After 14 months of deliberation, the five-member Abhijit Sen Committee on futures trading has failed to reach a consensus on whether to support or oppose the ban on futures trading in all farm commodities. Earlier, the committee had planned to recommend continuation of the existing ban on futures trading in some farm commodities and had included it in its draft report. The government had suspended futures trading in tur, urad, wheat and rice last year.
The UK's Marks & Spencer (M&S) has plans to position itself as a mid-market mass retailer in India and is eyeing a chunk of its revenues from India in the next few years. M&S has severed its partnership with Planet Retail and has entered into a deal with Reliance Retail. Its existing stores will be absorbed in the current partnership eventually. M&S will be positioned as a mid-market retailer in India. It chose Reliance as it moves quickly in its line of businesses.
Gagan Banga talks about how one of India's largest NBFCs still retains the financial discipline of a start-up.
The premier Indian Institutes of Management will have to draw on all their management skills to solve the current financial imbroglio they are in. On the one hand, the fee hike by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore has caused heartburn not only among students and the Union Human Resource Development Ministry but also among the other IIMs who say they were not consulted despite an existing agreement to do so. IIM-A and IIM-B have said that a fee hike is a prerogative of their own
Goodies and early bird discounts are not a new feature of India's real estate story, but the timing is significant. Real estate prices have climbed off their historic highs in the last six months on account of tighter liquidity and an overall decline in sentiment.
The real estate industry is witnessing a slowdown. In anticipation of rates to fall, consumers are postponing their purchase plans. Developers, for their part, are finding it difficult to access cheap credit with banks reluctant to lend to them. Both residential and retail demand has moderated though the demand for office space remains strong. Inspite of this, most property cos are expected to post reasonably good Q4 results. Builders are banking on mid-income projects.
The initial cost of the project, including land, is Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion) and the development cost is nearly Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion). The company is planning to fund the project through debt and draw more funds from Lehman if required, sources said. Recently, PLL and Lehman tied up to invest in the realty projects of Peninsula. In the Rs 700-crore (Rs 7 billion) joint venture, Lehman invested Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).
Saffron Asset Advisors, which manages the real estate investments of NYSE Euronext-listed Yatra Capital, is now planning to launch a bouquet of funds focusing on India. The company is aiming at a total corpus of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) in the next couple of years.Starting from real estate, the company will launch sector-specific funds such as healthcare, logistics, infrastructure, hospitality.
Struggling US telecom giant Motorola is exploring the possibility of shifting part of the manufacturing facility it is closing in Singapore to India. China and Thailand are also on the radar. Top sources said India is high on the list since Motorola already has a plant in Chennai and a large domestic mobile phone base of over 120 million phones annually.
The company has plans to open offices in the US, Singapore and other parts of West Asia such, such as Oman and Qatar in the next couple of years. "The NRI community is totally underserved. We want to tap the vast business potential arising from 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) NRIs working abroad,'' said Kapil Wadhawan, vice chairman and managing director, DHFL.
Sky-high rentals are forcing retailers to explore new ways to stay afloat. Many have done the obvious thing by shifting to cheaper locations or simply downing their shutters. But others are renegotiating deals with developers to ensure business sustainability. New deals like longer "rent-free" periods, no "lock-in" clauses in agreements and revenue-sharing deals with developers are becoming common.
International digital marketing company Digitas has partnered with Solutions to enter the digital marketing sector in India. Digitas is owned by global advertising major Publicis Groupe. The new entity will be called Solutions Digitas. Digital marketing was not just online marketing and India is an upcoming market for digital marketing. Digitas will also introduce Prodigious digital production that manages the technology end of digital marketing for clients such as GM & P&G.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, the consortium operating the new Hyderabad airport, has offered to halve ground-handling charges even as the civil aviation ministry allowed the domestic carriers to undertake their ground-handling till January 1, 2009. This will give the two sides enough time to resolve the contentious issue, which almost jeopardised the opening of the new airport and forced a postponement once.
Aviation experts say the existing airports cannot be viable.
Unitech and Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL) have deferred the listing of their respective real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX)owing to the liquidity crunch in the global markets. Both Unitech and IBREL have received approval from the SGX for the initial public offers (IPOs) of their trusts.
Mumbai-based property developer Oberoi Constructions, led by billionaire Vikas Oberoi, is planning a Rs 4,000 crore ($1 billion) initial public offer by year end. Vikas Oberoi, also known as Vikki Oberoi is at the 707th slot in the Forbes annual list of billionaires with a wealth of $1.7 billion.
Betting on higher margins from private labels, Reliance Digital, the consumer durable chain of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail, is planning to introduce its own brands of home theatres, LCD televisions and digital cameras. The brands, according to a source, will be called Rldigi. Reliance Digital is planning tie-ups with domestic and international consumer durable and appliance companies. These private labels are expected to contribute 12-15 per cent of Reliance Digit
Canadian communications major Research In Motion (RIM), owners of the BlackBerry brand of mobile phones, has assured the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it would sort out the BlackBerry tangle by initiating discussions between security agencies of Canada and India. The move comes in response to a government notice directing BlackBerry service providers to stop services by December 31, 2007.
Star Plus has signed up telecom major Airtel as the presenting sponsor for the Shah Rukh Khan-anchored Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai. According to sources, the deal has been struck at Rs 40 crore. The Airtel deal follows on the heels of its competitor Vodafone signing up as the presenting sponsor for the Indian Premier League on Sony TV.
Future Group will retail lightings and electrical products under a new brand - Bijli Ghar.
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