Call for hike in telecom tariffs: Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor has called for a hike in telecom tarriffs and says it is imperative for prices to be hiked if the industry were to be kept up and running. On the issue of DOT's possible imposition of a fine on the company for under-reporting revenues, Kapoor said Airtel has always been fully compliant of laws & regulations.

"Is there a need to take tariffs up? I think absolutely yes. The way the industry is performing and the way the prices have come down I think its unprecedented compared to any other part of the world and I think it is at unsustainable levels for most of the industry" says kapoor.

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Bharti Walmart opens 2nd store in Bhopal

Leading retail chain Bharti Walmart today opened its second wholesale store in Bhopal, making the Madhya Pradesh capital the only city in the country where the group has set up two stores, its top official said.

"Encouraged by the huge response that we have got in Bhopal after setting our first store, the company has decided to open second wholesale store in Bhopal, thus making the state capital the only city in the country, where two such stores exist," Bharti Walmart COO Arvind Mehndiratta told reporters after inaugurating the store.

The cost of setting up one such store is Rs 35 crore and the company has already established three wholesale units in the state, including one at Indore. The company has opened 20 stores in the country and is planning to open another four wholesale outlets in the current financial year, including in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, he said.

Welcoming the Centre's decision to permit FDI in retail, Mehndiratta said that it will further strengthen the retail business in the country as the traders will get quality products for their shops under one roof on actual rates and not have to depend on number of wholesalers for their requirements.

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Tata and ONGC to set up fertilizer factory in Tripura

Tripura government in a joint venture with ONGC and Tata Chemicals would set up a Rs 5,000 crore fertiliser manufacturing unit in north Tripura district by using the natural gas available in the state.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said, "It was decided that ONGC and Tata Chemicals would jointly set up Rs 5000 crore fertilizer company and Tripura government would buy 10 per cent equity of the company."

The company would sell equities of Rs 2000 crore in the market. ONGC has initially selected Khobal in north Tripura district, about 150-km from here for setting up the project considering proximity to Khobal gas field from where natural gas (hydrocarbon) would be supplied, Sarkar told reporters.

Last year, ONGC had discovered huge gas reserves at Khobal near Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44). With the commissioning of the project, the demand for fertilizer will be met not only for Tripura but also for the entire north-east region, West Bengal, Odisha and a large chunk of the fertilizer could be exported to neighbouring Bangladesh, he said.

Last year, CM Manik Sarkar had requested ONGC CMD Sudhir Vasudeva to set up a fertilizer manufacturing company in Tripura to ensure optimum utilisation of natural gas which was welcomed by ONGC. Following the request, ONGC had invited expression of interest for setting up a manufacturing unit and at least three big investors including Tata Chemicals had expressed their interest.

The oil and gas major has already set up a 726 MW gas based thermal power project in the state through ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) at Palatana in Gomati district. The project has started generating power on trial basis, but full fledge generation would be started after transmission line is complete and connected with the national grid at Bongaigaon.

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P K Borthakur takes over as ONGC Director (Offshore)

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said P K Borthakur has taken over as the company's Director (Offshore).

"Borthakur steps in as Director (Offshore) at a crucial juncture when ONGC has set ambitious target in augmenting offshore production, in the context of the organisation's Perspective Plan 2030," the company said in a press statement here.

Congratulating Borthakur for the elevation, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Vasudeva said there could not have been a better oilman for the assignment at this vital juncture.

"Borthakur, like his predecessor Sudhir Vasudeva, is predominantly brought up in the professional nuances of offshore oil engineering. He commands a rich portfolio of experiences in diverse fields of oil production chain," the statement said.

Before being elevated to the Board of India's flagship explorer ONGC, Borthakur managed nation's biggest oil producing asset Mumbai High and biggest gas asset Bassein & Satellite.

Redevelopment of ONGC brownfields would be a focus area, said Borthakur.

A Mechanical Engineer from Guwahati University, Borthakur has been groomed in IIM Lucknow and ISB Hyderabad. "Redevelopment of the brownfields like Mumbai High, Heera and Bassein, which have been contributing over 80 percent of ONGC's current domestic production, would be a focus area," he said.

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Response to Windows 8 in India overwhelming: Microsoft

Response to Windows 8 in India overwhelming: Microsoft

Microsoft India today said response in India to the recently-launched Windows 8 has been overwhelming, and 300 apps developed at the recent AppFest organised by the company here are in the process of getting into the Windows Store.

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AAI to move FinMin again for Rs 3,000 cr bond issue

State-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said it will soon approach the Finance Ministry afresh with the proposal to raise funds through a Rs 3,000-crore infrastructure bonds to finance modernisation of non-metro airports.

"The ministry has so far not agreed to our infrastructure bonds .... So we will again pitch for its sanction," AAI chairman V P Agarwal told reporters on the sidelines of the Capa India Aviation summit here.

The PSU has long been requesting the government to allow it raise Rs 3,000 crore through bonds. "We require funds to upgrade 2-tier and 3-tier airports or the secondary airports in the metros. Since these airports are not viable, we need low-cost financing," Agarwal said.

On the dues from the grounded Kingfisher Airlines , Agarwal said the airline's proposed revival plan should have the consent of the AAI. "Kingfisher will have to talk about clearing of our dues in the plan. And it should be acceptable to us as well."

Stating that dues have increased to Rs 300 crore, Agarwal said he will esnure that Kingfisher submits a plan which reflects the payment schedule of AAI dues. "Kingfigsher's dues have mounted to such a high level....which is not healthy and we have asked them to dilute these dues. So, when the airline submits its revival plan to the DGCA, that (payment schedule) should also reflect in the plan," he said.

AAI has asked the carrier to vacate the two hangers at Chennai and Kolkata airports, he said. "In any case, their licences have been cancelled and they are not flying. There are takers for these hangers and if they are given out to them, that will get us money," he said.

On the government's plan to abolish airport development fee (ADF) from January at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, the largest airports in the country, he said it will have some impact on AAI revenue.

"We have given our views to the regulator Aera that we can infuse equity if asked for. The ADF....will have an impact and we are working it out," he said.

While scrapping ADF which was levied on passengers to meet cash flow requirements before completion of an airport upgrade project, the aviation ministry had asked AAI to infuse additional equity of Rs 288 crore in the Mumbai airport and Rs 102 crore in Delhi airport, against its 26 percent share in the two joint ventures.

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Corporation Bank defers Q2 result announcement to Nov 7

Corporation Bank today deferred second quarter result announcement to November 9 citing administrative reasons. As per the earlier announcement, the state-owned bank was scheduled to announce its second quarter financial numbers of November 5.

Due to administrative reasons, the board meeting is postponed and will be held on November 9, 2012 to consider the un-audited financial results of the bank for the quarter and half year ended September 30, 2012, Corporation Bank said in a filing on the BSE. Shares of the bank closed at Rs 395.10 a piece, down 2.41 per cent on the BSE.

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Builders unhappy with RBI policy; seek interest rate cut

Realty firms and property consultants today expressed disappointment over RBI's decision to keep key policy rate unchanged and said it was the right time to bring down the borrowing cost for home buyers as well as developers.

"CREDAI has expressed strong disappointment at the RBI's latest credit policy. The Central Bank should shed its negative approach towards the real estate industry," the apex realtors' body said in a statement.

Stating that the cost of funding for real estate is very high, CREDAI President Lalit Kumar Jain said the RBI should come out with a positive policy and facilitate reduction in interest rate.

"We have been pointing out that the real estate industry is not only the 2nd largest employer in the country but also contributes handsomely to the GDP and growth of 400 other industries," he added.

After the recent meetings with Finance Ministry officials, CREDAI had been hopeful that the government and the RBI would come out with "pragmatic policy", Jain said.

Echoing similar views, CBRE South Asia Chairman and Managing Director Anshuman Magazine said: "The RBI's decision to keep the key policy rates unchanged once again is a disappointment for the real estate sector".

"While a cut of 25 base points in the CRR rate does infuse some liquidity, a reduction in the repo rate would have helped boost investor sentiment. The festive season coupled with an expected change in policy rates would have been the ideal time for improving consumer confidence," Magazine said.

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CCI finds no cartelisation among tyre manufacturers

In a relief to tyre makers, the Competition Commission today said it has not found any evidence of cartelisation among the country's tyre manufacturers including Apollo , MRF and Ceat .

In its order, the Commission said there is "no sufficient evidence to hold a violation by the tyre companies Apollo, MRF, JK Tyre , Birla, Ceat and ATMA (Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association)" of provisions of Competition Act.

Cartelisation generally refers to entities entering into agreements whereby they decide not to compete on price or product or customers. Such practices, which adversely impact overall competition in the market, are prohibited under Section 3 of the Competition Act.

The Commission in June 2010 had directed its Director General (DG) to carry out an investigation on the issue, specifically on the five major domestic tyre makers - Apollo Tyres, MRF, Ceat Tyre, Birla Tyre and JK Tyre.

The DG, investigation arm of the CCI, had concluded that tyre makers violated some provisions of the Competition Act. However, the fair trade regulator said that taking into consideration the act and conduct of the tyre companies/ ATMA, "it is safe to conclude that on a superficial basis the
industry displays some characteristics of a cartel there has been no substantive evidence of the existence of a cartel".

According to the fair trade regulator, as a tradable, the industry has always been open to competitive threats from imports.

"The Commission holds that the available evidence does not give enough proof that tyre companies/ATMA acting together have limited and controlled the production and price of tyres in the market in India," the order said.

All India Tyre Dealers' Federation (AITDF) had filed a complaint against tyre makers alleging that they were indulging in anti-competitive activities.

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Ista Hotels to be rebranded as Hyatt Hotels: Hyatt Hotels

Hyatt Hotels Corporation today said its affiliate has signed agreement with IHHR Hospitality Pvt Ltd for rebranding of the later's five Ista hotels in India to be re-branded by Hyatt. As per the management agreements between the two companies, Ista hotels will be known as Hyatt Bangalore, Hyatt Pune, Hyatt Hyderabad, Hyatt Ahmedabad and Hyatt Amritsar.

The branding effort is expected to be completed by March 2013, the companies said. Commenting on the development Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in Asia-Pacific Real Estate and Development Senior Vice President Ratnesh Verma said: "As a company we see a perfect fit with IHHR's forward-thinking philosophy and vision".

This opportunity allows Hyatt to further consolidate its distribution in India and offer its guests a choice in new markets such as Bangalore, Amritsar and Ahmedabad. "The time is now right to step back to our role as owners and hand these Ista hotels to a superb brand in Hyatt, which can take the business to the next level, through its marketing and brand strength. We are delighted with this relationship,"

IHHR managing director Ashok Khanna said on the development. The re-branding of the five Ista hotels as Hyatt Hotels, will mark the entry of the fourth brand from the Hyatt's portfolio into India. Currently, India has five Hyatt Regency hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, two Grand Hyatt hotels in Mumbai and Goa, and three Park Hyatt hotels in Goa, Chennai and Hyderabad. 

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Welspun Corp buys back $44.1-m FCCBs

Welspun Corp Ltd , the flagship company of the USD 3.5-billion Welspun Group, on Tuesday said it  has completed a buyback of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth USD 44.1 million out of the USD 150-million debt.

Welspun, the second largest line-pipe company in the world, has completed a part buyback of the 4.50 percent FCCBs due in 2014, it said in a statement. The company has been able to buy these bonds at a net value of USD 94,000 per bond, reflecting a 7.5 percent discount on the accreted value of USD 101,600 per bond, it said.

This buyback was funded by new foreign currency loan with an average maturity of 5 years. After accounting for this repurchase, convertible bonds worth USD 105.9 million remain outstanding and due for maturity by October, 2014. "Besides reducing the potential equity dilution, bond repurchase further reposes the confidence in the business model and will boost the profitability going forward," the release said.

Welspun Corp is a one-stop service provider offering complete pipe solutions with a capability to manufacture line-pipes. With current capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per annum from facilities at Dahej and Anjar in Gujarat, Little Rock in the USA and Saudi Arabia, Welspun is a preferred supplier to most of the Fortune-100 oil and gas companies.

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Divestment drive to kick off in November

Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 21:44

The government is all set to finally kick off the divestment agenda starting with Nalco on November 9.

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The government is all set to finally kick off the divestment agenda starting with Nalco on November 9.

This will be followed by Hindustan Copper and NMDC . Representatives from the steel and finance ministries will go for the NMDC road shows around November 15. This after the cabinet cleared sale of 10% stake in NMDC last week.

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Zensar wins over USD 21m of new deals in October

Zensar Technologies , a leading global software services company, today announced a surge in its manufacturing and BFSI verticals, winning new deals worth over USD 21 million in October.

Infrastructure and enterprise application services have been key drivers in these recent new wins.

"We have built a new business pipeline of USD 160 million in the past few months and the winning of four key multi-million dollar deals this month across three continents is a great beginning. Our vertically focused solutions have begun to show substantial traction in new applications and upgrades," Zensar chief executive and global head of enterprise business Nitin Parab said in a statement here. Adding to Zensar's Manufacturing portfolio is a new deal for global data centre services project with one of the leading European manufacturers of mobile, fixed networks, multimedia solutions and telecom services.

The scope of the project is to provide 24x7 data centre services for Oracle and HP servers. This will include service desk support, remote technical support, onsite field support and also hardware maintenance support, the release said.

The company has also been selected as a preferred IT partner for their global Oracle implementation, business intelligence and support business by two leading manufacturing companies.

One is a leading manufacturer of industrial testing equipment headquartered in the US with manufacturing centres located in the US, Europe and Asia.

Zensar also cemented its place as a preferred IT partner to the banking industry in South Africa, when it was selected by one of the largest banks in South Africa for the implementation, testing and customisation of their key banking product.

With this win, Zensar now services the top five financial institutions in South Africa.

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DoT issues list of pre-qualified bidders at 2G auction

Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 20:36

CNBC-TV18 has learnt that five telcos Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Videocon and Telenor have pre-qualified for the auction of the 1800 MHz spectrum. Tata Teleservices and Videocon have pre-qualified for the auction of the 800 MHz spectrum. The list of final bidders are to be released on November 6.

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DoT issues list of pre-qualified bidders at 2G auction

CNBC-TV18 has learnt that five telcos Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Videocon and Telenor have pre-qualified for the auction of the 1800 MHz spectrum. Tata Teleservices and Videocon have pre-qualified for the auction of the 800 MHz spectrum. The list of final bidders are to be released on November 6.

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DoT issues list of pre-qualified bidders at 2G auction

CNBC-TV18 has learnt that five telcos Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Videocon and Telenor have pre-qualified for the auction of the 1800 MHz spectrum. Tata Teleservices and Videocon have pre-qualified for the auction of the 800 MHz spectrum. The list of final bidders are to be released on November 6.

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CNBC-TV18 has learnt that five telcos Bharti , Vodafone, Idea , Videocon and Telenor have pre-qualified for the auction of the 1800 MHz spectrum. Tata Teleservices and Videocon have pre-qualified for the auction of the 800 MHz spectrum. The list of final bidders are to be released  on November 6.

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CCI gives approval to proposed JSW Steel-JSW Ispat merger

The Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed merger of JSW Ispat Steel Ltd with JSW Steel Ltd, a deal that would create the country's second largest steel producer.

Giving its approval, the fair trade regulator in an order dated October 25 said the combination is "not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India". JSW Steel Ltd is the single largest shareholder of JSW Ispat Steel Ltd, with a shareholding of 46.75 percent, and also has management control.

The CCI observed that the control over activities carried out by JSW Ispat before and after the proposed amalgamation would remain with JSW Steel. "... considering the presence of large integrated as well as non-integrated domestic steel producers, absence of major trade barriers for import of steel products and plans of further capacity expansion by most of the steel producers in India, the proposed combination is not likely to give rise to any adverse competition concern in India," the order said.

The merger, once complete, would create the second largest domestic steel producer with an annual steel production capacity of 14.3 million tonnes. A notice seeking the Commission's approval was submitted by the two companies on September 28. The deal was approved by the respective boards of the entities on September 1. The merger would be based on 1:72 share swap ratio (shareholders of JSW Ispat would get one JSW Steel share for every 72 shares they hold).

JSW Steel had acquired 41-percent stake in debt-ridden Ispat Industries from Pramod and Vinod Mittal, brothers of the steel czar LN Mittal, in December 2010 for about Rs 2,157 crore. Ispat Industries was subsequently named as JSW Ispat. Post-merger, promoters of JSW Steel would have 35.12 per cent stake in the merged entity.

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ONGC well in KG block leaking gas

A deepwater well in a Krishna Godavari basin block operated by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has been leaking gas for two months and there are now fears of environment damage due to the uncontrolled flow.

The well G-1-9 in Bay of Bengal has been leaking gas since August-end and all efforts by ONGC to contain the flow have so far been futile. "This is a very old, drilled some eight or 10 years back. It wasn't producing till now and we had plans to put in on production sometime next year along with other gas finds in the area," a company official said.

However, an uncontrolled flow of gas started from the well around August 30.
After attempting in-house solutions, the company is now looking at outside specalists to cap the well. There are fears that the well may start spilling oil too, which may spell environmental disaster.
    
"We have no idea how much gas (mostly methane) might have spilled but I suppose it must be at least one lakh cubic meters per day," the official said.
    
ONGC is developing G-1 field along with neighbouring GS-15. Both the fields are marginal or small finds. G-1-9 well was part of this development through which ONGC had planned to produce 2.7 million standard cubic meters of gas and 9,400 barrels of associated oil daily.

The official said The company has sought help of Coast Guard and Navy as well as neighbouring operators like Reliance Industries-BP combine and Cairn India to control the gas leak.
   
ONGC had in the integrated development of G-1 and GS-15 targeted to produce 0.982 million tonnes of oil and 5.92 billion cubic meters of gas by 2020-21. The project at the time of conception in 2003 was to cost Rs 429.82 crore but the cost was subsequently revised to Rs 1,262.93 crore in 2004 and then to Rs 2218.01 crore in 2010.
    
The company had planned to being production from the fields by April-May but the gas spill may result in delays, he said adding drilling on GS-15 field was completed last August.
    
The project had time and cost overrun as the contactor (Clough Ltd of Australia) defaulted in work. ONGC terminated the contract in June 2006.
    
Of the two, G1 is a deepwater field and is located 20 km away from the shore. GS15 is a shallow water field. G1 was the first deepwater field to be developed by ONGC

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Rs 342 cr service tax notice slapped on SKS Microfinance

SKS Microfinance today said it has received a showcause notice from authorities demanding Rs 34.2 crore service tax.

"The company has received show-cause notice from service tax authorities on October 23 to explain as to why the assignment of portfolio loans should not be classified under recovery service agent and the related income from the asset assignment transaction should not be subjected to service tax," SKS Microfinance said in a statement.

"The SCN (showcause notice) relates to the period FY 2007-08 to FY 2011-12 and indicates an amount of Rs 3,424.94 lakh as service tax on the income on asset assignment during the said period," it added. The authorities gave 30 days time to the company to respond, the micro lender said.

"The company will explain its stand to the authorities. Based on the merits of the case, the management including its tax advisers said that its position is likely to be upheld in the appellate process," it said.

Accordingly, the company did not made any provisioning in the financials of July-September period of the current fiscal. Meanwhile, the company today said that it has suffered Rs 262 crore net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, on a standalone basis. It had incurred a loss of Rs Rs 385 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The company's standalone total income from operations stood at Rs 78 crore against Rs 122 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The company made Rs 234 crore towards provisioning and write-offs during the quarter, SKS said in a statement. The company's Andhra Pradesh portfolio was reduced to nil from a high of Rs 1,491 crore at the start of Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis in October 2010. With this last and final provisioning for Andhra Pradesh exposure, SKS Microfinance Ltd looks beyond the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis, the company said in the statement.

The company has cash and bank balances of Rs 358 crore as on September 30, 2012. In addition, the unavailed deferred tax benefit stands at Rs 557 crore and will be available to offset tax on future taxable income, the statement added.

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Hyundai Motor India to hike prices from Nov

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today said prices of its vehicles across models will go up by up to Rs 5,000 from November 1. "The price increase has been necessitated by a variety of input costs," HMIL Vice-President (National Sales and Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said in a statement.
    
HMIL sells a range of models, from entry level Eon with price starting at Rs 2.75 lakh to premium sports utility vehicles tagged up to Rs 25.38 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). "The price increase would be up to Rs 5,000 across models and would come into effect from November 1, 2012," the company said.

Other car makers have already increased prices of their vehicles. Earlier this month, General Motors India announced hike in prices of its entire range of models by Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 depending upon the various models to minimise the impact of adverse currency movement and high input costs.
    
Maruti Suzuki , Honda Cars, Renault and Audi have also raised the prices of their vehicles to offset adverse impact of foreign exchange fluctuation and rising input costs.

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Reebok eyes sales rebound in 2013

Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 15:36

German sporting goods maker Adidas AG's struggling Reebok brand expects sales to rebound next year, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported on Saturday, citing Chief Marketing Officer Matt O'Toole.

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Reebok eyes sales rebound in 2013

German sporting goods maker Adidas AG's struggling Reebok brand expects sales to rebound next year, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported on Saturday, citing Chief Marketing Officer Matt O'Toole.

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Reebok eyes sales rebound in 2013

German sporting goods maker Adidas AG's struggling Reebok brand expects sales to rebound next year, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported on Saturday, citing Chief Marketing Officer Matt O'Toole.

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German sporting goods maker Adidas AG's

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SEBI warns bondholders of 2 Sahara companies

The Sahara Group found itself in trouble on Saturday after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a public warning to bond holders of two of its companies. The notice said that SEBI had received complaints from investors that they were being forced by Sahara agents to forcefully switch to some of its other schemes like the retail scheme Sahara Q Shop.

The notice further asked bondholders to hold on to the original documents relating to investment in bonds. It also asked the bond holders not to yield to pressure from Sahara or its agents to switch schemes.

Sahara has until the end of November to refund money received from investors and furnish documents to SEBI. Below is the full text of the notice by SEBI.

ATTENTION!! BOND HOLDERS OF THE TWO SAHARA COMPANIES

Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. (SIRECL)

Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. (SHICL)

DON'T BE FORCED!!! DON'T BE MISGUIDED!!!

The Hon'ble Supreme Court, vide its order dated August 31, 2012, has, inter alia, directed the above two SAHARA Companies (Saharas) to (a) refund the amounts collected by them through the red herring prospectuses (RHPs) dated 13.03.2008 and 16.10.2009, along with interest at 15% p.a. to SEBI within 3 months from the date of the said order, i.e. by November 30,2012; and (b) furnish all documents in their custody, particularly, the application forms submitted by subscribers, the approval and allotment of bonds and all other documents to SEBI so as to enable it to ascertain the genuineness of the subscribers as well as the amounts deposited, within a period of 10 days from the date of the order. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has further advised SSEBI to identify the subsribers who had invested the money on the basis of RHPs dated 13.03.2008 and 16.10.2009 and refund the amount to them with interest on their production of relevant documents evidencing payments after counter checking the records produced by Saharas.

The Saharas have not submitted the relevant documents to SEBI, as per the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. SEBI has been receiving complaints from investors that they are being forced by Saharas/their agents/officials to switch-over their investments to other schemes in Sahara Group Companies like Sahara Q Shop Unique Products Range Ltd., Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., etc. Some investors have also complained that their investments have been switched over to the said schemes of Sahara Group Companies without their consent.

In view of the above, the subscribers to the Bonds of SIRECL and SHICL are advised in their own interest:

1. To hold on to the original documents relating to their investments in the Bonds and to produce the same to SEBI when called for; and

2. Not to yeild to any pressure from any person, including Saharas or their agents, for converting or switching over their existing investments in the Bonds to any of their other schemes like Q Shop etc.

Please bring the details of any such instances to the notice of SEBI.

Subscribers may contact: SE Cell, Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI Bhavan, Plot No. CA-4, "G" Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. Tel. No. 022-26449211 Email: secell@sebi.gov.in

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United Spirits chief Mallya not sure of Diageo deal

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya does not know whether a deal for UK drinks giant Diageo Plc to take a stake in his United Spirits Ltd will be struck or not, he said on Saturday.

Mallya has been scrambling to raise funds for his ailing Kingfisher Airlines Ltd , and has been in talks with the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka to sell a stake in United Spirits.

"Whenever we need to say something we will, we keep discussing but we don't know whether a deal will happen or not," Mallya told Reuters on the sidelines of the Indian Grand Prix, which he flew in from London to attend.

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Indian companies created 50,000 jobs in US: Burns

At a time when unemployment is a major issue in the US due to its poor economic status, Indian companies through its massive investments in America have created 50,000 jobs in the country, a top US diplomat said.

"Our economic relationship is very much a two way street. Both of us are focused on attracting growth and investment to our shores. Indian owned Tata factory in Ohio puts thousands of Americans to work, part of the over 50,000 jobs Indian firms have created in the US. Opportunities for small, medium and large American businesses in India are staggering," US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said yesterday.

Burns added that India is being projected as world's third largest economy by 2025. But 90 per cent of India is still without broadband, 80 per cent of India's infrastructure for 2030 hasn't yet been built, according to McKinsey, India plans to invest one trillion dollars on infrastructure in the next five years alone.

Burns praised the recent Indian decisions with regard to next phase of economic reforms.

"Of course, for our companies to provide the technology and expertise to help India prosper, India's government must create an environment that encourages growth," he said.

He added that India's recent easing of some restrictions on Foreign Direct Investment are promising. Indian multi-brand retail, aviation, power grid and broadcasting companies and markets will be more open to investment, technologies and best practises from all around the world. It will be easier to bring food to market.

He emphasised that greater economic openness is not a concession to the US. It is one of the most powerful tools India has to maintain and expand its growth.

Burn Observe that India has no more important partner than US. Total direct investment of US in India in 2000 was USD 2.4 billion which in 2010 get to USD 27 billion. During the same period Indian direct investment in America grew over USD 200 million to nearly USD 5 billion, which is more than a twenty fold increase. So we have never invested in each other's country to such extent.

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Zee, JSPL trade defamation charges against each other

Zee News  today said it has sent a Rs 150 crore defamation notice to Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who too had filed a Rs 200 crore case against the media conglomerate claiming the TV channel had tried to extort money from his company.

"Zee News has granted a three-day time period to Mr Naveen Jindal to withdraw all his unsubstantiated and defamatory allegations against Zee News, failing which Mr Jindal would face civil and criminal actions initiated by Zee News," the media house said in a statement here. At a press conference on October 25, Jindal, who is the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) had claimed that the Zee News group attempted to "extort" Rs 100 crore from the firm for not airing stories against it on coal block allocation.

Jindal had released a CD claiming that it has records of attempts by Zee editors to strike a purported deal with JSPL. On Thursday, JSPL had filed a defamation suit for Rs 200 crore against four executives of Zee at Mumbai High Court. "Notices for which have already been issued to Subhash Chandra, Puneet Goenka, Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia of Zee News and Zee Business.

The case is likely to come for hearing next week at Mumbai High Court," the company said. However, Jindal's charges were strongly denied by the Zee group. "Zee News has condemned and completely rejected the doctored evidence produced by Jindal. Zee News sees this as a deliberate attempt to malign the trustworthy television network," the media house said. JSPL is one of the companies named in the CAG report as one of the beneficiaries of the coal block allocation without auction.

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Sebi asks investors not to yield to pressure from Saharas

Sebi today advised investors against yielding to any pressure from "Saharas or their agents" for switching over their investments in two Sahara companies -- SIRECL and SHICL -- to other group companies. In August, the Supreme Court had directed SIRECL and SHICL to refund investors' money worth Rs 24,000 crore within three months with 15 per cent interest per annum for violating norms in raising funds from the public.

Noting that the Saharas have not submitted the relevant documents to it, Sebi in a public notice today said the regulator has been receiving complaints from investors of being forced by Saharas to switch to schemes in its other group companies.

In the notice titled 'Don't be forced!!! Dont' be misguided', Sebi has asked investors "not to yield to any pressure from any person, including Saharas or their agents, for converting or switching over their existing investments in the bonds to any of their schemes..." The apex court had said that if Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) fail to refund the amount, then Sebi can attach properties and freeze bank accounts of these companies.

"The Saharas have not submitted the relevant documents to Sebi, as per the order of the honourable Supreme Court. Sebi has been receiving complaints from investors that they are being forced by Saharas/their agents/officials to switch over their investments to other schemes in Sahara Group Companies like Q Shop Unique Products Range Ltd, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, etc.

"Some investors have also complained that their investments have been switched over to said schemes of Sahara Group Companies without their consent," the notice said. The Supreme Court in August had said that SIRECL and SHICL should refund the amounts collected through RHPs dated March 13, 2008 and October 10, 2009 along with an interest rate of 15 per cent per annum to Sebi from the date of receipt of the subscription amount till the date of repayment.

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Cognizant to invest $25m for data centres in US, Europe

As part of measures to expand its presence in North American and European markets, IT major Cognizant would initially invest USD 25 million to open additional data centres, the company said today.

"As part of the strategy, the company will initially invest USD 25 million to open additional data centres in Arizona and Virginia in the US, Amsterdam in The Netherlands and Slough in the UK", a company statement said.

These data centres, would further strengthen Cognizant's infrastructure management capabilities and enable clients to maximise value in their IT environment, it said.

"Clients need to modernise their IT capabilities and bring consumer IT models to their users, and at the same time virtualise their infrastructure, rationalise costs and improve productivity through flexible, business models", Cognizant IT Infrastructure Services division Senior Vice-President Robert Boles said.

With the expanded cloud capabilities across our network of data centres, it would greatly enhance the ability to satisfy the client needs, he added.

He said the expanded capabilities help Cognizant to offer clients a fully integrated suite of business solutions, business process services, application development, data services and cloud infrastructure.

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Hyundai posts marginal fall in India revenue in Jan-Sept

Korean auto major Hyundai today reported a marginal decline in its revenue from India at 3.861 trillion South Korean won (KRW) in January-September period in 2012 despite vehicle sales growing by nearly four percent.

According a presentation on its website, Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) said revenue from India had stood at 3.869 trillion KRW in the first nine months of 2011.

However, vehicle sales from the company's subsidiary Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) during the period increased by 3.73 percent.

HMIL sold a total of 4,78,902 units, including exports, in January-September period this year compared to 4,61,697 units in the year-ago period. Out of this, sales in the Indian market went up by 6.47 percent to 2,94,050 units from 2,76,192 units in the same period last year.

Commenting on the performance and the coming period, HMC said: "Competition among major automakers stands to increase, especially due to slowing demands from emerging markets such as China and India, once considered major drivers of the auto industry".

In the three quarter of 2012, HMC's sales revenue increased by 7.81 percent to 61.751 trillion KRW from 57.279 trillion KRW, the presentation said.

Net profit of HMC for the first nine months in this year stood at 7.164 trillion KRW as against 6.102 trillion KRW, up 17.40 per cent. "Strong overseas sales made up for sluggish demands in the Korean market, resulting in the overall Y-o-Y increase.

Enhanced brand value and increased average selling price especially drove profit margin growth," the company said. For the quarter ended September 30, HMC reported a 3.65 percent rise in its sales revenue to 19.646 trillion KRW from 18.954 trillion KRW.

The net profit in the last quarter increased by 12.93 percent to 2.166 trillion KRW from 1.918 trillion KRW. Commenting on the outlook, HMC said: "Hyundai forecasts that business uncertainties in the auto industry will continue through the fourth quarter to next year. Even so, Hyundai will achieve its sales target through various efforts such as offering better quality, differentiated marketing and improved dealer networks".

Focussing more on emerging markets, the company will put forth its efforts to stabilise operation at its third plant in China and the latest plant in Brazil, both of which started production this year. "To proactively respond to changing global demands, Hyundai also plans to develop and sell more fuel-efficient and eco-friendly models," it added.

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BSNL prepares blueprint to garner Rs 8,000 cr revenue

Loss-making state telecom firm BSNL has drawn a blueprint to garner an estimated Rs 8,000 crore revenue through monetisation of its vast real estate as well has hiving off its tower arm over the next five years. Sources said BSNL outlined its blueprint to turn profitable in a presentation to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.

The proposals include utilisation of its real estate, monetising of towers assets, utilisation of its factories for revenue generation, providing broadband connectivity to schools and leasing out its CDMA network. Sibal has asked BSNL to submit plans that will help the company turn profitable.

BSNL's losses have more than tripled to Rs 5,997 crore crore during 2010-11. The company had registered a net loss of Rs 1,823 crore during 2009-10. In a presentation, BSNL said its tower assets can be monetised by forming a separate company or adopting any other business model.

The company is expecting a revenue of Rs 1,600 crore over five years by leasing out spare capacity to other operators. The state-run service provider has over 70,000 towers across India. BSNL has tower sharing pacts with many private telecom operators.

In real estate, BSNL has about 4,400 hectare of total land bank. In order to monetise the real estate, it has taken up a pilot project for commercial exploitation of 10 lands. The telco is expecting a revenue of Rs 250 crore as upfront value during 2013-14 and Rs 250 crore from rental income from 2016-17 onwards from these properties.

BSNL has seven telecom factories where it plans to set up manufacturing facilities of electronic equipment in partnership with other manufacturers, which can generate a revenue of Rs 500 crore. The state-run firm has proposed to roll out wi-fi enabled hot spots across the country to provide high-speed Internet services at public places such as malls, IT parks, airports and hospitals.

This can bring in a revenue of Rs 25 crore in each zone in first year and Rs 50 crore in each zone from second year onwards. The telco also plans to connect 1.5 million schools in the country through high-speed data network. It will charge Rs 5,000 for one connection which can garner Rs 750 crore for the firm annually.

The state-run firm is exploring the possibility of imparting training to people using its expertise and infrastructure which can bring in a revenue of Rs 200 crore over a period of five years.

As part of National Policy of Skill Development, the government has envisioned a target of training 50 crore people by 2022 in different sectors. Apart from that, BSNL proposes to offer high definition video conferencing to public and further exploiting the potential of its existing CDMA network, which can rake in another Rs 250 crore.

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Honda ships Brio to SA; may make Nodia facility export hub

Honda Cars India, which today shipped the first lot of 390 units of its locally-made hatchback Brio to South Africa, said it may make the Noida facility as an export hub for some of the models. It rolls out around 2,500 Brios a month.

"The expansion of our export business is the first step towards developing India as another hub for export of certain models. I think this market has a lot of potential to be an export hub for us," Honda Cars India President and Chief Executive Hironori Kanayama told reporters here.

The locally-made Brio is the first model exported to South Africa by Honda India, he said, adding the first tranche of 390 cars is a significant milestone. "We will export over 1,600 Brios to South Africa and SADC (South African Development Community) countries by next March," he said.

The SADC bloc include Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritius and the Seychelles, company's Senior Vice-President Jnaneswar Sen said. Sen said the Brio, which is rolled out from the company's Great Noida plant has 90 percent localisation. In the past 14 years, the company has exported a total of 1,028 cars, including the City, Jazz and Accord, to the Saarc region. It has now added Brio to the export portfolio.

The Brio is set to go on sale in South Africa in early December and it will be sold through Honda Motor Southern Africa dealers and through its distributors in SADC countries. Sen added that the company plans to roll out an entry level sedan, which will be built on the Brio platform, and a new CRV, premium SUV, next fiscal to expand its portfolio from here.

"We are developing entry level sedan from the Brio platform with both petrol and diesel variants. A new CRV will also be launched next fiscal," Sen said without divulging any timeline. Honda sells the popular sedan City, mid-segment Civic, premium sedan Accord, entry level hatchback Jazz and Brio, apart from the premium SUV Honda CRV in the domestic market.

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HMT eyes Rs 1,000 crore turnover in next 5 years

Public sector HMT is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years and plans to foray into aerospace and manufacture of weapons and missile components, a top company official today said.

The machine and tools maker is making components for various weapons prompting it to think of making weapons, mainly guns and rifles of various specifications, company's managing director M D Sreekumar told reporters here. Discussions would be held with ministry of defence in this regard, he said.

The company's order book was full this year with ordersworth Rs 260 crore, he said adding another Rs 200 crore orders were expected by March 31 next year. Of the Rs 260 crore worth orders, about Rs 90 crore worthorders were from the Defence sector, he said. The company was also keen to associate with the proposed Kochi Metro project, said Sreekumar, here for the launch of HMT Machine Tools Ltd's SBCNC 80 - Slant Bed CNC Turning Center, considered the highest capacity offered in India by any indigenous machine tool manufacturers.

The first machine was handed over by Sreekumar to P S Veera Raghavan, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram, at a function held at HMT Machine Tool's unit at nearby Kalamassery. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bangalore-based HMT Ltd, has already bagged orders worth Rs 3.2 crore for the product from BHEL and BEML. The orders will be executed within another 2 months, a release said.

The new machine is designed exclusively for undertaking heavy jobs for heavy engineering industries, power sectors, aerospace and steel industries.

The Kalamassery unit was on the path to achieving aturnover of Rs 75 crores by the end of the current fiscal, targeting a growth of more than 15 per cent, it added. The unit manufactures conventional and CNC lathes andsingle/multi-color offset printing machines and caters mainly to defence, Indian Railways and major auto manufacturers and the state governments.

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NPA situation may worsen in next 6-8 months

According to the sources in the finance ministry the NPA situation is set to get worse. Over Rs 3 lakh crore of loans due to projects stranded for approvals can get NPA status in the next 6-8 months.

If permissions for land or environment or fuel linkages don't come in quickly then the officials say they are pinning their hopes on the National Investment Board which they hope will ensure faster clearances.

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Chhattisgarh aims at Rs 10000 cr investment in solar energy

Chhattisgarh Government has set an ambitious target of attracting Rs 10,000 crore worth of investment in the solar energy sector in the near future.

Talking to reporters here today, Chief Minister Raman Singh said the government has formulated a clear and comprehensive policy which envisages seeking Rs 10,000-crore investment in the sector.

The sector has immense potential to generate large scale employment. A solar energy plant with Rs 10-crore investment has the potential to create nearly 500 jobs, he said. On the other hand, a thermal power plant with Rs 10,000-crore investment generates just around 700 jobs, he said. Chhattisgarh, which yesterday unveiled a new policy for the solar energy sector, is committed to reduce dependence on coal to meet its power needs, Singh said.

In the long-term, the tribal-dominated state wants to embrace energy sources like solar in a big way as they are clean and environment-friendly, the Chief Minister added.

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BPCL imposes over Rs 87 lakh fine on gas agency

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has imposed a fine of over Rs 87 lakh on a gas agency in the district for alleged irregularities in supply of cylinders.

The gas agency at Chandkhuri village was allegedly involved in black marketing of domestic gas cylinders and supplying it to commercial establishments on fake cards made in the name of villagers, a BPCL official said. BPCL imposed the fine of Rs 87.57 lakh on the dealer when the matter came to light following investigation by the Food Department of the state government. A case has been registered against the owner of the agency, who is absconding, police said.

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Kingfisher succumbs to pressure, to pay Oct salary to staff

Apparently succumbing to pressure from its employees demanding clearance of salary dues, Kingfisher management on Wednesday said it would expedite payment of October salary ahead of Christmas and claimed that "most" of them had agreed to resume work from Friday.

In a fresh letter to the striking staffers, airline CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said, "We have received several requests asking for status of salary for the duration of partial lock-out period and asking for salary in December 2012 to be paid one week earlier than December 31, 2012.

"I am pleased to confirm that as a goodwill gesture the company will pay full October salary to all employees and we commit to paying the same prior to Christmas, 2012."

Counter to the employees' claims that a majority of them were opposed to the offer made by him earlier, Aggarwal claimed that "most" of them had sent their confirmation to resume duty from October 26. "We request the rest of you to send your acceptance at the earliest," he said.

When contacted by PTI, Aggarwal refused to divulge the source of cash flow for the airline to manage the salary payment.

The employees have been on strike since September 29 demanding payment of salary dues since March this year. The strike had led to the company declaring a lockout from October one, which was followed by suspension of their Scheduled Operator's Permit by aviation regulator DGCA.

The airline employees, who held meetings in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, had yesterday rejected the offer of payment of three months' salaries in a staggered manner as part payment of dues and insisted that it should be paid in lumpsum.

However, its Mumbai-based pilots had said they were ready to accept the deal offered by the management as a condition to resume work. Salaries have been pending for seven months.

Aggarwal had yesterday sent out emails to individual employees offering them three months salary by Diwali in mid-November, saying if they accepted the offer, they should send an acceptance note and resume work from Friday, which was objected to by the protestors.

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'Airtel, Infosys, TCS among most sought after employers'

Six major Indian companies, including Bharti Airtel , Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services , have made the cut in list of 20 'Most In Demand Employers' compiled by professional network LinkedIn.

Besides, Wipro Technologies, HCL Technologies and Mahindra Satyam have also found a place in the list, which is topped by Accenture.

The professional network said in India, telecom player Bharti Airtel is the seventh most sought-after company among professionals on LinkedIn.

This was followed by Infosys at eighth spot and Tata Consultancy Services at the ninth place.

Wipro Technologies was 11th, followed by HCL Technologies 13th and Mahindra Satyam 14th.

LinkedIn analysed a large number of companies and published the list among its 175 million members.

"The three companies of Indian origin that feature in the top 10 list of most InDemand employers... are testimony to the increased importance of developing and maintaining employer brand by Indian corporates," it said.

Among others in the top five are Hewlett Packard, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft.

Cognizant Technology Solutions, Vodafone, Deloitte, Amazon, Adobe, Cisco are the others featuring in the list.

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Cairn India is the fastest growing energy company: Platts

Seventy Asian oil and gas companies, including those from India and China, were ranked in the 2012 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings based on their financial performance in 2011.

While ExxonMobil maintained its number one position in the list, Cairn India topped the list for fastest growing companies with a three-year CGR of 119.8 per cent, Platts said at the award ceremony held here last night.

Of the 12 Indian companies in the global Top 250 rankings, half appeared on the 50 Fastest Growing list, which included Reliance Industries, Coal India, Indian Oil Corp and Gail, Platts said.

China had 23 companies in the Top 250 list compiled by Platts, a global energy, petrochemical and metal information service provider.

Commenting on the Asian companies performance, Platts President Larry Neal said the Asian companies were outperforming themselves year after year, which reflected the enormous growth and energy demand potential in the region.

The list, however, was dominated by Western oil & gas majors, taking the top eight ranking of the list.

ExxonMobil, which has maintained its number one position on the list for the past eight years, was followed by Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp, BP Plc, OJSC Gazprom, Statoil, Total and ConocoPhillips.

Chinese major PetroChina came in on the ninth spot with Roseneft Oil on 10.

The Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings, now in their 11th year, are based on data compiled and maintained by S&P Capital IQ, which, like Platts, is a part of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The 2012 rankings reflect fiscal 2011 financial performance in four key areas: asset value, revenues, profits and return on invested capital (ROIC).

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PMO asks CIL, CEA to work on price-pooling of coal

With impasse over the price pooling mechanism of imported coal remaining unresolved, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked both Coal India and Central Electricity Authority to work on the issue.

"The PMO has recently asked both CIL and CEA to sit and work on Price Pooling," a top official in the Coal Ministry said.

To offset the impact of high import costs, the Planning Commission has said that CIL should adopt a pooling formula on prices by combining rates of imported and domestic coal.

While a number of private power producers have agreed to the price-pooling for coal, some of the state governments like West Bengal have said such a mechanism was not acceptable to them.

The Coal Ministry had earlier said the matter was under consideration and dialogue was on with the Power Ministry.

Earlier CIL had said that price pooling is a mechanism to implement FSA and "if price pooling is approved then 15 percent supply of imported coal will be not in the cost plus method, but in pooling mechanism."

The CIL board had in September approved the modified fuel supply agreement (FSA) without price-pooling with 65 percent domestic coal and 15 percent imported coal at cost-plus basis.

CEA is also working on a price-pooling mechanism. So far, only 30 power companies, including Lanco and Adani, have signed FSAs with CIL.

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US prosecutors consider 8-10 yr jail term for Rajat Gupta

US prosecutors are considering a 8 to 10 year prison term for former Goldman Sachs Group board member Rajat Gupta. But, Gupta convicted of insider trading in June has the whos who of the developing and developed world to his side. So far, more than two hundred letters have recommended leniency for him.

The rise of Rajat Gupta in the global corporate world has been nothing short of meteoric. The 63-year old is the most prominent of 70 people convicted since US prosecutors began a nationwide crackdown on insider-trading four years ago.

In June 2012, he was found guilty on three counts of securities fraud and one count of consipiracy for sharing privileged information with friend and Galleon Hedge Fund Chairman Raj Rajaratnam between July 2008 and February 2009. While Gupta was acquitted on the remaining two counts of securities fraud, the convictions themselves carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.

Though, US prosecutors are asking for an 8-10 year sentence, Gupta has requested probation in lieu of a jail term and his lawyers have suggested extensive community service with troubled youth in New York or with the poor in Rwanda.

Legal shamans inlcuding Judge Richard Holwell who presided over the Raj Rajaratnam case, say Federal Judge Jed Rakoff will consider many factors before passing the sentence.

Richard Holwell, former US Federal Judge and Partner at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg said, "The judge isn't going to simply focus on the statutory guideline sentence. Those guidelines are no longer mandatory. Judge Rakoff will look at a lot of factors before he decides what an appropriate sentence is in this case and he will consider the defendant's background and other things that he has done in his life along with the crimes he has been convicted of."

That's where Gupta, who is known to have moved in elite business and philanthropic circles for decades may gain an edge. Judge Rakoff has received over 200 letters from several prominent businessmen and humanitarians asking for fairness and leniency. From Microsoft's Bill Gates to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to DLF Chairman KP Singh has urged for leniency. Leonard Lauder, the chairman emeritus of Estee Lauder, Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani, Ajit Jain, the chief of reinsurance at Berkshire Hathaway, Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has pleaded for an easier term.

Interestingly, Judge Rakoff himself is no stranger to such pleas. As a white-collar defence attorney, he once persuaded a judge to give probation to a client convicted at an insider-trading trial. If he does give Gupta's good deeds some weightage, the sentence could be lighter than the 8-10 year but, given the scope of Gupta's crimes, a sentence with no jail term seems unlikely.

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Nokia seeks $1 bln from bonds to help drive fightback

Mobile-phone maker Nokia plans to raise 750 million euros by issuing bonds that can be converted into shares, seeking a cheap way to bolster its fragile finances as it battles to claw back market-share lost to Apple and Samsung.

Once the world's biggest mobile phone maker, the Finnish firm has fallen far behind Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy phones in the lucrative smartphone market, and is pinning its hopes for recovery on new models that go on sale next month.

With its cash reserves falling and its credit ratings cut to junk over the past year, analysts have said Nokia needs to show a turnaround in the next several months if it is to survive.

Its shares fell over 7 percent to around 2 euros in Tuesday afternoon trade as investors worried the eventual conversion of the new bonds into stock would reduce earnings per share.

But analysts said the choice of convertible bonds - which normally pay lower interest rates than normal bonds because they offer investors the chance of making money when they are converted into shares - was a smart one.

"It is a rather cheap way to get extra financing," said Evli analyst Mikko Ervasti. "They need buffers (and) their 2014 bond also requires financing."

Nokia's net cash fell to 3.6 billion euros in September from 4.2 billion in June. It also finished the third quarter with 3.8 billion euros in interest-bearing liabilities, with 1.75 billion in bonds and loans maturing in 2014.

Additionally, the company owns half of network equipment venture Nokia Siemens Networks, which finished the quarter with 1.4 billion euros in liabilities.

The convertible bonds will be due in 2017 and will pay a coupon between 4.25 percent and 5.00 percent. The initial price for conversion into ordinary shares is expected to be 28-33 percent above the average price of Nokia shares between the launch and pricing of the offering.

PINNING HOPES ON LUMIA

Nokia's fortunes hinge on its top-of-the-range Lumia 820 and 920 models, which run on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 software. The phones, which come in vivid colours and have high-resolution cameras, will hit the stores in November.

On Tuesday, the group unveiled the lower price Lumia 510, which is an update of the Lumia 610 but does not use the newest version of Windows software. The 510 has a larger screen and will be sold for around USD 199, excluding taxes and subsidies.

ING analysts welcomed the convertible bonds plan as reducing uncertainty around Nokia's short-term debt maturities and bolstering its capital.

"It also shows that the company is taking the question marks around its credit quality seriously and is willing to take the steps necessary to improve this," they said in a research note.

Nokia's five-year credit default swaps were trading around 2.8 percent tighter in earlier trading, meaning lower costs of insuring the company against default.

The final terms of the convertible bonds, including the conversion price and maximum number of shares which may be issued upon conversion, will be announced later in the day. Trading in the bonds are due to start around October 26.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi and Deutsche are the joint bookrunners.

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Lupin eyes 15 new drug launches in US by March 2013

Indian drugmaker Lupin plans to launch at least 15 new generic products in the United States in the current fiscal year ending March 2013, as it looks to push up sales in the world's biggest drug market, a top executive said on Tuesday.

"About eight to 10 (from the 15), I would say, will be oral contraceptives," Vinita Gupta, chief executive of Lupin's US unit, told Reuters.

Lupin has launched five products in the US this fiscal year.

The drugmaker had said earlier its September quarter net profit rose 9 percent to Rs 291 crore to beat analyst estimates.

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Nissan Motor to hike Micra, Sunny prices from Nov 1

Moneycontrol Bureau

Passenger car maker Nissan Motor India on Tuesday said it will increase prices of its Micra hatchback and mid-size Sunny sedan from November 1, to counter a sharp increase in logistics and transportation costs, apart from rising input costs.

While the prices of Micra and Sunny, both of which are made in India, will go up, the company said it is not raising price of its recently launched made in India multi-utility vehicle Evalia.

"The prices are being revised to partially offset appreciation in input and transportation costs. While all leading automobile companies raised prices earlier this year, we at Nissan absorbed rising input costs and held back the price hike...We have now reached the stage where we have to make an adjustment," said Nitish Tipnis, director - sales & marketing at Hover Automotive India, the national sales company of Nissan in India.

Several automakers, including India's largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki , Hyundai Motor, General Motors and Honda had announced a price hike earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Nissan said it hopes to continue to double sales in India to achieve its target of 1 lakh units by 2013.

It plans to add 20 dealers to increase its total network to 95 dealers by the end of the current financial year, to support the sales growth, it said.

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Kingfisher: Pilots, engineers reject 3-month salary offer

The Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai pilots and engineers have rejected Kingfisher Airlines' three-month salary offer, according to sources. However, a majority of Mumbai pilots and engineers have accepted the salary offer.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh refused to intervene in the Kingfisher Airlines mess. He said Kingfisher is a privately owned company and so the government can't intervene and make the airline pay staff salaries. He also said that the payment alone will not be enough to make Kingfisher fly.

Also Read: KFA shares fall 4.6% after staff rejects salary offer

"It is a private company, doesn't come under any ministry. Yes they have a problem, but the government cannot interfere. The Kingfisher problem is very big. They have to give a very sound plan to the government that they can pay taxes and their dues," Ajit Singh said.

Kingfisher's efforts to take off crash landed after it's 6,000 plus employees, who haven't been paid in the past seven months, refused the management's offer of three months' salary before Diwali. They say it's an eyewash and want chairman Vijay Mallya to come to the talking table.

What brought Kingfisher Airlines down?

The airline company was Chairman Vijay Mallya's muse. He chose to run it himself, even deciding to interview air hostesses, pilots and other staff members himself. So did this obsession lead to the company's decline? Apart from Mallya, few others were allowed to run the show. Smallest decisions had to wait for the Chairman's go-ahead, say management insiders.

However, the real crumble began with the acquisition of Air Deccan for which Mallya paid over Rs 550 crore. In a mad rush to fly international, the deal was struck but young Kingfisher was not able to cement the marriage. The low cost model of Deccan clashed with the premium Kingfisher product, resulting in total failure and ultimate grounding of Deccan.

Insiders have also pointed to poor financial management as the other big example. Mallya brought in financial heads at the UB Group to run the show at Kingfisher Airlines. Rivals like Indigo, on the other hand, hired airline finance experts. People used to running a liquor business were unable to grapple with the low-margin airline business.

Mallya borrowed heavily from banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI). The airline which never made profit since the time it launched in 2003 had many takers. Experts say banks could not refuse as it was promoted by India's top liquor brand. Then came the 2008 fuel crisis. Fuel prices skyrocketed but Kingfisher continued to expand. It continued to lease aircraft for its foreign services, despite passenger traffic showing signs of a slowdown.

Leadership was the final nail in the coffin. Mallya never had a professional CEO run his airline. When he got one, it was too little too late. Sanjay Agarwal joined Kingfisher when the airline was already in a tailspin.

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Yes Bank gets board nod for mutual funds foray

Mid-sized private lender Yes Bank has received board approval to foray into the mutual funds business, Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor told reporters on Tuesday.

Last month, the bank had received a retail equities broking licence from the Reserve Bank of India, for which it expects to launch operations during 2013-14 fiscal year.

The move will help it bolster its retail business, which has been a key growth area over the last one year.

Earlier on Tuesday, Yes Bank posted a 30 percent growth in net profit led by higher loan growth and fee-based income.

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TRAI allows telcos to provide combo recharge coupons

Telecom regulator TRAI today allowed operators to provide a new type of recharge coupon for pre-paid connections that will provide dual benefit to
consumers.

The new "Combo vouchers" will enable customers to add value in their mobile phone account as well as avail services at discounted rates.

"...the Authority has decided, through the Fourth Amendment to the TCPR 2012, to permit the Combo Vouchers as a fourth category of vouchers with safeguards," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.

Earlier rules allowed only three categories of vouchers, namely Plan Vouchers (either through cards or electronically) that enrols a consumer into a tariff plan, Top-up coupons for adding monetary value in to pre-paid account of consumers and Special Tariff Vouchers for getting value added services or discounts on services.
  
After notification of Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation, 2012 (TCPR) in January, TRAI said that there had been demands from several service providers and COAI to allow a fourth category of vouchers (Combo Vouchers).

"The Combo Vouchers would provide monetary value and tariff concessions through a single voucher," TRAI said.    

Combo Vouchers will enable mobile phone subscribers to add monetary value to their prepaid balance as well as get benefit of special tariffs through a single transaction instead. 

As per TRAI's instruction to telecom operators, Combo Vouchers will bear a blue colour band whereas the Top-Up Vouchers will have a green colour band.

Telecom operators will also have to provide option of standalone top up vouchers along with combo vouchers.     

The regulation says that Combo Vouchers will clearly have to mention the terms and conditions so that subscribers can make an informed choice.

TRAI has said that service providers should ensure that customers are properly informed and conveyed about conditions and restrictions, if any, imposed on the monetary value provided through combo vouchers to avoid the possibility of confusion.

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Ginger Hotels to treble presence in 4 years

Nachiket Kelkar
Moneycontrol.com

Indian Hotels' subsidiary Roots Corporation plans to treble the number of Ginger Hotels in next four years, Prabhat Pani, CEO, said Monday.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals in India is expected to double to 12 million by 2021 from six million and the number of domestic travellers is also growing at a fast clip from 740 million.

Pani expects more than 50 percent of future hotel supply will be in the mid and budget hotel segments. Ginger Hotels, which operates budget business hotels in metro cities and tier I towns is hoping that increasing number of travellers and corporates will prefer organised chains like Ginger.

"In three-four years we want to get to 70-80 hotels (from 26 now)" Pani said on the sidelines of opening its first hotel in Mumbai.

The new hotels will be a mix of own properties, leased ones as well as management contracts. On an average the company will spend Rs 15 crore on each new hotel, Pani said.

Currently seven hotels are in various stages of construction across India, of which four are expected to open by March next year.

So far demand has been subdued in the first half of this financial year, with Ginger's average occupancy rates at around 65-70 percent.

Pani expects at least 5 percent pickup in occupancy in the second half.

Around 60 percent of Ginger's business comes from corporates.

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Posco-India seeks further extension of its SEZ validity

Unable to get required land for its proposed multi-product SEZ within the stipulated time, Posco-India has sought the Odisha government's recommendation for further extension of the in-principle approval for the
purpose.

".... We are afraid that we may not be able to secure the minimum required land within the validity of the existing approval, that is October 25, 2012. Therefore, we would like to apply for in-principle approval one more time," Posco-India chairman-cum-managing director Yoon Won-Yong wrote to the state government.

The South Korean steel major has requested the stategovernment to invoke Rule 4 of the SEZ Rules-2006 which requires the concerned state to forward its NOC/concurrence/recommendation to the Centre seeking the approval for extension of in-principle approval of the multi-product SEZ of the company, official sources said.

POSCO-India has proposed to develop a Multi-product SEZ over an area of 1,620.48 Ha (4,004.22 Ac) in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur. The proposed SEZ having potential to be commercially and economically viable is likely to attract Rs 53,613 crore of investments, mostly FDI. 

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Kingfisher crisis continues as staff wants 4 months salary

The impasse in the crisis-hit Kingfisher Airlines continued on Monday after a section of its employees rejected its offer of three months' salary before Diwali and demanded that their four months salaries be paid within a day or two. Satish Chandra Mishra, a Kingfisher employee said that the staff members will not join work until their dues were cleared.

Questioning the silence of Chairman Vijay Mallya, Mishra said that the airlines was sending incompetent people to discuss the matter with the employees and hence, the meetings always ended up in failure.

"We don't trust the management. We want to talk to Mallya. Where is he? We want to hear from him directly. The management has been fooling us till now. They are playing with our emotions and sentiments. I want Dr Mallya to meet us face to face, not through representatives or Internet or any other indirect means," he said.

The Kingfisher Airlines has not paid its staff for seven months. A series of strikes called by its pilots and staff and repeated flight cancellations forced the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to suspend its licence three days ago, until it came up with a viable working plan for its financial and operational revival.

Meanwhile, in fresh trouble on Monday, at least 15 of its planes , that had been leased to them, were stripped clean, the leasing company's sources told CNN-IBN. The 15 aircraft were stripped of crucial parts at various airports and were declared not fit to fly.

Sources said that inspection of two aircraft in New Delhi found the passenger and cockpit interiors cleaned out. Airport authorities refused to take away the aircraft till all dues were paid. Just seven Kingfisher aircraft are currently fit to fly.

Sources say that if Monday's talks fail, the striking employees will launch a nationwide protest and try and confront Chairman Vijay Mallya at the F1 track in Greater Noida, where the races are slated to begin on October 26.

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Hope KFA submits credible plan to DGCA: CAPA

Kapil Kaul of CAPA, says that if the employees don't come into the game then there will be no future at all. I believe the employees were insisting for four months salaries, but if the management has agreed to give three months salaries then they will be in a position to present a credible plan to the DGCA at least to start with five aircrafts.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: What is your view on the recent turn of events where the Kingfisher management has assured the employees to pay the employees three months salary and finally employees seemed to have boxed those assurances for now?

A: I don't think that the employees have any option. Getting three months salary from no salary three weeks backs; is a good beginning. If the employees don't come into the game then there will be no future at all. I believe that the employees were insisting for four months salaries, but if the management has agreed to give three months salaries then they will be in a position to present a credible plan to the DGCA at least to start with five aircrafts.

Q: KFA is sitting on mountain of debt; lenders are waiting for the company to clear their dues, only seven aircrafts are airworthy. What kind of credible plan do you present in this context?

A: Credible plan means to have five aircraft operational which is required to keep his licence intact. Credible plan for a turnaround is all together a different ball game. The company requires a minimum USD 600 million immediately to start a revival plan and the balance USD 400 million needs to come in the near term.

Q: Do you believe that DGCA will agree to sign up to lift the suspension given the fact that they are only going to do enough to keep that licence condition afloat. Do you believe given the fact they have already seen their licence being suspended the DGCA is going to go easy?

A: If the airline has five airworthy aircrafts, sufficient cash to maintain those aircraft, have employees on board then the suspension can be revoked. Earlier, the question was that the employees were not coming on board, so the opeartions were suspended. Turnaround of Kingfisher is a different ball game altogether because unless and until the promoted capitalizes to the tune of USD 400 million there isn't any game.

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Will clear arrears once airline capitalised: Kingfisher CEO

It was Vijay Mallya's gift to his son Siddharth on his 18th birthday. Today Kingfisher Airlines is clutching at straws, hoping for a miraculous revival.

The management is committed to bring the ailing airlines back on track and is committed to clear arrears once airline is capitalised, the CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said in a press conference.

He also assured that three months salaries will be paid before Diwali. Stating that the three-month salary offer is fair , Aggarwal stressed that the company's intent is to get employees back to work in a few days.

However, a section of its employees rejected its offer of three months' salary before Diwali and demanded that their four months salaries be paid within a day or two. "Out of 4000 employees 3200 still come to work," he said.

Aggarwal informed that discussions with investors on recapitalisation are still continuing. He also added that suspension will be revoked once revival plan is submitted.

The Kingfisher Airlines has not paid its staff for seven months. A series of strikes called by its pilots and staff and repeated flight cancellations forced the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to suspend its licence three days ago, until it came up with a viable working plan for its financial and operational revival.

Below is an edited transcript of KFA management's  interaction with the press led by CEO Sanjay Aggarwal on CNBC-TV18.

Sanjay Agarwal, CEO, Kingfisher Airlines went on record and described the conclusions reached in his meeting with the employees of the airline. "It was a very fruitful meeting where it was agreed that the solution should be acceptable to most employees as they have to go back and discuss with the employees at their bases and then revert. But we think we have arrived at a fair solution to move forward and work together to put Kingfisher Airlines back in the sky. I have seen lot of negative media coverage over the last few days proclaiming the end, but there will be a Kingfisher again. All of 4,000 of us are committed, our chairman and the rest of the UB Group, to put Kingfisher Airlines back in the sky."

Q:  What was discussed regarding the payment of salaries?

A: The salaries will be paid in approximately three phases before Diwali.

Q: And that has been accepted by all sections of your employees?

A: As I said, we think it's a fair offer. But the participants involved in the discussions believe that it should be acceptable across the board. So, we will wait till the employees return with the opinion and other feedback from their bases.

Q:  How much time have you given the employees to return with the feedback?

A: I think it will be fair to give them at least a day or two to get back to us and the process will be coordinated over the next couple of days.

Q:  How soon do you think you will be able to take a decision?

A: We will have to take a call in the next few days. As I said that the entire process is developing. We intend that all employees should be back at work in the next couple of days.

Q:  Will you be able commence operations?

A: Not at this point in time. We have to go back to DGCA with our resumption plan. We will announce those plans in the near future and once we have the regulator's concurrence and approval, we will open flights for booking.

Q: What was the composition of the participants at the meeting?

A: There had about eight representatives from pilots and engineers from different bases.

Q: How about the ground crew?

A: Those employees continued to report to work despite all the challenges. They never stopped coming to work and they still continue to do so, on a daily basis.

Q: What happens after Diwali?

A: From thereon, we will pay one regular salary every month and we have committed to clearing the arrears once the airline is re-capitalised.

Q:  From what account will the salaries be paid?

A: I am not willing to discuss the source from where the money will come. I wish to talk only about the solution reached with the employees. That solution mentions that three salaries will be paid before Diwali and we will organise funds to make sure that happens.

Q: How soon will you go back to the DGCA?

A: Very soon. We need a day or two to make sure everyone is on board and the employees report to work. We are currently at work on a plan and in a matter of couple of weeks we will present that plan to DGCA.

Q: By when will you go back to then DGCA?

A: I said we will very soon. Right now, we just got through the first step to make time commitments on the second step. We will have to figure out how long it takes for us to gather all the information that is required to present an acceptable plan.

Q: Has the DGCA given you a deadline to get back?

A: No.

Q:  What is the deadline you have mandated your employees to provide their feedback?

A: Thursday, October 25.

Q: On Thursday, they have to come back to you and tell you whether this acceptable or not?

A: Then they report to work effective October 26.

Q: So, this effectively means that the lockout will extend to October 25?

A: That is correct.

Q: Can you comment the recapitalisation plans?

A: We have continuing discussions on the recapitalization and as we have said those discussions will slowdown in a situation that we are today but they have not stalled. They are continuing and we continue to have those discussions with the investors and we will share with you when we make some progress.

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KFA suspension may expedite USL stake sale: Tulsian

SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com, says that DGCA suspending licence of KFA will have a negative effect on Kingfisher Airlines stock. However it will be positive for United Spirits  and United Breweries Holding .

Below is the edited transcript of his interview.

Q: How do you think will the UB Group stocks react on Monday?

A: This suspension will have a negative effect on Kingfisher Airlines. But if you take a pragmatic view, UB group will expedite for execution of stake sale process in United Spirits Ltd at the earliest to Diageo.

They need to mobilize at least Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 crore for a composite scheme of settlement with employee, part payment of debt to the banks and paying the salaries to the employees and bringing in some working capital for resumptions of the operations. This amount will only realize post stake sale in United Spirits, which is estimated to be about 15 percent. This news will be positive for United Spirits, United Breweries Holding but negative for Kingfisher Airlines.

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KFA need more credible plan to stay afloat: KPMG

Amber Dubey, head aviation, KPMG shares his views after DGCA suspended KFA licence.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: What is your initial reaction to the cancellation of this licence? Do you think that things have come to an end for Kingfisher with regards to the operations now?

A: This was unfortunate but it is not unexpected. We had been expecting it for sometime. Already there were speculations but this action now actually puts an end to that speculation.

Q: How do you think the event will progress from hereon? What would be the time line and events that could follow post the suspension of the licence?

A: Now they have to come back with even more credible plan as to how they plan to revive the airline and he DGCA will consider it that with a magnifying glass. If it does not meet scrutiny then their licence will be finally revoked and that could be an end.

Q: What would be the credible plan that could be submitted by Kingfisher at this point in time with regards to a possible bleak revival if there is a chance of it?

A: It has to acknowledge the current realities and for that licence you have to have at least five operational aircrafts. We have to first acknowledge that things have gone back and now from here we are going to pull it back. Unfortunately, now the employees will have to be asked to leave. The routes have to be chosen very carefully it could just be the trunk routes and then start the business. Track it every three months, six months and then gradually ramp it up to 10 aircrafts, 15 aircrafts and so on. The plan has to be very simple and credible. Which That anyway is going to through a lot of scrutiny by DGCA.

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Kingfisher Airlines revival possibility dim: Kapil Kaul

Kapil Kaul, head of Center of Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), says that it is not a cancellation but a suspension. There was suspension earlier, this is basically legally and formalising the suspension.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview

Q: What is your view on this news?

A: It is not a surprise but on the expected line . Luckily, it is not a cancellation but a suspension. There was suspension earlier, this is legally formalising the suspension.

Q: Is it a fomalisation of what the partial lockout was or has been present since the first week of October?

A: Once the regulator doesn't allow the airline to fly, it basically forms suspension. Today's order could formalise the suspension. It is not any different from not allowing them to fly. It is a formal approach an already applied suspension.

Q: What is your opinion with regards to a possible revival plan which Kingfisher has to now submit to the DGCA in order to revive its operations in general. What according to you would be the most important contours of the revival plan?

A: First of all, they need to re-capitlise it. The total turnaround would cost over a USD 1 billion. Out of that USD 1 billion, USD 600 million would be required immediately and that is the first step towards any revival possibilities. Out of the USD 600 million, over USD 350-400 million has to be bought in by UB Group. So, the first step is to get UB Group to put in USD 350-400 million, and then the banks would make a pitch in with the balance of about couple of USD 100 or may be more. In second stage, two of foreign airline or any other financial or strategic investor would come in. At this point of time they need to recapitalise to USD 600 million and that can happen only when the promoter puts in USD 350-400 million. Without that there is no possibility of any revival.

Q: What is the possibility then that Kingfisher can revive its operations?

A: It depends on the promoter. For a while, there has been a speculation that the possible sale of United Spirits to Diageo would unlock some cash and a part of that cash would be invested into the airline. Every lender bank, institutions, everybody is speculating the same. Unless and until it gets one time capitalisation of above USD 600 million.

I am not sure that revival will happen and it looks very difficult. It depends upon the promoters of the UB Group to put about USD 350-400 million and that's largely dependent on the Diageo sale as and when that happens. Frankly, I don't see that happening. If it was to happen it could have happened long before. If there are any chances of revival that depends on the UB Group first putting in about USD 350-400 million and then the banks support it with another couple of USD 100 million

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Fares may go up with KFA's suspension: Ajay Prasad

Ajay Prasad, former aviation aecretary, says that in this situation is very difficult for Kingfisher to make a comeback. They do not have a winter schedule; it will be difficult to retain their employees. Kingfisher haven't yet been able to give any concrete plan as to how they are going to pay the salaries and with out that it sounds very difficult for them to make a quick comeback.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview.

Q: Safety is their predominant concern? Do you think at this point there is a possibility for Kingfisher to revive operations?

A: Today's development was not totally unexpected. In this situation is very difficult for Kingfisher to make a comeback. They do not have a winter schedule; it will be difficult to retain their employees. Kingfisher haven't yet been able to give any concrete plan as to how they are going to pay the salaries and with out that it sounds very difficult for them to make a quick comeback. Kingfisher promoters and the management has to do massive amount of work in terms of recapitalization, whole new management strategy and a business plan to see whether it comes back and then as a passenger one would look forward to making a reappearance if it can.

Q: How long does a suspension continue and what would possibly lead to a cancellation of the licence completely? What would the difference be in terms of this seriousness of a cancellation of licence vis-à-vis just a suspension at this point?

A: Cancellation is a very definitive step which prevents the airline from doing any further business. A suspension as it has happened at this moment still gives an opportunity. If the DGCA has asked Kingfisher if he can still come up with a viable plan to satisfy them that the air worthiness of the aircraft will be maintained, the integrity of the schedules will be maintained and credible or kind of operation would be continued. If they are able to satisfy the DGCA on these account then this suspension can be revoked and the airline can continue to fly again.

Q: What would now be the dynamics that would play out in the aviation industry itself? What would it mean in terms of hikes, fares going forward and how exactly do you think it could possibly be control considering that now we definitely do not have one player in the Indian market?

A: In the last few days when the winter schedule for 2012-2013 was announced and Kingfisher didn't have any flights in that schedule already it was well known in the industry that there will be 19 percent shortfall in the number of seat availability as compared to the previous year. So, this will distort demand and supply position. With 19 percent lower seats being available I see the prices, the airfares moving up by all the other airlines and this has also been a little further compounded by both Air India and Jet Airways scaling down to some extent their operations. I see the fares going up and it is rather ironical to say so but it will help the bottom-line of the other airlines which are working.

Q: How lucrative do you think can FDI in aviation would be at this point because we haven't really heard of anything concrete come through with regards to a possible opportunity for a foreign player actually picking up stake in the Indian aviation companies. Do you think that it is possibly too soon and may be we will possibly hear something more concrete going forward?

A: We have to look at this decision in its proper perspective. FDI in aviation was allowed up to 49% even before this. The only restriction was that foreign airlines could not invest in Indian domestic carriers. This restriction has been removed. It has come at a time when most of the Indian carriers are in difficult financial situation. So, any investor from abroad who wants to put in money will have to do a due diligence.

He may see whether what are the possibilities of getting returns from their investment and only then very cautiously they would proceed to go ahead in this area. There are a few good candidates among the Indian carriers which in the near future would attract some foreign investments, but it will take time because this is a process where a lot of work will have to be done by the investors and the domestic carriers here to make themselves more attractive to investors abroad.

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