Page 2783 - Business Finance
Big Boy Toyz expects revenue to increase two-fold this year
Gurugram-based Big Boy Toyz, which sells pre-owned luxury and super luxury cars, may see its topline touching around Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore this year, driven by dealership expansion and better tax rates. The company, which recently set up an outlet here, also plans to expand its footprints to South. It will open up a showroom likely in Hyderabad next year amid the increasing demand for used luxury cars in the region, Big Boy Toyz founder and managing director Jatin Ahuja said. The company deals with 24 brands, including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley and as many as 150 models, which start from Rs 50 lakh and go up to Rs 4 crore. "We are currently clocking a turnover of around Rs 250 crore. We are expecting it to increase to Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore this calendar year," Ahuja told PTI. "Apart from the average 30 per cent growth that we clock year-on-year, we are also expecting the Mumbai outlet to contribute another Rs 70 crore to Rs 80 crore in our topline," he .
Next wave of India-Korea bilateral investment to be driven by SMEs: Citi
Acknowledging that the bilateral trade between India and South Korea is below its potential, Citibank Korea CEO Jin-Hei Park said the next wave of investment will be driven by small and medium enterprises. Bilateral trade between India and South Korea in 2017 totalled USD 20 billion, and investments have shown an upward trend. Both sides have pledged to increase it to USD 50 billion by 2030. "Large corporates have significant resources to invest quickly and penetrate any market. The challenge is to ensure that these large investments attract SMEs from both sides to also participate in the growth cycle. The ripple effect needs to cascade down where SMEs from Korea collaborate with medium size enterprises from India on a great idea," he told PTI. Highlighting the importance, he said, half of the delegation that accompanied South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month to India were medium size enterprises from Korea looking to evaluate independent opportunities and not only just be a ...
Jubilant Life Sciences plans Rs 550-cr capex in FY19
Pharma company Jubilant Life Sciences has earmarked Rs 550 crore for capital expenditure (capex) in the current financial year, a top company official said. It is also planning to invest Rs 300 crore in research and development (R&D) in FY19. "To meet the increased demand in our businesses, we plan to invest about Rs 550 crore in capital expenditure and Rs 300 crore in R&D during the year," Jubilant Life Sciences Chairman Shyam S Bhartia said at a recent conference call. He said the company will continue its efforts to strengthen its balance sheet by reducing debt and improving financial ratios. The drug-maker is also looking to grow its revenue and operating profits in FY19 and is banking on growth drivers such as speciality pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and generics and life science ingredients, according to Bhartia. In speciality pharmaceuticals, new products and current contracts execution in radio-pharmaceuticals are expected to ..
Final hearing in Cairn arbitration against retro tax to begin Monday
The final hearing in British oil firm Cairn Energy plc's challenge to India imposing a Rs 10,247 crore retrospective tax demand will begin in The Hague tomorrow, people familiar with the matter said. A three-member international arbitration tribunal will begin the 7-10 day long hearing under the cloud of tax department reportedly looking to sell Cairn's remaining shares in Vedanta Ltd to recover the tax demand. The Income Tax Department had beginning May 14 -- the day Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant surgery and the charge of his finance portfolio was given to Piyush Goyal on a temporary basis -- sold about 6.45 crore shares or around 40 per cent of Cairn's shareholding in Vedanta. As many as 20 million (2 crore) shares were sold between May 14 and May 17 alone. Sources said India in April submitted its final rejoinder to Cairn's claim for full restitution for losses resulting from the expropriation of its investments in India in 2014 and continued attempts to enforce ...
DoT blacklists bank guarantees issued by Standard Chartered Bank
The telecom department has blacklisted bank guarantees issued by Standard Chartered after the bank failed to invoke one that was issued for Aircel Group. In a strongly worded office memorandum sent to all telecom operators and concerned officers, the DoT (Department of Telecom) has directed entities that they should not accept bank guarantee (BG) from Standard Chartered Bank, including renewals. "Standard Chartered Bank has failed to invoke a BG issued by them on behalf of Aircel Group of companies. This action by Standard Chartered Bank is a serious breach of trust and contract with government of India. In view of this you are directed not to accept any new BG from Standard Chartered Bank, including renewals," the note said. When contacted Standard Chartered Bank spokesperson said, "Pursuant to an order passed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal(TDSAT), we were unable to make payments with respect to certain bank guarantees invoked by the DoT. As per the said ...
India will be back on 7.5% plus growth track this fiscal: Virmani
India's economic growth seems to be back on a recovery path and the country will be on a firm 7.5 per cent plus growth track this fiscal, former chief economic advisor Arvind Virmani said today. He further said the US-China tariff war provides an opportunity to increase India's exports to the US. "Economic growth, which has been subject to many ups and downs over the past seven years, seems to be back on a recovery path. "... Domestically, the main risk to macro stability is politically driven government consumption spending at the cost of investment and fiscal prudence. If this temptation is resisted, the country will be back on a firm 7.5 per cent plus growth track this year (fiscal)," Virmani told PTI in an interview. He noted that the rise in oil prices due to geopolitical factors like sanctions on Iran by the US is, however, a concern. Replying to a query on the US-China tariff war, the economist said it will have some short term disruptive effects on the global economy. "The ...
Intel India trains 99,000 people in artificial intelligence
US chipmaker Intel has trained as many as 99,000 developers, students and professors in artificial intelligence (AI) in India since April 2017, against a target of 15,000 for the first year of its programme, according to the tech major. It has also tied up with premier educational institutes like the IITs in Delhi, Mumbai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Chennai, and IIITs in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, BITS Pilani, ISI Kolkata, IISc Bangalore, CDAC and companies like Shell and TCS among others for training under its AI developer education. "Though we had committed to train 15,000 developers, students, and professors in AI initially through training and workshops, we have already exceeded the target over seven-fold at over 99,000 by roping in many of them from 100 organisations," said Prakash Mallya, managing director for sales and marketing, Intel India. The programme was launched in April 2017 and the initial target was for a year ending April 2018, he said, adding the programme is ...
Indian aviation market posts highest growth in May in Asia Pacific region: ACI
India led the Asia Pacific region in posting the highest growth in air passenger traffic in May at 13.3 per cent, said a global body representing airports worldwide. The growth in China in comparison stood at 8.3 per cent and South Korea at 8.1 per cent, said the Airports Council International in its latest study released this month. It said the impressive growth showed by the Asian gaints has led a situation of "disparity" in the region if compared with passenger traffic growth of Japan and Australia. Japan, for example, posted a more subdued figure of 2.8 per cent and Australia at 2.3 per cent. "...the flourishing middle class in populous countries such as India and China have certainly helped to boost traffic especially in their respective domestic markets," the report said. The Asia-Pacific market as a whole posted a growth rate of 6.3 per cent, slightly higher than Europe where the figure stood at 6.2 per cent. North America, on the other hand, saw the traffic grow by 5.6 per ...
I-Day weekend boosts short-break bookings: Industry
With more and more Indians wanting to utilise long weekends for short breaks, there was up to 49 per cent growth in bookings during this the Independence Day week, the industry said. While overall air bookings increased over 30 per cent from last year, hotel bookings saw a 50 per cent spike during the week with demand growing for high-end properties. An interesting feature was the rise in the number of women holidayers, which rose by 5 percentage points. "With the Independence Day falling in the middle of the week this year, we saw increased bookings both for the prior weekend as well as for the weekend after August 15. "The number of air bookings made at least 15 days in advance has increased by 49 per cent from last year. On the hotels front, we observed that 64 per cent of the bookings were made in the last four weeks and 34 per cent over the previous six weeks," Cleartrip Vice-President for accommodation and activities, Ankit Rastogi told PTI. He said the average stay for domestic
Coal India expects 367 MT output from 115 projects by March 2019
Coal India Ltd (CIL) expects 367 million tonne (MT) output by the end of the current financial year from its 115 ongoing projects. The PSU accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic production. There are 115 coal projects under implementation and the expected contribution from these by March 2019 is 367 MT, Coal India said in a report. The production from these projects is "planned to reach the level of 377 MT in 2019-20," it said in the report. CIL also said it has 65 new projects on the anvil with a "targeted capacity of 247.66 MT per year" out of which 27 are approved. "Of these 65 future projects, 27 with ultimate capacity of 108.29 MT have been approved," the report said. It said efforts are on to augment investment in logistics and infrastructure for coal offtake adding that Operator Independent Truck Dispatch Systems are installed in 11 large opencast projects in 4 subsidiaries besides road and rail projects. The PSU has lined up Rs 9,500 crore as capital expenditure for ...
Mitashi eyes doubling sales to Rs 1,000 cr in 3 yrs
Homegrown consumer durables firm Mitashi is aiming to double its turnover to Rs 1,000 crore in the next three years on the back of its entry in new verticals. The city-based company had posted around Rs 500 crore turnover last fiscal year and aims to grow at 25-30 per cent this fiscal year. "We see ourselves at Rs 1000 crore in the next three years and this fiscal year we are confident of 25-30 per cent growth because we have introduced two big categories -- refrigerators and washing machines -- in last one and half years," the company's Chairman and Managing Director Rakesh Dugar told PTI. The refrigerator market is estimated to be around Rs 18,000 crore and washing machines around Rs 9,800 crore, which he said are high growth areas. The company, which started with gaming consoles, has over the years expanded to television sets, air conditioners, home theatres, washing machines and refrigerators. Television contributes around half the revenue at present. Mitashi has tie-ups with ...
VECV embarks on new journey to push electric solutions for public transport
VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), a joint venture of Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, is developing a slew of products, including a complete range of electric vehicles for public transportation, Eicher Motors MD & CEO Siddhartha Lal said. The company, which has earmarked a capex of Rs 500 crore for the ongoing financial year towards new product development and capacity expansion, is working to drive in an affordable range of air-conditioned buses to cater to public transit. In a message to shareholders in the company's Annual Report for 2017-18, Lal said the company is also developing light and heavy-duty buses for the Middle East and African markets. "We plan to have a complete range of electric-mobility solutions for public transportation, offering world-class quality and comfort. We are also developing an affordable air-conditioned range of buses aimed at bringing superior comfort to public transit," Lal said. The company has already commenced operations of its Skyline Pro Electric .
Lifestyle to invest up to Rs 200 cr to open 20 outlets
Apparel retailer Lifestyle plans to invest up to Rs 200 crore to add 20 outlets in the next one-and-half years to increase its footprint across the country. Lifestyle is also eyeing 16-18 per cent growth and a turnover of Rs 4,600 crore this fiscal. It had reported Rs 4,000 crore turnover in the previous financial year. The company, which at present operates close to 75 outlets in the country, plans to open majority of the new outlets in the cities where it already has a presence. "We plan to invest Rs 150-200 crore to open 20 new outlets in the next 1-1.5 years. At present we have stores in 44 cities...we will go into five more cities and open rest of new planned the stores in the cities where we already have a presence," Vasanth Kumar, Managing Director, Lifestyle International, told PTI. Kumar said the company gets 75 per cent of its business from top cities at present but expect smaller cities to add to its growth in the years to come. The company also expects its omni channel ...
'Rupee depreciation due to dollar strengthening rather than inherent weakness'
While the rupee is Asia's worst performing currency so far this year, the depreciation is largely owing to the dollar strengthening rather than any inherent weakness in the domestic unit, a senior official at HSBC Global Asset Management said. The rupee ended below the 70-mark against the US dollar for the first time ever on August 16 on strong demand for the greenback amid the ongoing Turkish crisis. According to Tushar Pradhan, Chief Investment Officer, HSBC Global Asset Management, India, the rupee compares well against other emerging markets such as Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey. "While the Indian Rupee is the worst performing in the region (down about 8.5 per cent) this year, it compares well against other emerging markets such as Russia (down 13.7 per cent), Brazil (down 14.8 per cent), Argentina (down 37.8 per cent) and Turkey at (down 42 per cent) for the year," Pradhan told PTI. The rupee has been on a downtrend amid global uncertainties and concerns over ...
Equitas Small Finance Bank eyes vehicle finance biz to grow
: Equitas Small Finance Bank has chalked out plans to grow its new commercial vehicle finance portfolio from the present share of five per cent to between 35 to 40 per cent over the next two years,a top official said. The city-based bank provides loans to used commercial vehicles and recently launched finance schemes to purchase new such vehicles, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Managing Director and CEO, Vasudevan P N said. "We have been providing finance to used commercial vehicles. Two quarters back we started new commercial vehicle financing. That will also add to the growth (of the bank)", he told PTI. The bank offers loans for purchase of Light Commercial Vehicles and multi-axle vehicles, he said. "Right now, new commercial vehicle finance contributes about five per cent of the total vehicle finance. In two years time, we expect this to be 35-40 per cent", he said. He said the total vehicle finance portfolio was around Rs 2,500 crore, of which contribution of new ...
Sarovar Hotels to open 15 properties by 2019-end
Hospitality chain Sarovar Hotels will open 15 hotels across the country and overseas by the end of 2019 as part of its expansion plans, a top company official said. The hospitality firm has close to 80 hotels in over 50 cities, at present. "We will be opening 15 hotels by 2019-end. Of these, two hotels in Africa, one each in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and Lusaka in Zambia will be opened by the end of 2018," Sarovar Hotels Pvt Ltd Managing Director Ajay Bakaya told PTI. In India the company plans to open hotels at locations such as Jaisalmer, Gorakhpur, Katra, Dehradun and extension of a hotel in Agra in 2018, he added. "The eight hotels that will be opened in 2019, will be in Dahisar in Mumbai, Dibrugarh, Morbi, Junagadh, Dalhousie, Bodh Gaya and Jalandhar in India and in Auxum in Ethiopia," Bakaya said. The upcoming hotels will be mainly under the Sarovar Portico brand, three of them will be Sarovar Premiere and one each will be under the Park Plaza and Hometel brands, he added. When .
China's Guangdong to invest $21.8 billion each year in 2018-2020 into high-end industry
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's southeastern province of Guangdong aims to invest more than 450 billion yuan ($65.46 billion) in strategic and emerging industries in the three years through 2020.
India's CAD is expected to widen to 2.8 pc of GDP this fiscal: Report
India's current account deficit is expected to widen to 2.8 per cent of the GDP in this financial year, says a Nomura report. With rising oil prices, depreciating rupee and outflow of portfolio investments, there are concerns that CAD might rise in the current fiscal. "Overall, we expect the current account deficit to widen to 2.8 per cent of GDP in FY19 from 1.9 per cent in FY18," the Japanese financial services major said. It further said that "balance of payment (BOP) funding to remain a challenge in FY19 as the basic BOP (current account + net FDI) is negative and portfolio flows also remain negative". CAD, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, jumped to USD 48.7 billion, or 1.9 per cent of GDP, in 2017-18 fiscal. This was higher than USD 14.4 billion, or 0.6 per cent, CAD in 2016-17 fiscal. According to official figures India's trade deficit, or the gap between exports and imports, in July widened to USD 18 billion, the most in more than five
PFRDA sets up panel for advice on cyber safety
Pension fund regulator PFRDA has set up a standing committee to suggest steps to deal with cyber security challenges with a view to protect the interest of subscribers. The committee has been constituted by the Pension Fund and Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) to keep an eye on the technological changes. "As a regulator of the pension sector and to safegurad the interest of pension subscribers, it is essential to keep an eye on the technological changes and cyber security challenges," said the regulator while announcing its decision to set up the panel. The committee on 'Information Systems and Technology and Cyber Security' will suggest steps to align PFRDA's technology with best industry practices. PFRDA is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament to promote old age income security. It develops, promotes and regulates the pension industry under National Pension System and also administers the Atal Pension Yojna. The panel will also advise "with respect to ...
Clean Banking is new normal for banks, says Rajiv Kumar
The clean banking drive has started showing result with public sector banks (PSBs) increasingly adopting prudent business approach replacing aggressive lending practices, said Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. "The NPA crisis brought opportunity for introduction of responsible and responsive banking. All the PSBs, which have about 75 per cent market share, decided last year to adopt EASE (Enhanced Access & Service Excellence), ushering in paradigm shift in their approach," he told PTI. "Gradually, Indian banking system is moving towards new normal that is clean banking," he said. To deal with the twin balance sheet challenge, he said, the four Rs -- Recognition, Recapitalization, Resolution, and Reform -- were put in place. It yielded rich dividend assisted greatly by implementation of Asset Quality Review and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, he said, adding the resolution process brought down non-performing assets (NPAs) by over Rs one lakh crore in the last one ...