Education
ESSEC launches two programmes in India
The Paris based Essec business school will soon launch two new executive education programmes in the Indian market. The two programmes on luxury brand management and retail brand management will be conducted in collaboration with professors from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The programmes will include one week stay in France.
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Financial services
BNP Paribas invests 100 m euros in India ops
BNP Paribas, a major European banking group, has infused 100 million euros by way of fresh equity in its Indian operations.
The fresh equity infusion was made in the last quarter of 2007 taking its capital base in India to Rs. 16 billion. With this enhanced capital base, BNP Paribas will be able to offer enhanced credit limits to its clients for borrowing in local currency.
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AMF and Sebi sign cooperation agreement
French market regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) have signed an agreement to promote fair and transparent capital markets in the two countries.
The agreement of the mutual exchange of information on each other's regulatory systems would take place within the framework of international cooperation especially under the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
The increased cooperation between the AMF and SEBI is significant in the context of the enhanced presence of the emerging markets would enable greater focus on investor protection and also enable greater cooperation of the industry in the two jurisdictions to promote capital formation and improved cooperation in cross-border securities enforcement matters.
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Fertilizers
Norway Based Yara International ASA, a fertilizer and specialty chemicals major, and Pune-based Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation (DFPCL) have entered into a heads of agreement with the to establish a joint venture (JV) for the production and marketing of ammonium nitrate and specialty fertilizers in India. DFPCL will own 51% of the JV while Yara will own the balance 49%. The JV will also invest in Deepak Fertiliser's 3,00,000 million tons (MT) per annum ammonium nitrate plant under construction at Paradip in Orissa.
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Petroleum
ONGC awards contract to Northern offshore
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited ("ONGC") has awarded Jet Drilling (S) Pte. Ltd, a wholly owned affiliate of Northern Offshore Ltd. (NOL) a three-year contract for the semi-submersible rig Energy Driller for operations offshore India. The Energy Driller is a conventionally moored semi-submersible rig currently equipped to operate in up to 600 feet of water, however the rig will be upgraded to work in up to 1,000 feet of water as part of this contract assignment.
The contract, which is subject to final execution, is expected to commence during the second quarter 2008, following a shipyard program and subsequent mobilization from Singapore to India. The contract could have a value of approximately $257 million over the three year period.
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Punj Lloyd ventures into Drilling Services
PLL, the second largest engineering and construction companies in India providing integrated design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services for energy and infrastructure sector projects, has set up a new subsidiary - Punj Lloyd Upstream Limited (PLUL). The company has decided to foray into onshore drilling rigs business for oil and gas companies in India and abroad plans and has made an initial investment of Rs. 440 million. The company plans to buy onshore drilling rigs and lease them to oil and gas companies such as ONGC and RIL.
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Essar Oil to Consolidate Exploration & Production Business
The Essar group is emerging as a major player in hydrocarbons with a strong presence in exploration, refining and retailing through a series of well planned moves. Essar has decided to consolidate the upstream Exploration & Production activities under its proposed subsidiary, Essar Exploration & Production Limited, On completion of this exercise, Essar Oil will have nine Oil & Gas and Coal Bed Methane blocks namely: three onshore blocks in Madagascar; one offshore block in Nigeria; oil & gas block in Mehsana, Gujarat; Coal Bed Methane block in Raniganj, West Bengal; offshore field Ratna & R Series and two onshore blocks in Assam.
Essar Oil Limited has commissioned all the processing units of its 10.5 mmtpa refinery. All the units are expected to reach full capacity by the end of this quarter. In addition the dispatch facilities by rail and road have also been fully commissioned. It now plans to expand the refinery. In November 2007, the Board of Directors of Essar Oil Limited approved plans to increase the capacity of the refinery at Vadinar from 10.5 million tons (220,000 bbls per day) to 34 million tons per annum (700,000 bbls per day). The expansion is being carried out at a cost of approximately US$ 6 billion.
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Adani - Welspun joint venture wins block in Thailand
Adani Welspun Exploration Ltd, a joint venture between the Ahmedabad based Adani Group, which has interests in natural gas distribution, ports and power, and the Mumbai based Welspun Group, which has interests in pipes for the oil industry and textiles, has won a second oil and gas block in Thailand. Thailand awarded concession rights for 13 onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks and Adani Welspun Exploration Ltd won the on land Block L22/50. Block L22/50 measures 3,957 sq km in area and lies in western Thailand.
AWEL had previously won 3,975 sq km Block L39/48 in the north-eastern part of Thailand, near the southern rim of Khorat Plateau and towards the edge of Greater Khorat Basin. The block is situated 350 Km from Bangkok and 100 km from Khon Kean city.
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Norway firm may make LPG cylinders
Murli Deora, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has invited Ragasco AS of Norway to visit India and explore possibilities of a joint venture to set up a manufacturing facility for its new lightweight and transparent LPG Cylinders and bottles The fibreglass cylinders weigh 50 per cent less than the steel cylinders now in use and will not corrode. The lightweight and transparent cylinders are of particular relevance to India as they could help prevent rampant malpractices at the retail level where consumers are often provided with less than full cylinders. India could be a huge market for the company as the country has over 150 million LPG cylinders and on an average seven million cylinders are circulated in the market every year.
Power
Maithon Power achieves financial closure
Maithon Power Ltd (MPL), a 74:26 joint venture between Tata Power and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), on Tuesday announced completion of its financing for the 1,050-MW coal based thermal power project being set up in Dhanbad District of Jharkhand. The project, which is estimated to cost Rs 44.50 billion, is being funded on a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. The promoters — Tata Power and DVC — would bring in equity of 74 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.
National Electricity fund proposed
The blueprint for the proposed national electricity fund (NEF) will be finalized soon. This fund will be used to provide soft loans to the cash strapped state electricity boards (SEBs). Although the power sector needs Rs 2,500 billion, the minimum amount that is aimed to be raised is about Rs 1,000 billion. Under the plan, the Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation would raise money from the market and loan it to power distribution companies. The finance ministry has been asked to facilitate this by providing sops and concessions for investment.
Railways
Railways to procure high power electric locomotives
The Ministry of Railways intends to procure 1,000 high power electric locomotives over a period of 8 years and set up a factory at Madhepura in Bihar for assembly and manufacture of these locomotives.
The Ministry of Railways has, therefore, invited proposals from international consultants for preparing bid documents for the procurement and a maintenance of the locomotives and for setting up the factory.
Indian Railways seeks loans form ADB
India is seeking a $500 loan from the Asian Development Bank to help expand its rail network, already one of the world's largest networks. The Indian government has asked ADB to prepare an investment programme for financing of railway projects, including the doubling of existing tracks along some of the busiest corridors. Indian Railways, which carries more than 5.7 billion passengers and more than 666.5 million tons of freight annually, also plans to build two dedicated freight corridors across the country at a cost of $7 billion.
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Telecommunications
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR),leading private equity firm, has agreed to invest $250 million in Bharti Infratel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited. This is in addition to the investment of $1 billion in Bharti Infratel by leading international investors Temasek Holdings, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroup & India Equity Partners (IEP) in December 2007.
This investment reinforces the confidence of leading global investors in the Indian telecom sector, which is now the fastest growing telecom market in the world, and the Bharti Group. It is also an endorsement of the Indian Government’s visionary policy on sharing of passive infrastructure.
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Transport
Company to build Delhi - Mumbai industrial corridor incorporated
The Government has incorporated the Delhi - Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) that would be the nodal agency for building the country’s first 1,483-km-long industrial corridor. In the newly incorporated body, the Central Government holds 49 per cent stake while the remaining is held by financial institutions IL&FS, IDFC, IIFC and the six State Governments through which this proposed industrial corridor will run.
To be developed with Japanese technological and financial cooperation, the work on the corridor will be in two phases, with the first phase expected to be completed during 2008-12. In the first phase one investment region of 200 sq km and one industrial area of a smaller size in each state is proposed to be set up.
Urban development
Yara International forms joint venture
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has invited expression of interest for appointment of third party inspection monitoring agency under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The empanelled agency would monitor works in the pre - construction stage, construction stage, commissioning and trial run and post construction stages.
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Kerala approves urban development projects
The Kerala Government has approved two projects for development of Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi cities. The projects cover construction of 7,510 houses and 576 flats, apart from development of basic amenities in housing colonies.
The first project was submitted by the Kochi Corporation under the Basic Service for the Urban Poor Scheme, which is part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Of the total cost, the Centre’s contribution will be Rs 522.2 million, while the State Government will chip in Rs 208.9 million and the corporation Rs 195.4 million. The balance of Rs 117.9 million will be the contribution of the beneficiaries.
In Thiruvananthapuram city, approval has been given for projects worth Rs 1258.7 million to be implemented in the corporation limits as also in five panchayats. The Centre’s share in the total cost is Rs 1006.9 million, while the State Government willcontribute Rs 64.7 million, the corporation Rs 64.7 million and the beneficiaries Rs 122.3 million.
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ADB to provide $350 loan for Uttarakhand
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $350 million loan to improve urban infrastructure and services in 31 towns and cities in Uttarakhand, which is one of the country's top tourist destinations. ADB Manila - based regional development bank has identified Uttarakhand as one of its priority States in India as its development was lagging behind other States. Improved urban services are needed to support tourism and industry - two economic sectors with substantial development potential in the State.
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