
Chennai: An expert appraisal committee under the ministry of environment has given its nod to India Cements to double its capacity and set up a 40-Mw power plant at one of its facilities in Tamil Nadu. The proposed expansion project will come up at Dalavoi in Ariyalur district. According to a senior official of the company, the capacity addition would cater to Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets. "It will be a significant expansion in the two markets, where not much of the capacity additions expected in the future,” said the official.

It is expected to take about two years to complete the work. Current capacity for clinker production in this facility is 1.24 million tonnes per annum and the company plans to add 1.53 million tonnes taking total clinker production capacity to 2.77 million tonnes per annum. Cement (OPC/PPC) production capacity is 2.16 million tonnes and the company plans to add 2.55 million tonnes taking the total cement production capacity to 4.71 million tonnes.

The proposed expansion will be carried out in an area of 25.09 hectares. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 810 crore, including Rs 39.6 crore and Rs 5.71 crore earmarked for the capital cost and recurring cost per annum towards the environmental pollution control measures. India Cements, country's one of the largest cement manufacturers, currently has a total capacity of 15.5 million tonnes. It has seven plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and one in Rajasthan. The company is also planning to add 2X20 Mw power plant in the facility.

The captive power plant will use coal/pet coke as fuel. The power requirement for the facility would be 41.4 Mw, which will be met from the captive power plant and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, according to the company's disclosure to the ministry.

SDF to shift some tractor engine lines from Italy to India

New Delhi: Farm equipment maker Same Deutz Fahr (SDF), which recently unveiled its Lamborghini tractors in India, proposes to shift some engine production lines from Italy to its plant at Ranipet, near Chennai.

The company plans to invest Rs 300 crore over the next one year in expanding the tractor engine production capacity, said Bhanu Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of SDF India Pvt Ltd.

Two new lines
“We are planning to shift production of tractor engines with three and four cylinders, that will have a horse power range of 80-110,” Sharma said. Two new tractor engine production lines will be added at its existing facility in Ranipet.

Shifting of production lines will help the company introduce newer range of tractors with higher horsepower in the Indian market by 2015, where the demand for higher capacity tractors is seen going up, Sharma said.

key factors
The shortage of manpower, rising labour costs and consolidation of land holdings are the key factors that are driving the tractor sales, he added.

Currently, SDF manufactures about 8-9 tractor models in the mid-segment with a horse power range of 40-80 hp, bulk of which are exported to about 54 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia.

The company sold about 2,000 Deutz Fahr tractors in the Indian market this year and is planning to double it in 2014.

SDF is eyeing a production to 25,000 tractor engines during 2014, up from the current year’s output of 15,000 engines, Sharma added.

Lamborghini tractors
SDF unveiled its Lamborghini range of tractors in India at an agri-fair in Pune, recently.

The company is in the process of finalising the specifications for the Indian market, based on the customer requirement, and expects to start rolling out Lamborghini tractors in the second half of 2014, he added.

SDF is targeting rich farmers and high profile individuals with farming interests, besides golf courses, cricket stadiums and luxury resorts.

RBI allows foreign retail investments in tax-free rupee bond

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday allowed foreign retail investors, including non-resident Indians, to invest in rupee-denominated tax-free non-convertible bonds.

Funds raised through these bonds can be invested in infrastructure projects and in fixed deposits with banks. "It has been decided to permit resident entities, companies in India, authorized by the government of India, to issue taxfree, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds in rupees to persons resident outside India to use such borrowed funds for on lending, re-lending to the infrastructure sector and keeping in fixed deposits with banks in India pending utilization by them for permissible end-uses," RBI said in a statement.

It said the move will widen the investor base, help in internationalizing the currency and open another window for foreign investors.

At present, foreign institutional investors are not allowed to invest in tax-free infrastructure bonds issued by companies such as Power Finance Corporation, NAHAI, IIFL and Rural Electrification Corporation. Every year, the government allows some public sector companies to issue tax-free bonds.

Global investors have shown interest in rupee-denominated bonds. Recently, International Finance Corporation, the private finance arm of World Bank, had raised Rs 1,000 crore in the US by issuing rupee-linked bonds to global investors. IFC plans to raise a total of $1 billion. In such currency bond, the foreign investor will get proceeds in rupee.

"This will help in increasing the market base by including small and wide ticket size into Indian debt market," said Ashutosh Khajuria, president (treasury) at Federal Bank. "It is one step towards internationalisation of the currency." Since the bonds are rupee-denominated, volatility in the currency will not have an impact on the issuer. To that extent, external debt will be taken care of.

India Inc raises $9 bn via overseas bonds in 2013

Raises more than double the amount raised last calendar year
Kolkata: India Inc is making a scramble to raise money abroad. Indian private and state-run companies, other than financial institutions, have raised $9.23 billion by selling foreign currency bonds in foreign markets in 2013. This is more than double the money they raised through this route during the last calendar year. In 2012, domestic companies had raised $4.12 billion through foreign currency bonds.

There were 16 foreign bond issuances by private and public sector companies from India in 2013 compared to nine a year earlier. Standard Chartered Bank topped the league table helping corporates raise $1.3 billion this calendar year. It was followed by Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Citi.

"The overseas issuances were largely driven by volume rather than pricing. Indian companies were able to raise large sums of money through foreign currency bonds. It would have been difficult for them to raise this money in India in the current environment," said a senior banker with a large foreign bank in India.

He added investors' confidence in Indian issuers had improved in recent months, which helped domestic companies in raising money abroad. Apart from the dollar, local companies have also raised funds in other foreign currencies like the Euro, Swiss franc and Singapore dollar.

"Many issuers were of the view that interest rates could go up in the future and, hence, we saw a lot of opportunistic fund-raising as well. Overseas bond markets presented a perfect opportunity to raise large amounts and longer tenor liabilities, compared to the bank loan market," Randhir Singh, head of financing at Deutsche Bank in India, said.

Deutsche Bank managed nine of the 16 deals this year and helped its clients raise $1.29 billion from foreign bond markets.

In most cases, companies decided to use the money abroad — either to expand their business or refinance some of their existing foreign currency liabilities.

Bankers remained confident that this trend of raising money through foreign currency bonds will continue in 2014, at least in the first couple of quarters. The deal pipeline for the first quarter of the 2014 calendar year is estimated to be around $2 billion. "The new year should start on a good note, as the first quarter deal pipeline is quite robust," said a senior banker with a mid-sized foreign bank in India.

India Inc raises $9 bn via overseas bonds in 2013

Raises more than double the amount raised last calendar year
Kolkata: India Inc is making a scramble to raise money abroad. Indian private and state-run companies, other than financial institutions, have raised $9.23 billion by selling foreign currency bonds in foreign markets in 2013. This is more than double the money they raised through this route during the last calendar year. In 2012, domestic companies had raised $4.12 billion through foreign currency bonds.

There were 16 foreign bond issuances by private and public sector companies from India in 2013 compared to nine a year earlier. Standard Chartered Bank topped the league table helping corporates raise $1.3 billion this calendar year. It was followed by Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Citi.

"The overseas issuances were largely driven by volume rather than pricing. Indian companies were able to raise large sums of money through foreign currency bonds. It would have been difficult for them to raise this money in India in the current environment," said a senior banker with a large foreign bank in India.

He added investors' confidence in Indian issuers had improved in recent months, which helped domestic companies in raising money abroad. Apart from the dollar, local companies have also raised funds in other foreign currencies like the Euro, Swiss franc and Singapore dollar.

"Many issuers were of the view that interest rates could go up in the future and, hence, we saw a lot of opportunistic fund-raising as well. Overseas bond markets presented a perfect opportunity to raise large amounts and longer tenor liabilities, compared to the bank loan market," Randhir Singh, head of financing at Deutsche Bank in India, said.

Deutsche Bank managed nine of the 16 deals this year and helped its clients raise $1.29 billion from foreign bond markets.

In most cases, companies decided to use the money abroad — either to expand their business or refinance some of their existing foreign currency liabilities.

Bankers remained confident that this trend of raising money through foreign currency bonds will continue in 2014, at least in the first couple of quarters. The deal pipeline for the first quarter of the 2014 calendar year is estimated to be around $2 billion. "The new year should start on a good note, as the first quarter deal pipeline is quite robust," said a senior banker with a mid-sized foreign bank in India.

Jet Air in pact with Turkish Airlines

Mumbai: Jet Airways (India) Ltd has entered into a fresh aircraft leasing arrangement with Turkish Airlines for its Airbus 330-200 wide bodied jets.

The Indian company, which is 24 per cent owned by Etihad Airways, will lease out three of its idle A330s to the Turkish carrier for six years, according to sources.

A Jet spokesperson did not comment on the development, and the financial details could not be ascertained.

At the end of the second quarter, Jet said it had grounded five A330s and had initiated discussions with players for both an outright sale and long-term lease arrangements.

If the company is successful in an outright sale of these aircraft, its debt portfolio will shrink by $200 million, the airline's chief financial officer Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan had said then. Debt at the country’s second largest airline was at $1.9 billion as on September 30, 2013.

Indian companies are keen to lease out their idle aircraft to tide over mounting losses. For Q2, Jet Airways had reported a net loss of Rs 891 crore. Of this, Rs 123 crore in losses were related to aircraft on ground.

Earlier, Jet was close to leasing out all five aircraft to Kuwait Airlines, but the deal fell apart with the Kuwait government suspending the flag carrier’s chairman, Sami Al-Nesif.

Turkish Airlines and Jet Airways have a long history of commercial arrangements. News reports suggest that the two airlines have been leasing partners since 2008. In 2010, Turkish Airlines has inked an agreement with Jet to take three Boeing 777s on lease.

Recently, Air India invited bids from leasing companies to sell its Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets and is set to hire them back on monthly rentals as part of its strategy to raise cash.

Frugal innovations to keep India healthy

Mumbai: From a smart medicine pack that keeps a tab on a person taking tuberculosis medicines to technology that identifies the right blood vessel for an intra-venous procedure, innovations are now coming in small packages.

And research competitions are challenging these “Edisons of tomorrow” — students, scientists and entrepreneurs — by encouraging them to think-up novel solutions in healthcare.

Prototype development
Take the ‘Grand Challenges in Tuberculosis Control’ programme for instance. Winners get $30,000 as a grant for six months to develop a prototype. And those who scale this challenge get $100,000 each to integrate the innovation into India’s healthcare system.

The TB-control challenge, an initiative from IKP Knowledge Park, has the US Agency for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as partners.

Big innovations are required and will continue, but the idea here is to open opportunities for effective, high-volume and low-cost solutions, says Gopichand Katragadda, Chairman and Managing Director of GE India Technology Centre (GE-ITC). GE’s Edison Challenge gives the winner a Rs 10-lakh grant, and the runner-up, Rs 5 lakh.

Exposure to market
The challenge gives university research an exposure to market needs, as perceived by the industry, he says, adding that GE would be open to absorbing an innovation that “fits the bill.”

Globally, such initiatives are not unknown. In fact, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, collectively founded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, among others, also looks to russel up the excitement around science and research.

One of the 15 recipients of IKP’s first round of funding for TB-control solutions is Bill Thies, a researcher with Microsoft Research India. His team’s innovation helps ensure that a patient takes the TB medicine regularly and without the direct supervision mandated in the Government-run system.

The innovation involves giving numbers, hidden behind the pills in a strip of TB medicines. On taking the medicine, a four-digit code is revealed to the patient, who has to combine it with a six-digit number printed on the pack and give a missed phone call to that number. And this gets captured at the monitoring end.

TB control falters, since patients default on taking their medicines regularly. Thies’ team’s innovation seeks to plug this gap. The grant money goes to Innovators in Health, a non-profit organisation in Bihar that partners and co-evaluates the initiative, says Thies.

In the GE Edison challenge, this year’s winner was a mobile application to diagnose skin cancer and related abnormalities from IIT (Kharagpur). And last year’s runner-up, Vellore Institute of Technology’s VeinLoc (blood-vessel detector), has taken the innovation a step further, by applying for a patent.

The five-year Edison challenge encourages awardees to continue interacting with mentors at GE — a no mean exposure — since GE’s centre at Bangalore is its largest multidisciplinary research, development and engineering centre outside the US.

Intellectual property
Explaining the academia-industry misfit, Katragadda says universities are flush with funds, but are not tied to deliverables and market insight. Besides, there are trust issues between universities and the industry on matters such as intellectual property.

The Edison challenge looks to bridge the gap, by including interactions with technology resource persons and angel investors, to awaken researchers to market-place realities.