INVESTMENT |
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FDI set to touch $40 billion this year
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India would be able to attract the same proportion of foreign direct investment in the second half of the current calendar year as it recorded in the first half. “We have seen an FDI inflow of $20 billion in the first six months of this calendar year and we expect the inflow to top $40 billion mark during the 12-month period,” Mr Ajay Shankar, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), said at a seminar on Indo-Netherlands business meet, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
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Phoenix Mills gets €200 m from German Fund
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Atul Ruia-promoted real estate developer Phoenix Mills has raised € 200 million from German real estate fund MPC Synergy, in what is claimed to be the second biggest foreign direct investment in the Indian real estate market. |
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MPC Synergy, a joint venture between German’s Capital AG and Geneva-based Synergy Asset Management SA, has picked up equity stakes ranging from 10 to 49 per cent in several projects promoted by Phoenix Mills and its two subsidiaries - Entertainment World Developers and Big Apple. Phoenix holds about 42 per cent stake in Entertainment World Developers and 60 per cent in Big Apple.
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Max India inks pact with UK co Bupa for health insurance
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UK-headquartered British United Provident Association Ltd (Bupa) has formed a joint venture with Max India for standalone health insurance services. Max Bupa has been initially capitalised at Rs 1 billion , the minimum capital amount for non-life insurance ventures. |
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UK-headquartered British United Provident Association Ltd (Bupa) has formed a joint venture with Max India for standalone health insurance services. Max Bupa has been initially capitalised at Rs 1 billion , the minimum capital amount for non-life insurance ventures. While Max India has a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture, Bupa Group has taken a 26 per cent stake. The balance 24 per cent stake is with Mr Analjit Singh and his associates. As a pure health insurance provider, Max Bupa aims to have a million customers in about three years from the date of commencement of operations, i.e. from the date it issues its first policy. Mr Singh said that the timing of entry into this space was right and pointed out that there were very few pure play health insurance companies in the country.
Logica to invest 8 million pounds
Logica, an IT and business services company , has set up its new facility at the DLF IT Park in Chennai, the second centre in India. The facility is spread across 120,000 sq. ft with the capacity for 1,500 employees. The company has earmarked an investment of around £8 million to accelerate blended delivery and grow its offshore and nearshore centres. It plans to have 8,000 employees in these centres by the end of 2009.
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TOURISM |
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Fine tuning of Golden Chariot operations under way
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The Golden Chariot, the luxury heritage train operated by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), will break even by 2009-end, said Mr Anand Menon, Project Director of The Golden Chariot. The KSTDC has invested about Rs 500 million on the train, including Rs 400 million on its interiors. There will be back-to-back runs from October onwards. The train would also see minor changes in its itinerary to enable its guests to use onboard amenities such as the spa and the gym better.
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Consultant hired for Kerala’s responsible tourism initiative
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Kerala Tourism’s responsible tourism initiative is set to gather steam with the appointment of a consultant to assist in implementing pilot projects in four destinations in the State. The consultant, Great India Tourism Planners and Consultants International (GITPAC), part of the Kerala-based ATE Group, will provide support at the State and destination levels to Kerala’s responsible tourism initiative, explained Mr U.V. Jose, COO, GITPAC. The organisation will manage various aspects of the responsible tourism initiative and will liaise with stakeholders such as the Government, local communities and the tourism industry, he added.
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Mahindra Holidays signs MoU with Kerala Government
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Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL) a leisure hospitality provider offering quality family holidays, recently signed a five year strategic alliance agreement with the Government of Kerala for the marketing and promotion of Homestays within the State. The Kerala Government has currently registered over 400 Homestays to help bring tourism revenues to a larger section of the community. MHRIL established its Homestays business – Mahindra Homestays – in July 2008 to organize the growing Homestay industry in India and market it under a strong brand. The company has set up a pan-India network of homes that aims to deliver the real India through an enriching host- guest interaction.
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INFRASTRUCTURE |
Urban Development |
New body for Hyderabad development launched |
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The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has launched the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) whose mandate will be to bring about a holistic development of the mega city.The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA), which paved way for HMDA, was carved out as an urban authority 32 years ago and gradually expanded to become a metropolitan development body. The jurisdiction of the new body spreads across 7,000 sq km encompassing a populace of 7.6 million and would be about twice the size of Goa, he said. With the change in mandate, the new authority would not only have the role of developing master plan with related infrastructure, including road networks but also coordinating with other public agencies. To ensure a regulated growth, HMDA has the mandate to build and encourage creation of necessary infrastructure with a long-term perspective. Within next 30 years, the city population could double, he said. |
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Among priorities for the authority, the focus is on dedicated drinking water supply, which includes completion of second phase of Krishna and 120 million gallons a day from Godavari. The latter project is in the process of attracting developers through tenders. |
2nd Chennai master plan released |
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The second master plan for Chennai outlining the long-term measures for the planned development of the city has been formally released. The master plan outlines strategies to provide the basic amenities, housing, transportation and other social and physical infrastructure to meet the needs of the population for the next two decades. Some of the salient features of the master plan include the plans to develop the transportation infrastructure, zoning to regulate land use and encourage employment generation, provision of adequate housing for the low-income group and the economically weaker sections of the society, permitting construction of larger area in a plot – a bigger Floor Space Index (FSI) – to increase supply of built-up area, and bringing down restrictions on areas where multi-storeyed buildings could come up.
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Telecommuncations |
Six global companies bid for BSNL's $9b project |
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Six global telecom vendors including Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel have bid for the mega tender of 93 million GSM lines floated by state owned BSNL valued at approximately $8.5-9 billion. BSNL hopes to place orders for the first phase of the 93 million lines by early 2009, BSNL chairman Kuldeep Goyal said after bids were submitted. Goyal said three to four vendors have applied in each of the four zones and two companies have applied for all four zones. Motorola, one of the key players, was conspicuously absent in the bidding.
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Ports |
JN Port gets nine bids for terminal |
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State-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port, or JN Port, India’s busiest container handling port in Navi Mumbai, received nine bids to develop a Rs6 billion container facility to boost capacity and ease congestion.The port plans to develop a terminal with a capacity to handle 600,000 standard containers in partnership with private firms.
JN Port handles some 60% of India’s container cargo of about 7 million standard containers. DP World Pvt. Ltd; Group Entities that have submitted bids include: Maritime TCB-Eredene Capital Plc.-OHL Concessions-GE Mauritius International Holdings Ltd; Mundra Port and SEZ Ltd-Adani Enterprises Ltd-Leighton Contractors (India) Pvt. Ltd; ABG Infralogistics Ltd-Gold Star Engineering and Construction Corp.; Vadinar Oil Terminal Ltd-Essar Ports and Terminals Ltd; L&T Transport Project Pvt. Ltd.
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Petroleum |
Paradip refinery to achieve financial closure soon |
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The 15 million tonne Paradip refinery of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) would achieve financial closure within 3-4 months. “We will achieve financial closure for the Rs. 297.77-billion project in the next three to four months,” Mr. Bankapur, IOC Director (Refineries), said. SBI Caps has been mandated to arrange Rs. 147-billion debt for the project ruling out induction of a strategic partner for the refinery. The Paradip refinery was being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the dirtiest crude. The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 15. (It is an index used to compare refining capability, compiled annually by the Oil & Gas Journal. Refineries are rated on the number of refining units they operate and their technological sophistication.
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GSPC to expand city gas distribution |
GSPC proposes to introduce and expand its city gas distribution operations in various cities and locations across Gujarat. It has prepared a environmental and social review report and proposes to take a number of measures to mitigate the impact.
At end of the year 2008 the company is planning to set up 50 CNG stations in various parts of Gujarat. In the year 2009-2010, which is the second phase, the company plans to cover most of the districts of Gujarat as well as set up more than 100 CNG stations.
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