Andhranews

New Delhi, Oct. 8: India and EU need to tackle non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that exist in each other�s markets to fully benefit from a bilateral trade and investment agreement at the summit. In a study released by CII before the India and European Union (EU) summit at Helsinki that begins on October 11-12, shows that nearly 23.38 per cent of total exports of India to the EU are covered by NTBs � especially in the area of carpets (86.2 per cent), textiles and clothing (65.85 per cent) and leather (31.35 per cent). NTBs are those obstacles placed on entry of products which are not tariff related.

The study further shows that out of 84 anti-dumping cases initiated against exports from India, the highest amount � 33 per cent is from the EU. It also accounts for 44 per cent of anti-subsidy cases. The Confederation of Indian Industries has also pointed out that the differing standards within the EU nations �is another concern of exporters from India.� A bilateral trade and investment agreement is to be signed between India and the 25-nation EU at the Helsinki summit.

CII has also said that India needs to focus on �trade facilitation�. It says that India should work with the EU nations to ensure that the time period for goods at ports is reduced to the minimum. CII has suggested that the implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) should be extended beyond customs to all other agencies involved to achieve a fully automated and paperless system.

New Delhi, Oct 8: Several major firms are eyeing the proposed Krishnapatnam power plant in Andhra Pradesh. Those in the fray include Japanese corporate giant Sumitomo Corp., Malaysia�s YTL Corp Berhard and Israel Electric, along with State-run NTPC Ltd and leading domestic firms such as Tatas and Reliance. These six major firms are among the 17 companies in the race for setting up the 4,000 MW Andhra Pradesh ultra mega power plant.

The deadline for submission of Request for Qualifications (RfQs) for the project, which would be operated with imported coal, was September 30. The project is expected to be transferred to the selected developer by April 2007. Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the nodal age-ncy that conducts the bidding of ultra mega projects, has received 17 RfQs for the Krishnapatnam project. The project is the third of the nine such large power plants the government has planned at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore each.

A source said about a dozen bidders are the same as those in fray for the Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mundra (Gujarat) projects. There are five new firms, including YTL Corp and Israel Electric Corp.� In all, PFC has received RFQs from 6 foreign companies, which also include Khanjee Holdings of the US and China Light and Power.

The domestic companies in race for the power project include Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Essar Power, GMR Energy, L&T, Lanco, Jindal Steel and AES India. PFC, which had earlier received 13 RfQs for Mundra and 15 for Sasan project, will sign Power Purchase Agreements with beneficiary States for these two projects on October 9.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has awarded the �aerodrome licence� to operate the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi to Delhi International Airport Private Ltd (DIAL). DIAL has been mandated by the government to modernise the IGIA.

According to a DIAL statement on Sunday, the aerodrome licence authorises DIAL to operate the IGI Airport under the provisions of the Aircraft Act 1934 and Aircraft Rules 1937.� DIAL, a joint venture by GMR Infrastructure Ltd., Airports Authority of India, Fraport, Eraman Malaysia and India Development Fund, submitted its master plan to the ministry of civil aviation and the Airports Authority of India last week.

The master plan envisions the construction of a new integrated passenger terminal to cater to both the domestic and international traffic. This terminal will be ready before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The statement said DIAL has implemented a number of steps to improve the existing airport infrastructure. �For example, duration of simultaneous runway operations has been increased along with the addition of new rapid exit taxiways.�

London, Oct. 8: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is in favour of the government allowing retail giants such as Tesco, Wal-Mart and Carrefour into the Indian market, saying they would contribute to the economy immensely and keep local companies on their toes.

�Companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart would contribute to this economy hugely and keep local companies on their toes. We should welcome Tesco because it�s good for competition, and that�s good for Reliance,� Mr Ambani, the world�s 38th richest man, told the Sunday Times on Sunday.

At the moment, Mr Ambani has a clear run while the government keeps global retail giants waiting to enter the country. �Every company has a home market and a foreign market. We�re in India, so we don�t need any (help from) regulation to get a head start. Tesco would add value to India. FDI should be opened,� he said. Reliance is slated to open its first retail store in Hyderabad in the next few days. Mr Ambani plans to establish a $5 billion subcontinent-wide chain of supermarkets with 784 branches in India�s smallest cities before opening in the 10 biggest metropolises.

He also wants to build a demonstration model of what India could be like and start a revolution in the relationship between its cities and the countryside. Mr Ambani said the county�s finest fruit and food produce will be supplied to his Reliance supermarkets from 1,600 new farm centres.

This, he believes, will wean India�s farmers away from their overloaded bullock carts and draw them into a new and better-paid relationship with 21st century technology. Mr Ambani believes his retail venture can generate $25 billion in annual sales and 1 million new jobs by 2011 by training farmers to use new machinery and information technology.

Noting that India�s food industries is not organised, Mr Ambani said �There�s a limited shelf life. The losses from moving between farm and store are between 30 and 50 per cent and if farmers can�t sell, they lose everything.The challenge is to cut that out.� Part of his strategy will involve bypassing India�s ground transport altogether � he has bought a fleet of aircraft to fly fresh fruit and produce to supermarkets from remote farms where poor roads would mean they perish before reaching the market.

Meanwhile, Tesco is expected to announce plans to enter the Indian retail market in partnership with Bharti Enterprises here on Tuesday during the India-UK Investment Summit.� Because FDI in Indian retail is outlawed, Tesco is expected to become either Bharti�s franchise partner or its supply-chain partner, providing technology and infrastructure support.

Other companies attending the event are Standard Chartered, and Cairn Energy, which will this week release details of its Indian subsidiary�s imminent IPO on the Bombay Stock Exchange.� A number of multi-million dollar contracts between British and Indian companies will be signed during the summit, sources said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his British counterpart Tony Blair are scheduled to address the Summit.

New Delhi Oct. 8: The financing requirements of India�s infrastructure, reckoned at Rs 13,70,500 crores in the next eight years, will require a paradigm shift to alternative and innovative instruments for raising capital, Ficci said on Sunday.

According to Ficci there is urgent need to develop the corporate bond market in India to finance infrastructure growth. At the same time, government could also provide some comfort like exit options for the initial lenders and increase the viability gap funding.

Securitisation, says Ficci is another financial instrument, which has been successful in financing infrastructure projects in various developed countries. Further, one of the most common forms of financing has been �non-recourse� financing.� This means that the income used to repay creditors comes entirely (or primarily) out of the revenues generated by the project itself.

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Over a decade ago, the political scientist Robert Reich forcefully argued that large multinational firms were becoming stateless global webs and that corporate nationality was increasingly irrelevant. In recent years, the notion that global firms are becoming divorced from the nation-state has gained wide currency, strengthened by the acceleration of outsourcing and offshoring and the growing number of companies that employ more people and sell more products and services outside their home economies than within.

But how well does this perception comport with the facts? If you look at the historical evidence on the nationality of firms, the opposite conclusion seems more plausible: The nationality of global companies may actually have become clearer and more important in recent decades. Bear in mind that there�s no single test of corporate nationality.

At the level of individual products, nationality is often opaque. Labels such as �Made in America� tend to be misleading, because products may be made up of parts sourced from a dozen or more countries. Organizational definitions of nationality can be more solid. In many legal systems, the state of incorporation is the main test. However, in most civil law systems in continental Europe and other countries influenced by those systems, nationality is determined by the company�s seat � the location of its central administration.

In the first surge of globalisation, before World War I, nationality was often highly ambiguous. Entrepreneurs moved between countries with remarkable ease in a world without visas � and passports. The world wars concentrated peoples� minds on nationality. It became unwise, and sometimes fatal, to be ambiguous. Large multinational corporations such as Ford and General Motors were the dominant organisational form and technological innovators in international business.

Yet while Ford and GM may have seemed distinctly American from a US perspective, their overseas subsidiaries often had few links to them.�Local subsidiaries typically manufactured distinctive products for each market. European companies, such as Unilever, often gave affiliates even more autonomy than their US equivalents, believing that responsiveness to local markets was a major source of competitive advantage. Moreover, at least until the 1980s, governments and the public in many countries were distrustful of foreign companies, and so subsidiaries often portrayed themselves as local firms.

As globalisation, liberalisation and deregulation took hold in the 1980s, sensitivities about being perceived as foreign lessened, although they certainly did not disappear. The autonomy of national subsidiaries was scaled back as US corporations, followed, often reluctantly, by their European counterparts, began to seek efficiencies by integrating geographically dispersed businesses.�

These strategies reduced ambiguity surrounding the nationality of multinationals. The new, globally integrated corporations sought to locate functions wherever they would best fulfill the firm�s overall strategy. Such decisions continued to be made by top management, which, with relatively few exceptions, remained the preserve of nationals of the home country.

The influence of nationality on multinational corporations is still strong today. The composition of boards of directors remains heavily biased toward home-country nationals, despite the fact that equity ownership of large corporations is now widely dispersed among countries.

In some cases, the pressure for transparency in corporate governance has led to a reduction in ambiguities about nationality. Recent developments in the United States � including the peremptory expulsion of foreign firms from the S&P 500 in 2002 and the recent extraordinary public outcry when Dubai Ports World acquired a British company that operated ports in the United States � underscore the rising relevance of corporate nationality.�

Today, technological advances may permit different parts of the value chain to operate in different places, companies may hold portfolios of brands with different national heritages, and leaders, shareholders and customers may be dispersed. Still, the nationality of a firm is rarely ambiguous. It usually has a major influence on corporate strategy, and it seems to be growing in political importance.

In an earlier chronicle here, I had written about how airlines force their passengers to switch off cellphones when the plane is in flight. The reason cited: the mobile phone�s frequencies will interfere with those of the airline and ground networks, sparking off a chain reaction that could, well, make the plane fall out of the sky.

Sure, this is a worst case scenario (when was the last time you heard of a plane falling out of the sky without somebody shooting a projectile at it or something), but who would like to take the chance.� Anyways, if the new technology developed by ASiQ, the Australian subsidiary of ASI Entertainment, Inc., works as advertised, sometime in the future, you could leave your cell phone switched on while in flight.

According to ASiQ, its new Safecell shielding system can make any cell phone comply with the stringent� international aviation certification standards. In a nutshell, the Safecell shielding system prevents the cell phone from transmitting on the frequencies that are dangerous to aircraft and interfere with the� ground networks.

�Passengers will still be able to access the normal functions, and with the addition of the Safecell communicator, will be able to send an SMS and ultimately make a Voice over Internet (VoIP) phone call,� ASI Entertainment says on its web site.�What makes Safecell unique, it says, is that it turns a normal cell phone into a WiFi communicator to facilitate access to low cost data and voice services without the high cost of roaming. Safecell is attached to the cell phone via a standard Bluetooth or cable connection, and disables the cell phone transmitter in-flight.

Safecell shields cell phones operating on all network types (GSM, CDMA, UMTS and EDGE). �In flight, Safecell communicates via the existing certified aviation communications systems and reduces data delivery cost, as it does not rely on the cellular roaming network. Safecell can be interfaced to any onboard wired or wireless network and can access any WiFi hotspot on the ground,� it says.

The Safecell prototype was recently demonstrated to over 30 major airlines at the World Airline Entertainment Association Exhibition and Conference in Miami recently.� ASI Entertainment expects to have the final testing and initial aviation approvals completed by December and is looking to install the first system for flight test in January 2007.

�Over 30 airlines plus three aircraft manufacturers, Airbus, Boeing and Embrear visited our booth to see our latest in-flight Internet connectivity solutions,� says Ron Chapman, CEO of ASiQ.

Before a manager�s direct reports will follow her into the fray, she must forge a personal connection with each of them by learning what makes them tick and using that knowledge to appeal to their particular goals, motivations and interests. Making and sustaining these connections is an ongoing process for leaders, one that requires them to take a truly strategic view of how they spend their one-on-one time with direct reports.

You should prepare for one-on-one meetings �as you would prepare for giving a speech,� says Jeswald W. Salacuse, author of �Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich and Powerful People� (Amacom, 2005). Here�s a three-step guide to leading conversations that generate strategic payoffs.
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BEFORE THE CONVERSATION
Lay the pathway to a successful on-on-one interaction before the conversation, says Salacuse. For a discussion to deliver the most value, go into it with clear goals, carefully framed questions and a plan for solidifying the other person�s commitment to decisions made.
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DURING THE CONVERSATION
The ability to listen and detect important cues, and a willingness to see things from the direct report�s perspective, will go a long way to determining how successful your conversation will be. Prepare to �pour yourself into listening in order to grasp and decipher the many messages that the other person�s seemingly simple statements contain,� Salacuse writes in �Leading Leaders.�

� Ask open-ended questions.

In addition to being an active listener and interpreter, it is important to ask questions without coming off as an interrogator. Salacuse recommends asking questions in a neutral, non-threatening way: �I heard you said team meetings were a waste of your time, and I�d like to know more about that. Can you tell me why you don�t plan to attend?� �To ask somebody �Why?� is not aggressive,� Salacuse says. �It signals that you are truly trying to understand. Of course, your tone and demeanor also matter.�

� Frame projects and issues to appeal to their interests.

While one-on-one conversations can help solve problems, they also play a critical role in helping you learn what drives your direct reports as professionals. Use conversations as occasions to look at the surrounding landscape from their vantage point: What opportunities could be open to them that aren�t now?

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: For years, Nike, a sporting goods giant, depended on an Indian partner to market its products in the country. That situation changed two years ago, when the company set up its own subsidiary in India, and launched an aggressive campaign to grab mindshare, and, more importantly, market share in a market which is notoriously price conscious.

And fragmented. In an effort to get a larger slice of the pie for sports goods, Nike decided last year to identify itself with cricket, India�s national game and passion. Which was quite a departure for a company that is closely identified with soccer or football. �In fact, Nike�s� brand ambassador from football is Bhaichung Bhutia. It has a seven-year tie-up with All India Football Association,� says Sanjay Gangopadhyay, marketing director of Nike India.

Last year, however, Nike India wooed the Board of Control for Cricket in India and signed itself as a partner with the cricket control body for five years, for an estimated $40 million. �Almost everybody in India is a cricket enthusiast and the fan following of the national cricket team in huge. This is an area which has not had organised merchadising, for bats, or apparel, and we believe that this segment will grow substantially,� says Mr Gangopadhyay.

While its enthusiasm for cricket merchandising appears to be optimistic, Nike is the third organised sporting goods maker looking to get a foothold in the cricket goods market. Both Adidas and Reebok already have a presence in the segment.� �Fans could buy knockoffs of jerseys worn by the national team, which did not guarantee quality. We have replica jerseys, and other gear used by the national team,� says Mr Gangopadhyay.

Apart from replica jerseys and T-Shirts bearing the team�s logo, and the names of specific players, Nike has also launched shoes for batsmen and bowlers. �The cricket shoe was desi-gned after extensive research on the stress which a bowler�s shoe undergoes when he is on the field.�

Mumbai, Oct. 8: Lafarge has launched a new project which will increase its cement capacity in eastern India by three million tonnes (MT) in five years. This will boost the cement giant�s total production capacity to around 9 MT from the current 5.5 MT.

An MoU signed with the Chattisgarh government will see this increase in two phases at its Sonadih plant, the company said on Saturday. Lafarge said Phase I would entail an investment of around Rs 812 crores and would involve the construction of a second production line at its Sonadih plant in Rajpur district increasing the total clinker capacity by 1.6 MT to 3 MT per year and a 1 MT grinding station at Mejia in the key market of West Bengal.

Phase II of the project will see an addition of 2 MT of additional grinding capacity that will serve the main eastern markets where dem-and is growing. The overall project, the company says, represents a total investment of around 75 euros per new tonne of capacity. The company which has been a major player in the eastern region of India has a market share of around 20 per cent currently.

After sustained gains in the past few weeks, markets took a breather last week. However, true to predictions, while frontline counters paused, hectic action was seen in mid-cap and small-cap stocks. Though the Sensex shed 81 points to close at 12373 and the Nifty lost 19 points to end at 3569, the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices surged by over 2.5 per cent. The positive market breadth is a bullish signal and with several stocks moving into a major uptrend, the stage is set for a broad based rally in the near term. Modest FII selling numbers ahead of major Q2 results have put traders on alert. Punters expect results of Infy to dictate the direction of markets in the short term. For the week ahead chartists predict a trading band of 12180-12620 for the Sensex and 3430-3640 for the Nifty. Strong supports for the Sensex are at 12180 & 12040 and for the Nifty are at 3480 & 3430. Hold positions and contemplate fresh buying only if Nifty sustains above 3600 level. With results induced high volatility on cards, market players are advised to adopt stop loss strategy to protect profits.

F&O SEGMENT

With participation of more side counters, volumes continued to be robust in the derivatives segment. Sentiment indicators like implied volatility, put/call ratio and open interest indicate a mixed outlook. Stay invested in Nifty futures with a stop loss at 3520. Expecting the markets to swing wildly on evidence of major Q2 results, adopt a long strangle strategy by buying out money put and call options of Nifty 3500 strike and 3600 strike respectively. Traders holding onto large longs are advised to buy protective puts for unexpected change in market sentiment. Among the stock futures, buying is suggested in Tata Steel, Infosys, SBI, MTNL, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, SAIL, Suzlon, BOI, GNFC, IPCL, HPCL, BPCL and IOC with stop loss at Rs 505, Rs 1800, Rs 1000, Rs 152, Rs 848, Rs 46, Rs 76, Rs 1225, Rs 152, Rs 104, Rs 298, Rs 286, Rs 368 and Rs 538. Heightened activity indicated in JP Hydro, Polaris, Mastek, HCL Tech, GMR Infra, IVRCL, SRF, Colgate and Mah Seamless. PSU counters are expected to sizzle on news flow. Stay invested and buy on dips for further gains. More than results, the guidance of Infy will be looked at closely by tech punters. Auto and banking stocks are likely to continue their good run after a brief consolidation. Pharma counters, barring a few, like Divi Labs have been subdued due to concerns over new tax and price regulations. However industry sources indicate bottomlines will not be affected much and that most of the companies will report healthy results.

SATTA GUPCHUP

* Mold Tek has reportedly bagged large orders in engineering design outsourcing. Diversification into KPO segment has begun paying rich dividends for this leading packaging major. Buy for three figure gains. Low priced counters like Sujana Universe, Bartronics, Tyche Inds and Techtran Poly have seen in surge in volumes. Tyche Inds is expected to report a 150 per cent rise in profits in Q2.�

* The easing of rubber prices from a high of Rs 115 per kg to Rs 75 a kg has come as a great relief for tyre manufacturers, who for the past two years have been suffering from cost pressures due to continuous rise in the price of natural rubber. Apollo, Ceat, Goodyear and TVS Srichakra look good bets for further gains.�

* Textile stocks are back in focus. Companies owning good brands and reach by network of outlets like Provogue, Celebrity, Kewal Kiran and others have seen sustained buying interest. Arvind Mills, Alok, Gupta Synthetics, Bombay Rayon, S. Kumar Nationwide, Acknit Knit and Lakshmi Mills are good buys. The entry of younger generation at the helm has seen textile company Rajasthan Spinning change colours. After a name change, RSWM is setting up a large denim project and has renewed focus on garments. Buy at current levels for steady returns.

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 liable for investment decisions made on the basis of recommendations in these columns.

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Y. Siva Sagar Rao is chairman and managing director of the State-owned Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, which operates the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.� A mechanical engineer by training, Mr Rao is a veteran steel industry executive, beginning his career with Steel Authority of India�s Bokaro Steel Plant. During his 24-year career with RINL, he worked in various senior capacities, before being appointed chairman and managing director in October, 2004.

RINL-VSP has launched its most ambitious expansion programme with the aim of increasing the plant�s capacity to 6.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from three mtpa. How is the expansion work progressing?
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the expansion in May. Since then, we have awarded contracts for site levelling. This work is moving ahead briskly. We have got the approval of various government agencies, including environment clearance.

For the main packages, for steel melt shop, steel mills and such, we are in the process of finalising the contracts. This should be completed by December. The expansion programme is estimated to cost Rs 8,692 crore.

When do you expect to complete the expansion?
We have set a target of 36 months from the date of awarding of the main contracts for the commissioning of the first phase of the expansion. This will have two steel mills. We will be setting strict penalty clauses to ensure that the work is completed in 36 months. We will be adding 2.5 mtpa of liquid steel in the first phase of the expansion.

RINL-VSP�s new capacity will come into play by end-2009, as per your schedule. Are you sure that the buoyancy in the steel market will continue to absorb your new capacity, given that there are indications that the global economy is slowing down. This could have implications for India�s economic growth as well, isn�t it?
I believe that the demand for steel in India will continue to grow for the next 20 years, as the economy is expected to grow by over seven per cent. There is expected to be huge demand from the infrastructure sector. So, our new capacity will find ready markets.�

Steel manufacturers around the world have been scrambling for secure and stable supply of� raw materials like iron ore, coking and thermal coal. How will RINL-VSP handle the increased demand for raw materials with the expanded capacity?
We have tied up the sourcing for iron ore, from National Mineral Development Corporation. We have access to the Mahal coal mines in Jharkhand, and we expect to get linkages for thermal coal from mines in India. We can import coking coal for the new capacity, as we have been doing.

There has been talk by government figures of merging RINL-VSP with SAIL. Will that happen? More importantly, do you think it�s a good idea, especially now that RINL-VSP is expanding its capacity to get better economies of scale?
There have been some reports that the government is considering a proposal to merger RINL with SAIL. That�s a decision that the government has to take. I cannot comment on that.

There have also been reports that Laxmi Niwas Mittal and Tata Steel have expressed an interest in acquiring RINL. What�s happening on that front?
I don�t think Mr Mittal is in a position to acquire RINL, because the company is wholly-owned by the government. Mr Mittal is however free to try and acquire SAIL and Tata Steel, both of which are listed companies.

With over 18,000 workers, RINL-VSP is reportedly overstaffed. Is a retrenchment plan be on the cards?
Not at all. We have the highest labour productivity in the steel industry. We will need all our workers to handle the expanded capacity.

How is RINL-VSP funding the expansion?
The funding is being done with a debt equity ratio of 1:1. We are working with our bankers to finalise the debt portion. The new capacity will be making seamless tubes for the first time, angles and other products which can be used in the infrastructure sector. The seamless tubes are mostly used in the oil sector.

The company had over Rs 4,500 crore as accumulated losses, despite getting two financial restructuring packages from the government. What is� the quantum of accumulated losses now?
The past three years have been good for RINL-VSP, during which we made strong profits. The result was that we managed to get out the red, and liquidate our accumulated losses. We are now a debt-free company. We posted net profit of Rs 1,252.37 crore on sales of Rs 8,482 crore in the last financial year.�

RINL has a huge equity base. How is the company handling the servicing of the equity?
Yes, our equity base is very high at Rs 7,887 crore. We are discussing with the government of repaying some of the preference shares they own. The proposal is to repay Rs 2,900 crore over the next three years.

How does RINL-VSP handle the power requirements, given that loadshedding is a fact of life in Andhra Pradesh?
We have a captive generation capacity of 240 Mw. The steel plant consumes about 220 Mw of this, and the balance is evacuated to the grid of the Andhra Pradesh power utility.

Crisil, a rating and research agency, has assigned an IPO grade of �2/5� to the proposed IPO of Suryachakra Power Corporation Ltd (SPCL) and �1/5� to the offer of SVP Industries Ltd (SVPIL) respectively. SPCL�s grade indicates that the fundamentals of the issue are below average relative to other listed equity securities in India while SVPIL�s grade indicates that the fundamentals of the issue are poor, a Crisil press release said.

For the Hyderabad-based SCPL, Crisil said the grading reflects the revenue inflows from the company�s 20MW DG based power plant in Port Blair, And-aman & Nicobar islands, under a 15 year power purchase agreement signed with the A&N Administration effective in 2003 and the revenue growth potential from its planned biomass based power plants of about 20MW each in Chattisgarh and Maharashtra.

The grading is constrained by the fact that the promoters do not have any prior experience in setting up and operating a bio-mass based power plant and significant raw material price uncertainty associated with biomass based power. The grading also reflects the prevalent steep costs of the company�s DG based power in A&N that would provide a strong incentive to the A&N Administration to look for cheaper alternatives.

Crisil notes the chequered track record of the promoters in running businesses in the past � specifically that two of their companies that were engaged in the aquaculture business are now defunct. These companies, which were listed on the Bombay and Hyderabad stock exchanges in the 1993-1994 period, had large defaults on their debt obligations in the 1996-1997 period (subsequently settled at a discount) and were delisted from BSE on January 14, 2004 (the listing with the HSE still continues).

The timing of the proposed IPO is influenced by the company�s arrangement with a private equity investor, Opulent Venture Capital Trust, which currently holds a 4.7 per cent equity stake in SPCL. Opulent VC has linkages with the SREI group, which also includes SREI Capital Markets Ltd � one of the book running lead managers for the proposed IPO.

Meanwhile, taking note of SVPIL�s issue Crisil says, �The grading reflects the company�s long standing presence in the country liquor business in UP and its plans of growing into the IMFL segment of the liquor business. The grading is constrained by SVPIL�s management structure, which is characterised by the presence of a large number of the promoter�s extended family on the company�s board.� Ajay Swarup, who runs the operations of SVPIL has economic interests in two other companies that are in the same line of business.

Sarin joins Bessemer Venture Partners: BVP, a US-based private equity firm, has appointed Anil Sarin as director of public equities at the group�s Mumbai office. Mr Sarin was earlier co-head of equities at Prudential ICICI Asset Management.

Sircar named VP at Tavant Technologies: Amit Sircar has been appointed vice-president, marketing, at Tavant Technologies, a provider of solutions and services. Based in Bangalore, Mr Sircar will lead Tavant�s global marketing efforts.

Rao is senior director of safety at Advinus: Dr K.S Rao has been appointed the senior director for safety assessment at Advinus� Bangalore facility. Dr Rao will play a key role in developing Advinus� toxicology and safety assessment capabilities. Advinus Therapeutics is a JV between the Tata Group and Rashmi Barbhaiya, the former head of research at Ranbaxy.

Manu Talwar heads Airtel in Mumbai: Bharti Airtel has appointed Manu Talwar as its chief executive for Mumbai. In his new role, Mr Talwar will focus on improving Airtel�s services in Mumbai and introduction of new technologies.

Kothari is chairman of GJEPC: The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has elected Sanjay Kothari, director of Diatrends Jewellery, as its chairman at its recently held general body meeting. The council also elected Vasant Mehta, vice-president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, as its vice-chairman.

Chopra is new secretary general of INS: Pawan Chopra is the new secretary general of the Indian Newspaper Society. He replaces Deepak S. Raja who finished his term on September 14, 2006.