b:kind for women: Stylish, trendy, affordable fashion

Looking good does not come cheap especially if branded apparel is your fix. Twenty-six-year-old Vidhi Shah, with master's degree in fashion marketing communication from IED Milan and backend support from family's apparel business, launched the brand 'b:kind' in 2010 targeting women in the age group of 18 to 35 in both metros and tier II cities.

The brand is available in over 200 stores across India including outlets at multi brand retailers like Reliance Retail. She plans to add product categories like skirts, dresses and denims to make b:kind a complete women's wear brand.    

Stylish, trendy and affordable fashion is the mantra behind entrepreneur Vidhi Shah's debt design range of women's wear b:kind. Since inception the brand has sold 1.5 lakh pieces. b:kind's western wear target the mid-market segment and products range from Rs 599 for a graphic print T-shirts to Rs 1,599 for more formal wear.

The clothing line which has been designed after keeping in mind the Indian women silhouette and includes a plus size series in every collection is the unique selling proposition (USP) for b:kind 

Vidhi hound a design sensibility working with Lakme Fashion Week, Pantaloons and Shoppers Stop, she believes growing up and watching her father build an apparel business from scratch has had the biggest impact.

Vidhi Shah, founder, b:kind Clothing, says that I had b:kind in my mind ever since I started pursuing design. I wanted some work experience so I joined M Square clothing, our family business, but it did not interest me much because it was a men wear entity and I was more interested into women's wear.

Since 2010, b:kind is producing only top-wear line but the September 2013 collection will have new product categories like skirts, dresses and denims as well. Today, b:kind retails out in 200 stores in India, exports 20 percent of its products to around 100 stores in the UAE and has stitched together a turnover of Rs 4.6 crore in the last fiscal. Vidhi plans to reach a target of Rs 6.7 crore this financial year.

"Our revenue model predominantly is an outright sale model, so we started with 60 managing by objectives (MBOs) in India in our first season all over India. We did try and have pan presence. Today, we have about 250 MBOs in India. We have a consignment based model as well, which works with large formats stores. So, currently we are present in Reliance Retail, Reliance Trends where we are in 12 stores of theirs," says Shah.

b:kind has its headquarter in Mumbai and the team of 12 member is aggressively targeting the tier II and tier III market.

"By the end of this year we will have our own four retail stores. We do want to make it fast fashion for now where we can fill up stocks. So, we definitely do want to have our own stores that become a major point of communication for us as well to sell the product," she added.

Focused on the expansion plans, Vidhi is in talks with private equity players to raise funds. Money will be used to expand manufacturing capacities as well as create a brand campaign for b:kind. But in the meantime she is confident of her present game and set to hit her target of manufacturing and selling over 75,000 pieces this year.

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Jaypee Infratech targets revenue of Rs 4,000 crore in FY14

Jaypee Infratech , which has been reeling under huge debts, is aiming to raise its revenue to Rs 4, 000 crore in 2013-14 on the back of two three projects that company plans to launch in the next fiscal, Executive Chairman Manoj Gaur told CNBC TV18 in an interview.

The company hopes to clock revenue of Rs 3,300 crore in the current fiscal. One of Jaypee Group's most ambitious projects has been the construction of the 165 kilometre long six lane Yamuna Expressway connecting Noida with Agra. Besides getting nearly 4,000 acres from the Uttar Pradesh Government for building this expressway the company also got around 6,000 acres divided in five land parcels all for real estate development. All of this was hived off and listed as Jaypee Infratech in 2010.

Also read: Positive outcome on cement biz sale seen soon: JP Asso

So, far Jaypee has launched one of these parcels, the one in Noida which goes by the name of Jaypee Wish Town. However there had been several delays in launching this project and the company had received lot of flak from consumers.

The company now plans to launch Wish Town project at Agra very soon. The company hopes to get an average realisation of Rs 3,800-4,000 per square feet for different products in this township project. The company is aiming a ticket size of about Rs 35 lakhs to Rs 55 lakhs.

The Jaypee group company is also developing a Sports City near Formula One race tracks near Noida. "We have been able to successfully launch Bougainvilleas, the farm houses which are in the range of about Rs 8-10 crore, then there are studio apartments about Rs 40 lakhs, then there are going to be very iconic apartments overseeing the F1 track, their ticket-size maybe about Rs1 crore," Gaur said. 

The company's current debt stand at Rs 6800 crore and its plans to bring it down to Rs 4800 crore by 2013-14 end. Through its several debt refinancing initiatives, Jaypee Infratech has now managed to get a longer moratorium and repayment cycle. The company's interest payment has come down to about 12.5 percent from a high of about 15.5 percent. "There is going to be net saving of three percent to Jaypee Infratech and entire debt has been refinanced to a 15 year instrument, partially 15-year and partially 18 years," Gaur said.

Catch the full interview transcript on next page.

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Videocon Mobile to provide pan-India services in 2-3 years

Videocon Mobile Services, which operates in seven of the 22 telecom circles, today said it intends to cover the entire country within 2-3 years. "The company is a national player in telecom sector and has ambition to start services across the country in two to three years," Arvind Bali, Director and CEO, Videocon Mobile Services told reporters.

Also read: Videocon Mobile to provide pan-India services in 2-3 years

In order to provide unmatched network experience in Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MP-CG) circle, the company plans to add 1,550 cell sites to its existing 2,800-plus sites within the next two months, he said. As part of its commitment to roll-out 4G services, the company has prepared a roadmap and commenced network planning to provide the next level of mobile communications, Bali said. The company plans commercial roll-out of 4G services by March 2014, he said.

The telecom major at present has footprints in MP-CG, Punjab, Haryana, UP-East, UP-West, Gujarat and Bihar circles. Videocon's current subscriber base stands at seven lakh in MP-CG circle and it is adding 1-1.5 lakh customers every month to its fold, Bali added.

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How impact investing could affect biz in India

The Rockefeller Foundation reports that impact investing is set to grow at an annual pace of 30 percent. India is the second-largest market for impact investing after the US, with USD 500 million worth of investments made in 2012 alone. But what does this mean?

When Pierre Omidyar saw his networth cross a billion dollars in 1998 as Ebay listed on the capital markets, he knew he had to do more with his wealth that had come to him in just three years. So, he set up the Omidyar Network, an organisation that invests in promising social enterprises.

Today, the Omidyar Network, sponsored by Pam and Pierre Omidyar has put in over USD 550 million in impact investments. The network operates with two cheque books, investing roughly half its corpus as grants to non-profit organisations, while the other half goes to early-stage social entrepreneurs whose businesses are perceived too risky by commercial investors. Omidyar set up shop in India in 2010 and has a portfolio of 27 organisations in which it has invested about USD 100 million. 70 percent of these are for-profit ventures.

Venture philanthropy, impact investing and flexible capitalism. These are some of the terms that have been used to describe the approach that Jayant Sinha, partner, Omidyar Network India Advisors and his team have taken to capital investments in the social sector. But Jayant likes to keep it simple. He believes social impact and financial returns are a means to an end. Jayant uses examples of two of his investee companies to explain how they operate - D Light, a solar lantern manufacturer and Tree House, India's largest self operated pre-school chain.

Sinha says, "The social impact cannot be an add-on it has got to be built into the value proposition. So, Tree House tracks the number of children that are in their preschools. That is an impact metric because we know if the child is in one of the Tree House preschools, he or she is going to get tremendous education and in doing so achieve social impact. 

Similarly for D Light. D Light makes solar lanterns. So, for every solar lantern they ship, they are actually substituting kerosene lanterns. They are reducing the cost of using kerosene, providing a much healthier alternative, and reducing the risk of fire. So, built into that solar lantern is already that social impact. You track solar lanterns, you are tracking social impact.

For someone who didn't know what LP (not sure) stood for in 2001 to managing four funds worth over  Rs 800 crore Vineet Rai, founder and CEO, Aavishkaar has come a long way on a very challenging road. One really must put this in context at a time when regular venture capitalists (VCs) were reluctant to make investments in purely commercial ventures in urban India, Vineet's mission is to create a fund to service enterprise in India's most rural areas.

Vineet survived the rough and tumble of impact investing because of his ability to take disproportionate risks and the capacity to be extremely patient, the virtue of which he learnt when he first began working for a Gujarat government-backed rural enterprise incubator in 1998.

Rai says, "My job was to go to the villages and help the innovators into converting their innovations into products and then into businesses. One of the key learnings I gained in that process is converting an innovation into a product, and a business requires an entrepreneur not an innovator as the lead. The entrepreneur is taking the risk and he requires risk capital in trying to build that business. The biggest challenge was not in finding the entrepreneur or helping the innovation to become a product, but providing that risk capital. That was my key learning out of the three, three and a half years I spent as incubator.

Aavishkaar is not very different. We are a venture capital fund. The only difference is that we are focused on rural India. We have made 38-39 investments till date. We are the first investor in almost 38 of them. So, 98 percent of the time we are the first investor. Almost 50 percent of the companies that we have invested in actually didn't exist, that means they started with our capital. More than 50 percent of our capital is deployed in the low-income stage. So, that could tell you that our capacity or appetite to go and take risks where returns are actually unexpected is very high.

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DHFL Vysya cuts rates with eye on 50% growth in FY14

South-based DHFL Vysya Housing Finance, an associate company of Dewan Housing (DHFL), has decided to reduce the interest rate in 0.2-0.5 percent range on housing loans from April 1 while aiming for 50 percent growth during 2013-14.

"We are the first among the HFCs to reduce rate of housing loan by 20 basis points for both existing and new customers under variable interest scheme. But, for the priority sector housing scheme for loan upto Rs 10 lakh there is additional rebate of 30 basis points," DHFL Vysya Housing managing director R Nambirajan told PTI.

One basis point is equal to 0.01 percent. So, total benefit will be of 0.5 per cent for the new scheme for housing loans of upto Rs 10 lakh for a period of up to 11 years targeting the priority sector.

Nambirajan said the announcement in the Budget for additional rebate of Rs 1,00,000 allowed in the interest on housing loans, in addition to Rs 1,50,000 already allowed from April 1, 2013 will induce boost demand from more the middle-income groups in 2013-14.

"We hope to grow by over 50 per cent in 2013-14 against 30 percent in the current fiscal," he said. Our disbursements in this fiscal will stand Rs 345 crore while, the same will jump to Rs 520 crore in the next year, Nambirajan said.

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Non-bailable warrant issued against DCHL directors

A non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against the directors of Deccan Chronicle Holdings by a Chandigarh-based Sessions Court in a case related to cheques bouncing to the tune of Rs 6 crore, reports CNBC-TV18's Appaji Reddem.

The case is filed by Religare Finvest and the chief executive officer of the Religare Group Sachindra Nath confirmed the same.

This apart, there are several winding up petitions filed against DCHL in Andhra Pradesh High Court and the total liabilities of the company towards several banks and financial institutions is estimated at about Rs 4,000 crore.

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Nokia's performance not related to my decision: Shivakumar

Nokia's operations head for India, West Asia and Africa D Shivakumar quit the Finnish handset major after an eight-year stint with the company.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said the decision to quit was not related to Nokia's performance. Shivakumar was based in Dubai for more than 1.5 years and is now keen on returning to India because he feels India is still a growth market and offers lot of opportunities.

Also read: Income tax officials fine Nokia, court issues stay

Shivakumar will continue to serve Nokia till June 30, 2013.

Below is the edited transcript of D Shivakumar's interview with CNBC-TV18

Q: Why exactly are you leaving Nokia?

A: Nokia has been very dear to my heart. I have been in Dubai for the last 18 months. I have done what has been needed of me here. I really looked at the future and I felt that the future was in the market like India, which is in my mind still a growth market.

It is full of opportunities for professionals and that's the reason I thought I should come back to India and that's the main reason. I want to come back because India is the place where there is future opportunity.

Q: Nokia is going through particularly difficult time. It is struggling in the smartphone segment; the market share has been under pressure. Moreover, the I-T department has slapped a Rs 2,000 crore demand notice on the company. The timing of your departure raises questions. How will Nokia cope?

A: The tax issue is a separate case. We have completely cooperated with the government and had given them all the help which is necessary because we always believe in being good citizens in every country we operate.

The challenges of the market will continue like we have seen challenges in smartphones and dual-SIM. We have seen challenges in touch phones in the past, but every time Nokia has come back and done a good job.

Business challenges will always continue. As far as the tax issue is concerned, we are working very closely with the government and it has absolutely no correlation with my decision.

Q: What are your plans posts Nokia? Have you made up your mind and you intend doing?

A: I have to do a proper handover for the next three months in Nokia. I have to ensure that my successor settles down well and after that I will decide, till then I have not really thought about it.

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DDA extends lease for Taj Palace Hotel to IHCL for 25 years

Tata group hospitality major Indian Hotels Company ( IHCL ) today said lease of its Taj Palace Hotel in the city has been renewed for 25 years from April 1 this year.

"The Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Group) is pleased to confirm that it has received the consent from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) confirming renewal of the license for the Taj Palace Hotel, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi for a further period of 25 years effective from April 1, 2013," the company said in a statement.

Also read: Low demand hits room rates, profit: Hotel Leela's Nair

The Taj had originally entered into an agreement for the construction and license of the hotel with DDA for 30 years effective from April 1, 1983. The Taj will thus continue to operate the hotel till March 31, 2038, it added.

Commenting on development IHCL Managing Director Raymond Bickson said: "IHCL has enjoyed a very cordial and beneficial business association with Delhi Development Authority over the past three decades and this recent development will further strengthen our partnership with DDA in the years to come."

IHCL and its subsidiaries are collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.

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DHFL Vysya cuts rates with eye on 50% growth in FY14

South-based DHFL Vysya Housing Finance, an associate company of Dewan Housing (DHFL), has decided to reduce the interest rate in 0.2-0.5 percent range on housing loans from April 1 while aiming for 50 percent growth during 2013-14.

"We are the first among the HFCs to reduce rate of housing loan by 20 basis points for both existing and new customers under variable interest scheme. But, for the priority sector housing scheme for loan upto Rs 10 lakh there is additional rebate of 30 basis points," DHFL Vysya Housing managing director R Nambirajan told PTI.

One basis point is equal to 0.01 percent. So, total benefit will be of 0.5 per cent for the new scheme for housing loans of upto Rs 10 lakh for a period of up to 11 years targeting the priority sector.

Nambirajan said the announcement in the Budget for additional rebate of Rs 1,00,000 allowed in the interest on housing loans, in addition to Rs 1,50,000 already allowed from April 1, 2013 will induce boost demand from more the middle-income groups in 2013-14.

"We hope to grow by over 50 per cent in 2013-14 against 30 percent in the current fiscal," he said. Our disbursements in this fiscal will stand Rs 345 crore while, the same will jump to Rs 520 crore in the next year, Nambirajan said.

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Non-bailable warrant issued against DCHL directors

A non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued against the directors of Deccan Chronicle Holdings by a Chandigarh-based Sessions Court in a case related to cheques bouncing to the tune of Rs 6 crore, reports CNBC-TV18's Appaji Reddem.

The case is filed by Religare Finvest and the chief executive officer of the Religare Group Sachindra Nath confirmed the same.

This apart, there are several winding up petitions filed against DCHL in Andhra Pradesh High Court and the total liabilities of the company towards several banks and financial institutions is estimated at about Rs 4,000 crore.

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Nokia's performance not related to my decision: Shivakumar

Nokia's operations head for India, West Asia and Africa D Shivakumar quit the Finnish handset major after an eight-year stint with the company.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said the decision to quit was not related to Nokia's performance. Shivakumar was based in Dubai for more than 1.5 years and is now keen on returning to India because he feels India is still a growth market and offers lot of opportunities.

Also read: Income tax officials fine Nokia, court issues stay

Shivakumar will continue to serve Nokia till June 30, 2013.

Below is the edited transcript of D Shivakumar's interview with CNBC-TV18

Q: Why exactly are you leaving Nokia?

A: Nokia has been very dear to my heart. I have been in Dubai for the last 18 months. I have done what has been needed of me here. I really looked at the future and I felt that the future was in the market like India, which is in my mind still a growth market.

It is full of opportunities for professionals and that's the reason I thought I should come back to India and that's the main reason. I want to come back because India is the place where there is future opportunity.

Q: Nokia is going through particularly difficult time. It is struggling in the smartphone segment; the market share has been under pressure. Moreover, the I-T department has slapped a Rs 2,000 crore demand notice on the company. The timing of your departure raises questions. How will Nokia cope?

A: The tax issue is a separate case. We have completely cooperated with the government and had given them all the help which is necessary because we always believe in being good citizens in every country we operate.

The challenges of the market will continue like we have seen challenges in smartphones and dual-SIM. We have seen challenges in touch phones in the past, but every time Nokia has come back and done a good job.

Business challenges will always continue. As far as the tax issue is concerned, we are working very closely with the government and it has absolutely no correlation with my decision.

Q: What are your plans posts Nokia? Have you made up your mind and you intend doing?

A: I have to do a proper handover for the next three months in Nokia. I have to ensure that my successor settles down well and after that I will decide, till then I have not really thought about it.

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DDA extends lease for Taj Palace Hotel to IHCL for 25 years

Tata group hospitality major Indian Hotels Company ( IHCL ) today said lease of its Taj Palace Hotel in the city has been renewed for 25 years from April 1 this year.

"The Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Group) is pleased to confirm that it has received the consent from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) confirming renewal of the license for the Taj Palace Hotel, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi for a further period of 25 years effective from April 1, 2013," the company said in a statement.

Also read: Low demand hits room rates, profit: Hotel Leela's Nair

The Taj had originally entered into an agreement for the construction and license of the hotel with DDA for 30 years effective from April 1, 1983. The Taj will thus continue to operate the hotel till March 31, 2038, it added.

Commenting on development IHCL Managing Director Raymond Bickson said: "IHCL has enjoyed a very cordial and beneficial business association with Delhi Development Authority over the past three decades and this recent development will further strengthen our partnership with DDA in the years to come."

IHCL and its subsidiaries are collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.

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Record bank borrowings: What do they indicate?

Saikat Das
moneycontrol.com

High bank borrowings continue to exacerbate liquidity tightness in the system. Lenders net borrowed nearly Rs 1.63 lakh crore from the Reserve Bank of India's daily borrowing window on last Tuesday, the penultimate money market working day in the financial year 2012-13. This was way above the central bank's comfort zone of 1% of total deposits in the system or around Rs 70,000 crore.

"There is an element of seasonality which is leading to the tight liquidity situation in the system. Companies have demand for funds due to the year-end pressure. From April onwards, it may ease to an extent. However, banks borrowings are unlikely to drop sharply any time soon," said Ananda Bhowmick, senior director at India Ratings, the Indian arm of global rating agency - Fitch.

On account of advance tax payments and year-end pressure banks have been net borrowing around Rs 1 lakh crore every day from RBI's borrowing-lending window known as Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) in the banking parlance. The central bank too recognized the liquidity tightness in its mid quarter policy.

"RBI is fighting inflation. Hence, it is natural to have deficit liquidity in the system," N S Venkatesh, executive director - IDBI Bank told moneycontrol.com.

"From April onwards, it is likely to come down. Even if the tightness persists, RBI will swing into OMO operation to ensure adequate liquidity. Governmnet is expected to start spending in the new year. Moreover, the first half borrowing target (58%) in FY14 is lower than the previous year's target (around 65%). It is unlikely to exert any additional pressure on liquidity tightness," he said.

RBI mentioned of actively managing crisis through various instruments including open market operations (OMOs), the process wherein the central bank buys back bonds from banks to pump in money into the system. Earlier, RBI had injected an additional of Rs 18,000 crore by cutting banks' CRR obligation by 25 bps. Banks are mandated to keep 4% of their deposits with RBI in the form of cash reserve ratio or CRR.

The Union government will borrow Rs.3.49 lakh crore from the market in the first half (April-September) of the year 2013-14. Total borrowing will be at Rs.5.79 lakh crore for the full year. Money will flow out by way of subscription in government bonds issued for the same purpose.

RBI LAF since last seven days

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Godrej Properties launches affordable housing in Ahmedabad

Moneycontrol Bureau

Mumbai-based real estate developer Godrej Properties on Thursday launched a scheme of affordable housing at Godrej Garden City (GGC) in Ahmedabad. One can buy 1-BHK (bed room, hall and kitchen) flats at prices starting from Rs 16.5 lakh.

"Five new towers, each ground plus 12 storied tall, will offer affordable 1 BHK apartments each measuring 600 sq. ft. at prices starting from Rs. 16.5 lacs. Each tower will be equipped with 2 lifts and all apartments are open from two sides with no two apartments overlooking each other," said a release issued by the company.

The government in association with National Housing Bank the regulator for housing finance companies, is giving greater thrust on affordable housings in a country of 120 crore population; wherein more than 17% people live in slums.

In his Union Budget 2013 the Finance Minister P Chidambaram had proposed to set up an Urban Housing Fund to refinance banks and financial insitutitions for retail loans in urban areas with an initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore in 2013-14. NHB will primarily help creating affordable houses and bridging the shortage of about 1.9 crore houses for low income group and economically weaker sections.

The proposed GGC project falls within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation limit. In order to facilitate holistic development of the area, the company is creating amenities for public transport, education, healthcare, recreation, hospitality, retail and banking.

The master plan has been created by world-renowned architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), who have designed numerous landmark projects across the globe such as the Burj Khalifa — the world's tallest building.

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Will pass on rail freight hike to buyers: JK Lakshmi Cement

The cement sector is once again grappling with pricing pressure due to sluggish demand that prevailed throughout March. After raising prices early this year, companies had expected government spend on infra to pick up toward the end of FY13, but in a bid to control fiscal deficit, it cut budget by Rs one lakh crore.

However, Shailendra Chouksey, Wholetime Director, JK Lakshmi Cement expects spurt in construction activity due to upcoming elections in various states in the next one year. Projects like Gram Sadak Yojana and Indira Awaas meant for rural development will be expedited by state governments, he anticipates.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Chouksey said, "One can expect cement prices to correct in current calendar year."  He also said that demand was better in the first half of FY13 on improved orders from various sectors.

Read This:  Hold JK lakshmi Cement; target Rs 138: Firstcall Research

On the proposed 5.79 percent increase in rail freight as per the Railway Budget 2013-14, Chouksey said his company may pass on 3-3.5 percent of the hike to consumers.

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Record bank borrowings: What do they indicate?

Saikat Das
moneycontrol.com

High bank borrowings continue to exacerbate liquidity tightness in the system. Lenders net borrowed nearly Rs 1.63 lakh crore from the Reserve Bank of India's daily borrowing window on last Tuesday, the penultimate money market working day in the financial year 2012-13. This was way above the central bank's comfort zone of 1% of total deposits in the system or around Rs 70,000 crore.

"There is an element of seasonality which is leading to the tight liquidity situation in the system. Companies have demand for funds due to the year-end pressure. From April onwards, it may ease to an extent. However, banks borrowings are unlikely to drop sharply any time soon," said Ananda Bhowmick, senior director at India Ratings, the Indian arm of global rating agency - Fitch.

On account of advance tax payments and year-end pressure banks have been net borrowing around Rs 1 lakh crore every day from RBI's borrowing-lending window known as Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) in the banking parlance. The central bank too recognized the liquidity tightness in its mid quarter policy.

"RBI is fighting inflation. Hence, it is natural to have deficit liquidity in the system," N S Venkatesh, executive director - IDBI Bank told moneycontrol.com.

"From April onwards, it is likely to come down. Even if the tightness persists, RBI will swing into OMO operation to ensure adequate liquidity. Governmnet is expected to start spending in the new year. Moreover, the first half borrowing target (58%) in FY14 is lower than the previous year's target (around 65%). It is unlikely to exert any additional pressure on liquidity tightness," he said.

RBI mentioned of actively managing crisis through various instruments including open market operations (OMOs), the process wherein the central bank buys back bonds from banks to pump in money into the system. Earlier, RBI had injected an additional of Rs 18,000 crore by cutting banks' CRR obligation by 25 bps. Banks are mandated to keep 4% of their deposits with RBI in the form of cash reserve ratio or CRR.

The Union government will borrow Rs.3.49 lakh crore from the market in the first half (April-September) of the year 2013-14. Total borrowing will be at Rs.5.79 lakh crore for the full year. Money will flow out by way of subscription in government bonds issued for the same purpose.

RBI LAF since last seven days

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Credit growth up, new home sales down: ING Vysya

Shailendra Bhandari, MD & CEO, ING Vysya Bank, expects today's current account deficit figure to come around 5-6 percent compared to the estimate of 6.1-6.4 percent. He also believes that the market has already discounted the estimated CAD figure.

On credit growth front, ING Vysya expects to grow faster than the industry. However, the bank has witnessed a slowdown in sales of new homes. The credit growth has been around 20 percent in October-December quarter. Going forward, the bank's NIM is also expected to be in the range of 3.3 percent.

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

Q: What is your view on the current account deficit (CAD) figure, What do you think will the market see and what might be the reaction to something that is hugely different from 6.1 percent to 6.4 percent range?

A: The market is pretty much discounting the bad news. If the number is lower, then there will be a knee-jerk reaction. I think CAD will come between 5-6 percent rather than 6.1-6.4 percent. However, the trend continues to be extremely worrisome. Unless, we get a shocker number, it is discounted.

Q: What kind of reaction do you think it may warrant from the government? There have been talks about cutting the withholding tax on government securities, on debt? Do you think it may bolster the government for announcing more measures to attack the CAD?

A: Even if more money is permitted to come in and is invested in securities, then that will be on the capital account. This will not help the CAD to the extent that interest will be paid on those securities in future, and that worsens deficit. So, I think those are again the knee-jerk reactions, I would not like to see. Firstly, exports are slowing because the global economy is slow. Second, diesel caused a lot of problem to the CAD, so steps should be taken to curb consumption.

Q: The recent data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggests that retail loan growth is tapering off a bit and is getting increasingly difficult for private banks to retain their market share, especially in some of these secured retail credit products like mortgages or auto loans etc. Are you facing any kind of pressure and what would your loan growth targets be for the fiscal?

A: We will grow faster than the market and do at better quality. Coincidentally, we have done roughly 5 percent more than the market. Till December, the system growth rate of credit was around 15-16 percent and we were doing a bit above 20 percent. In retail under mortgages, there are two components. First, the home loans -- loans to buy new houses and second, loan against property (LAP) -- refinancing of existing property.

There is a slowdown in the sales of new homes and we believe that there is bit of illogical pricing. There are banks which are offering new home loans at below 10 percent while simultaneously taking deposits at 9 percent. We do not wish to play the probability game. Our LAP, SME lending, personal loans, credit cards and agriculture loans are all doing fine. I don't see any particular issue for us growing faster than the market.        

Q: In some of your key metrics like the net interest margins (NIMs) and the credit cost etc you are trading at a peak in terms of your efficiency at this point. How do you see a NIMs move from current position, do you think it could improve beyond 6.3 percent levels or given the kind of slowdown that is showing up in the economy could peter off a little bit?

A: Our bank had an average of 3.3 percent in last three years. In the December quarter it was 3.6 percent. For the last three years, it has been in the range of 3.3 per cent.

Within 3.3 percent, we do a typical high of 3.6 percent and a low of 3.1 percent. So, the previous quarter, 3.61 percent was the highest. We do have a seasonal impact, so our NIMs come down in March and June primarily because of priority sector and then they go up again. Our NIMs will be steady at an average of 3.3 percent or a bit higher going forward.

Q: The private sector banking universe has been through a bit of a confidence crisis through this month. State Bank of India (SBI) made the point that sometimes receivables being routed from private sector companies are much more difficult to pin down to in terms of who they are from, identity etc, the know-your-client (KYC) norms, would you say there is a lot more that needs to go through in terms of a cleansing of the system for the private sector space especially?

A: I cannot comment what other bank has said. If I look at the top private sector banks and include ourselves for a moment in that, our systems and controls are absolutely top class. ING Vysya Bank is part of ING, which is one of the global leading banks; some of our systems and processes meet EU standards. I even suspect that many may not achieve these for many years to come. So, I am not worried about these three-four banks including ourselves.

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Godrej Properties launches affordable housing in Ahmedabad

Moneycontrol Bureau

Mumbai-based real estate developer Godrej Properties on Thursday launched a scheme of affordable housing at Godrej Garden City (GGC) in Ahmedabad. One can buy 1-BHK (bed room, hall and kitchen) flats at prices starting from Rs 16.5 lakh.

"Five new towers, each ground plus 12 storied tall, will offer affordable 1 BHK apartments each measuring 600 sq. ft. at prices starting from Rs. 16.5 lacs. Each tower will be equipped with 2 lifts and all apartments are open from two sides with no two apartments overlooking each other," said a release issued by the company.

The government in association with National Housing Bank the regulator for housing finance companies, is giving greater thrust on affordable housings in a country of 120 crore population; wherein more than 17% people live in slums.

In his Union Budget 2013 the Finance Minister P Chidambaram had proposed to set up an Urban Housing Fund to refinance banks and financial insitutitions for retail loans in urban areas with an initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore in 2013-14. NHB will primarily help creating affordable houses and bridging the shortage of about 1.9 crore houses for low income group and economically weaker sections.

The proposed GGC project falls within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation limit. In order to facilitate holistic development of the area, the company is creating amenities for public transport, education, healthcare, recreation, hospitality, retail and banking.

The master plan has been created by world-renowned architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), who have designed numerous landmark projects across the globe such as the Burj Khalifa — the world's tallest building.

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Will pass on rail freight hike to buyers: JK Lakshmi Cement

The cement sector is once again grappling with pricing pressure due to sluggish demand that prevailed throughout March. After raising prices early this year, companies had expected government spend on infra to pick up toward the end of FY13, but in a bid to control fiscal deficit, it cut budget by Rs one lakh crore.

However, Shailendra Chouksey, Wholetime Director, JK Lakshmi Cement expects spurt in construction activity due to upcoming elections in various states in the next one year. Projects like Gram Sadak Yojana and Indira Awaas meant for rural development will be expedited by state governments, he anticipates.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Chouksey said, "One can expect cement prices to correct in current calendar year."  He also said that demand was better in the first half of FY13 on improved orders from various sectors.

Read This:  Hold JK lakshmi Cement; target Rs 138: Firstcall Research

On the proposed 5.79 percent increase in rail freight as per the Railway Budget 2013-14, Chouksey said his company may pass on 3-3.5 percent of the hike to consumers.

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Credit growth up, new home sales down: ING Vysya

Shailendra Bhandari, MD & CEO, ING Vysya Bank, expects today's current account deficit figure to come around 5-6 percent compared to the estimate of 6.1-6.4 percent. He also believes that the market has already discounted the estimated CAD figure.

On credit growth front, ING Vysya expects to grow faster than the industry. However, the bank has witnessed a slowdown in sales of new homes. The credit growth has been around 20 percent in October-December quarter. Going forward, the bank's NIM is also expected to be in the range of 3.3 percent.

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

Q: What is your view on the current account deficit (CAD) figure, What do you think will the market see and what might be the reaction to something that is hugely different from 6.1 percent to 6.4 percent range?

A: The market is pretty much discounting the bad news. If the number is lower, then there will be a knee-jerk reaction. I think CAD will come between 5-6 percent rather than 6.1-6.4 percent. However, the trend continues to be extremely worrisome. Unless, we get a shocker number, it is discounted.

Q: What kind of reaction do you think it may warrant from the government? There have been talks about cutting the withholding tax on government securities, on debt? Do you think it may bolster the government for announcing more measures to attack the CAD?

A: Even if more money is permitted to come in and is invested in securities, then that will be on the capital account. This will not help the CAD to the extent that interest will be paid on those securities in future, and that worsens deficit. So, I think those are again the knee-jerk reactions, I would not like to see. Firstly, exports are slowing because the global economy is slow. Second, diesel caused a lot of problem to the CAD, so steps should be taken to curb consumption.

Q: The recent data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggests that retail loan growth is tapering off a bit and is getting increasingly difficult for private banks to retain their market share, especially in some of these secured retail credit products like mortgages or auto loans etc. Are you facing any kind of pressure and what would your loan growth targets be for the fiscal?

A: We will grow faster than the market and do at better quality. Coincidentally, we have done roughly 5 percent more than the market. Till December, the system growth rate of credit was around 15-16 percent and we were doing a bit above 20 percent. In retail under mortgages, there are two components. First, the home loans -- loans to buy new houses and second, loan against property (LAP) -- refinancing of existing property.

There is a slowdown in the sales of new homes and we believe that there is bit of illogical pricing. There are banks which are offering new home loans at below 10 percent while simultaneously taking deposits at 9 percent. We do not wish to play the probability game. Our LAP, SME lending, personal loans, credit cards and agriculture loans are all doing fine. I don't see any particular issue for us growing faster than the market.        

Q: In some of your key metrics like the net interest margins (NIMs) and the credit cost etc you are trading at a peak in terms of your efficiency at this point. How do you see a NIMs move from current position, do you think it could improve beyond 6.3 percent levels or given the kind of slowdown that is showing up in the economy could peter off a little bit?

A: Our bank had an average of 3.3 percent in last three years. In the December quarter it was 3.6 percent. For the last three years, it has been in the range of 3.3 per cent.

Within 3.3 percent, we do a typical high of 3.6 percent and a low of 3.1 percent. So, the previous quarter, 3.61 percent was the highest. We do have a seasonal impact, so our NIMs come down in March and June primarily because of priority sector and then they go up again. Our NIMs will be steady at an average of 3.3 percent or a bit higher going forward.

Q: The private sector banking universe has been through a bit of a confidence crisis through this month. State Bank of India (SBI) made the point that sometimes receivables being routed from private sector companies are much more difficult to pin down to in terms of who they are from, identity etc, the know-your-client (KYC) norms, would you say there is a lot more that needs to go through in terms of a cleansing of the system for the private sector space especially?

A: I cannot comment what other bank has said. If I look at the top private sector banks and include ourselves for a moment in that, our systems and controls are absolutely top class. ING Vysya Bank is part of ING, which is one of the global leading banks; some of our systems and processes meet EU standards. I even suspect that many may not achieve these for many years to come. So, I am not worried about these three-four banks including ourselves.

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Seeing significant improvement in deal closures: Mindtree

Moneycontrol Bureau

Software services exporter Mindtree says it is seeing a significant improvement in deal closures and US dollar revenue growth in FY2014 is expected to be 3-4 percent higher than in FY2013.

The global economic uncertainty led by the Eurozone crisis hurt IT companies last year, as clients cut back on their discretionary spends and slowed down decision making.

Things have started to change now and most top IT companies have said that growth in 2013 will be better compared with 2012.

US clients are optimistic and the number and size of opportunities has also improved, Rostow Ravanan, CFO, told CNBC-TV18 on Tuesday.

"Opportunities in the marketplace definitely are a lot more attractive now...We believe deals are starting to get closed, so volume pick up for us should be quite confident. Pricing continues to be stable, so overall we have a very positive bullish outlook for FY14 compared to where we think FY13 will end," he said.

Over the April-Dec period, MindTree's net profit rose 74 percent year-on-year to Rs 260 crore, while income from software services was up 26 percent to Rs 1,749 crore.

Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18

Q: Couple of brokerages have upped their rating of your company. If you looked at the deal pipeline compared to what it looked three to six months ago is it any brighter? Would you want to even up your guidance?

A: Opportunities in the marketplace definitely are a lot more attractive now. Even in December 2012 compared to December 2011 the opportunities in the pipeline, both in terms of the number of opportunities as well as the size of the opportunities are significantly better now.

Since, then from January to March progress has also been very satisfactory. We believe deals are starting to get closed. So, volume pick up for us should be quite confident. Pricing continues to be stable. Overall, we have a very positive bullish outlook for FY14 compared to where we think FY13 will end.

Q: How much better it could be? What could you end FY14 with in terms of revenue growth? How much better FY14 might be?

A: We officially do not give guidance. My sense is that we will probably have at least 3-4 percentage points higher growth in FY14 compared to wherever we end FY13 at.

Q: We were given to understand by one of the research reports that of your large clients only one indicated the possibility of decline in budgets. Is that the situation that the others are likely to give you larger orders?

A: Typically we see most of our US clients being very, very positive, both for their own businesses as well as on a general basis for the rest of the US economy. In Europe it is a little bit of a mixed signal.

Some of our Europe-based global clients are quite positive. Some of our clients which are headquartered in Europe and their businesses are predominantly European have little bit of pessimism given the macroeconomic situation in Europe. Broadly that is the way we are seeing the trend for FY14.

Q: What exactly the sustainable run rate for the margin picture would be? Do you see any significant improvement from the current 21 percent that you clocked?

A: In the December quarter we are approximately 20.5 percent at an operating profit level. My guess is about 2.5-3 percent of it came out of currency and maybe about 16-17 percent is what we have delivered operationally. That 16-17 percent is approximately a 200-250 bps improvement over the previous year.

The amount of profitability we have been able to increase through a combination of measures such as increased pricing, increased operational efficiency, improve utilisation. Some of those operational factors will give us a chance to improve maybe by 100-150 bps over the next four to six quarters. The bit that came out of currency to some extent is outside our control. So, that currency related impact will float with the market, but operationally we think we can increase profitability by at least 1 to 1.5 percentage points.

Q: Can you give us some colour on the product engineering services segment business as well? How is demand panning out over there?

A: There is some amount of good news in that segment. We think next year will probably be a decent growth year for them. This year private engineering services business will be probably close to flat or maybe a marginal decline, but next year that segment is also confident to show some amount of growth. The reason for the confidence is that we have one reasonable number of relatively larger opportunities in that business over the last few months.

So, that business will probably have some amount of growth next year. The IT services business is continuing to do well. Therefore the larger growth next year will come out of the IT services business with some amount of growth coming out from the engineering services business as well.

Q: What has been happening on the client side in terms of pushing revenues higher via client mining? Is that a trend that you are seeing in this year as well that you basically get higher amount of revenues from lesser number of clients as opposed to a larger basket?

A: Absolutely, that was the plan we had put in place about two years back. This has yielded very, very handsome results for us. If one looks at our client distribution, the number of USD 20 million clients, USD 10 million clients, USD 5 million clients have significantly improved over the last two years. That continues to be our focus. The client list that we have has a huge amount of potential, so we want to continue to do that.

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Tech Mahindra extends merger with Satyam, both stocks down

Shares of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam were trading lower since early trade on Tuesday after the Tech Mahindra extended the proposed merger of Mahindra Satyam with itself for six months.

The company in a release sent to exchanges said that its board of directors extended the validity of the (amalgamation) scheme by a further period of six months i.e. up to September 30, 2013.

"The board has extended "scheme of amalgamation and arrangement of Venturbay Consultants Pvt Ltd and Satyam Computer Services Ltd and C&S Systems Technologies Pvt Ltd and Mahindra Logisoft Business Solutions Ltd and CanvasM Technologies Ltd with Tech Mahindra and their respective shareholders and creditors," the company said.

Tech Mahindra bought the scam-tainted Satyam Computer in April 2009 and rebranded it as Mahindra Satyam.

In February 2013, Tech Mahindra had expressed the hope that the proposed merger of Mahindra Satyam with itself will be completed shortly.

At 12:45 hours IST, the stock of Tech Mahindra fell 1.28 percent to Rs 1,032.45 while Mahindra Satyam declined 0.5 percent to Rs 121.90 on Bombay Stock Exchange.

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Tata Motors to shutdown for 11 days for maintenance

Leading automobile company Tata Motors will undertake a 11-day shutdown to carry out maintenance of equipments at its Jamshedpur plant from March 27, a senior company official said today.

Tata Motors will undertake shutdown from March 27 to April 6 to carry out maintenance of equipments, particularly, in the paint shop," Debasis Ray, Head of Corporate Communications, said.

The shutdown was needed as it is not possible to carry out maintenance of equipments, especially, in the paint house during the day to day operations.

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SEBI bars Zenith Info founders from share mkt, stock tanks

Zenith Infotech fell 9 percent intraday to touch a new 52-week low of Rs 15 on Tuesday after the market regulator SEBI barred six of its promoters and entities from securities market with immediate effect for alleged violation SEBI regulations.

Promoters include Devita Rajkumar Saraf, Vijayrani Rajkumar Saraf, Zenith Technologies, Vu Technologies, Rajkumar Saraf and Akash Rajkumar Saraf.

The regulator also asked Zenith Infotech to pay USD 33.93 million (the amount of sale proceeds of Managed Services Busines division) as bank guarantee.

At 13:24 hours IST, shares dropped 8.5 percent to Rs 15.10 on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Market capitalisation of the company currently stands at Rs 19.15 crore.

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Nestle India faces `marginal' impact from royalty hike: UBS

Shares in Nestle India Ltd fell 1 percent after the Indian unit of Nestle Group said late on Friday it would implement a staggered increase in royalty payments of 0.2 percent per year over the next five years to the parent company.

UBS says the increase would reduce its earnings per share estimates for Nestle India by 1-3 percent in calendar years 2014-2016, calling the impact "marginal."

The investment bank adds Nestle India can offset its royalty payments with a favourable portfolio mix that saves on raw material costs and by gaining scale efficiencies.

UBS maintains its positive outlook on the stock, with a "buy" rating and a target price of 5,750 rupees, citing expectations for volume growth.

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BPCL, HPCL and IOC up post diesel price hike

Moneycontrol Bureau

Shares of  Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are up around 2 -3 percent each after the latest diesel price hike of 45 paise/litre This is the third hike in a row after the government permitted them to do so two months ago.

However, despite  Indian Oil Corporation  also being the beneficiary of price hike, it was marginally up in comparison to its peers. As has been the trend, retaillers revise fuel prices every fortnight, but due to the Parliament proceedings, they deferred it to March 23 to avoid any disruption in the session.

Meanwhile, despite the recent hike, oil companies are still losing around Rs 8.19/litre on sale of diesel. It will take around 21 more months for them to stop incurring losses on sale of the commodity.

However, by year-end, companies may be able to bring down diesel under-recoveries by around Rs 10,000 crore, say analysts.

Retaillers are incurring losses due to selling the fuel at government controlled rates. In FY13, OMCs are likely to incur losses of around Rs 161,000 crore for selling liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene and diesel as subsidised rates. For the nine month to December period alone, under-recoveries were around Rs 125,000 crore.

So far, the government has already given cash subsidy of Rs 55,000 crore and another Rs 25000 crore will be provided before the fiscal ends.

Analysts say that partial de-regulation will not only help OMCs but will also ease government's subsidy burden. Traditionally, the government has been bearing around 33 percent of the losses that companies incur on sale of fuel products below market rates.

At 11:30 hours, shares of IOC were up 0.45 percent to Rs 291.60, BPCL was up 2.82 percent to Rs 375.50 and HPCL too climbed 1.99 percent to Rs 289.40.

Read This:  No diesel price hike rollback, losses at Rs 8.50-9/L: BPCL

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No concerns on HSBC stake sale; demand will rise in Q1: TBZ

Allaying fears about the company's performance post HSBC stake sale last week, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), today said that demand for gold jewellery is expected to pick up from Apr-Jun due to wedding season and festivals.

TBZ is confident of performing well despite market slowdown, Prem Hinduja, managing director told CNBC-TV18 today.

Shares of TBZ had come under pressure last week after HSBC Global Investment sold nearly 2 percent stake in the company. The stock had tanked nearly 13 percent on March 21. Hinduja however assured that there are no operational concerns and the company's shares have performed better than most peers post Budget .

"Post Budget this company's share has clocked a gain of 17 percent while most of the peer's shares in the same industry showed negative returns. We are well on our track for expansion plans," Hinduja said.

Also read: New KYC norm may deter gold buyers: PC Jewellers

The gold jewellery retailer's net profit in quarter ended December rose 30% sequentially to Rs 24.73 crore, while its total income was up 65 percent at Rs 577.08 crore. Its operating margin for the quarter was 7.55%.

TBZ has presence in 19 cities across seven states. The company has opened two new stores in the third quarter of this fiscal. The company now has 25 stores across the country. 

Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

Q: A word on the selling that was reported by HSBC -- all stakeholders are free to sell but did you engage in any conversation with such a large stakeholder on why they chose to sell in such a big block and whether they had specific concerns on Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ)?

A: I don't think they have any specific concerns on TBZ. This being the last quarter possibly they are looking at some redemption. At the end of the day the company does not control the investor's sentiment whether they want to buy or to sell, they are free to do so. We believe that the performance of the company will drive the share price rather than vice versa.

Post budget this company's share has clocked a gain of 17 percent while most of the peer's shares in the same industry showed negative returns. We are well on our track for expansion plans. We are 25 stores as of today. We were 12 when we came with the initial public offering (IPO). We are on track as far as our expansion is concerned. The markets may go up and down, that is the function of the market but we will continue to perform. Today we are present in about 19 cities and seven states and our entire expansion plan is very much on track.

Q: I just want to clarify this, at this point is there any stake held by the promoters that is held with any other entity by a way of a margin?

A: No, certainly not. The stakes are still under lock-in because we have not even completed one year post listing.

Q: Couple of other developments have taken place which has been somewhat detrimental for the gold space- one is the tax increases that were announced by the Maharashtra government and the other is the changes in terms of gold imports could you just quantify what the impact could be for a company like yours and whether that would impact revenues by the end of this financial year or through the course of the calendar year?

A: As far as the Maharashtra State is concerned, the value added tax (VAT) has been increased by just 0.10 percent which is very minimal. One can see that on Rs 3,000 per gram it will be just Rs 3 which the customer can easily absorb, so, that has no question of any financial impact on the performance of the company or the financials of the company.

As far as the gold imports are concerned, yes these talks have been going on for quite sometime. Various measures the government is contemplating but I am sure that they are not able to come out on any firm conclusion because basically they also realise that after a certain point of time, most of these measures can become self defeating and they can hurt both the industry and the government. We are looking at a situation where you want to make this industry more and more transparent. You want a shift from the unorganised to the organised sector so I am sure the government in all its wisdom has realized that any such measures which are taken in a hurry are bound to really fall back on them or to hit them and the industry in general.

Q: What would you be confident of setting out in terms of a volume growth target and have all the issues being sorted out in terms of the inventory changes that you took last quarter and the material increases that you will face?

A: We are already on track. We have already started the gold loan model if that you are referring to in the inventory changes- we started that post our listing, all our new show rooms are on gold leasing. We are going to follow that model all throughout and all that. All our stores are on track. As far as the demand is concerned, this quarter is muted. There are several reasons because traditionally the fourth quarter is a bad quarter for this industry, where no real major purchases take place. I am expecting the demand to pick up in the first quarter of next fiscal. We are having festivals like Gudi Padwa which will come up in April and then we have a marriage season in May for which the purchases will start in the month of April. I do expect a pick up in the demand from next fiscal onwards.

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Positive outcome on cement biz sale seen soon: JP Asso

Jaiprakash Associates , which has been deliberating sale of its Gujarat cement business for more than five month to pare its debts, may soon announce a positive outcome, Manoj Gaur, Executive Chairman, Jaiprakash Associates told CNBC-TV18 today.

"We are in active discussion and I hope that the distance that we have covered, positive outcome will come soon," Gaur said. Earlier CNBC-TV18 had reported that the company was in talks with Ultratech to sell its Gujarat plant at a valuation of USD 160-170 per tonne.

However, the company was unable to take things forward with Ultratech after the initial talks. Gaur also stressed that the company was on track to reduce its debt substantially after several of its recent debt refinancing initiatives. The company also hopes to cut debt in subsidiary Jaypee Infratech by Rs 2000 crore to Rs 4800 crore by 2013-14 end.

The company had to defer the offer for sale, of Jaypee Infratech due to a sudden fall in its stock price. Gaur said that the company will soon be doing OFS for infrastructure subsidiary. The proceeds from the stake sale will also help JP Associates to further pare its debt.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview

Q: The market would be interested to know what is happening with cement stake sale and whether that is still on track and you are in discussions with some of the parties that were being talked about?

A: Many times I have been asked this question, let me again reiterate that as an organisation we stand committed to enhance our shareholder value and debt reduction is one of the important items, which we have planned. It has been in public domain that we have been in active discussion for sale of our cement asset in Gujarat. I will not like to comment on whether there is this difficulty or that difficult but yes we are in active discussion and I hope that the distance that we have covered, positive outcome will come soon.

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Will Masala Library get lucky with a Michelin star?

Zorawar Kalra, thirty-five-year-old management graduate from Boston's Bentley Business University has an entrepreneurial bent of mind and a genetic love for food. It is no surprise that for the last six years since his return to India, Zorawar has turned restaurateur.

Zorawar and his father, celebrity food writer and chef, Jiggs Kalra have now partnered with one of India's leading hospitality players, Mirah Hospitality to launch Massive Restaurants, which will also bring to market this year three separate offerings; 'Masala Library' by Jiggs Kalra, a fine dining restaurant chain, 'Made in Punjab' which is a casual diner, as well as signature gourmet brand 'Mithai'. Zorawar has massive plans and he wants to create Rs 500 crore listed entity in five years.

When Zorawar Kalra decided to get into business he did not think twice about and sticking to the space he knew best, food. In 2007 Zorawar partnered with Amit Burman's Lite Bite Foods to launch Punjab Grill by Jiggs Kalra, a chain of fine dining restaurants.

Having tasted critical acclaimed with Punjab Grill and Street Foods of India, Zorawar in 2012 decided to start up once again. He exited the joint venture with Lite Bite Foods to Massive Restaurants with his father Jiggs Kalra. The father son duo has a majority stake in the venture while Gaurav Goenka's Mirah Hospitality has been brought in as a strategic partner.

In phase one Zorawar plans to use Rs 25 crore, to launch two fine dining restaurants, Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra in Mumbai and Delhi, by June this year and then focus on brining their casual diner, Made in Punjab and a premium Mithai store to the market as well.

Speaking about his passion, Zorawar Kalra, Founder & MD, Massive Restaurant says, "One of the things that I am good at is of understanding the pulse of the market. I am good at understanding what the Indian people want, their taste buds. So, whenever I make a restaurant, I know I am already developing a concept that caters to Indians. I am an Indian at heart, I will always be and I love my cuisine. I love Indian food more than anything else."

Currently, managing a team of 25, Zorawar expects to have 200 employees on board in the next six months as his restaurants open. Karla junior admits that his biggest competitive advantage is the five decades of experience that his father Jiggs Kalra brings to the table.

With his father guiding him on getting the food right, Zorawar is focusing on getting the nuts and bolts of the business right in the market that is very competitive and growing at 20-25 percent annually.

It is a serious matter of pride for us to have my father as our mentor says Zorawar. The Massive Restaurants' mentor is Jiggs Kalra and he is the driving force behind the culinary excellence that we are trying to pursue. It is a great asset to have a person like my father because it gives us a bit of added help in the beginning but it is also a lot of added pressure because its his name at the door and you have to work extra hard to make sure that everybody that walks into the door says something good, he adds.

So, while getting the food and beverage (F&B) concepts right is critical, Zorawar is looking to leverage Mirah Hospitality's experience in real estate management and operational matters to reach the target of 200-300 percent growth rate within the next three years.

Concentrating on the Mumbai and Delhi markets as of now, Zorawar plans to take Massive international within the next 18 months.

Zorawar questions, why cannot we do what the Chinese did with their cuisine? The Chinese cuisine he says has been accepted phenomenally well. It is one of the popular cuisines practically in any country of the world; whether in North America or Asia or Europe or Australia and the Chinese restaurants all over are doing very well. So, Zorawar says, "I want that to happen with Indian cuisine. I think Indian cuisine is one of the very few cuisines that have a culinary philosophy. It has so much delicacy, so much sophistication. It is one of those art forms that India should be most proud of."

Zorawar has his eyes firmly on one dream, to make Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra, India's first Michelin star restaurant. He teed off well and plans to open a 130 restaurants across the three categories by next three years and in five years, Zorawar plans to hit Rs 500 crore in revenues and list Massive Restaurants in the capital market as well.

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SAT to continue hearing on Subrata Roy's plea on Mar 26

The Securities Appellate Tribunal will continue its hearing on March 26 on Sahara group chief Subrata Roy's plea against Sebi's attachment order of his bank accounts and other assets, along with those of his two firms and their top executives.

The matter relates to a Supreme Court direction ordering refund of more than Rs 24,000 crore of investors' money raised by two Sahara group firms -- Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd -- through issue of bonds, wherein Sebi has been asked to facilitate the refund.

After expiry of the court-set deadline for the refund, Sebi last month issued attachment orders against the two firms and their top executives, including Subrata Roy.
    
Roy had approached the SAT against the attachment orders and the plea was posted by the SAT for "final hearing" today. After a day-long hearing here, the SAT decided to adjourn the matter till Tuesday in New Delhi.

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Imports of rough diamonds seen jumping 25 percent in FY14

India's imports of rough diamonds are likely to jump by a quarter in the next fiscal year from USD 14.5 billion now, as exports of the processed gems to top consumers increase and Indian exporters enter newer markets.

India, the world's largest processor of rough diamonds, gets most of its supply from firms such as top producer De Beers Gold eyes biggest weekly gain in months on Cyprus woes

"We will go to newer markets to beat the slowdown, for example, the countries of the former Soviet Union are buying in huge quantities from India," said Pankaj Kumar Parekh, vice chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, which represents more than 5,500 of the country's exporters.

The trade body expects India's exports of cut and polished diamonds in the fiscal year to March 2014 to be 25 percent higher than current estimates of USD 16 billion, equivalent to 66 percent of total gems and jewellery exports.

It expects exports of gems and jewellery to rise 6.6 percent to USD 50 billion. Exports of gems and jewellery - which include diamonds - constitute 14 percent of India's total trade, and employ 3.4 million workers, with the Middle East taking most of India's gems and jewellery shipments.

Demand from the euro zone could be depressed because of the region's debt crisis, though he bet on a revival in demand from the United States.

"Things are in the doldrums in the European Union, and the buoyancy is visible in India and China," said Parekh.

India processes about 92 percent of the world's diamonds, followed by Belgium, Israel and China. Most of the diamonds are sourced from world miners through Dubai.

World diamond production has been steady at 120 million to 130 million carats or roughly about USD 15 billion in value terms, putting an upward pressure on prices, the Council said. Miners are unlikely to ramp up production without a massive improvement in the world economy, it added.

Robust Silver

Exports of silver jewellery are likely to grow at a robust pace next year, as growing numbers of buyers opt for the cheaper metal in the facing of rising gold prices.

"Middle class consumers are finding gold expensive, and the metal is being replaced by silver," said council official Sabyasachi Ray.

A 10-gram quantity of silver is valued at 547.8 rupees, against 29,766 rupees for a similar quantity of gold.

Exports of silver jewellery rose to USD 715 million in the 11 months to February, an annual increase of 10 percent, compared with flat exports of USD 18.12 billion of gold jewellery, data from the trade body showed.

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Cheap, high power smartphone is next tech Big Bang: Google

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman, Google believes that the next revolution will be caused by cheap and high-power smartphones and laptops.

Schmidt spoke to CNBC-TV18 at an event in New Delhi where Indian and international experts came together to brainstorm about what the Internet has meant for India and the significant opportunities it offers.

Also Read: BlackBerry CEO says Android and Windows Phone are not mobile computing platforms

Below is an edited transcript of the show on CNBC-TV18

Q: Over the last decade, you built Google from a start-up to one of the most admired companies of all time. What is your verdict on your last 10 years at Google?

A: I could not be happier with what Google has achieved. It is a source of pride for me personally and for people at Google in general. The power of information is so dramatic and you really do touch people's lives when you give them the answers to the things they care about. I cannot think of a better way to spend a decade.

Q: What would you say your biggest failures have been?

A: We made money but we also had to make some trade-offs. Probably the biggest mistake that I made was not in seeing the social media revolution early on. I think we have realised it now but I would take responsibility for that mistake.

Q: Will that in the future affect search as well which is your biggest source of revenue? Will companies like Facebook and Amazon be able to map users better to offer enhanced services while you remain a passive search engine?

A: I would disagree that we are going to remain a passive search engine. We have a product called Google Plus which is doing extraordinarily well.

Q: But as compared to Facebook?

A: Facebook has been around longer than Google Plus. The Google Plus link graph which tracks the sort of people that you interact with is an important future signal on our search ranking. So I think we will be fine. I am not worried about it. I think it is just important that Google be a participant in all of the important Internet technologies.

Q: What and from where is the threat to the Gang of Four- Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple- going to come from?

A: The Gang of Four is in reference to the presence of four network-scalable platforms in the industry that are driving huge shareholder value and impact on partners and the competition. The threats to each of them are many. In Apple's case, the threat is from the Android.

Amazon faces the threat of increased forays into the e-commerce space. Facebook has a a competitor in Google Plus and Google faces competition from Microsoft. So it is key for each of these companies to maintain or increase the rate at which they can continue to innovate to solve problems that really matter to the end-user.

The industry that was largely driven by the Microsoft monopoly structure and PC hardware manufacturers has been completely broken down now by the emergence of tablets and smartphones offering many different choices.

Q: Who do you see as the Google of today? Where Google was when search started? Which companies do you give the best chance of coming in and knocking you off?

A: I certainly hope it is Google. A new competitor to Google is unlikely to be a direct rival to our core business, but rather likely to compete from the side such as solving a problem in a new way, a way that we missed. We worry about that because that's typically how incumbents compete and all leading companies face that competition.

Also Read: YouTube targets Indian marketers, revamps site

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RBI warns banks of violating priority sector lending norms

Moneycontrol Bureau

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) warned banks of breaching priority sector lending norms. It asked lenders to stop the practice of including off-balance items in meeting priority sector credit targets. Off-balance sheet items include instruments like letter of credit (LC), bank guarantee (BG), derivative instruments (currency hedging) and others.

"It has come to notice that some banks have included contingent liabilities/off-balance sheet items as part of priority sector target achievement," RBI said in a release issued on Friday. 

"In this connection, we clarify that this is not in conformity with priority sector lending guidelines. Therefore, banks are advised to declassify such accounts with retrospective effect, where a contingent liability / off-balance sheet item is treated as a part of priority sector target achievement."

Those credit tools (off-balance sheet items or contingent liabilities) are mostly considered indirect form of credit. For example, an issuer bank of BG will be held liable to pay the debt only when the original borrower on whose name BC is issued, fails to repay. Till that time, it is not exactly a direct credit.

PSL target

Banks are mandated to achieve 40% priority sector lending (PSL) that includes agricultural credit, housing loan up to Rs 20 lakh, SME (small and medium enterprises) credit and others. Most of the banks especially private sector ones are likely to miss the target.

What if PSL target is missed?

Banks which fail to attain PSL target are mandated to invest in Nabard or Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) bonds for the shortfall. The rate of interest in those bonds are very low in the range of 3  to 6%.

"We also clarify that all types of loans, investments or any other item which are treated as eligible for classifications under priority sector target/ sub-target achievement should also form part of adjusted net bank credit," RBI said.

saikat.das@network18online.com

 

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DoT tells Vodafone, Loop their licences cannot be extended

Department of Telecommunications is learnt to have told Vodafone and Loop Telecom that their licences cannot be extended and they will need to bid for airwaves to continue their services.

"DoT has said that clause related to extension of licences, companies should not read 'may' as 'shall' extend licence. Hence their request to extend licences have not been accepted by DoT," sources said. Sources added that similar letter will be sent to Bharti Airtel as well. Companies when contacted did not offer any comments immediately.     

Vodafone, Loop and Airtel have approached court against government's plan to auction spectrum that they currently hold and has sought extension of licence using the same spectrum. The telecom firms contended that they have in their possession the 900 MHz spectrum since November 1994 and without considering their plea for renewal of licence.

Sources said that DoT has asked these companies to participate in spectrum auction to retain the spectrum and continue their services. The spectrum identified for auction in 900 Mhz includes 8 Mhz held by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone each in Delhi circle;

8 Mhz each of Loop Mobile and Vodafone in Mumbai; and in Kolkata 6.2 Mhz spectrum of Bharti Airtel and 7.8 Mhz of Vodafone that is due for renewal in 2014. The auction of these spectrum was scheduled to start from March 11 but none of the companies applied to bid for these airwaves and hence it failed.

Government has announced that it will conduct third round of auction but details of this auction have not been announced yet.

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Eye care company Bausch Lomb files for IPO

Eye care company Bausch & Lomb Holdings Inc, owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, filed with US regulators to raise upto USD 100 million in an initial public offering.

The proposed IPO could raise as much as USD 1.5 billion and is expected to value Bausch & Lomb at about USD 9 billion to USD 10 billion, Reuters reported earlier in March.

Also Read: India wants Walmart to reply on lobbying charges by April 9

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the company said JP Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch and Citigroup were the lead underwriters of the offering. (http://link.reuters.com/keh86t)

Warburg Pincus continues to explore a private sale of the company and is working with Goldman Sachs to find a buyer, a source had told Reuters.

Founded in 1853, Rochester, New York-based Bausch & Lomb makes contact lenses, eye drugs and surgical equipment and sells its products in more than 100 countries.

It was taken private by Warburg Pincus in 2007 for about USD 4.5 billion, including USD 830 million of debt, after it fell out of Wall Street's favor because of product recalls, big charges and restatements of earnings. Warburg Pincus committed over USD 1 billion of equity toward the buyout.

The filing did not reveal how many shares would be on sale or their expected price. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

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Vodafone India: no extension of permits in three key zones

India has rejected a request by a unit of Vodafone Group Plc's to extend its mobile phone licenses in three key service areas, the operator said, escalating a feud between carriers and the government in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market.

The telecommunications ministry has asked Vodafone India Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd , another top carrier, to win back airwaves in an auction in areas where they complete 20 years in November 2014.

The companies have challenged the auction in a court and stayed away from a bidding process that began last month.

Vodafone has previously said it believed it was entitled to an extension of licenses on terms that are mutually agreed and without having to bid in an auction.

"Vodafone is deeply disappointed with the summary rejection of its request for extension of licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata service areas," the company said in a statement late on Friday.

A Bharti Airtel spokesman declined to comment on the status of the company's request seeking extension of permits.

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Dish TV to increase pack prices, stock gains 3%

Direct to home (DTH) service provider Dish TV rallied nearly 3 percent on Friday after the company said it would increase pack prices by 10 percent. The price hike will be effective from April 4, 2013, the company said.

Dish TV provides service with basic pack price of Rs 155 per month in southern part of India. For rest of the country, the basic pack price is Rs 200 per month. "The price hike is a good opportunity post March 31 deadline," Dish TV added.

The I&B ministry set March 31 as the deadline to convert households across 38 cities, including Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad, from analog to digital signals.

The stock was up 2.78 percent to Rs 62.75 on Bombay Stock Exchange at 12:19 hours IST.

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Sahara's Subrata Roy defiant despite SEBI's harrying

Not every executive challenges his regulatory tormentors to a televised debate, but Subrata Roy, who heads Sahara conglomerate, is not your typical CEO.

"Enough is Enough," Sahara said in full page ads this week, days after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sought Supreme Court approval to arrest Roy and two Sahara directors, escalating a battle between the regulator and one of corporate India's most enigmatic personalities.

In the ad, Roy asked the regulator's top officials for a live 60-minute televised face-off.

The regulator accuses Sahara of raising billions of dollars from small investors through an outlawed financial scheme and failing to comply with a court order to refund the money.

An unlisted conglomerate best known as the lead sponsor of the Indian cricket team and more recently as a buyer of overseas luxury hotels, Sahara argues it has repaid most investors.

It says its total liability is less than the 51.2 billion rupees it had deposited with the regulator as the first repayment installment following the top court's ruling that the bonds it issued were illegal.

The money it raised from small investors, many of them poor villagers who don't have bank accounts, was to be invested in real estate and other projects, according to regulatory filings. Sahara's other businesses include media and retail.

The regulator declined to comment on the case, including Roy's challenge to the televised debate. Roy was not immediately available to be interviewed.

Like Sahara, Roy, 64, has long operated outside the mainstream of corporate India.

Based in Lucknow, the capital of India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, Roy calls himself managing worker and chairman of Sahara and "chief guardian" of the world's biggest family, with nearly a million staff and agents. The conglomerate's full name is Sahara India Pariwar, which means family.

Sahara says the founders have taken an oath that neither they nor their family members can share the profit or assets of the company, although Roy lives in a sprawling gated complex of low white buildings and lawns called Sahara Shaher. His wife, Swapna, and two sons work for the company.

Sahara's website says it had assets with a market value of 1.17 trillion rupees as of April 2011, the most recently available figure on its website.

Its social initiatives include a mass wedding every year for 101 under-privileged couples, who each get gifts worth 100,000 rupees.

2,000 rupees and a scooter

While many of India's corporate titans are regulars on the World Economic Forum circuit, Roy, with a bushy moustache and often wearing a black waistcoat over a white shirt or a black Nehru jacket, is often photographed with celebrities such as cricket stars.

He does not feature on the Forbes list of 100 richest Indians, although he ranked 10th on India Today magazine's "power list" last year.

Unlike many of India's hereditary tycoons, Roy had humble business origins. He started out in 1978 with a mechanical engineering diploma, 2,000 rupees and a Lambretta scooter in the eastern Uttar Pradesh city of Gorakhpur.

From modest roots, Sahara has pursued splashy deals.

In late 2010, it bought the Grosvenor House hotel in London and a year later acquired New York's Plaza Hotel, its two biggest overseas deals. In 2010 it looked into buying English Premier League soccer club Liverpool and the debt of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, although neither deal materialised.

Roy's public profile is mostly linked to sport.

In 2011, Sahara paid USD 100 million for 42.5 percent of the Formula One racing team of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya. A year earlier, it paid USD 370 million for the Pune Indian Premier League cricket franchise.

Roy gives infrequent interviews but is not publicity-shy. His website features photos of himself with Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa and the caption: "The world steps aside for the man who never stops."

During British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent visit to Mumbai, Roy was among local business leaders to meet him. Sahara sent a photo of the two of them to reporters.

Roy portrays himself as fiercely patriotic. Sahara's logo features the Indian tri-colour and the company frequently uses an image of Bharat Maa (Mother India) driving a chariot pulled by four snarling lions.

SEBI Vs Sahara

He is also no stranger to controversy.

A dispute with Indian cricket's governing body early last year led Roy to briefly call-off Sahara's decade-long sponsorship of the national side.

But it is Sahara's financial business and the source of its funds that have long sparked curiosity in India. SEBI, in its uncharacteristically aggressive and public pursuit of Sahara, has questioned the authenticity of Sahara's investors.

"We challenge SEBI to find or prove even one fictitious investor," the company's ad this week said.

Last month, SEBI ordered a freeze on the assets of two Sahara companies as well as all accounts and properties in the names of Roy and three other directors of the two firms. It wants him arrested over what it says is Sahara's failure to comply with the court's refund order.

Sahara's defiant and rambling ad was the latest in its battle with the regulator.

"For absolutely no fault of ours at all, SEBI is continuously damaging Sahara's hard earned, clean image, reputation and goodwill earned in the last 34 years, by deliberately framing wrong orders and leaking them to press and electronic channels," Roy said in the ad.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear SEBI's request seeking Roy's arrest in early April.

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Will lend more to TN power board post restructure: IOB

Indian Overseas Bank chairman M Narendra says that the Tamil Nadu government's promise to take over 50 percent of the short-term loans issued to the TNEB and implement restructuring of loans has significantly reduced the bank's liability and exposure.

Also Read: Oil Min to decide on diesel price after Madras HC hearing

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, the bank's chairman adds that this will allow the government to issue bonds that will lure further investment into the state. Narendra expects to increase lending to TNEB after restructuring and estimates Q4 earnings to be better than Q3.

Also Read: TN govt plans to add 3,230 MW before March 2014

Below is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18

Q: Is your exposure at Rs 1,000 crore?

A: It is at Rs 1,100 crore.

Q: Will the situation start to improve on the state government taking over 50 percent of the short-term loans of Rs 12,200 crore? Will you lend more to the electricity board?

A: As per the package proposed by the power ministry and duly approved by the ministry of finance, the TN government was the first to increase the tariff and has recently opted for this restructuring of loans. The State Bank of India (SBI) is conducting the process of restructuring.

Q: What about the rest of the long-term loans of Rs 30,000 crore?

A: Out of the overall exposure, if half of the short-term loans are taken over by the government, the balance will remain as a long-term loans according to the package. These will be taken by the banks and incrementally they will have to give government guarantee for their working capital. So, it will in a way reduce our liability.

Q: So will your liability of Rs 1,100 crore become Rs 550 crore?

A: Yes, the liability will be reduced. The government has the opportunity to issue non-statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) bonds, or offer it to the market, mutual funds and other long-term investors.

Q: The TN government was one of the first few states to implement a huge increase in tariff last year. Has the government indicated by how much it will increase the tariff in FY14?

A: The Tamil Nadu government has, along with a few other states, taken the initiative to increase tariff rates. The state government has also increased the tariff of the local transport. This is according to Vision 2023 - a long-term plan to create a lot of infrastructure in the state.

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Govt approves 12 FDI proposals worth over Rs 2,609cr

The government today said it has approved 12 FDI proposals, including that of pharma firm Claris Otsuka, totalling over Rs 2,609 crore.
    
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, also cleared the proposal of Decathlon Sports India's proposal for induction of foreign equity worth Rs 700 crore to engage in single brand retail.
    
"Based on the recommendations of FIPB in its meeting held on February 13, Government has approved 12 proposals of foreign direct investment amounting to Rs 2,609.27 crore approximately," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Also read: RBI has case for rate cut, can relax 'outdated' FDI cap: FM
    
The biggest proposal that was cleared was Ahmedabad-based Claris Otsuka Ltd's plan to hive off its Infusions business into a new JV with FDI worth Rs 1,050 crore.
    
The board also cleared Mumbai-based Glynwed Pipe Systems's proposal to receive foreign investment worth Rs 800 crore for making downstream investment.
    
The proposal of Pramod S.A.S, France, to induct foreign equity worth Rs 29.69 crore into an Indian JV company to be engaged in single brand retail trading was also approved.
    
FIPB clearance was also accorded to Fossil India and Le Creuset Trading's for setting up of single brand retail stores as a wholly-owned subsidiary of a foreign company.
    
The other proposals cleared by the board include those of Menarini Raunaq Pharma, Al Shukur Company for Engineering & Construction and Netherlands-based Aon Holdings. The board, however, deferred nine proposals and rejected one.
    
The proposals which were deferred include that of Alliance Insurance Brokers to induct foreign equity to carry out the business of insurance broking.
    
Mumbai-based Erica Healthcare's proposal to increase foreign equity was rejected by the FIPB.

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Barclays overweight on Max India, shares gain 3%

Diversified conglomerate Max India climbed three percent on Thursday after the research house Barclays said that it is overweight on the stock.

"High competition, strict regulations and a moderate growth outlook make this a tough operating market. Hence, insurers owned by or partnering with large banking groups are best placed," Barclays explained.

The target price for the stock is at Rs 291, according to the report.

At 11:57 hours IST, shares gained 2.9 percent at Rs 225.05 on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 266.70 and 52-week low Rs 169.50 on 05 December, 2012 and 29 March, 2012, respectively. 

Currently, it is trading 15.62% below its 52-week high and 32.77% above its 52-week low.

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Balmer Lawrie and Company soars 10.5% on bonus issue buzz

Balmer Lawrie and Company surged 10.5 percent intraday on Thursday on buzz of bonus issue. A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on March 26 to consider declaration of bonus shares.

The last bonus that Balmer Lawrie and Company had announced was in 1990 in the ratio of one share for every two shares held by shareholders.

At 11:47 hours IST, the stock was up 6.85 percent to Rs 618.50 amid large volumes on Bombay Stock Exchange.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 710.00 and 52-week low Rs 534.00 on 22 February, 2013 and 29 March, 2012, respectively. 

Currently, it is trading 12.89% below its 52-week high and 15.82% above its 52-week low.

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Shriram Transport Finance rises 2% on Nomura buy report

Shares in Shriram Transport Finance Corporation gained 2 percent intraday on Thursday after the research house Nomura recommended a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 840.

"Resilient used-commercial vehicle loan growth, pick-up in freight rates, and a strong rural push in the budget are incrementally positive for the stock," said the research report.

The stock moved up 0.63 percent to Rs 688.30 on Bombay Stock Exchange at 12:12 hours IST.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 800.00 and 52-week low Rs 507.00 on 15 January, 2013 and 16 May, 2012, respectively. 

Currently, it is trading 13.96% below its 52-week high and 35.76% above its 52-week low.

Consolidated net profit of the company rose 19.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 375.49 crore and revenues jumped 16 percent YoY to Rs 1,796.16 crore in the quarter ended December 2012.

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Tata Motors plunges; what's behind recent underperformance?

Moneycontrol Bureau

Tata Motors shares tumbled 4 percent on Thursday on reports that stringent new emission norms in China could hurt sales of its luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit.

According to Chinese media reports, new National V emission norms, based on Euro V standards kicked in Beijing earlier this month in a bid to curb pollution, which hit record levels in Jan.

According to the new norms, vehicles running on petrol that didn't meet the new norms would be barred from sale in the city, reports say. The new emission norms will aim to reduce sulphur, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide among other things. The new norms will be gradually extended to the entire country by 2017, according to another news report.

"...New regulation aims 20 percent fuel economy drop from the phase II standard. We await more details, but it seems Jaguar Land Rover will be negatively impacted," according to a note by a foreign brokerage.

China is a big market for luxury automobile makers. It accounts for 20 percent of JLR's revenue.

JLR is building a new manufacturing plant in China in joint venture with local automobile maker Chery.

"In our view, 50 percent of sales in China would be compliant with the new norms by 2015. For the rest, the company may have to do capex to make them compliant," the note said.

Tata Motors shares have been under pressure over the last few days on the back of sluggish sales growth in Feb.

The UK headquartered JLR's sales last month rose just 3 percent as 22 percent slump in China sales offset growth in other regions. JLR had said that retail sales in China plunged due to Chinese new year holidays, which led to lesser selling days.

In the domestic market the company's market share has slipped below 5 percent and passenger car and commercial vehicle sales remain under pressure due to the overall slowdown in the economy, coupled with expensive loans and high fuel prices. The company also hasn't had any significant new launch in its passenger car business in last couple of years.

Separately, CNBC-TV18 quoting sources reported on Thursday that JLR is exploring options to raise up to USD 1 billion via a bond issue in Hong Kong. Timeline for the bond issue would be around June-July, and the capital raised will be used for its planned UK expansion Chinese joint venture, the report said.

Tata Motors shares have declined near 8 percent in the last 10 trading sessions. The stock was down 3.1 percent at Rs 276.95 on NSE in noon trade.

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