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Indian Economy Growing despite recession
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Foreign investors eye green SMEs
Chennai, Source: Business Standard
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Investors from the US and European countries are keen to invest around Rs 2,000 crore to promote and equip small and medium enterprises engaged in green business, according to New Ventures India (NVI). NVI, set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the World Resources Institute, Washington, acts as a facilitator between the Indian SMEs and foreign investors, who support SMEs operating in environmental or green sectors such as advance technologies for water management, agriculture/organic products, clean technologies, ecotourism, renewable energy, green building materials, among others.
Speaking to Business Standard, Hemant Nitturkar, consultant, CII, said since 2006 NVI had facilitated investments for nine companies amounting to around Rs 80 crore in sectors like bio pesticides, environmental-friendly air-conditioners, low-cost automation systems and organic products. Some of the key investors include ICICI Bank, ATE Enterprises, Denmark-based Best Seller, Canara Bank, Nexus India Capital, Sequoia Capital, the Netherlands-based Cordaid and Acumen Fund.
NVI also provides mentoring and technical assistance to entrepreneurs through a network of business consultants, business school students and technical experts and helps them market their products by identifying potential markets.
CII principal counsellor KS Venkatagiri said NVI was planning to reach out to the SMEs, which are in need of capital, through CII’s offices across the country and also planning to tie up with various industrial associations across various industry clusters in the country. The minimum investment in a company will be Rs 1 crore and the maximum could go up to Rs 15 crore. The investor will stay with the company for 3-7 years. The fund option can be debt, equity and hybrid.
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PAN relief for SIP up to Rs 50,000
New Delhi, Source: The Hindu Business Line
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Mr A.P. Kurian,Chairman, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI)
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Mutual fund investors would now be exempt from furnishing their Permanent Account Number for investments in systematic investment plans of mutual funds up to Rs 50,000, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) Chairman, Mr A.P. Kurian, said.
“We are waiting for the official notification from the Government but the proposal has been approved,” said Mr Kurian, speaking on the sidelines of the Mutual Fund Summit 2009 organised by CII.
It is high time for harmonisation of the statutory and regulatory provisions with respect to the mutual fund industry, Mr Kurian said. The industry is expected to record 150 million folios by 2015 from 48 million, Mr Kurian said. The industry added 10 million folios a year between 2005 and 2008 but the number declined to a mere 3 million in 2008-09, he added.
Significant growth:
The CII-KPMG Report on the Indian mutual fund industry, which was released at the summit, states that investment in mutual funds comprised 7.7 per cent of the gross household financial savings in FY 2008, a significant increase from 1.2 per cent in FY 2004. The report mentions that the households continue to hold 55 per cent of their savings in bank fixed deposits, 18 per cent in insurance and 10 per cent in currency as of FY 2008.
The industry is likely to continue to grow 15-25 per cent over the next five years based on the pace of economic growth, the KPMG report stated. In the event of a relatively slower economic revival, the industry may grow 15-18 per cent over the next five years, the report said. “Industry profitability may reduce further as revenues of asset management companies shrink due to focus on low-margin products to attract risk-averse investors, and also as operating costs escalate due to the focus on penetrating retail population beyond tier-2 cities and operating costs escalate,” said the report.
Panellists at the summit stressed on the need for creating and selling simple products. “We need to sell products which can be explained to an investor in about five to six lines,” said Mr Milind Barve, Managing Director, HDFC AMC.
“There are more than 900 schemes, so simplification would help,” said Mr Dhirendra Kumar, CEO of Value Research. |
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21 FDI proposals worth US$ 17.76 million cleared
New Delhi, Source: IBEF
The Government has cleared 21 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth US$ 17.72 million, including a proposal by Germany-based chemical company, BASF, to make an open offer for acquiring a 20 per cent stake in chemical manufacturer, Ciba India, which is expected to bring in US$ 13.17 million.
The acquisition of Ciba India—follows the global acquisition of Ciba Holding AG by BASF—will help the German company to manufacture and trade in speciality chemicals.
The government also allowed telecom company, Vodafone Essar to hive off its towers and related infrastructure into a separate arm, Ortus Infratel. The proposal by venture capital fund, Ventureast Trustee Company Ltd, to accept contributions up to US$ 2 million from Mauritius-based Ventureast Proactive Fund also received the government’s nod. |
Investor sentiment improving
Investor sentiment is improving on the back of political stability and in anticipation of continuity in policies. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have put in close to Rs 20,000 crore (US$ 4.2 billion) into the Indian stock market from March 9, 2009 to May 19, 2009. Furthermore, the country also witnessed an 85.1 per cent increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2008, the highest increase globally, according to a study by UNCTAD. The study estimates that FDI inflows into India went up from US$ 25.1 billion in 2007 to US$ 46.5 billion in 2008.
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INVESTMENT SNIPPETS
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Sun to invest Rs 332 cr on R&D of low-cost copies
Sun Pharmaceuticals, India's biggest drug company by market capitalisation, will spend Rs 332 crore (US$ 70.9 million) in research and development of low-cost versions of original drugs to be sold in the domestic and global markets. |
Bosch says no plans to scale down investments in India
Global autocomponent maker, Bosch, will maintain its India focus and there is no plan to scale down its investment in the country. |
India's clean energy investment up by 12% to $3.7 billion
Sustainable energy investment in India went up to US$ 3.7 billion in 2008, up 12 per cent since 2007, according a report titled 'Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009'. |
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Toyota to invest additional Rs 800 cr in Bangalore plant
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Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (TKML), the Indian subsidiary of Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s largest passenger car maker, is increasing its investment by Rs 800 crore at its manufacturing site near Bangalore, to touch Rs 4,000 crore by 2016. The company is in the process of investing Rs 3,200 crore in a second plant at the same site, which is under construction, to produce a small car for India which will be ready by 2010.
The additional Rs 800 crore investment will be invested during 2011-2016. The company has so far invested Rs 1,700 crore for its first plant, starting from 1997, which has an annual capacity of 60,000 units. Including the fresh investment, Toyota's total investment in India will go up to Rs 5,700 crore by December 2016. The second car plant, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, is scheduled to be completed and commissioned in December 2010 to produce the small car. Karnataka’s minister for large and medium scale industries, Murugesh R Nirani, said today, “After losing Tata Motors’ Nano car project last year, we met Toyota officials in Japan and offered them several concessions and convinced them to increase their investment in the Bidadi plant (40 km from Bangalore). They have accepted our offers and are going to increase their investment to Rs 4,000 crore, an addition of Rs 800 crore over their earlier investment programme.”
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