Andhranews

New Delhi, Aug. 20: The Indian biotechnology industry has demanded that the proposed new drug authority, being considered by the ministry of health and family welfare, should be an independent statutory body on the lines of Trai and IRDA.
Industry representatives from the biotechnology wing of Ficci, who met Dr M.K Bhan, secretary at the department of biotechnology, suggested that the proposed new drug authority, being considered on the lines of the US FDA, should be an independent statutory body. A scientific advisory board should be created for that specific purpose, comprising persons of eminence who can guide its functioning.

Suggestions were also made that the new drug authority should be adequately staffed with trained scientists. The transition from the old to the new drug administration should be smooth in order to not adversely impact the industry. The industry called for adoption of special procedures for speedy transfer and early clearance for perishable biological material. This could be achieved through a single-window clearance by the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI). At present, clearances are required from the ministry of environment and forests and the drugs controller.

Thus, approvals take anywhere between three to four months. It was noted that the income-tax department does not treat clinical research expenditure as R&D expenditure. Suggestion was made that the DBT should take up the issue with the concerned agencies. On the issue of service tax for clinical research, considering the potential of the industry and the competition it faces from other countries, it was suggested that instead of taxing or giving financial relief, DBT should consider exemption from service tax.

Industry expressed concern at the 37 per cent duty on instruments, which makes R&D more expensive. India pays 37 per cent plus 27 per cent on the list price. It was observed that most of the equipment for biotechnology and medical research does not attract any basic customs duty. However, additional customs duty, educational cess and cumulative additional cess (16+2+2) are charged. It was suggested that there should be no excise duty charged on these equipment.

Mumbai, Aug. 20: The directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) has found itself in a spot due to the controversy surrounding the evaluation process for the CBM III bids. DGH allegedly used its discretionary power to allocate 3 crucial marks to favour some bidders in the fiercely-competed bidding process.

Sources said that in view of the non-transparency and subjectivity involved with the award of the 3 marks, which were based on subjective criteria, the government bids should evaluate the bids on the basis of 97 points only. The point of contention is the way the DGH fixed the criterion for awarding the crucial 3 points.

RNRL, which was sure of winning a sizeable share of the bids, has pointed out to the government in the past that the 3 marks forming part of the evaluation criteria, over which DGH and ministry of petroleum and natural gas have discretion of award, may play a decisive role in selecting the winning bidder. But the empowered committee of secretaries chaired by the secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas which discussed the issue on August 10, discounted the RNRL contention.

They pointed out that discretion on the marks was contained in the NIO. Now the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will have to discuss this controversial issue, which also means the government either gaining or losing Rs 2,100 crores. This decision of the DGH ensured that RNRL, which was expected to win 6 of the ten blocks it bid for, would now get only 4 blocks.

Sources indicated that this decision would lead to a loss of nearly Rs 2,100 crores for the government as the bid submitted by RNRL had proposed a higher revenue by way of performance-linked payments.

New Delhi, Aug. 20: Steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal may have muscled acquisition of European giant Arcelor but his ambition to make it big in oil and gas sector is coming unstuck as his partner ONGC appears not keen on a venture the two giants had agreed last year. Mittal last week wrote to the government about delays in shaping up of ONGC-Mittal Energy Services Ltd (OMESL), a JV company that was to trade and ship oil and gas (including LNG), industry sources aid.

After the exit of high-profile Subir Raha, the brainchild of the coming together of India’s largest oil and gas producer and world’s largest steel maker, ONGC has reversed several decisions of the July, 2005 MoU. Sources said ONGC has refused deputation of its employees to the ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) — the company formed to acquire oil and gas properties abroad and OMESL.

It has also reversed the decision to open an office in New Delhi, sources said adding the Indian firm this month cancelled interviews for recruitment of professionals to OMEL. The Mittal letter pointed to delays on the part of ONGC to register oil companies with OMESL, a pre-requisite to begin trading in crude oil and petro products. Frustrated at the delays, Mittal is believed to have begun talking to global giants like Chevron, Exxon mobil for an oil trading venture.

Sources said ONGC was willing to continue with OMEL but with a skeletal staff. On OMESL, the PSU’s new management has privately said the oil-trading business does not form its core competence and would therefore prefer to exit from it. A senior ONGC official said oil trading was an unrelated business activity and as such required parent company guarantees.

“Extending parent company guarantees to an unrelated business is something the board will have to decide.” The two ventures with Mittal Steel were part of the ONGC vision to become a $50 billion company 2010. Besides global footprint, the company had planned major downstream forays into oil refining, retailing ,petrochemicals and lng business. However, the downstream projects have come under oil ministry scanner and a couple of them like fuel-retailing and new refineries at Mangalore and Kakinada have already faced the axe.

New Delhi, Aug. 20: A recent World bank study on India points out that while the services sector in India is booming, agricultural productivity is declining. World bank has said that Indian should fundamentally change agricultural policies to reverse the slide in agricultural productivity. Other prime areas of concern for the economy, as pointed out by this report, are shortages in infrastructure and employment for the masses. The study points out that the average agricultural growth has decelerated from 3.2 per cent in 1980-92 to 2.4 per cent in 1992-2003, falling to 1.3 per cent over the past few years, against a Tenth Plan target of four per cent a year.

Agricultural experts also agree with the view contained in this report that in India, agricultural subsidies tend to benefit only some farmers in a few states. It may be pointed out here that agricultural subsidies include food grain and fertiliser subsidies, State government power and irrigation subsidies.

Rajesh Hukku is chairman and managing director of i-flex solutions Ltd., which is stated to be India’s first software product company specialising in solutions for the financial services industry. Mr Hukku, an engineer by training from BITS Pilani, founded i-flex solutions in 1992, after a long stint with Tata Consultancy Services, where he was involved in the development of a stock trading system for a global wire service.

What does Mantas, Inc., which i-flex said it was acquiring last week for $122.6 million (Rs 581.5 crore), bring to the table?
Software for risk and compliance by corporations is a big business opportunity in the United States. It is estimated to be a $20 billion business. Mantas has a leadership position in this segment, especially in anti-money laundering and surveillance at broking houses. i-flex has Reveleus, a suite of analytical applications for the financial services industry. Reveleus and Mantas’ Behaviour Detection Platform will complete the entire spectrum of solutions for anti-money laundering, risk and compliance. Mantas is very complementary to i-flex’s own products.

India is home to only a handful of software product companies. Why do you think India hasn’t been able to make as much of a mark in product development as it has in software services?
Right from the time when the first Indian company began offering software services in the late sixties, India has focused on this segment. And why not? The demand for services has been growing, and India has the depth of service offerings to leverage this huge demand. Software services are going to be big business. i-flex, too, has its services business, with a strong domain knowledge in the financial services industry. We also have BPO services, again in the financial services space.

One of the reasons I believe why India has yet to make a mark in software product development is that the business requires a lot of investment for developing the IP (intellectual property) and for building a brand.

What prompted i-flex to go into product development, instead of growing the software services business?
When we founded i-flex, we were clear that the focus would be on software products and consulting, exclusively for the financial services industry. We also had a major investor in Citigroup, the world’s largest financial services firm. We developed the IP for Flexcube, our core banking platform, which is now in operation at banks around the world.

Why the exclusive focus on financial services?
We have built capacity and expertise in this sector. Software products and services account for over 60 per cent of the total IT spend annually, so there will be enough business in this sector for the next 50 years. For our part, we are developing domain knowledge in the insurance sector and investment banking where we believe we can continue to provide value to our clients.

Oracle acquired the Citigroup’s 41 per cent stake in i-flex for $593 million in August last year. Does Oracle, as the single largest shareholder, drive i-flex from the backseat?
Not at all. We had Citigroup as the major shareholder, but Citigroup allowed us to do our own thing. We had complete control on the running of the company, deciding on product development and consulting. Oracle’s president, Charles E. Phillips, Jr., is a member of the i-flex board of directors, which dem-onstrates the importance Oracle attaches to i-flex and its operations. Oracle is there to support us. Oracle’s sales people help in marketing i-flex products like Flexcube and Reveleus around the world. Oracle is like a mother ship for us, on whom we can depend for support

Oracle will in fact be funding i-flex’s acquisition of Mantas, by investing $125 million in i-flex through a preferential allotment at Rs 1,307.5 per share. I-flex will be issuing about 44.5 lakh equity shares to Oracle. Post the allotment, Oracle’s stake in i-flex will increase from 52.5 per to 55.1 per cent, and it will also be making an open offer, as required by Sebi, to buy up to 20 per cent of the outstanding shares. So, will Oracle buy up the entire company eventually, and get the company de-listed from the Indian bourses?
Who owns how much of i-flex is not important. The market dynamics for i-flex will remain the same to our customers and employees. We will continue to work with clients and develop products and solutions that will help them.

But, though Oracle indicated last year that i-flex will continue to be a listed entity in India, its record of past acquisitions indicates that the acquired company is usually submerged into Oracle, becoming divisions of the company. Are you worried that i-flex will eventually end up as a division of Oracle?
I don’t worry about anything. As I said, for us who owns what in the company is not important. Our agenda is to constantly upgrade our products like Flexcube and Reveleus, increasing their industrial strength, and in becoming the company of choice for banks and other financial institutions for their IT needs. Our vision is to evolve into such a company in the next three years, where our clients will turn to us for help in improving their technology.

But if Oracle decides to eventually de-list i-flex, what do you think will be the impact on shareholders?
Shareholders of i-flex have been rewarded. We founded i-flex with only Rs 4 crore, and Citigroup realised $593 million from its investment of $40-0,000, while the M-cap of i-flex is now over Rs 10,000 crore.

Orbit Corporation Limited has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Sebi for entering the capital markets with its IPO.
The company proposes to offer 91 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium to be decided thr-ough a 100 per cent book-building process, along with one detachable warrant per equity share, which may be converted into the equity share of the company at a later date, according to the DRHP.

The issue of equity shares will constitute 25.09 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue equity capital pri-or to the conversion of the detachable warrants, and 40.11 per cent, assuming full conversion of the detachable warrants.
A real estate construction and development company with a primary focus on redevelopment of existing properties, Orbit is currently executing 12 redevelopment projects of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai.

Voltamp Transformers float on Aug. 24:

Voltamp Transformers Ltd. has fixed a price band of Rs 295 to Rs 345 for its proposed offer for sale of 48.8 lakh equity shares. The IPO will open on August 24 and close on August 29.

“We believe the listing will enhance our visibility and also provide liquidity for our existing shareholders,” said L.H. Patel, chairman and MD, Voltamp Transformers. The IPO, which doesn’t involve any fresh issue of shares, makes up 48.27 per cent of the post issue paid-up capital of the company, with the founders’ stake going down to 51.73 per cent after the public offering.

According to Mr Patel, 244,192 shares will be reserved for the company’s employees, reducing the net offer to the public to 46.4 lakh shares. The company, which manufactures transformers, is planning to enter the export market, as it sees significant growth prospects for dry type transformer in the West Asia, Africa and South-East Asia.

Suri Venkat joins Sify as Chief Operating Officer:
Sify Ltd. has appointed Suri Venkat as its Chief Operating Officer. Mr Venkat is a graduate of the Delhi University with an Honours Degree in Economics, and has a Masters in Human Resource Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. Mr Venkat comes with years of rich experience in change management, business development and human resource systems.

Worldspace India appoints Jain as CMO:
Worldspace India, a provider of satellite-based digital radio services, anno-unced the appointment of Harshad Jain as Chief Marketing Officer for its operations. Mr Jain will be responsible for extending the Worldspace service to markets across India, enhancing consumer experiences and building upon growing brand awareness levels in the country. Mr Jain joins Worldspace from Pepsico India.

MMTC promotes Sanjiv Batra as CMD:
Sanjiv Batra has taken over as the next chairman and managing director of MMTC Ltd from being director, marketing. Mr Batra brings aboard a wide and varied experience of 12 years in international trade department at Bhel before joining MMTC. He has worked with MMTC in India and its subsidiary, MMTC Transnational Pte Ltd. Singapore for 20 years.

Venugopalan is head of HR at Virtusa India:
Virtusa Corporation, a global provider of software development solutions and information technology services, has appointed Murali Venugopalan as director, human resources. Based in Chennai, Mr Venugopalan will play the role of HR partner for one of the two Asia business units and also double up as head of human resources at the India office.

American business has a great tradition of salesmanship. Connecticut Yankees lugged tin pots and wooden clocks to remote farmhouses. Chevrolet dealers went door-to-door in their campaign to beat Ford in the 1920s. While tales of salesmen and their exploits are often recounted, far less attention is paid to the work of sales managers.

Starting in the late 19th century, they carved up the nation into sales territories, assigned quotas and set commission rates. They provided their sales forces with product descriptions and data. In looking for ways to measure the success of their teams’ efforts, they counted leads, items sold and revenues.

The most successful sales leaders also offered inspiration, enthusiasm and an effective sales message. Selling the sales force, motivating it by giving it a clear mission, often proved tougher than selling the product. But the return on their efforts was good: Turnover rates stayed low, and performance remained high.

One of the early masters of motivation was John H. Patterson, who founded National Cash Register in 1884. Patterson was determined to create a force of white-collar representatives, removed from the ranks of peddlers and drummers. He urged his salesmen to wear good suits and to stay in the best hotels, and he lectured them on health and manners. He also gave them solid training in the use of the product.

Starting in 1906, salesmen who made their quotas were allowed to join the company’s prestigious Hundred Point Club, whose members were rewarded with an all-expenses-paid trip to the factory and a prize of $150 in gold. Annual conventions lasted a week and featured talks by Patterson and the other officers of the company.

At the factory, the “Hundred Pointers” were greeted with celebratory flags and posters and were cheered by NCR’s thousands of employees. Mr Patterson also tried other tricks, including enlisting the help of the salesmen’s wives. He ran contests in which salesmen competed for dining tables or china sets, and he invited the wives to come to the factory to see plays and hear lectures. Hanging on the walls were lists of things a wife could do to help her husband succeed, including instructions to “serve simple, well-cooked food,” “see that he gets enough sleep” and “take a real interest in his sales record.”

But Mr Patterson believed that the best way to motivate salespeople was to give them an arsenal of meaningful sales arguments. In 1894, he inaugurated one of the nation’s first company-run sales schools. The initial course lasted six weeks and covered basic retail accounting skills and methods of demonstrating the product.

As the school grew, it added a mock grocery store and butcher shop. Sales recruits were required to describe to the “proprietors” why they needed to buy a cash register and what differentiated the NCR machine from its usually less expensive competitors. Mr Patterson was ahead of his time in realising that the key to salesmanship was not in selling things — whether they were books, lightning rods or cash registers — but in selling solutions.

NCR agents were told never to push the product during their initial sales call but instead to ask questions about the way a shop owner kept receipts and monitored inventory; they could discuss the machine on the next call. The least effective agents, Mr Patterson thought, were those who felt they had nothing practical to offer customers or who felt they had to rely on personality to close a sale. Better to find out what the customer needed.
Mr Patterson’s techniques may seem quaint today, but his strategy is more relevant than ever: Teach recruits effective arguments, and work with veterans to keep sales messages current. Then, sell the sales force with everything you’ve got.

Your job as a leader requires creating a vision that not only paints a compelling future but also inspires people to want to make the journey there. In my work as a leadership consultant, I have consistently seen that the best visions are balancing acts: They promise big things but are expressed simply. They create a sense of shared purpose but also speak to people on an individual level. They are ambitious but actionable. Consider this vision statement: “Our goal is to become the leading producer of servers for the health care business.” The goal is big; the articulation of the goal is as simple as can be. What follows are other suggestions for crafting a compelling vision.

DESCRIBE THE VISION IN REAL TERMS

As grand as the vision may be, you must make it real for your employees — give people a clear sense of what the organisation will look like when the vision has been achieved. One technique is to create a mock-up of a business magazine dated sometime in the future that features a cover story on your company. Inside the mock journal are articles about how the company has delivered on its vision. If you can make the vision tangible, you can develop specific strategies and tactics to make it achievable.

FOCUS THE VISION AND COMMIT TO IT

As big and as broad as your vision must be, you must also keep it focused and concrete enough for everyone to grasp it and buy into it. That is precisely the tactic that Carlos Ghosn adopted when he became CEO of Nissan in 1999. He and his team shaped a visionary strategy that would cut costs, reduce debt and begin to restore the company to profitability. In his communications, he emphasised this one big idea: that Nissan could succeed if everyone would do his part to implement the Nissan Revival Plan, and the plan provided concrete action steps for making that vision a reality.

SHARE THE VISION PROCESS

In the development of even the highest-level visions, managers should seek input from all parts of the organisation. You can form a vision committee comprising people from multiple disciplines. Gather people at an offsite location to discuss the vision; offsite locations work best because they minimise interruptions. Ask a facilitator to stage activities to spark thought.

The cellular modem market is not in its infant stage anymore. Cellular modem shipments will exceed five million units this year and embedded cellular modems are starting to emerge in the market. According to In-Stat, a high-tech market-research firm, embedded cellular modems, a substitute to PCMCIA cards, should represent 10 per cent of total cellular modem shipments this year and about 45 per cent in 2011.

PCMCIA stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, and pronounced as separate letters, says Webopidia. PCMCIA is an organisation consisting of some 500 companies that has developed a standard for small, credit card-sized devices, called PC cards. Originally designed for adding memory to portable computers, the PCMCIA standard has been expanded several times and is now suitable for many types of devices. There are in fact three types of PCMCIA cards. All three have the same rectangular size (85.6 by 54 millimeters), but different widths.

According to In-Stat, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba are the first computer manufacturers to offer this technology to the public. PCMCIA cards have become handy for business travellers. However, the recent launch of embedded cellular modem PCs is changing the way people look at cellular modems while raising challenging questions on compatibility and price. Currently, cellular modems — PCMCIA and embedded — represent a significant investment for users.

The card and subscription costs are still very high and people need to own two different cards and subscription plans to have a full geographic coverage. Some service providers such as Sprint and Clearwire are choosing other technologies like WiMAX and WiFi. However, we are still in the early stages of technology development and the deployment of one technology versus another will have a direct impact on the cellular modem card’s appeal.

In-flight Internet
Days after Boeing announced that that it would be discontinuing Connexion, the in-flight Internet service, other companies have jumped it to attempt to fill the breach. Once such company, ASiQ, says that the discontinuation of Boeing allowed it offer low-cost in-flight Internet service. The ASiQ package comprises an Inmarsat broadband link, with WiFi access and is compatible with the aircraft’s existing onboard network.

The hardware platform is scheduled to be available in 2007. “Connexion were too far ahead of their time. There is no comparison with the technology available today to what they launched with back in 2000,” says Ron Chapman, ASiQ’s president.

Continuing their upward march amid bouts of profit taking, both the Sensex and the Nifty gained over 2.5 per cent to close at 11,466 and 3,357 for the week ended. Positive global cues like cessation of hostilities in West Asia, falling crude oil prices, firm global markets and renewed FII buying fuelled the momentum and kept the markets buoyant.

Good sector rotation by the bulls was seen with oil and gas counters taking lead after bank stocks took a break. With more sectors like pharma and capital goods joining the party, the rally is becoming broad-based. A surge in volumes and positive market breadth indicate wider participation from market players. In the next few weeks, barring any unforeseen developments and routine profit taking, liquidity flows will drive the sentiment.

Crossing of resistance zone of 11,500-600 by the Sensex with good volumes may see it vault past the 12,000 mark in the next few weeks.
Confident bulls are already touting new highs for indices before Diwali. For the week ahead, chartists predict a trading band of 11,240-11,760 for the Sensex and 3,210-3,560 for the Nifty. Hold on to long positions with trailing stop loss to ride the rally profitably.

F&O SEGMENT

Last week’s F&O data indicates a rising net long open interest and modest build up of fresh short sales. Good follow up build up of long positions was seen in several counters. Sentiment indicators like open interest, implied volatility and put/call ratio point to a bullish outlook. However, in the upmove closer to 3,460 level on the Nifty a sharp bout of profit taking is not ruled out. Short weakness may set in if Nifty futures slip and trade below 3,320.

Build up of open interest indicates positive trend in side counters like REL, Orchid, NDTV, M&M, Jet Airways, India Cements, IDFC, CESC, GNFC, GE Shipping and Glaxo. Cement majors ACC and Gujarat Ambuja Cement may touch new highs in the coming weeks. Sharp buying in oil and gas counters indicates positive news flow.

Stay invested in HPCL, BPCL, IOC and Chennai Petro for further gains. A rebound in bank counters is likely. True to predictions IndusInd Bank flared up after the announcement of restructuring. Buy private bank stocks like KTK Bank, Federal Bank and UTI Bank for short term gains. Hold on to pharma counters for healthy returns in the medium term. Auto majors Tata Motors and Maruti Udyog may cross Rs 1,000 mark in the next few weeks. Renewed buying interest is also indicated in two wheeler stocks such as Hero Honda and TVS Motor.

SATTA GUPCHUP

* Activity in the mid-cap and small-cap stocks has been on the rise with some stocks like Amara Raja, Educomp, KLG Systel, Camlin, Tyche Inds and LN Polyesters touching new highs on strong buying interest. Renewed buying in Indraprastha Medical, Ankur Drugs, Indian Card, TV18, Elder Pharma, Steel Strips Wheels and Pricol has seen the counters buzzing.
With the unlisted Global Broadcast, an associate company of TV18, filing for IPO punters are buying into TV18 for short-term gains.
Mid-cap pharma stocks are back in the limelight. Strong interested buying was seen in Tyche Inds, Ankur Drugs and Elder Pharma. Buy at current levels for short term gains.

* Select B group counters like ISMT, Spentex Inds, IPCA Labs, Glenmark, Astra Microwave, Cadila Health and Switching Technologies have started moving up again after good accumulation. Further gains are indicated in the counters. Spentex after its string of acquisitions has emerged as one of the larger textile players. Astra Micro has reportedly received a large defence order.

Realty counters led by Mahindra Gesco have started building up gains again. Manufacturing companies with real estate assets like Bata, Hindustan Motors and others are also back in the shopping list of punters. More speculative gains are indicated in real estate stocks.

C. Kutumba Rao is a Hyderabad-based stock market analyst. The views expressed and the recommendations made are those of the author. Readers are strongly recommended to consult
their financial advisors before making any financial investments. This newspaper is not lia-ble for investment decisions made on the basis of recommendations in these columns.

Kalinganagar (Orissa), Aug. 20: The first batch of 29 youths, nominated from the families to be displaced by the Tata Steel’s project at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district, has graduated in a certificate programme on welding technology.

The youths, nominated as Tata Steel Parivar trainees, were given their certificates at a function organised at the Kate Purti Convention Centre at Sukinda Chromite mines in the presence of their parents and other relatives from the villages of Kalinganagar. Speaking on the occasion, Jajpur superintendent of police Asit Panigrahi said that the technical skill upgradation programme initiated by Tata Steel would not only facilitate employment among the displaced villagers but also create a reserve of
skilled technicians in Kalinganagar.

This, said Mr Panigrahi, would lead to socio-economic development for a better tomorrow for the displaced villagers. As per the rehabilitation and resettlement policy of the state government, the steel company has agreed to provide employment opportunities to one nominee of each displaced family in its plant or its associate companies.

Further, Tata Steel, as a part of its continued support and commitment for the well- being of the rehabilitated families, has formulated the concept of Tata Steel Parivar, in which each displaced family is a member. “The steel company will constantly pursue to improve the quality of life with focused interventions on health and hygiene etc,” said a company press statement.