Shining bright with sun

With a recent report predicting that installed capacity of solar power in India will be at 33.4GW by the year 2022, companies in the energy and allied business are on an expansion mode, hoping to make big fortunes in the years to come. REFUsol GmbH, one of the leading manufacturers of solar inverters, has recruited staff members for its new office in Pune and received approval from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) for financing inverter projects in India.

.

In order to establish its presence in India and support local customers onsite, REFUsol opened dedicated local offices in Hyderabad and New Delhi in addition to the Mumbai office. The sales representatives together with additional engineers will provide customer support, engineering, commissioning and after-sales-service for installation of solar inverters. The company will also open further manufacturing facilities and grow its head count over the course of the next months, stressing its commitment to the Indian market, if a press release is to be believed. The manufactury opening will be in Pune. Although REFUsol already delivers into the Indian market, local production will commence this year, with deliveries from the Indian facilities planned for early 2012. Luminous Power Technologies, a leading power back-up solution provider in India, organised the its 'biggest' South India Channel Partners meet with over 180 at Ooty, Tamilnadu. The event was specially organised to encourage and felicitate the channel partners in the southern Market. Manish Pant, managing Ddrector, Luminous Power Technologies, said, 'South India is our next bastion and we need to grow significantly in this region which holds lot of potential for Luminous. We have invested in South India with creation of seven new service centres, increasing our sales team and strengthening our partner network  We will adapt to the local market needs of the four States by launching products tailored to this market and build on the strong Luminous brand equity.’ Meanwhile, C&S Electric has successfully synchronised its first 1 MWp  solar PV power plant in Bhiwani District of Haryana and commenced export of power to the grid from the same date thereby becoming the second PV Power Plant on all India basis to be successfully synchronised with the grid under MNRE RPSSGP programme of JNNSM. According to a press note, this is the first ever 1 MWp rating Grid- Connected PV Power plant in Haryana. The annual power generation expected from this power plant is around 1.5 Million to 1.6 Million KWh and around 1400 to 1500 tons of Green House Gas Emission saving will accrue in a year. India Solar Handbook, a recent publication by Bride To India (New Delhi), has predicted that installed capacity of solar power in India will be at 33.4GW by the year 2022. This projection includes grid as well as off-grid market potential. Bridge To India analysis projects that the solar targets for India will be well overshot by 2022. The Indian National Solar Mission (NSM) that targets to achieve 20GW of installed capacity by 2022 is only one part of the Indian solar story. According to the report, a huge part of the market is the unexplored off-grid opportunity in India.

Back | Home

Reliance goes local

Reliance Communications has announced a 'cost effective local pack' in Chennai called the ‘Mera Pack Rs 148’.  According to a press release, the pack offers 1500 minutes of local calls and promises to meet the demands of high local call users.

.

'Mera Pack Rs 148 offers 1000 minutes of local calls within the Reliance Network and 500 local minutes to any other network for just Rs 148. The customer can do multiple recharges of the pack and accumulate the minutes to his balance.' the release said. Nilanjan Mukherjee, head-product and services group, wireless business, Reliance Communications said, 'We believe that value proposition and quality of service are the key differentiators in this highly competitive industry. With the launch of ‘Mera Pack’, we are confident that customers will enjoy phenomenally low local call rates across networks.'

Back | Home

Audi aims big with auto expo

Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer, is set to display a line up of premium cars and a range of technology concepts at the upcoming Auto Expo in New Delhi in January 2012.

.

The company is set to unveil compact premium SUV - Audi Q3 and will showcase the A3 e-tron concept, sporty S6 limousine alongside Audi e-tron, Audi ultra and Audi connect technology pillars. According to a press release, the Audi Q3 is a premium SUV in a compact form. It is sporty and efficient as well as versatile and trendy. The design of the Q3 is classic Audi: its coupe-like styling is one-of-a-kind among SUVs and symbolises its sporty identity. The Audi A3 e-tron concept is an attractive technical study. The four-seat notchback sedan integrates the full breadth of Audi’s technological expertise-- from the enhanced MMI operating system, to the high-end infotainment system, to the drivetrain. This year the company opened showrooms in Chennai, Delhi, Ludhiana, Surat and Indore with further developments planned in Coimbatore, Delhi West, Lucknow and Mumbai South.

Air India honours women achievers

Air India acknowledged the contribution of women achievers in civil aviation at a conference held in Mumbai recently. The two day conference on 'Women in Civil Aviation -100 years and beyond' was organised by the IWPA in association with the Aeronautical Society of India to commemorate the centenary celebrations of civil aviation in India.

.

The national carrier felicitated three veteran women pilots namely Chanda Sawant Budhabhatti, Rabia Futehally and Mohini Shroff, the founder members of the Indian Women Pilots’ Association (IWPA), with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this seminar, which was attended by aviation experts from across the world. The awards were handed over by Chitra Sarkar, Executive Director-North America, Europe, on behalf of Air India. They were also offered a complimentary ticket each, by the airline on its international network. Air India also occupied pride of place in the exhibition that was inaugurated at the Aero Space Hall in Nehru Science Centre Mumbai on 17 December, said a press release. On display were photographs of women achievers over the years, many of whom had started their career with the airline.

Incentivise pvt cos for investment in agri: Panel

With FDI in retail mired into controversy, a Parliamentary panel has suggested that states should frame appropriate policies to encourage private investment in agriculture as a viable alternate to foreign investment.

.

'The Committee strongly feels that the state government should extend necessary incentives to private players to invest in backward linkages .... The only drive required is in the shape of right policy-mix that encourages creation of investor-friendly environment in the country,' the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce said in its report. It said that this approach would help the government ride the economic growth path 'without looking much outside for FDI in sectors like retail business' and will also put Indian agriculture on sustained growth trajectory. Availability of huge domestic market along with immense export potential of agricultural and processed food products is one big reason that the country can see explosion of infrastructure necessary for backward linkage, it said. The government has suspended its decision on allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail sector, after continuous logjam in Parliament. In its decision, the government has said that the global retailers would have to invest half of their total investment in the backend infrastructure. 'The committee is immensely perturbed to note that the colossal loss caused to the country on account of wastage of agricultural produce. It is of the view that the only way out to this abyss is that desired investments are made available for creation of post harvest infrastructure with steady electricity supply in rural areas,' it said. The report said that because of lack of proper backward and forward linkages for food processing industries, India, second in food production globally, is able to process only two per cent of the total production. It has strongly recommended the Planning Commission and the concerned ministries to devise efficacious policy/schemes complemented with adequate funds for creation of post harvest infrastructure as well as general infrastructure during the 12th Plan. The committee emphasises on putting in adequate investments in creation of scientific storage capacity in the country and also addressing the problem of inadequacy of cold chains. 'The Committee is of the opinion that various central schemes for construction of cold chains should be dovetailed in one and a nodal body may be appointed for the development on integrated cold chains in the country through various models,' the report said. As on December 2009, out of the total installed cold storage capacity, fruits and vegetables had a share of 0.39 per cent, meat and fish had 0.77 per cent and milk and products had a share of 0.28 per cent storage. The Committee is perturbed with this sorry state of affairs for cold storage facility for perishable commodities. It also suggested that there is a need to sensitise banks to extend loans to the food processing industry under priority sector lending. It strongly feels that mandis must be reformed and evolved in manner where the processors and the farmers can meet directly, without interference of middle-men. 'The Committee recommends the government to push the model APMC Act vigorously so that contract farming for exports along with other agricultural marketing reforms may be adopted across the country,' the report added. It is also of the view that taxes, octroi should be rationalised for agriculture and food processing industry in rural areas, which in turn will give support to investments in backend infrastructure.

Shock from stock

A sharp downslide in the stock market has made the investors poorer by more than USD 500 billion since the beginning of 2011, and the experts fear that losses could mount further in the coming months. Measured in terms of cumulative value of all listed shares in the country, the total investor wealth in the Indian stock market has dropped from close to Rs 73 lakh crore (about USD 1.69 trillion) at the start of 2011 to close to Rs 56.9 lakh crore (about USD 1.1 trillion) currently.

.

Only three weeks of trade is left this year and the continuing spate of bad news -- both regarding the domestic economy and the overseas cues -- do not spell anything good for the markets in the coming months, some experts fear. From a 52-week high of 20,664.8 points on 3 January, the first day of trading in 2011, the market benchmark Sensex has fallen to 16,213.46 points now and some analysts foresee the index falling to as low as 14,500 level in next six months. This would mean a fall of more than 12 months and could erase more than USD 100 billion (more than Rs six lakh crore) further from the investors' wealth. Global financial services major Bank of America-Merrill Lynch has named India as the worst-performing market this year with a fall of about one-third in the US dollar terms. '... We continue to expect a tough market over the next six months and expect a correction of the Sensex to 14,500 as growth concerns take center-stage,' it added. As a major drag for the market, it listed out concerns like a slowdown in the economic growth, due to slowing global economy, high interest rates and slowing investment demand. The report, however, talked about a year-end rally in the remaining part of December, as the last month of the year has traditionally been a strong period for the market. On a good note, BofA-Merrill Lynch said, 2012 as a whole could bring some good news for the market and the Sensec could move to 19,000 level by the end of that year. 'While we see tough times for markets near term, we believe we could end 2012 with a positive return if we see aggressive rates cuts by the RBI and the government takes policy decisions to kick-start investment spend. 'Market will stop panicking when policymakers start panicking...,' it added. The report, however, warned that reforms were necessary for a sustainable rally. 'A slowing domestic economy, regulatory issues as well as the developments internationally have led to poor business confidence in India. We believe a strong policy action by the government is required to get investments moving again,' BofA-Merrill Lynch noted.

Maruti to acquire land for Gujarat plant

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India expects to complete land acquisition for a plant in Gujarat in a month but has no immediate plan to start construction work there, a top company official said. Maruti Suzuki India chairman R C Bhargava said they will initiate work at Gujarat plant only when the capacity of its Manesar plant would be fully utilised.

.

'Land acquisition process is on and we hope it will be concluded in this month. I don't think we will start work on it for some years from now at least two to three years. We should see the market situation,' Bhargava said on the sidelines of a seminar at Indian School of Business here. 'We will need Gujarat plant when the Manesar plant capacity is fully utilised. So, that depends on how the market grows. So, I can't give a date on this,' he added. The company has two facilities at Gurgaon and Manesar, both in Haryana, with a collective capacity to manufacture 1.2 million vehicles annually. According to a senior official of Gujarat Government, the initial land requirement of MSI was indicated to be 1,000 acres. The MSI board had also given the nod to purchase of up to 1,500 acre of land in Mehsana district, Gujarat. The auto major had stated in June that along with its vendors, it could invest Rs 18,000 crore in the state as it looks to manufacture nearly 20 lakh units a year in Gujarat. 'We have to see how the market goes. It takes three years to build a new plant. So, if I need to take production from Gujarat plant in 2016, then I will have to start work in 2013. 'Nobody can create capacity when market does not require. We create capacity to make and sell cars. So if there is no demand for cars I don’t have to create that capacity,' Bhargava said. On the automobile industry, Bhargava said now the outlook for the industry is not bright. Maruti this year may end up less than last year's sales. 'I cannot tell in terms of percentage because there are four more months to go. Lets see how these four months to go. Chances are will be less than last year,' he said. Till November this year, MSI sold 6,81,200 units down by 17.8 per cent over last year same period. Exports declined by 24.4 per cent to 73,783 units till November.

Videocon to invest in R&D, capacity

MF advisors feel entry fees not helping

Re-introduction of entry fees on investments in mutual funds seems to be far from providing any relief to thousands of independent financial advisers (IFAs), as nearly 72 per cent of them are still finding their going tough.

.

A survey among 1,505 IFAs across 30 cities carried out by Cafemutual in August-September revealed that the sweep and force of regulatory changes made over the last two years has deeply impacted their business. The study reveals that 72 per cent of IFAs have found the going tough. They have also been hit by unfavourable market conditions over the last two years, Cafemutual's founder and chief executive Prem Khatri said, while releasing the survey findings. However, 28 per cent of the IFAs says that despite the ban, their income went up by 15 per cent. The decision of SEBI to ban entry fees came as a shocker to Rs 7-trillion domestic mutual fund industry in September, 2007. However, the Sebi chairman, UK Sinha, who was heading UTI before his appointment at Sebi, had in July this year allowed an entry fee of up to Rs 150 per client. Maintaining that income level is the key concern of IFAs at this point of time and this can be done if they build up their marketing capability, says the survey.

YouTube acquires RightsFlow

Google Inc's YouTube online video division has acquired RightsFlow, a firm that manages royalty payments for songwriters and music publishers, for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2007, RightsFlow handles licencing rights for more than 30 million songs.

.

'We are excited to announce that we have acquired RightsFlow, a New York-based company that helps songwriters, recording artists, record labels, distributors and online music services manage music rights,' YouTube Product Manager David King said in its blog on Sunday. However, financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. The deal would help video-sharing service YouTube to efficiently license music. 'By combining RightsFlow's expertise and technology with YouTube's platform, we hope to more rapidly and efficiently license music on YouTube, meaning more music for you all to enjoy, and more money for the talented people producing the music,' King added.

Govt hopeful of clearing Companies Bill this session

The government expressed hope on Friday that the new Companies Bill, which promises tighter corporate governance norms and greater shareholder democracy , will be passed by Parliament in the ongoing winter session.

.

'We have handed over the Companies Bill to the Speaker, so we are hoping that it will be brought up for discussion and passage in this Parliament session,' Minister of State for Corporate Affairs RPN Singh told reporters on the sidelines of an ICSI function here. The Cabinet, late last month, approved the Companies Bill, 2011, which aims to introduce modern concepts like mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR), class action suits and a fixed term for independent directors, among other things. Intended to replace the existing half-a-century-old Companies Act, the Companies Bill, 2011, has undergone several modifications in view of the Rs 14,000-crore Satyam accounting fraud. Among other things, it proposes to tighten laws for raising money from the public. The Bill also seeks to prohibit any insider trading by company directors or key managerial personnel by treating such activities as a criminal offence. Furthermore, it has proposed that companies should earmark 2 per cent of their average profits of the preceding three years for CSR activities and make a disclosure to shareholders about the policy adopted in the process.

India among best in fight with tax evasion

The Global Forum on Tax Transparency ranks India amongst the top three countries, which are fighting to get tax evaders to book. Talking to a private news channel, Global Forum on Tax Transparency Head Pascal Saint Amans said, in terms of real transparency, its not important to having bank accounts of all citizens make public but what matters is that the regulatory body can get the informations' assess. India is amongst the first three in  terms of fighting tax evasion and promoting the standards, he added.

.

Addressing a global conference on tax and equality on Thursday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the opacity of tax systems in some of the jurisdictions is adding to the challenges. There has been some movement on these issues in response to the initiative by the G-20. We need to pursue this to its logical end. Making a strong case for effectively dealing with global tax evasion, Pranab, quoting the global financial integrity report, said the annual illicit outflows from emerging economies and developing countries average between $725 billion and $810 billion. Early India has slipped to 95th among 183 countries in the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI). While the debate continues in India over an anti-graft ombudsman, the study by the international watchdog had showed the country's image declining consistently over the past three years. This year, the country had scored 3.1 on 10, with 10 being the highest score. Since 2007 when India was ranked 72 among 180 countries with a score of 3.5, the score has declined, so have the rankings. Last year, India was placed at 87. The CPI ranks countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be and is a composite index that draws on data and studies by a number of specialised international agencies through a complex process. India's score was a result of an average of 13 studies including World Bank's Country Performance and Institutional Assessment, World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey and Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, among others. With the unearthing of major scams, arrests of influential people over corruption and a movement for a Lokpal stealing headlines in India, people associated with Transparency International India said since the study is a measurement of perception, these factors could have marginally contributed to the decline.

India eyeing Japan for coffee exports

India is looking at Japan and South Korea as future destinations for its coffee exports, a top official from the state-run Coffee Board said. 'We are now concentrating on popularising Indian coffee in Asia, especially Japan and South Korea,'  Coffee Board Chairman Javed Akhtar told reporters at a curtain-raiser event for the India International Coffee Festival, 2012.

.

Presently, the country does not export much coffee to Japan and South Korea, but there is tremendous potential for exports to these countries, he said. The idea behind organising the international coffee festival was to make the world aware of Indian coffee as well as introduce global players to the opportunities available here, he said. Akhtar said with exports to European destinations on the wane due to the debt crisis in the region, India needs to scout for new exports destinations to make up for the reduction in shipments. 'We expect our exports in the current fiscal to drop by 14 per cent to 2.4-2.5 lakh tonnes from 2.94 lakh tonnes in the 2010-11 fiscal,' he said. However, the board expects coffee output in the country to increase in the 2011-12 crop year (October-September) in comparison to the previous season. 'The board has estimated the 2011-12 crop size at 3.21 lakh tonnes, as against 3.01 lakh tonnes in the previous year, on the back of an increase in the Arabica variety,' he said. Arabica production is expected to amount to 1.04 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, as against 94,000 tonnes in the previous year, while Robusta output is projected to rise to 2.17 lakh from 2.07 lakh tonnes in the same period a year ago, he added. Akhtar said India needs to increase its production to cater to growing domestic consumption as well as keep up the pace of exports. 'While domestic consumption was a mere 2 per cent between 1951 to 2000, since 2003, consumption has grown at a rate of 6 per cent per annum. India consumed 1.08 lakh tonnes of coffee in 2010,' he said. In order to increase output, the Coffee Board has identified 22,000-23,000 hectares of land in Andhra Pradesh and 20,000 hectares in Orissa for cultivation of coffee beans, he added. Presently, coffee is grown in 3.88 lakh hectares across the country, with Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu considered traditional cultivation areas, while Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are non-traditional areas, Akhtar said. The India International Coffee Festival, 2012, will be held in the national capital from 18 to 20 January and will see the participation of 500 delegates from 16 countries.

Enter policy, exit telcos

In a respite to new telecom service providers, who are operating in the highly competitive market dominated by incumbent GSM players, sectoral regulator TRAI on Thursday said it will come out with a paper seeking views on exit policy for such players.

.

'I expect to issue pre-consultation paper on exit policy by the end of this month,' Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman J S Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of India Telecom Summit, organised jointly by the Telecom Ministry and industry body Ficci. The exit policy will allow new players, who wish to quit the crowded Indian telecom industry, which has as many as 12-13 players in certain circles, to surrender their spectrum and licences. Under current licencing norms, there is no exit route offered to operators who have taken a telecom licence. A pan-India operator presently has to pay Rs 1,650 crore for a licence, but has no option to surrender it, along with the start-up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz, with no clause to get money back from the government. Many new operators have either not launched services or have limited service available. The introduction of an exit policy will give respite to these players. Incumbent operators are also in support of such a policy as they feel that such a move will help in freeing spectrum, which is a scarce commodity and can be used by others for expanding their operations. On consumer grievance redressal, Sarma said the Authority would come out with the final recommendations by this month-end as well. 'We will surely come out with final guidelines on consumer grievance redressal by December-end,' he said. In July, Trai had came out with draft regulations on consumer protection and redressal framework to protect the interest of users, and had stressed upon timely redressal of their problems. Trai had also asked all service providers to set up compliant centres within 60 days of implementation of the proposed regulation and provide service to consumers in regional languages. Trai had suggested that operators also establish a web-based complaint monitoring system, so that customers can monitor their complaint.

Back | Home

Singer Celine Dion is all set to stage a special performance of her Las Vegas residency to benefit a children's charity. . Dion, 43, who is a mother of three, was touched by tales of youngsters suffering the blood disorder sickle-cell anaemia and is handing over all the proceeds from her gig to the fundraiser, Daily Express reported. "As a mother, I was incredibly moved by the stories that were shared with me regarding the impact this disease has on children. "Participating in this benefit is a way in which I can get involved to positively touch these children's lives. The funds we raise will enable doctors to complete their important research that will allow these children to grow up pain-free and lead longer, more productive lives," she said. The show will take place on January 15 next year.

British oil firm Cairn Energy Plc on Thursday said it has completed the sale of a controlling stake in its Indian unit to mining giant Vedanta after protracted wrangling over royalty payments. Cairn Energy, which had in July sold a 10 per cent stake in Cairn India to Vedanta for about USD 1.4 billion, got another USD 4.1 billion from the sale of the remaining 30 per cent, the company said in a press statement. 'Cairn is pleased to announce that the transaction has now completed,' it said.

.

Sesa Goa Ltd, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, had on Wednesday stated that it has raised its stake in Cairn India to 20 per cent following the acquisition of 28.8 million additional shares, amounting to a 1.5 per cent stake. Vedanta Group now holds 60 per cent in Cairn India, while Cairn Energy retains about 22 per cent. The transaction was originally announced in August last year, but its completion was delayed as state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, which partners Cairn India in its crown jewel Rajasthan oilfields as well as seven other properties, demanded sharing of royalty it pays before the deal was cleared. ONGC, being the licencee of the Rajasthan block, pays 20 per cent royalty on not just its 30 per cent share of production, but also on the 70 per cent share of Cairn India. It wanted this payment to be treated like other project costs and taxes and recouped from revenues earned from oil sales, a demand opposed by Cairn India. Cairn India also felt the Rs 2,500 per tonne oil cess was a liability of the licencee and was opposed to deviating from the signed contract to share any of this burden. The government, however, supported ONGC's stand and made sharing of royalty and acceptance of cess liability by Cairn India preconditions for giving its nod to the transaction. Despite Cairn India's reservations, its current and future promoters -- Cairn Energy and Vedanta, respectively -- accepted the government conditions, following which ONGC waived its preemption rights over the deal. The Home Ministry also late last month gave security clearance to a Vedanta takeover of the operations of India's biggest onland oil discovery in more than two decades, besides other properties of Cairn India. Vedanta acquired 40 per cent of Cairn Energy's stake at Rs 355 per share. Cairn Energy said it would return USD 3.5 billion to shareholders from the net proceeds of USD 5.5 billion from the stake sale in Cairn India. Shareholders would have 'an element of choice as to when and in what form they receive cash,' it said. Cairn discovered significant quantities of oil in Rajasthan in 2004 and full production began in August, 2009. The block is estimated to have the potential to produce 300,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak. Cairn Energy Plc chief executive Simon Thomson said: 'I am delighted to announce completion of this transaction, which represents a major milestone in Cairn's history. It crystallises the very significant value creation that we have delivered from our Indian business and allows us to return around three and a half billion dollars to shareholders.' 'Our remaining 22 per cent shareholding in Cairn India, retained cash and balance sheet strength provides financial flexibility and an excellent platform for future growth opportunities,' he added.

Of employability and embedded education

Aspire Human Capital Management, a company engaged in embedded employability education and skills development, organised ‘Aspire SkillsWorld 2011’, a roundtable discussion meet here recently.

.

'The seventh edition of the discussion is organised to address the importance of embedded education and the role that we can play in increasing the employability of Indian students. We are actively involved in across 14 Indian States in employability education. We have successfully trained over 50,000 youth in the past three years,' said Amit Bhatia, founder and CEO, Aspire, in a press release, Gil Taran, CEO, iCarnegie Inc, said, 'In today’s technology-enabled knowledge economy, educational institutes face a new challenge of not only providing students with adequate education in their field of study, but also to arm them with the skills and knowledge required to leverage technology effectively in the workplace. Through Aspire, we are helping students develop cutting edge technology skills through contemporary, industry-focused curriculum embedded in both higher education and schools levels.'

Slowdown makes its impact felt

The economic slowdown has started taking a toll on the banking sector, with a large number of companies approaching banks for restructuring of debt totalling about Rs 28,890 crore in July-September, 2011. Leading the pack, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has received requests for corporate debt restructuring (CDR) of loans worth an estimated Rs 1,490 crore.

.

PNB was followed by IDBI Bank, with estimated CDR referrals of Rs 1,390 crore, and Union Bank of India with requests for restructuring of debt worth Rs 1,280 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal. During the same period, the estimated CDR referrals to Canara Bank amounted to Rs 1,230 crore, while Central Bank of India received debt restructuring proposals worth Rs 1,210 crore and ICICI Bank referrals worth Rs 1,170 crore, according to data compiled by IDBI Capital. It is to be noted that the total cases referred under CDR increased to 19 in the second quarter from 16 in the first quarter of the current fiscal. However, in terms of the amount, there was nearly a five-fold rise in the value of CDR referrals to Rs 28,890 crore in July-September from Rs 5,670 crore in the April-June period of 2011. In the first six months of the current fiscal, the total value of CDR referrals has soared to an eight-year high of Rs 34,500 crore. The number of CDR referrals increased to 35 during the April-September period from 22 in the same period last fiscal. The corresponding amount of loans referred for restructuring has also increased to Rs 34,560 crore in the first half of the current fiscal from Rs 5,180 crore in the same period of 2010-11, it said. The CDR framework provides a timely and transparent mechanism for restructuring the debt of viable corporate entities facing problems outside the purview of the BIFR, DRT and courts for the benefit of all concerned. The scheme covers only multiple banking accounts, syndication and consortium accounts, where all banks and institutions together have an outstanding aggregate exposure of Rs 10 crore and above. CDR requires approval by a super-majority of 75 per cent of creditors (by value), which makes it binding for the remaining 25 per cent to fall in line with the majority decision. Once a case is referred for CDR, a standstill period of 90/180 days is invoked. Within the standstill period, both the borrower and lender agree to keep things as they are (standstill) and commit themselves not to take recourse to any legal action during the period. A standstill is necessary for enabling the CDR system to undertake the necessary debt restructuring exercise without any outside intervention, judicial or otherwise.

RBI to adjust rates in tune with price situation: FM

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday indicated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will adjust policy rates in tune with the price situation.

.

'These are all weekly (inflation) figures. Monthly figure is yet to come. RBI is watching the situation. As and when they will consider necessary, they will adjust the monetary policy. That is their job and they are doing it efficiently and effectively,' Pranab told reporters here. 'I would not like to make any comment on that (rate revision) right now. Only point I shall have to emphasise on is that this declining trend we shall have to watch for a longer period of time, not on a weekly basis,' he said. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said, 'In the forward guidance of the second quarter review of the Monetary Policy 2011-12, the RBI has reported that notwithstanding current rates of inflation persisting till November, the likelihood of a rate action in the December mid-quarter review is relatively low.' 'Beyond that, if the inflation trajectory conforms to projections, further rate hikes may not be warranted,' Meena added. Food inflation moderated considerably to 8 per cent during the third week of November from over 9 per cent in previous weeks. General inflation also declined to 9.73 per cent in October. In its mid-year credit policy review, the RBI had said that inflation, which was ruling near the double-digit mark, will start cooling by December this year and is likely to come down to 7 per cent by March, 2012. In a bid to tame inflation, which has been above the 9 per cent-mark since December last year, the RBI has hiked interest rates 13 times since March, 2010. The RBI raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 8.50 per cent and the reverse repo moved up by a similar percentage to 7.50 per cent in its last policy review in October. Repo is the short-term rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends to banks, while reverse repo is the rate at which it gets funds from banks. The central bank has hiked policy rates five times this fiscal. In the last-one-and-a-half months alone, it has raised the key rate (repo) by 50 basis points.

'Works are on to develop ultra supercritical boilers'

The demand for coal has been growing faster than any other energy source and is projected to account for more than one-third of the incremental increase in global energy demand, said International Energy Agency - Clean Coal Centre (IEA-CCC) managing director John Topper.

.

Participating at a workshop on Supply and Demand of Coal and Power Plant Technology Evolution held at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Tiruchi, he said that global energy use grows by 36 per cent with non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) led by China, where demand surges by 75 per cent accounting for almost all of the increase. On emerging technologies in power generation, Topper said, work is being undertaken in India, EU, Japan, USA, and China to develop ultra supercritical boilers and advanced ultra supercritical boilers system to increase the efficiency of generation and reduce CO2 emissions. In India, an ambitious date has been set for operation of an 800 MW demonstration plant, he said. On Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology, Topper said IGCC plants are already in operation all over the world and about five of them have overcome their initial technical problems and established the plant reliability and availability on par with other established power generation technologies. Speaking on the importance of carbon capture and storage, he said, rising global energy demands the need to drastically cut CO2 emissions which require a transformation in the way energy are produced, delivered and consumed. This change in the approach will spur a large-scale transformation of the energy sector and could reduce worldwide energy-related emissions of CO2 by half in 2050, using a combination of existing and new technologies. BHEL executive director A V Krishnan in his address said at BHEL  Research and Development programmes are aligned with state-of-the-art technological developments taking place worldwide in order to accelerate the pace of research programmes. BHEL general manager (Engineering) R Kumar said BHEL has contracted over 960 boilers capable of generating over 1,36,073 MW of energy which forms the backbone of Indian Industry. BHEL Tiruchi has also exported 21 numbers of steam generators, he added. BHEL Tiruchi has obtained Sponsor Member Status of the International Energy Agency -Coal Research Centre (IEA-CCC), an international organisation supported by over 16 member countries and the European Community to promote innovation and sustainable development of coal as a clean source of energy. Through this, BHEL Tiruchi has gained access to a wealth of information on coal research.

Belkin waits for GST

US-based firm Belkin on Wednesday said it may set up a warehousing facility in India depending on the launch of Goods and Services Tax in the country. 'Yes, India is a big market for us.. we may set up... but that depends upon the roll out of GST...', Belkin India managing director Mohit Anand told reporters here.

.

GST, a new indirect taxes regime that will subsume various state and Central levies, is expected to be rolled out in India early next year. Anand said GST will help the company on the larger perspective, with uniform fee collection. He, however, did not rule out the possibility that it may even look at Singapore for setting up the warehouse if GST was not rolled out in India next year. The US-based company has two warehouse facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Anand, here to unveil the firm's new product range of keyboards and mouse, said the company aims to generate revenue of Rs 250 crore in September 2012 compared to previous figures of Rs 150 crore. On future plans, he said the company aims to generate revenue of Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years. The wire and wireless mouse range that was launched on Wednesday is available between Rs 429 to Rs 1,199, Keyboard at Rs 569 and combo package ranges from Rs 869 to Rs 2,629.