Page 1669 - Business Finance
Steel cos may go for expansion through brownfield route
The steel sector, which is on a consolidation mode now under the IBC process amidst strong domestic demand, is unlikely to witness any greenfield expansion as mill-owners are likely to go in for brownfield expansion at least for the next half a decade or so, say industry players and analysts. Domestic steel demand touched 91 million tonne (mt) in fiscal 2018, making the country the third largest consumer of the alloy in the world. In FY18, domestic demand grew by 8 per cent, while globally it grew by 5 per cent. According to Crisil, companies with around 22 million tonne crude steel capacity are under various National Company Law Tribunal (NCLTs). These were from the first round of the stressed assets resolution process by the Reserve Bank. These capacities have brownfield expansion potential of another 20-21 mt based on their environment clearance and regulatory filings, the Crisil report said. "Already the flat steel space has some major players and with most of the ..
IMPS platform major Sarvatra Tech eyes $20 mn PE fund
Sarvatra Technologies, which provides technology solutions for small cooperative banks and handling 30 per cent of the overall IMPS transactions, is aiming to raise USD 20 million from a private equity investor in what would be its maiden fund raising from a financial investor. The company, backed by veteran i-banker Vallabh Bhansali of the Enam Securities fame and ICICI Bank, aims to deploy the funds for expansion, a top official has said. "We plan to raise USD 20 million from private equity investors over the next three-to-four months and are already in talks with a few investors," Sarvatra founder and vice-chairman Mandar Agashe, whose family has had strong ties with the cooperative baking system for generations, told PTI. The company sees unified payments interface (UPI) and micro-ATMs as a big opportunity and has drawn up plans to deploy a field force of up to 500 new employees to the existing 250 for the same. "All these years, weve been focusing on the issuing ...
Music app Gaana streams for faster growth
Music streaming app Gaana expects to have over 200 million subscribers in the next two years on its platform, a top company official has said. The Times Internet subsidiary has only 80 million monthly active users at present and streams over 2.2 billion songs every month. The music streaming market is estimated to have 150 million users now, which is expected to expand to over 400 million over the next two-three years. "In the next two years, we think the market will grow from 150 million users to over 400 million users and we would like to lead the market with over 50 percent market share," Gaana chief executive Prashan Agarwal told PTI. With a content library of 30 million songs across 26 languages, most of its customers are free customers now, while the paid subscriber base, though growing at 100 percent, is in lower single digit only. He further said Gaana, launched in 2010, is still in investment and growth mode and it will take time for them to be profitable. "We ..
EdTech startup OnFees eyes expansion in multiple cities, fresh funding
After a rapid growth in its home turf of Mumbai and Pune, education technology start-up OnFees.com is looking to expand across multiple cities across the country and has begun approaching venture capital and private equity funds for the next round of funding. The one-and-half year old company, which seeks to provide a digital fee management platform to educational institutions and their students, said it is already serving over 100 schools and colleges with its 70-member team in Mumbai and Pune. "By the middle of the 2018-19 academic session, transactions worth Rs 50 crore from over one lakh students have been processed through the OnFees platform," it said in a statement. The company said it is now planning expansion in other cities while aiming to tap the huge market across India with an estimated size of USD 100 billion going forward. Felix Advisory has been appointed as its official investment advisors. It has already started approaching venture capital and private equity funds ...
Barista eyes doubling India store count to 500 in 3 years
Coffee chain Barista is looking at more than doubling its stores in India to 500 and reaching 10,000 outlets for its FMCG offerings in the next two-three years, a senior company official said. The company has expanded its fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) offerings with the launch of chocolates, cookies and coffee powder. "Coffee consumption in India is very low compared to developed countries. We see tremendous opportunities in the coffee sector here...We are looking at operating 500 outlets and distributing our FMCG offerings through 10,000 outlets in the next 2-3 years," Barista CEO Puneet Gulati told PTI. The majority of the Barista outlets will be opened through the franchise route, he added. Barista, which at present has over 200 Barista Cafes and Barista Express kiosks across India, expects its FMCG offerings to account for up to 12 per cent of its bottomline (profit) by fiscal 2020 from about 5 per cent at present, he said. The company reported revenues of about Rs 104 crore ..
Hero Realty forays into NCR; to invest Rs 900 cr in housing project on Dwarka Expressway
Hero Realty has forayed into the Delhi-NCR property market and will invest about Rs 900 crore over the next four years to develop a premium housing project in Gurugram, a top company official said. Hero Realty, the real estate arm of Sunil Kant Munjal-led Hero Enterprise, has completed many projects in Haridwar and is currently developing projects in Mohali and Ludhiana. It builds and markets projects under the brand Hero Homes. "We are coming up with a 9-acre housing project in Sector 104 on Dwarka Expressway named 'Hero Homes - World of Wellness'. This is our first project in Delhi-NCR," Hero Realty CEO Nagaraju Routhu told PTI. He said the company would develop about 1,000 flats in this project, of which 300 units have been launched in the first phase. It is selling flats at a starting price of Rs 68 lakh. "We have achieved best carpet area efficiency and effective space utilisation in this project without compromising on the green area which is 85 per cent," he said. The ...
Bank of Maharashtra appoints A S Rajeev as MD, CEO
State-owned Bank of Maharashtra Sunday announced that A S Rajeev has joined the lender as its Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. "A S Rajeev has joined Bank of Maharashtra as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer on 2nd December 2018. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of Indian Bank from 22 January 2016," the lender said in a release. Rajeev is having about three decades of professional experience in three Banks - Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank and Indian Bank. A qualified Chartered Accountant, he has vast exposure and expertise in all important areas of banking, including corporate credit, international banking, treasury, risk management, credit monitoring & supervision, NPA management, planning & development, human resources, finance, accounts & taxation among others. He is a mathematics graduate with professional qualifications of FCA, MBA, DISA and CAIIB, the bank said.
NHPC inks pact with SBI for Rs 500 cr term-loan
State-owned hydro power giant NHPC Sunday said it has entered into agreement with the country's largest lender State Bank of India for a term-loan of Rs 500 crore. The borrowed fund will be utilised to finance the capital expenditure, NHPC said in a statement. "The loan has tenor of 10 years with 3 years of moratorium period and the rate of interest is linked with one year MCLR (currently at 8.50%)," it added.
India will be our largest R&D base in next 3 years: OnePlus CEO
Premium smartphone maker OnePlus is betting on the engineering talent pool in the country to drive innovation and expects India to become its largest research and development (R&D) base in the next three years. The company, which has recently set up its R&D centre in Hyderabad, has similar facilities in Shenzhen, Taiwan and the US. It has about 700 people globally working in its R&D teams. "We are looking at India as a global talent hub for the company. The idea is to have a long-term approach, bringing the best of talent and training them and have them work with us over the long term.... We anticipate that India will be our largest R&D base in three or more years," OnePlus co-founder and CEO Pete Lau told PTI. He added that the company is engaging with the top engineering colleges like IITs to scout for talent. The India R&D team has under 100 people currently. The focus, Lau said, is on using software and technologies like artificial intelligence to make a global
Finished steel exports fall over 23%; imports up 17% in Oct
India's finished steel exports fell by 23.4 per cent to 0.596 million tonnes (MT) in October 2018, according to Joint Plant Committee. The country had exported 0.778 MT of finished steel during the same month a year ago, Joint Plant Committee (JPC), the only institution that collects and maintains data on the Indian steel and iron sector, said in its latest report. "Exports stood at 0.596 MT in October 2018, down by 23.4 per cent over October 2017 and was up by 3.8 per cent over September 2018," it said. As against exports, the imports grew by 17.3 per cent to 0.706 MT in October 2018 from 0.602 MT in year-ago period. The country's finished steel output at 11.029 MT in October was 6.1 per cent higher from 10.398 MT in same month of 2017. During October, JPC said, the consumption of finished stood at 8.315 MT 2018, up by 8.4 per cent over 7.672 MT in October 2017. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had earlier said that India should cut down its dependence on special steel product
GSI to provide geological reports of 18 mineral blocks this month
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) will provide geological reports of 18 mineral blocks to states this month and 13 more mines by the end of next year. The development comes as part of the government's plans of auctioning a little over 100 mineral blocks in the ongoing fiscal. The GSI recently informed the Centre that it "will provide geological reports to the states for 18 blocks by December 2018 and 13 more blocks by December 2019," an official said. The list of 18 mineral blocks consists of seven copper blocks in Rajasthan and Haryana, three iron ore blocks in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, two gold blocks in Karnataka, two manganese blocks in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, three limestone blocks in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka and one bauxite block in Kerala, the official said. Earlier this year, GSI said that it was working on 34 project areas for search of minerals in the country's eastern region, which is rich in mineral deposit. The GSI has been operating in eastern states such as ...
Pernod Ricard expects international brands to contribute more to its India business
French wine and spirits major Pernod Ricard expects contribution of its imported brands to India business to rise with the category witnessing faster growth than locally-bottled ones, according to a company official. According to Pernod Ricard India (PRI), youths in India are dictating the trends in favour of international brands, which is supported by with rise in disposable income and ambitions to upgrade. "At PRI, our domestic as well as international whisky portfolios are witnessing double-digit growth. The international brands portfolio is surely seeing faster growth vis-a-vis the domestic counterparts," Pernod Ricard India Chief Marketing Officer Kartik Mohindra told PTI. ".... this trend is dictated by youth and urban centres as globalisation is happening and the digital media landscape is also ensuring that world becomes smaller," he added. India is the third-largest market for Pernod Ricard globally after the US and China. However, he also added that high prices because of ...
CG Corp Global to list Indian subsidiary on bourses by 2020, expand offerings
CG Food India, maker of the instant noodles Wai Wai, plans to launch its IPO in 2020, and diversify its offerings by extending its product range in several new segments, said a top company official. The company is expecting to grow production capacity of instant noodles over two fold, from 2.5 billion packets per year to 5 billion packets, by 2020. Besides, CG Corp Global (the parent company), also has plans to enters segments such as personal care, home detergents (with a new brand) and to diversify its popular brand Wai Wai into segments as ready-to-eat food and others, including cereals. "Our company CG Food India, which owns our global assets, will go for an initial public offer (IPO) in 2020," CG Corp Global Chairman Binod K Chaudhary told PTI. CG Food India has a turnover of around Rs 1,000 crore. The company is forming a joint venture with a European firm for personal care products, and plans to enter the markets by 2019, he added. "In Nepal, we have already started in all the .
EaseMyTrip eyes sales worth Rs 7,800 cr in FY20
Online travel firm EaseMyTrip is looking to more than double the sales on its platform to up to Rs 7,800 crore in the next fiscal year on the back of addition in itineraries and entry into new markets such as the US, the UK and Australia, a top company official said. The company, which competes with the likes of MakeMyTrip and Yatra, is expected to clock sales of around Rs 3,500 crore in the current fiscal year. "We are looking to clock total sales of Rs 7,800 crore on our platform in the next financial year," EaseMyTrip CEO and Co-Founder Nishant Pitti told PTI. For this the company has taken a number of initiatives including doubling the marketing spend every year, he added. "The company is also making investments in technology and user experience," Pitti said. Elaborating on the verticals the company is in, Pitti said the segments the company is in mainly are air tickets, hotels, railways, bus tickets, car rentals and holiday packages. The company which is already present in Dubai,
SBI to sell 3 bad loan accounts to recover Rs 2,111 crore dues
The country's largest lender SBI has put up for sale three of its non-performing loan accounts to recover dues of Rs 2,110.71 crore. An e-auction will take place on December 13 for the sale of these three accounts -- Sona Alloys Pvt Ltd, MCL Global Steel Pvt Ltd and Jayaswal Neco Industries. "In terms of the bank's policy on sale of financial assets in line with the regulatory guidelines, we place these accounts for sale to banks/ARCs/NBFCs/ FIs etc, on the terms and conditions indicated there against," SBI said in the auction notice on its website. SBI said the interested banks/asset reconstruction companies (ARCs)/non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) or financial institutions (FIs) can conduct due diligence of these assets with immediate effect, after submitting expression of interest and executing a non-disclosure agreement with the bank. Once the deal is finalised, the assignment deed and other legal formalities will be completed in the shortest possible time as mutually agreed
Digital is passe, focus on becoming intelligent enterprises: SAP to businesses
In order to thrive, organisations should focus on becoming intelligent enterprises, a top SAP SE executive has said, emphasising that in todays fast-paced businesses, processing huge amounts of data in real-time and analysing them to make quick decisions is critical.
Trek Bicycles to expand retail footprint in India: Official
: Trek Bicycles, the Indian subsidiary of US-based Trek Bikes, a global leader in manufacture of bicycles and related products, has lined up aggressive expansion plans including increasing number of retail stores across the country to 70 by 2020, a top official has said. Trek Bicycles India has sold over 27,000 units since entering India in 2007, country manager, Navneet Banka said. "For us, the focus area is to expand the market. We want to grow. Currently our retail store count is at 25. We like to see ourselves having 60-70 stores two years down the line," he told PTI. Elaborating, he said the size of the super premium segment was around 0.2 per cent, of the total 16 million cycles sold every year. "Currently, the (super premium) market is at 30,000 units. We would love to see or help to grow the market to 60,000 units (by 2020)," he said. He said the focus was on expanding the retail footprint across the country over the next two years. According to him, the size of .
Aurobindo expects first biosimilar approval in US in 12-18 months
Drug major Aurobindo Pharma expects its first biosimilar product to receive approval in the US in the next 12-18 months while in Europe it hopes a green signal by 2022, a top company official said. Last year, the Hyderabad-based had forayed into the biosimilar development space by acquiring four cell culture derived products from Switzerland-based TL Biopharmaceutical AG. Building on these first four products licensed from TL, Aurobindo is expanding its portfolio to eight more biosimilars ensuring a strong and diverse product pipeline. The company has set up a fully functional R&D centre for biologics development and is also establishing a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad. A biosimilar is a biologic medical product that is almost an identical copy of an original product that is manufactured by a different company. Biosimilars can be manufactured when the original product's patent expires. "On biosimilars front, we expect our first filing to happen around 2021 and expect to get .
Non-financial data reporting increasingly gaining prominence: Survey
Besides financial information, reporting non-financial data is increasingly gaining prominence, with 76 per cent of finance leaders in India indicating that a lot of non-financial information is being used in investors' decision-making, says a survey. According to the latest findings of the EY Financial Accounting and Advisory Services (FAAS) fifth annual survey, in India, 64 per cent of finance leaders (globally-58 per cent) surveyed said transparency in reporting was a key driver to gain investor trust. The survey further noted that, 76 per cent of finance leaders in India, more than the global average (72 per cent) indicated that non-financial information is being increasingly used in investors' decision-making, and finance teams need to manage this information with the same rigour and assurance as financial information. The survey said that corporate reporting teams must adopt a creative and innovative approach while recruiting manpower. It further noted that skills in high ...
SmartE aims to raise up to $20 mn to fund next round of expansion
The country's largest electric vehicle fleet operator SmartE plans to raise around USD 20 million to expand its operations to around 20 major cities across the country over the next four years, a top company official said. The Gurugram-based firm, which currently operates a fleet of around 1,000 electric three-wheelers primarily in Delhi/NCR region, aims to have a fleet of around 1 lakh electric vehicles by 2022-end to cater to expected demand across the country. "We are looking at expanding operations to around 20 cities in the country over the next three-four years. We will prefer to go to places where metro infrastructure is there or is in the process of being developed," SmartE Co-Founder and CEO Goldie Srivastava told PTI. At one lakh vehicles by the end of 2022, SmartE would help reduce close to a million tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent of planting 17 million trees per year, he added. When asked about how the company aims to fund the planned expansion, he added, "In the ..