Success in my Habit

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Delhi airport emerging hub for global flyers

New Delhi: The Delhi airport, with the share of its transit passengers in total annual traffic nearly doubling in three years to about 18 per cent, appears to be transforming itself into an international hub.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has estimated the number of transit passengers for the airport to hit 6.59 million by the end of March, 17.77 per cent of its projected 37.08 million annual traffic.

Buoyed by Air India’s Star Alliance induction, expected to add scale to the airline’s global flight plans, DIAL expects transit passengers’ share in total to increase to 25-26 per cent by 2015-16. That would put Delhi in the league of global airport hubs like Chicago and Hong Kong (where transit passengers account for 26 per cent of total) and Bangkok (around 40 per cent). Airports like Singapore and Dubai, which hardly have any domestic business, have more than 50 per cent of their business coming from transit passengers.

DIAL, the GMR Infra-led consortium that operates the Delhi airport, also expects full-service carriers like Tata-Singapore Airlines to start long-haul flights using Delhi as a hub, especially with the government planning to remove the restrictions — such as five years of operational experience and a fleet of at least 20 aircraft — on domestic carriers flying abroad.

“The number of transit passengers at Delhi’s T3 (Terminal 3) has gone up substantially in the past three years. With Air India moving into Star Alliance, we expect a lot of partner airlines to make India the hub. We expect transit traffic to account for 25-26 per cent of passengers by 2015-16,” said Kiran Jain, head of airline marketing and route development at DIAL.

According to data available with International Air Transport Association (IATA), transit passengers constituted 16 per cent of the Delhi airport’s total passenger traffic last financial year, compared with 12.74 per cent in 2011-12. In 2012-13, DIAL saw 5.47 million transit passengers using the airport — the growth in transit passengers came even as total passenger throughput declined around seven per cent to 34.39 million.

“The share of transit passengers in the total traffic is around 19.6 per cent. Most of these passengers come from neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But, with Air India starting direct flights to Birmingham, Sydney and Melbourne, we see passengers from Europe transiting in Delhi before travelling to Australia. At least 12 per cent of the passengers on Air India-Birmingham flights will transit at Delhi to go to Australia every day. Also, many will come from Birmingham and transit to domestic destinations and neighbouring countries. The total transit passengers on this route is 75 per cent,” said Pradeep Panicker, chief commercial officer (aero), DIAL.

In 2013-14, DIAL expects a transit traffic of 6,598,268 - an increase of 20.6 per cent from the previous year.

Air India accounts for a little over 41 per cent of transit passengers at the Delhi airport. The state-run carrier, which feeds traffic at the airport from Indian cities and regional international destinations going to Europe, US and Australia, is followed by Jet Airways and IndiGo. Also, China Airlines flies from Taipei to Rome, transiting from Delhi and Ethiopian Airlines flies from Adis Ababa to Beijing via Delhi.

Industry experts expect the proportion of transit passenger in the total to go up substantially after Tata-SIA starts operations. "SIA could use New Delhi to launch new flights to North and South America, alongside its Indian subsidiary, while picking up domestic feed traffic, thereby remedying SIA's network deficiencies," said Hong Kong-based aviation analyst Daniel Tsang.

According to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), about 40 per cent of international traffic out of India travels to its final destination through an intermediate offshore airport. As much as half of such traffic is captured by hubs in West Asia. With Tata-SIA starting domestic operations, the Delhi airport is likely to get a boost in realising its potential.

"Delhi airport's position as a global hub will get a boost with both Air India and Tata-SIA using it as a hub for long-haul flights," said Amber Dubey, partner & head (aerospace and defence), KPMG

Shopping malls to grow in size, numbers in 2014: Report

New Delhi: Net addition to mall space in Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune is set to more than double to 11.6 million square feet in 2014. This will take up the mall stock across India’s metropolitan cities to 87.7 million sq feet by the end of the year, according to a new report by real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

At the end of 2013, the built-up mall area across these seven cities stood at 76 million sq feet. It is estimated this will cross the 100 million sq feet mark in 2016, touching 107.8 million sq feet in 2017.

City statistics
Among the cities, Delhi and Mumbai lead the rest of the country in terms of the highest concentration of shopping malls, accounting for 62 per cent of pan-India mall stock. They are followed by Chennai and Bangalore, which together constitute around 20 per cent of built-up mall space in the country. In 2013, net addition of approximately 5.2 million sq feet of mall space was registered, translating into a 22 per cent in crease in comparison to the previous year. Chennai led with creation of nearly 2 million sq feet of fresh supply, followed by Mumbai and Pune. But in 2014, Delhi is expected to be the driver for net addition of shopping malls in the metros.

Design trends
The report suggests that the average size of malls is likely to increase in the coming years as developers are focusing on project sizes that allow for a critical mass in terms of various formats and categories under one roof. In 2014, the average size of malls is estimated at around 3.8 lakh square feet, which is expected to increase to 4.7 lakh square feet in 2015 and further to 6.6 lakh square feet in 2017.

There is also an increasing trend among upcoming malls to adopt a structured approach in planning, execution and launch, Jones Lang LaSalle says. The importance of formulating an optimal tenant mix to ensure maximum utilisation of retail space is now recognised and accepted by major mall developers. This will enable them to cash in on retailer interest in upcoming projects that offer not just a good location, but have been optimised in terms of design and their trade and tenant mix.

India awarded 20 projects worth Rs. 6000 cr; 100 mn MMT of port capacity in 9-mth

Mumbai: India awarded 20 projects worth Rs. 6000 crore, creating100 million metric tonnes (MMT) of port capacity in the first 9 months of this financial year, Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping said at an industry conference in Mumbai.

"We have already awarded 20 projects which have a capacity of a little over 100 MMT as against the target 30 projects which will boost the capacity by 250 MMT," he said.

Another 150 million metric tonnes of capacity will be created in the next 3 months of this financial year. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's (JNPT) upcoming fourth container terminal will contribute 64 million metric tonnes to this, he added.

This much delayed container terminal is expected to be awarded in the next one month, Trivedi said. The secretary also said the cash-strapped Dredging Corp of India will borrow Rs. 1000 crore from cash surplus ports such as JNPT in Mumbai, Kandla in Gujarat and Paradip in Odisha. The company's second quarter net profit fell 21.6% to Rs. 9.89 crore.

India & UK signs MoU to enhance the collaboration within the framework of UKIERI

New Delhi: A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) to enhance the collaboration within the framework of UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) . The signing took pkace here in New Delhi today after a bilateral meeting held between the delegations led by between Minister of State (L&E), Government of India Shri K. Suresh, and Minister Mr. Matthew Hancock, Minister of State for Skills & Enterprise, United Kingdom.

The key points of the memorandum are as fpllows:

Focus of this MOU is to collaborate and build partnership in the area of Skills Development and Employment Services. The MoU will be the guiding document for overall collaboration under which the following activities will be supported:
Institutional capacity building of UK and Indian official and institutes handling skill development and employment services
Sharing of technical expertise, building linkages and identification of gaps in the areas of skill development and employment services, improvement in curriculum, benchmarking of assessment, certification and training methods.
Supporting development of employment services in India on the lines of National Careers Service, UK.
Other beneficial projects, in the area of skill development and employment services, mutually agreed.
As a first step, UKIERI will facilitate partnership of Indian stakeholders with the existing Career Services in the UK. Best practices from the UK will be shared with MoLE and other stakeholders to help develop the Indian model. A workshop in this regard would be jointly organized by MoL&E and UKIERI in February 2014. This initiative will be jointly funded by MoLE and UKIERI. The India cost will be borne by MoLE and the UK cost will be borne by UKIERI.
India and the UK will partner on Mentor Councils in the identified priority sectors in responding to the skills demand in the sector and would cover an entire spectrum viz. restructuring of courses, curriculum development, identification and development of good teaching and learning aids, training of trainers with quality, devising assessment mechanisms, improving on the job training etc.
UKIERI will support in providing UK experts for the Mentor Councils for upto 10 sectors through institutional partnership between the MCs set up by MoLE and the National Skill Academies in the UK. Each partnership will be jointly funded by MoLE and UKIERI. The Indian cost of the partnership will be borne by MoLE and the UK cost of the partnership will be borne by UKIERI.

India, S. Korea sign five pacts

New Delhi: India and South Korea have signed 5 agreements at the end of delegation level talks between visiting South Korean President and PM Manmohan Singh.

These include an agreement on peaceful use of outer space and on Nalanda University.

Manmohan has said India and South Korea have concluded Double Taxation Avoidance Convention.

Singh also invited more Korean investments.

Both the countries agreed to set up a CEO forum.

India has also agreed to provide visa on arrival to Korean tourists.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Bajaj Electricals to set up R&D centre, up rural focus

Pune: Bajaj Electricals Ltd plans to establish an integrated R&D centre that will drive innovation and help it create cutting-edge technology across its three business verticals.

The company, which gets nearly half its top-line from the consumer durables and kitchen appliances business, is also increasing its focus on non-urban centres.

It plans to develop appliances specially aimed at the needs of this market, such as mixers and irons.

Citing the example of Bajaj Auto, which has created its own technology for its motorcycles, Shekhar Bajaj, CMD of Bajaj Electricals, said: “The R&D centre will study market needs and make what the

consumer wants.”
While the location is yet to be finalised, it is likely to be around Mumbai, he said.

Anant Bajaj, JMD, said at a press conference here he wants to move away from the mindset of differentiated quality products (appliances) for the export and domestic markets.

“Cutting-edge technology is the only way for products to remain strong,” he said, adding that the product could then be sold across geographies. At present, exports account for a mere 1 per cent of Bajaj Electricals’ sales, and there is a lot of scope on this front, he said. “We may even have some manufacturing and assembly in export free markets to make exports viable,” he added.

As part of a strategy to increase its focus on rural areas, Bajaj Electricals has set up exclusive showrooms that display its entire range of consumer products.

At present, 50 of 68 Bajaj World outlets are in non-urban locations, and the plan is to grow the total number to 100 in the current year.

Turnover target
The company expects to close the current fiscal with 25 per cent growth to a turnover of Rs 4,200 crore, against Rs 3,400 crore last year.

While the consumer durables and lighting businesses will each grow 15 per cent to Rs 2,100 crore and Rs 900 crore, respectively, the projects vertical will see 70 per cent growth to stand at Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 640 crore).

“We want to execute and hand over older projects and close all the gaps by the year-end. Then we can focus on our new order book,” Anant Bajaj said. The company’s projects order book at the end Q3 14 stood at Rs 1,465 crore, and is expected touch Rs 1,500 crore by the end of the fiscal.

“Cutting-edge technology is the only way for products to remain strong.” Anant Bajaj, JMD, Bajaj Electricals

Dr Reddy's Laboratories launches anti-hypertension drug

Hyderabad: City-based pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) on Friday launched Optidoz, a drug for the treatment of hypertension, in the Indian market. "Optidoz is a single pill combination of three anti-hypertensive drugs (Amlodipine 2.5 mg, Telmisartan 20mg and Hydrochlorothiazide 6.25mg) with optimal (half of standard) dose of individual drugs," a company official said.

The drug falls under the cardiovascular segment that fetches DRL around Rs 200-250 crore sales in India. Apart from cardiovascular segment, DRL would be focusing on areas such as diabetes, gastroenterology, oncology, urology and nephrology to boost its domestic business, DRL senior vice-president and India business head for generics Alok Sonig said.

"Around 32% of adult Indian population suffers from high blood pressure and we are looking at tapping 50 -70 million of these total 200 million patients. In the next five to ten years, the product could see sales north of Rs 100 crore," Sonig said.

He pointed out that he expects the company's generic business in India to grow by 8-10% this fiscal. The company along with other pharma players in the country has been under pressure due to the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) and the number of drug launches too have been less this fiscal, he explained. According to him, DPCO had

eroded 5% of DRL's Indian revenue as nearly 15 to 20 products' prices had to be revised.
DPCO is a government's order under the essential commodities act that allows it to fix the prices of essential drugs and their formulations.

NRI deposits swell by $13.71 bn in November

The Reserve Bank of India raised around $25 bn under the swap window facility, which was open till November 30
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts to attract foreign exchange has paid off, with remittances from non-resident Indians (NRIs) touching $13.71 billion in November.

NRI deposits rose in September to $96.25 billion. Under foreign currency non-resident — banks [FCNR(B)] category, they stood at $38.62 billion at end of November, up from $24.70 billion in October, according to RBI data.

Bankers said the swap facility for FCNR(B) deposits did attract money from overseas Indians.

In August and September 2013

, the RBI took many steps to attract NRI deposits.
On September 4, RBI decided to offer banks a window to swap fresh FCNR(B) dollar funds.

Under the window, banks could swap fresh FCNR(B) dollar funds (deposits with a maturity period of at least three years) at a fixed rate of 3.5 per cent a year. The swap window was open till November 30. The RBI raised about $25 billion under this facility in three months.

The other two categories

of NRI deposits — NRE and NRO — saw net outflows in November.
The outstanding NRE deposit base was $ 49.06 billion ($ 49.21 billion in October) and NRO - $ 8.57 billion ($ 8.62 billion in October).

Meanwhile, the central bank sold net $ 10.08 billion in November. It’s outstanding net forward sales at the end of November stood at $ 32.54 billion, up from $ 14.45 billion at end of October.

FIIs inflows cross Rs 3,500 crore mark in the Indian debt market

New Delhi: The overseas investors invested over Rs 3,500 crore in the Indian debt market so far in January 2014, when the US Federal Reserve is scheduled to start reducing its monthly bond purchases by US$ 10 billion.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) invested Rs 545 crore in the equity market. FIIs also bought debt securities worth Rs 8,155 crore and sold bonds worth Rs 4,609 crore till January 10, 2014, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 3,546 crore, as per data provided by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

As of January 10, 2014, the number of registered FIIs in the country stood at 1,724 and the total number of sub-accounts was at 6,400. Their total investment in debt and equity was about Rs 4,091 crore. FIIs inflow in debt market is returning on account of some stability observed in foreign exchange and interest rates, according to market experts.

In 2013, overseas investors retrieved a net amount of Rs 50,847 crore from the bond market, while they infused a net Rs 1,130 billion in equities.

Petrotech 2014: India to showcase 46 oil & gas blocks

New Delhi: The Government will unveil 46 oil and gas blocks on Sunday at Petrotech 2014. The blocks are expected to be auctioned soon under the tenth round of the Government’s New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP X).

According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the explorers would get a view of the geological reserves of the block, while the policy governing the auction would follow in few weeks.

Petrotech 2014, the biennial international oil and gas conference scheduled from January 12, will focus on ‘Vision 2030: The Emerging Global Energy Basket.’ It will discuss the 5Ps (planning, politics, partnership, production and policy) of the E&P (exploration and production) business, said Narendra K. Verma, Chairman, organising and programme committee of Petrotech 2014.

“In this conference, all regulators, national oil companies, private operators, services and ancillary firms, form a combined platform to demonstrate India as a E&P destination,” he said.

Nearly 11 energy ministers from across the world are expected to fly down to the four-day event. Companies from more than 15 countries will participate in the event.

Petrotech 2014 is being jointly organised by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd and the PETROTECH Society. The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily is its patron-in-chief.