Recently, IT czar Azim Premji bought a 10 per cent stake in Subhiksha through his personal investment arm for nearly Rs 230 crore, valuing the retailer at Rs 2,300 crore. Premji's firm purchased this stake from ICICI Venture. However, this time around, Subhiksha promoters are expected to issue fresh equity to investors and expect the valuation to be around Rs 3,800 crore, sources said.
The group, which employs nearly 26,000 employees, plans to cut employee costs by one per cent, or Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million), in the current year by redeploying people in its various businesses and reducing new hirings. "Instead of external hiring, we have redeployed a part of our people resources from our mature businesses to the new ventures," Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said.
The government has given up plans to build grain reserves abroad finding it difficult to do so in view of the high food prices internationally. It had assigned four public sector undertaking companies to explore the possibility of building a 2-3 million tonne (mt) grain reserve to facilitate economical import during a domestic shortage and avoid extravagant imports.
Wheat, rice and edible oil prices have begun moving down from their past highs, as farmers continue to expand area under these crops in response to high prices. Speculators worldwide are now betting on falling prices.
Companies that earlier took 36 months on housing projects are now completing them in around 30 months by boosting efficiencies and using modern technology. Commercial project developers are going a step further, completing projects in 17 months instead of 24. In some instances, mainly in smaller commercial buildings, developers are trying to cut down the project completion time to a mere 9 months.
The wholesale price index based inflation rose to 12.44 per cent for the week ended August 2. Wheat has a weight of 1.38 per cent in the index. The department of economic affairs and the department of food and public distribution are in favour of selling 4 million tonnes wheat.
Caisse manages nearly $155 billion of pension and insurance funds in Canada and North America while Ivanhoe has 70 shopping centres in Canada, the US, Europe and Latin America, totalling 46 million sq ft.
The regulator has also cancelled the licences of three packagers providing services to Subhiksha for violating the packaging rules. The warehouses are based in Bhiwandi, which is on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Property developers, consultants and brokers have seen a 40 per cent decline in enquiries from home buyers over the last three months.
Top steel producers like SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar have decided to maintain status quo on steel prices even as the three-month price freeze ends today. Industry sources said they have decided to keep prices on hold as of now since inflation is ruling at a 13-year high of 11.98 per cent and any increase would aggravate the situation.
The drive to cut costs is becoming critical as key input costs - steel, cement and labour - that account for 40 per cent of project costs have escalated 50 per cent over the past year.
Companies may maintain status quo on low monsoon demand, capacity addition.
A committee of secretaries is considering a Rs 4,000-crore (Rs 40 billion) market intervention fund to provide states interest-free loans to augment foodgrain and edible oil availability, among other items. The money will enable states to intervene in the market by buying and distributing essential items to economically weaker families that are eligible for government assistance.
Unitech, the country's second-largest property developer, is planning to raise nearly $1 billion (Rs 4,200 crore) in the current financial year from private equity players for its hotel, commercial and retail projects across the country.
ITC, Godrej Agrovet, DCM Shriram and other companies expanding in rural areas may eclipse the growth of their urban counterparts, including Reliance Fresh and the Future Group-owned Food Bazaar chain, helped by higher farm income that is spurring a boom in sales of fast moving consumer goods, consumer durables and apparel.
The introduction of 10 per cent mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol is unlikely to happen from this October, as decided by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2007.
For such bonanzas, prospective home buyers have a downturn to thank. Property sales have fallen 15 to 20 per cent countrywide over the last six months, owing to rising home loan rates. This has pinched the cash flows of developers, already reeling under higher borrowing costs and a range of anti-inflationary measures that restrict their flexibility to raise funds.
ETAM, the French lingerie brand that has a joint venture with Kishore Biyani's Future Group, recently pulled out of Palm Beach Galleria mall in Navi Mumbai, together with six other retailers such as grocery chain Foodland Fresh and Manoranjan sarees.
Unitech, the country's second largest property developer, has raised $300 million (nearly Rs 1,290 crore) from international investors for its $600 million global property fund.
Housing Development and Infrastructure, country's third largest listed realty developer, has forayed into entertainment, power, oil & gas and broadcasting, among others, either directly or by acquiring stake. The company recently acquired a 51 per cent stake in Broadcast Initiatives, promoted by Sri Adhikari Brothers. Sarang Wadhawan talks about his company's plans and projects in an interview with Business Standard.
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