Andhranews

New Delhi, Sept. 18: Finance minister P. Chidambaram on Monday asked the developed nations to take a lead in putting the stalled WTO talks “back on track”. Speaking in Singapore, at the development committee meeting of the World Bank, he said that India was supportive of the “aid-for-trade agenda”, but said that it cannot be a substitute for the expected development benefits from the successful completion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

Asking the World Bank to play a “proactive role” and lend its weight to a pro-development outcome of the trade talks, Mr Chidambaram said, “It is important for the developed countries to take the lead in bringing the World Trade Organisation discussions back on track so that the world, and especially the developing countries, can reap the promised development dividend.”

A statement from the ministry of finance here, giving the content of the finance minister’s speech at Singapore, said that the Indian finance minister made it clear before the development committee that even though India supports the “aid-for-trade agenda”, it cannot be a substitute for the expected development benefits from the successful completion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

The development committee of the World Bank is a policy-making body. He said that while India looks forward to the implementation of a robust aid-for-trade package, its effectiveness would require additional predictable and sustainable financing by the donor community. The finance minister has also said that the twin challenges facing the international financial community at this juncture are, firstly, how to mitigate the specific downside risks that could act as dampeners to the otherwise bright medium-term growth prospects and, secondly, how to leverage this benign growth scenario to advance the broader development agenda in general and remove capability-deprivation in particular.

Hyderabad, Sept. 18: As Hyundai Motor India (HMI) gears up to launch its Verna on September 25, plans are also being finalised for an engine and transmission plant near Chennai, informed sources told this newspaper on Monday. “A new engine and transmission plant will come up in India but the details will only be announced on Friday or next Monday, coinciding with the Verna launch,” the source said without divulging the specifics regarding the plant’s initial capacity and location. However, HMI may start with an annual capacity of 3,00,000 units and the project would entail an investment of close to Rs 2,200 crores, industry sources said.

With this engine and transmission plant, industry sources say, HMIL is targeting local production of diesel engines to tap the segment which is seeing more interest of more players, including Maruti Udyog Ltd, which is working on its Rs 2,500-crore
diesel engine plant in Manesar. Currently, only Tata Motors and Hindustan Motors manufacture diesel engines and HMI sources its engines from its overseas operations. Further, diesel cars have seen significant traction after the surge in sales of
Hyundai Accent and the Ford Fiesta.

The Verna, expected to be sold between Rs 6.5 lakhs and Rs 7.5 lakhs, has been placed in a segment above the existing mid-sized Hyundai Accent and will take on the Honda City and Ford Fiesta. The Verna will have both petrol and diesel versions and this has also forced HMI to look at local production of diesel engines.

Meanwhile, Mr Chung Mong Koo, chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, met Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Monday, a company statement said. Mr Koo discussed HMI’s plans and also assured Mr Karunanidhi of HMI’s continued support for the local community of Tamil Nadu. He also asked for the support of the Tamil Nadu government in improving the State’s infrastructure such as roads, railways and setting up off a new port facility exclusively for car exports.

Hyderabad, Sept. 18: Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, the world’s largest generic company, has decided to go slow on the acquisitions front in India and instead focus on organic growth, according to Mr V.K. Batra, managing director of Regent Drugs, a subsidiary of Teva.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a pharmaceutical seminar here on Monday, Mr Batra said, “We are not looking at any acquisitions in India for the next two years. Our focus will clearly centre around organic growth.” Teva acquired the Noida-based Regent Drugs in 2003. Teva has grown through acquisitions of businesses around the world and was in the news recently when it was reportedly touted to be one of the fronntrunners for acquiring Matrix Laboratories and the R&D business of Aurobindo Pharma.

Commenting on the bid, Mr Batra said the valuations of the two Hyderabad-based companies was on the higher side and insisted that “Teva would acquire companies only if they matched our profile.” The company has a manufacturing facility at Gajrola in Uttar Pradesh for bulk drugs that caters to Teva’s global requirements.

This was inherited through the Regent buyout with an investment of over $10 million. For Teva, which has grown over 70 per cent in the last three years, the focus geographies would remain India and China as the company sources bulk of its intermediaries from these two nations. “Our investments in India will continue... We intend to invest $7-$8 million this year as has been done in the previous years.

Additionally, we will launch 10 more new products this year,” Mr Batra said without giving out the specifics on the segments that these products would cater to. Teva’s India business touched $40 million last year and the company expected to close this financial year with revenues of around $55-60 million, Mr Batra said.

Mumbai, Sept. 18: The Sensex stayed above the 12,000 mark on Monday and closed at 12,071 after touching a high of 12,114. It retraced some of its morning’s gains on profit booking by traders. While the Sensex ended 61.71 points up, the Nifty gained 14.15 points to close at 3492.75 after seeing an intra-day high of 3506.20. The Indian markets fared better than some of the Asian counterparts except for the Hang Seng which gained 149.56 points and the Taiwan index which gained 201.39 points.

The turnover on both the National and Bombay Stock Exchanges showed a drop at Rs 26,998 crores with the F&O sector accounting for Rs 18,042 crores. The market breadth saw 501 stocks end positive and 406 in the negative. The Sensex was pulled down by heavyweights like Reliance down Rs 8.45, ONGC down 7.55 and TCS Rs 6.35. The metal stocks were among the big losers.

Hindustan Zinc was down Rs 12, Hindalco Rs 1.25, Tisco Rs 6.25, Sterlite Rs 5.25 and Nalco Rs 2.95. The auto stocks saw mixed fare with Bajaj Auto losing Rs 2.65, Maruti Rs 7.80 and Tata Motors Rs 10.65 but Hero Honda gained Rs 5 and M&M Rs 8.60. The FMCG sector was buoyant with HLL up Rs 7, ITC Rs 4.75, and Britannia Rs 21.40. Among the other stocks that fared well were Bhel up Rs 22.15, L&T Rs 54.35, Biocon Rs 10.55, Bombay Dyeing Rs 11.60, Suzlon Rs 43.65 and Lupin Rs 10.05.

New Delhi, Sept. 18: The subsidiary of Suzlon Energy, Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation, has bagged a Rs 1,190-crore order from US-based John Deere Wind Energy for the supply of 247-MW wind turbines. The US-based Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Suzlon’s international business arm, Denmark-based Suzlon Energy A/S. The order comprising 30 units of the S64-1.25 MW turbine and 100 units of the S88-2.1 MW turbine will be delivered in a phased manner throughout 2007. With this order, John Deere Wind Energy nearly doubles its capacity from Suzlon turbines, crossing 500 MW.

Suzlon is also investing Rs 1,500 crores to set up new facilities in Coimbatore, Baroda and Udupi. The new facility at Baroda will design and test rotary blades. The new facility in Udupi and Combiatore would manufacture components for wind turbines. This facility would require an investment of Rs 750 crores. “We will generate Rs 500 crores through equity and another Rs 1,000 crores would be borrowed from the banks,” Mr Tulsi Tanti told reporters here.

Suzlon’s international order book is at 1,023 MW, valued at Rs 4,977 crores. The company’s India order book is seen at 207 MW, valued at Rs 800 crores. Order inflows during July-September itself were seen at around Rs 2,019 crores. Mr Tulsi said that the market for wind turbines is growing at a rate of 10 per cent worldwide, but the market where Suzlon has its presence is witnessing a growth rate of 40 per cent. “Our target is to grow 10 per cent more than the market,” said Mr Tulsi.

In addition to India, Suzlon has design and R&D teams and facilities in Belgium, German and the Netherlands. The international business of Suzlon is managed out of Aarhus, Denmark, where Suzlon has established a wholly owned subsidiary, Suzlon Energy, which in turn has country headquarters in Beijing.

Detroit, Sept. 18: Executives of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have discussed a possible merger or alliance, the trade journal Automotive News reported on Monday. Both companies declined comment. Automotive News quoted what it said were several people familiar with the talks as saying that discussions involving senior executives began in July and are not taking place now.

The journal quoted one source as saying that GM Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson and his Ford counterpart, Don Leclair, discussed a GM-Ford alliance in August.The report comes as GM and Ford have been slashing their work forces and closing plants in efforts to reverse multi-billion dollar losses. Their sales have been hurt by competition from more fuel-efficient models from Asian automakers.

As the two biggest US automakers, any deal would presumably face scrutiny by US antitrust regulators. In July, GM, Renault SA of France and Nissan Motor Co. of Japan announced a 90-day review of an alliance among them. “As we’ve often said, GM officials routinely discuss issues of mutual interest with other automakers,” GM spokesman Brian Akre said before business hours Monday.

“As a policy, we do not confirm or comment publicly on those private discussions, which in many cases do not lead anywhere,” he said. Ford’s Oscar Suris, also speaking before business hours, said: “We’re not commenting on speculation.” Talk of alliances involving GM came after GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian, who owns a 9.9 per cent stake in the company, called for GM, Renault and Nissan to pursue an alliance.

Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Renault and Nissan, has said the benefits from an alliance would be similar to the gains from the Renault-Nissan alliance, which have included cost savings from joint purchases of auto parts. Ford earlier declined to comment on an August Wall Street Journal report that then-Chief Executive Bill Ford approached Mr Ghosn about a Ford alliance with Renault and Nissan.

Singapore, Sept. 18: India and other developing countries on Monday lost their campaign to stall a proposal that grants more powers for China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey in the International Monetary Fund, but leaves others with diminished rights.The resolution on giving more say to the four countries got an overwhelming 90.6 per cent of votes, while only India, Brazil and 21 other developing nations in the 184 member IMF cast a ballot against the proposal, a fund statement said here.Only 85 per cent of the total votes were required for adopting the resolution.

With Monday’s reform, India’s voting rights in IMF get diminished to 1.91 per cent as against 1.95 previously while that of Brazil gets reduced to 1.40 per cent from 1.43. Whereas, China’s voting rights increased from 2.98 per cent to 3.72, while Mexico from 1.21 to 1.45, South Korea from 0.77 to 1.35 and Turkey from 0.45 as against 0.55 per cent.

Consequent to the increase in powers of these four members, even developed countries would have to forego some of their voting rights, with the United States now having 17.1 per cent as compared to 17.40 previously. Japan too would be left with 6.13 as against 6.24 per cent earlier. Germany will have 5.99 against 6.09 earlier, France and Britain 4.94 as against 5.03, Italy 3.25 as against 3.31 earlier.

The powers, technically described as quotas, determine a country’s voting rights and access to funds in IMF. Reacting to the vote, a top Indian official said: “We have lost the vote but not the argument.” Indian finance minister P. Chidambaram had earlier described the restructure formula as “flawed.” IMF managing director Rodrigo D. Rato, however, said the vote would enhance the effectiveness and add legitimacy to all of the other reforms that are being implemented.

“Their passage was a tribute to the hard work of the staff and the board. The vote was a great start to the package of reforms and showed the spirit of international cooperation at the IMF,” he said. This is first stage of IMF reforms that provided for ad-hoc increase in voting rights to these four countries. In the second stage, broader adjustments for more emerging economies are planned and poorer members are likely to get more voting power.

Calling for “comprehensive reforms” in the fund, Mr Chidambaram said with volatility in the exchange rates, the formulae for determining quotas should be based on GDP with purchasing power parity as a dominant factor. Besides GDP, quota is determined by the countries’ open policies and reserves. Because of the increase in voting rights of these four nations, most of the other developing countries had marginally dec-reased quota which provided what is called millions of Special Drawing Rights.

While the US had the maximum 37,1493.3 millions of SDR which earlier comprised 17.4 per cent of votes, the same number of SDRs will amount to 17.10 per cent of votes with increase in voting rights of the four countries. There is no change in SDRs for any of the 184 member countries.

While GSM (Global System for Mobility) will continue to maintain its grip on the cellular technology market in 2006 and in the next few years, WCDMA (Wide-band CDMA) is expected to get a whole bunch of new investment. WCDMA supports very high-speed multimedia services such as full-motion video, Internet access and video conferencing. WCDMA mobile operators worldwide are project to invest, through capital expenditure, $150 billion by 2012, according to a study from ABI Research.

“Mobile operators’ attitudes towards capes have changed over the past two or three years,” says the technology and market research firm. “They are clearly becoming more focused on an early return on their investments.” Greater emphasis on data services is resulting in increased investment in servers and platforms outside the range of traditional wireless equipment. In developed markets, there is now more focus on making investments that will improve in-building coverage, and the rollout of advanced data services such as mobile TV and mobile broadband.

“To offer advanced data and content services with improved delivery and reduced network costs, mobile operators will have to invest in more leased capacity, upgrade to microwave technologies, and add fiber links where microwave technologies have been exhausted, in an effort to boost their networks’ backhaul capacity. Operators will also have to deploy advanced switching technology in the backhaul network, to improve traffic flow and maximise the performance of the backhaul infrastructure,” it says. “ABI Research expects that investment in technologies supporting HSDPA, mobile TV, and mobile broadband services will continue to expand in the coming years,” ABI Research says.

Base stations

While on cellular telephony, revenue from sales of cellular base stations will remain strong through 2008, reports In-Stat. But, by 2009, base station revenue will begin a steep decline. “Spending on cellular base stations by cellular service providers these last few years has been untypical, as spending on deployment of new WCDMA networks is much higher than typical had cellular carriers only been maintaining, upgrading, and increasing the capacity of current networks,” the research firm says.

“Once deployment of most of these new networks is complete, yearly spending will drop to more typical levels.” It says new cellular base station revenue will reach $53.2 million in 2006, and is forecast to drop sharply in the years that follow. “Deployment of WiMAX, Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies will increasingly put pressure on cellular technology.”

New Delhi, Sept. 18: Petroleum and natural gas minister Mr Murli Deora has made a appeal to retail outlet dealers of Maharashtra to withdraw the strike, so that the consumers do not suffer. Petrol pump dealers across Maharashtra launched an indefinite strike early on Monday morning to protest against high sales tax levied by the state on auto fuel, which was driving business to other states. But company-owned-company-operated (COCO) pumps were operating in the state.

In his appeal to the dealers, Mr Deora said that he is sympathetic to the dealers’ demands for reduction in sales tax rates, which is the highest in the country. In a statement, Mr Deora pointed out that he had raised this issue with the state government of Maharashtra. The statement said that Mr Deora had also facilitated a meeting of the representatives of retail outlet dealers of Maharashtra with the chief minister.

However, Mr Deora has impressed upon the dealers that the maintenance of supply line to the customers is a top-most priority and should remain so to everyone concerned even under trying circumstances. “I, therefore, strongly appeal to the dealers to immediately call off their strike,” Mr Deora emphasised. Sales tax in Maharashtra is the highest in the country at 34 per cent compared to neighbouring states of Goa (21 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (28), Gujarat (28) and Karnataka (30).

Hyderabad, Sept. 18: With the retail sector in India expected to witness strong growth in the coming years, given that several large business houses are planning a foray into organised retailing, technology to track sales and inventory and supply chain is
likely to expand in India, according to Oracle Corp., a large business software firm.

“Apart from large companies going into retail, there will be growth in the retail SME sector, and we are focusing on this,” Mr S.P.S. Grover, vice-president, sales, of Oracle India said.
Mr Grover said Oracle is investing in the expansion of its sales and marketing network in India to leverage on the expected demand for customer relationship and supply chain management software.

“With the acquisition of Retek and PeopleSoft, both of which have strong applications for the retail sector, Oracle has the applications across the retail spectrum,” Mr Grover said. He said Oracle expected a lot of traction in retail to come from the SME sector. “SMEs are the major players in retailing in small towns around the country, and these SMEs are increasingly becoming aware of the need to have technology that will improve services to customers,” he said.

Hyderabad, Sept. 18: Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, and Hetero Drugs, a privately-held drug company, will together invest Rs 200 crores to set up export-oriented units at the drugs and formulations special economic zone coming up at Green Industrial Park, Jedcherla near Hyderabad, according to official sources.

“We will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation soon,” Mr B. Pardhasaradhi Reddy, chairman of Hetero Drugs, said here on Monday. The Green Industrial Park is spread over 960 acres of land and Hetero and Aurobindo would set up their units using 240 acres of the space.

“The park will primarily focus on green technologies and a SEZ for formulations has been planned across 300 acres of land. The focus would be on attracting industries from non-renewable energy sectors and industries adopting cleaner production methods,” Mr B.P. Acharya, vice-chairman and MD of APIIC, said at a national seminar on “Environmental protection — challenges ahead for process industry”, organised by the Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association.

Earlier addressing delegates of the seminar, Mr Reddy, acknowledging the industry’s prowess in the manufacturing of generics, asked the industry to focus on the development of new life saving molecules. “It is time for the industry to put efforts and industry to develop modern methodologies and upgrade existing methods for treating effluents effectively for environmental protection,” Mr Reddy said.