Cabinet panel clears decks for listing of 11 PSUs, including IRCTC

New Delhi: To abide by the mandated 25% public shareholding in companies and unlock their value, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved listing of 11 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in the equity market.
The list includes railway subsidiaries Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, IRCON International Ltd, Indian Railway Finance Corp. Ltd, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) and RITES Ltd.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced in his budget speech on 1 February the government’s intention to list railway PSEs.
The other PSEs cleared for listing on stock exchanges include three defence ministry enterprises—Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd—MSTC Ltd and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd under the administrative control of the steel ministry, and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd under the power ministry.
CCEA also approved a discount of up to 5% of the issue price for retail investors and eligible employees of the 11 CPSEs with a view to ensuring wider participation by small investors in the disinvestment programme.
The government said in a statement that the stake sale may include offers of fresh shares for raising resources from the market. “However, actual disinvestment in respect of each CPSE along with the mode of raising resources has been delegated for decisions on a case-by-case basis to the Alternative Mechanism, headed by the finance minister,” it added.
The so-called Alternative Mechanism is a group of ministers headed by Jaitley which decides on the modalities of stake sale in public sector units.
The government set a target of mobilizing Rs46,500 crore from the sale of minority stakes and Rs15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment in the 2017-18 budget.
Under the new disinvestment policy, unveiled in the 2016-17 union budget, CPSEs having a positive net-worth, no accumulated losses and having earned profits in three preceding consecutive years are required to achieve mandatory listing norms of 25% public holding. It also spelt out the mechanism and procedure for time-bound listing of CPSEs.
After the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam), along with the administrative ministry, identifies eligible CPSEs and takes CCEA approval, an inter-ministerial group (IMG) is to be constituted for the appointment of advisors/intermediaries within eight weeks from the date of constitution of the IMG.
Also, the listing of the CPSE on the stock market needs to be completed within 165 days of the administrative department giving its nod.

India and Bangladesh to sign US$ 9-billion investment pacts

New Delhi: Agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth $9 billion of investments into Bangladesh will be signed between the Indian public and private sectors and the Bangladeshi side on Monday. The 12 agreements will include an MoU of $2 billion in investments in the Bangladeshi power sector by Adani Power, a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
Agreements on the anvil
12 MoUs worth $9 billion in investments in Bangladesh to be signed on Monday
These include one MOU of $2 billion for investments in the Bangladesh power sector by Adani Power
Agreements by Reliance Power and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam
Agreement between Container Corporation of India and Container Corporation of Bangladesh
India committed a $4.5-billion line of credit for implementation of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh
Agreements will be signed for investments in Bangladesh by Reliance Power and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam. An agreement will also be inked between the Container Corporation of India and the Container Corporation of Bangladesh.
The agreements will be signed in the presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently on a four-day visit to India, at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event here on Monday.
On Saturday, India committed to a $4.5-billion line of credit for implementation of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, and another $500 million for Dhaka’s defence procurements. In all, the two sides signed 22 agreements across an array of sectors. By the end of the Bangladeshi PM’s visit, as many as 34 agreements would have been signed.
This is the third line of credit to Bangladesh in the past six years, and the largest. For this line of credit, Delhi and Dhaka have identified 17 infrastructure projects. These comprise upgradation of three ports, one airport, new power transmission lines and railway lines.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Saturday the message was that “India has a very positive and effective infrastructure development assistance programme”. He said there was a lot of emphasis from the ministry of external affairs for faster delivery on projects.
In October 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping had visited Dhaka and promised Chinese investments worth $20 billion. Nearly all of India’s neighbours complain of Delhi being laggardly, as compared to the Chinese, in executing its infrastructure projects.
Some of the bigger investments by Indian companies will be in the power and energy sectors. India supplies 600 Mw of power to Bangladesh through two existing interconnections at Bheramara-Baharampur and Tripura-South Comilla. Another 500 Mw will be provided by India through the Bheramara-Baharampur interconnection.
The two sides have agreed to set up additional interconnection between Bornagar in Assam and Parbatipur in Bangladesh, and also Katihar in Bihar, for power evacuation facilities from which Bangladesh can draw 1,000 Mw of power. The two sides are also discussing supply of 340 Mw from various NTPC stations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday he hoped more Indian private sector investments in Bangladesh’s power sector would follow, including possibilities of joint ventures.
On Sunday, Hasina visited Ajmer Sharif to pay her respects at the shrine of Khwaja Moinudding Chishti, a 12th century Sufi saint. She concludes her visit on Monday evening. Her party, the Awami League, said on Sunday they planned a felicitation for her successful visit to India.
Also, however, in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s opposition leader Khaleda Zia accused Hasina of “selling out” the country to India, to translate into reality a “dream of staying in power for life”. Zia, 71, and Hasina, 69, are known as the ‘Battling Begums’ for a bitter rivalry for over three decades.

The Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri Venkaiah Naidu today launched 352 housing projects in 53 cities

This is the First largest private investment initiative in affordable housing
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) members to invest over Rs.38,000 cr to build over two (2) lakh affordable houses
Over one lakh units to be built in Maharashtra, 41,921 houses in National Capital Region, 28,465 in Gujarat, 7,037 in Karnataka, 6,055 in UP
Cost of construction of these houses to be in the range of Rs.15 lakh to Rs.30 lakh per house
New Delhi: The Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu today launched 352 housing projects in 53 cities in 17 States across the country with an investment of over Rs.38,000 cr to build over two lakh (2) houses..
These housing projects to be taken up by the members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) across the country is the first major private investments initiative into affordable housing. These projects were launched at a function in Gandhinagar, Gujarat today. As per the details furnished by CREDAI today, the cost of construction of these affordable houses will be in the range of Rs.15 lakh to Rs.30 lakh with average cost of construction coming to Rs.18 lakh per house.
The event was held in the backdrop of several initiatives by the Government of India to promote affordable housing for Economically Weaker Sections, Low and Middle Income Groups including sanction of ‘infrastructure status’ for the housing sector. The new President of the CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India) took charge of the confederation at the glittering function attended by the Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Rupani, Gujarat Deputy CM Shri Nitinbhai Patel, Gujarat Minister of Urban Development Sh Shankar Chaudhary, outgoing President of CREDAI Sh Gitambar Anand and more than 3000 delegates from across the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Venkaiah Naidu complimented CREDAI and its members for coming forward to invest in affordable housing projects and assured them that his Ministry and Central Nodal Agencies like the National Housing Bank and HUDCO will extend full cooperation in reaching the benefits prescribed under PMAY (Urban) to the beneficiaries who join the projects launched today.
Details of affordable housing projects launched today for implementation are:
State/cities
No of affordable houses to be built
Investment (Cr)
Maharashtra
(Mumbai,Nagpur, Ahmednagar,Jalna, Banm,Nashik, Malegaon,Pune, Satara, Solapur)
1,03,719
15,576
Gujarat
(Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar,Rajkot, Mehsana,
Bharuch, Bhavnagar,Navsari, Modasa,Palanpur,
Swarnakantha,Vadodara, Vapi,Surat)
28,465
9,525
National Capital Region of Delhi
41,921
6,211
Karnataka (Bengaluru, Gulbarga, Hubli)
7,037
1,679
Uttar Pradesh (Agra, Allahabad,Bareily, Jhansi,
Kanpur and Varanasi)
6,055
1,108
Rajasthan(Ajmer, Jaipur,Jodhpur)
4,406
389
West Bengal (Kolkata)
2,955
663
Goa
1,932
464
Telangana (Hyderabad)
1,784
663
Madhya Pradesh (Indore, Ujjain)
1,517
284
Kerala (Trivendrum, Calicut, Kochi, Ernakulam)
1,372
186
Assam (Guwahati)
860
145
Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Coimattore, Tiruchirapalli)
834
145
Odisha (Bhubaneswar)
520
53
Chattisgarh (Raipur)
244
26
Andhra Pradesh (Tirupati)
50
10
Shri Naidu said while Mahatma ensured political freedom for our country, Sardar Patel ensured its unification, Shri Modi is now working on giving content and real meaning to these accomplishments through building a New India.
The Minister said such a New India has no meaning if we don’t ensure houses for all and that too in a specific time frame. He said that the Prime Minister Shri Modi has set the year 2022 as the deadline for roofing all Indians.
Shri Naidu said that within a short span of just 21 months since the launch of PMAY(Urban) in June, 2015, his Ministry has earlier approved construction of 17.73 lakh affordable houses for urban poor with an investment of Rs.95,660 cr in 30 States and Union Territories.. For building these houses, central assistance of Rs.27,879 cr has also been approved, he said.
These approved projects are to be executed with assistance from central and state governments and beneficiary contribution under the four components of PMAY (Urban). Under this urban housing mission, central assistance in the range of Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.2.35 lakh will be provided to each beneficiary. PMAY (Urban) was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015.
The Government of India on December 31, 2017 extended the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme component of PMAY (Urban) to Middle Income Groups with annual incomes in the range of Rs.12 lakh to Rs.18 lakh under which interest subsidy of 4% and 3% on housing loans will be provided. With this, beneficiaries belonging to EWS, LIG and MIG with annual incomes up to Rs.18 lakh have been brought under the ambit of PMAY (Urban) opening up substantial investment opportunities for developers both at the bottom and middle of the pyramid.

Horticulture exports jump in Apr-Feb

Mumbai: India is stepping up horticulture (fruit and vegetables) exports with improvements in quality and a focus on a market-specific approach.
The data compiled by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) show India’s exports of fresh fruit have jumped 20.95 per cent in volumes and 17.4 per cent in value during the period between April 2016 and February 2017.
This shows a sharp reversal in trends until last year, when importers overseas were monitoring the quality of horticulture products from India. Many buyers in the European Union and West Asia had suspended imports of fruit and vegetables from India on grounds of quality.
Horticulture has a 10 per cent share in India’s agri and processed food exports recorded by Apeda.
“India has become quality-conscious. Indian horticulture products like fruit and vegetables were not allowed in a number of countries earlier. For example, grapes and mangoes from India were not exported to the European countries. But, market access has been provided now. Most importantly, Indian exporters are focusing on organic products, which have greater demand overseas and also fetch higher realisations. All these have helped India perform well. Still, India is nowhere near its potential and we can look forward to a big jump in horticulture exports,” said Ajay Sahai, director-general and chief executive officer, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
India’s exports of fresh vegetables declined to 699,600.34 tonnes in 2015-16 from 953,731.22 tonnes in 2013-14.
“We have been working closely with farmers in Maharashtra. We train and help them to adopt the best technologies in cultivating grapes. Over the years, we have been able to build a strong farmer outreach programme, having moved up from 12 growers in 2004-05 to more than 600 today. Each year, we are seeing an increase in the number of farmers approaching us for advice in cultivating exportable grapes,” said Ashok Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer, Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd, an agri arm of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M).
The entry of large companies including M&M into the farm-to-fork business has helped grapes exports. India’s fresh grapes exports shot up to 156,218.34 tonnes in 2015-16 from 107,257.81 tonnes in the previous year.
“Apart from fresh fruit, India must explore exports of processed horticulture products,” said a senior industry official.
India’s exports of cereals have declined or witnessed marginal growth with shipments of basmati rice falling by a marginal 3.4 per cent in volumes and over 14 per cent in value in the period between April and February.
Exports of non-basmati rice, however, rose by a marginal 2.2 per cent and 4.94 per cent in volume and value terms, respectively.

SAIC signs deal with General Motors to take over Halol plant

New Delhi: China’s largest automaker SAIC Motor Corp has signed a deal with General Motors to buy its GM India’s Halol plant in Gujarat, the company said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The company did not disclose anything more on the agreement in its Shanghai filing.
The Shanghai-based manufacturer and the American giant had been in talks regarding the handover of the plant, where GM India started making Opel cars in 1996, and Chevrolets from 2003. The facility with an annual production capacity of 110,000 volumes was underutilised over the last few years due to its falling sales and failure to revive with no good product mix.
Last year, Detroit-headquartered General Motors pulled back its $1 billion investment in India amid falling sales and consequent plunge in market share. The company will end operations at the Halol plant on April 28.
SAIC, formerly Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation, will take over the plant’s operations as it plans to enter India soon. The Competition Commission’s had already given approval to SAIC Motor HK, part of China’s SAIC Motor Corp, in January this year to acquire certain assets of the Halol plant.
In China, SAIC Motor Corp makes cars in joint ventures with General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG in addition to own-brand vehicles. The company in its Shanghai Stock Exchange filing also reported a 7.4% jump in 2016 profits, though missing its own expectations marginally.
Meanwhile, General Motors India will continue making cars at its Talegaon factory near Pune which has annual capacity of 170,000 volumes. The Chevrolet India-parent last month also signed a three-year wage agreement with 2,500 workers of the Talegaon plant. Under the wage pact for the period April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020, the average salaries of the employees will go up by Rs 22,000 at the end of the period.
Detroit is also taking a good second look at GM’s India plans now, since none of its recent products have failed to steer a turnaround for the company.

India to soon start auction process for commercial coal mines

New Delhi: The Government of India plans to start the auction process of commercial coal mines in the near future. The Coal Ministry awaits the feedback on the discussion paper floated on this matter. These mines would be free from any restrictions on the end use of coal, and would also provide the freedom to manage production, pricing and marketing strategy to the private players. The auction would include both big and small blocks for commercial mining of coal. The technical qualifications for bidders should have a minimum net worth of Rs 1,500 crore (US$ 230.61 million). Furthermore, they should also have an experience of excavating or handling a minimum of 25 million cubic metre per annum during the previous three years.

Consumption-linked sectors drove rating upgrades in FY17: Crisil

Mumbai: In financial year 2016-17, consumption-linked sectors such as auto ancillaries, packaging and agricultural products continued to drive upgrades, while downgrades continued to dominate investment-linked sectors such as real estate, metals and construction and industrial machinery, said rating agency Crisil Ratings.
Consumption was aided by monsoon, implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission and One Rank One Pension (OROP) recommendations but demonetisation became a dampener towards the end of calendar 2016, especially for rural consumption, the rating agency said in a report, Round-up Fiscal 2017.
Demonetisation also slowed down the pace of upgrades of consumption-linked sectors, it added.
According to the Crisil report, the pace of downgrades declined in the metals sector due to stabilization in prices, policy support in the form of anti-dumping duty and minimum import price and gradual improvement in demand from affordable housing, urban infrastructure and railways.
The rating agency’s upgrade rate moderated to 9.4% in FY17 from 11.3% in FY16, while the downgrade rate declined to 7.7% from 8.4% in the period. Crisil’s rating portfolio for fiscal year 2017 saw 1,335 upgrades compared to 1,092 downgrades in FY17.
“This helped the credit ratio hold above 1 time in fiscal 2017 at 1.22 times—or quite similar to 1.29 times in fiscal 2016,” Crisil said.
It added that the credit quality of corporate India is gradually recovering but underpinning remains fragile still. In fiscal year 2017, debt-weighted credit ratio—the ratio of debt held by firms whose debt ratings have been upgraded against that of firms whose ratings have been downgraded—improved to a five-year high of 0.88 time, against 0.31 time in 2015-16, Crisil said.
The rating agency also said that almost half of rating actions were because of financial profile reasons as almost three-fourths of rating actions in fiscal year 2017 were in the sub-investment grade (“BB” or lower).
The financial reasons for upgrade were better liquidity and improvement in capital structure, while business reasons were mainly robust demand growth and improvement in operating margins.
“Firms upgraded in fiscal 2017 continued to display distinctly better profile compared with those downgraded. Upgraded firms in general had higher profitability, lower indebtedness and better working capital management,” it added.
Liquidity was the key financial reason for more than a third of the downgrades, stemming from lower cash accrual and higher bank limit utilisation. “Weak demand, pressures on operating profitability, and elongated working capital cycle were the main business reasons for downgrades,” Crisil said.
Meanwhile, CARE Ratings said that in March 2017, its Ratings Debt Quality Index (CDQI) saw the largest decline in FY17 to 89.81, influenced primarily by a few downgrades in “AAA” and “A” category ratings. CDQI denotes the quality of debt that can be interpreted over time and juxtaposed with other developments in the financial sector. “Currently, the volume of debt of the sample companies stands at Rs29.53 lakh crore in March 2017,” CARE Ratings said in a note.

UK exchequer chancellor Hammond urges strong ties with India in fintech

Mumbai: British chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond on Wednesday said the United Kingdom and India can become strong partner nations in the financial technology (fintech) industry as UK is keen to make its market truly global after its exit from European Union, while on the other hand, investments into India’s fintech sector have been rising over the past year.
Hammond is on a three-day tour called FinTech Trade Mission to India to engage in dialogue with the Indian finance ministry, financial regulators and other industry bodies in order to strengthen UK’s e-conomic and trading relations with the country.
“The vote for the UK to leave the EU was clear. It reflected a desire for Britain to make its own decisions and to determine its own destiny. But it wasn’t a vote for isolation…British companies have invested more in India since 2000 than the United States or any other European nation has done. And investment from UK companies accounts for 1 in 20 Indian jobs in the organised private sector. Indian companies, meanwhile, invest more in Britain than in the rest of the EU put together,” Hammond said while speaking at a conference in Mumbai.
Hammond said Indian companies such as the Tata Group are among the biggest employers in the UK, transforming British businesses with their focused management and long-term investments.
“In the last year we’ve seen the creation of a whole new market, with the world’s first masala bonds issued in London – raising over $1.5 billion. To date, almost 80% of all masala bonds have been issued in London. And we will see even more, very soon from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency and the National Highways Authority of India…the UK and India can collaborate to our mutual advantage – in FinTech,” said Hammond.
There are at least 15 India-headquartered banks which are engaged in international banking businesses in the UK. On the other hand, there are several British financial services firms that are present in India’s insurance, asset management, fintech and banking industries.
Hammond hinted that strengthening ties with UK may fulfil India’s appetite for investments, particularly in infrastructure.
“India has 220 million active smartphone users–over three times the entire UK population. What’s more, India’s demonetisation programme means its financial services sector is undergoing a significant transformation…New fintech payment firms, small finance lenders, and insurance players are entering the market. These firms will be crucial in helping the RBI achieve its target of 90% of the population having access to banking services by 2034,” said Hammond.

RIL gets green nod for Rs 13,250cr Dahej unit expansion project

New Delhi, Apr 4 () Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has received environment clearance for expansion and debottlenecking of its Dahej petrochemical facility in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 13,250 crore.
The Mukesh Ambani-led firm wants to expand its Dahej facility located in Bharuch district in view of erratic supply of feed stock, change in the government's policy to prioritise domestic supply over industrial sector, adequate supply of Shale gas ethane from the US, besides meeting demand-supply gap of petrochemicals in India.
"Based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee (Industry), the Environment Ministry has given the environmental clearance for RIL's expansion project yesterday," a senior government official said.
The green nod to the proposed project, which will be carried out within the existing plant area of 700 hectare, is subject to some conditions, the official said.
The estimated cost of the project is Rs 13,250 crore. A budget of Rs 400 crore will be kept aside for environment protection and conservation.

The fuel used for the proposed project would largely be ethane, lean gas and off gas. The power required for the project will be met from the existing captive power plant.
As per the proposal, RIL Dahej facility presently utilises a mixture of ethane and propane to produce downstream products and by-products.
Dahej facility proposes to modify its feedstock ratio of ethane and propane in the gas cracker plant owing to the availability of shale gas ethane imported from the US.
This change in feedstock mixture will result in higher production of ethylene.
The RIL's proposal also include setting up of new plants including Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride (CPVC), Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and a dedicated Ethane storage tank. LUX MR

Car majors hit top gear in last lap of FY17

New Delhi: Carmakers achieved their best domestic sales figures in March, the last month of the financial year 2016-17, since demonetisation, with more than 10 per cent growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
The sector sold over three million units in FY17, a milestone. In FY16, 2.78 million units were sold. India, the fifth-largest passenger vehicle market globally (cars, vans and utility vehicles), had registered a volume growth of about nine per cent in FY17.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, 2016, sucking out about 86 per cent of the currency in circulation and hitting demand. Car volumes started recovering in January this year.
The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported a domestic sale of 127,695 vehicles, growing at 7.4 per cent over March 2016. The growth was led by the compact and utility vehicle segment. In FY17, domestic volume of the company stood at 1.44 million, up 10.6 per cent from the previous year.
R S Kalsi, executive director (marketing and sales) at Maruti, said, “Demand for the company’s products remains strong and it continues to see healthy orders for products such as Brezza and Baleno.”

Korean carmaker Hyundai, the second-largest player in the Indian market, reported a growth of 8.6 per cent in March. Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), said three products — Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta — drove the March numbers, which stood at 44,757 vehicles. For the entire year, the company sold a record 0.5 million vehicles in the country, growing at more than five per cent.
Utility vehicle major M&M is yet to announce its March numbers. However, it is learnt to be the only player in the list of top five to have shown a decline. The company’s volume is estimated to have declined around six per cent to 25,352 units last month. M&M, the third-largest player in the domestic market, has not seen a single month of growth since demonetisation.
Its full-year performance is also impacted and volume growth has been flat.
Tata Motors has reported a strong volume growth of 82 per cent for March. The company sold 15,433 vehicles in the domestic market during March. Its volume growth in FY17 was 22 per cent.
Mayank Pareek, president of the company’s passenger vehicle business unit, said the demand remained high for Tiago and Hexa. Tata Motors launched a compact sedan Tigor on Wednesday and anticipates stronger growth ahead.
Japanese auto major Honda, which occupies the fifth position in the domestic market, has started seeing growth after a long gap on account of two new products — the new Honda City and the WRV.
Its Japanese peer Toyota has shown a much stronger performance with 80 per cent growth last month. N Raja, director and senior vice-president (sales and marketing), said Toyota is riding on two products — Innova Crysta and Fortuner. Launched almost a year ago, Crysta still commands a waiting of one month.
Renault, which has seen a strong growth in past many months owing to Kwid, is apparently seeing a base effect. Its volume in March declined close to two per cent. A healthy double-digit growth was also posted by Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen.
Amit Kaushik, managing director for the Detroit-based automobile consultancy Urban Science in India, said volumes were being driven by positive sentiments, new launches and favourable interest rates.

“Apprehensions of price increase in the new financial year have also triggered purchases,” he added.