indo-portuguese links: newsletter 20 vi 2013 (from eugenio monteiro)

7/28/2019 Indo-Portuguese Links: Newsletter 20 VI 2013 (from Eugenio Monteiro)

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| Rua Paulo da Gama, 16 | 1400 Lisboa | Portugal | Tel. 21 301 01 66 | Fax 21 301 99 28 |

Lisbon, 20th June 2013

Index of this Newsletter:

Newsletter, 20-V-2013 ........................................................................................................................ 3

INDIA 3

1.1. India probably world's third largest economy: OECD ................................................................. 3

1.2. Its tough to do business in India: Sistema chairman ................................................................. 3

1.3. Government opens up healthcare to private sector in a big way ................................................ 4

1.4. India and United Kingdom sign MoU on cooperation in health sector ........................................ 5

1.5. Fitch upgrades outlook of 10 Indian FIs to 'stable's ................................................................... 6

2.1. Government gets 12 proposals worth Rs 5,000 cr ($900 million) ............................................... 6

2.2. Kapil Sibal launches e-governance application store ................................................................. 7

3. Tata Group to invest Rs 10 million for 33% stake in Dalit enterprise .......................................... 8

4.1. RIL AGM: Company plans to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore ($27 bn) over three years ..................... 10

4.2. RCom to lease out telecom towers to Reliance Jio in Rs 12,000-cr ($2,1 bn) pact ................... 11

5. Import lobbies threaten every oil minister: Veerappa Moily ...................................................... 12

6.1. TCS forays into US government space ................................................................................... 13

6.2. TCS bags Rs 1,100 cr ($200 million) contract from Department of Posts ................................. 14

6.3. Top five Indian IT services firms grew 13 per cent in 2012 ...................................................... 156.4. Private banks: Game changers in Indian banking .................................................................... 15

6.5. IT spending by banking, securities firms to touch Rs 42,200 crore ($7.540 million) .................. 16

7. Teledensity rises from 7.04 pc to 73.07 pc in last nine years average call rates (per minute) drop to

47 paisa (0,007) from Rs 2.89 (0,041) ................................................................................. 16

8.1. Government, bank collaborate to offer Saudi returnees rehabilitation ...................................... 17

8.2. Indo-Australia pact to train farm workers ................................................................................. 17

8.3. Indo-Dutch agri initiative plans 10 centres of excellence .......................................................... 18

8.4. Punjab approves four milk plants worth Rs 250 crore each ..................................................... 18

8.5. Ruchi Soya partners Japan companies for edible oil ............................................................... 19

8.6. Spices exports cross Rs 10,000-cr mark ................................................................................. 20

8.7. Guar gum India's biggest agricultural export item for a second year ........................................ 21

9.1. MSMEs share in exports to grow to 50 per cent by 2017 ......................................................... 21

9.2. MSME share in exports was 43% in 2011-12 .......................................................................... 22

9.3. DHL Express to hold clinics for SMEs ..................................................................................... 22

10.1. Zydus to launch 1st new chemical entity by Indian Company .................................................. 23

10.2. Aurobindo Pharma to launch 20 drugs in US this year............................................................. 24

11.1. Hero Cycles ties up with German firm for Euro invasion .......................................................... 24

11.2. Honda opens third 2-wheeler plant in India ............................................................................. 25

12. Network Rail (UK) selects Cognizant as key systems integration framework partner ............... 25


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13. Indian companies' overseas investment trebles to $7.64 billion in April.................................... 26

14.1. India to be a big market for Tetra in 10 years .......................................................................... 2714.2. New CEO reiterates P&Gs $1bn India investment plan .......................................................... 28

15. Daimler to develop India operations as export hub .................................................................. 28

16.1. Delhi Airport: Adding to Indias pride ....................................................................................... 29

16.2. Bangalore International Airport Ltd has the highest per passenger spends: MD....................... 29

16.3. IndiGo a dark horse for Star Alliance which continues to woo Jet Airways ............................... 30

17. French Accor Group becomes fastest growing hospitality chain in India .................................. 31

18. Apollo Tyres to buy US-based Cooper Tire for Rs 14,500 crore ($2,5 bn) ................................ 32

19.1. Andhra Pradesh registers growth in microfinance portfolio in FY13 ......................................... 33

19.2. World Bank ropes in ESAF Micro for marketplace initiative ..................................................... 3420. Essar Oil to double refining capacity of Vadinar plant ($6,4 bn+ $7,3 bn of investment) ........... 35

INDIA & THE WORLD ...................................................................................................................... 36

21.1. India, China set $100-bn target for FY15 ................................................................................. 36

21.2. ZTE in pact with Calyx to sell smartphones ............................................................................. 37

21.3. Indian, Chinese companies can create new business miracle: Li Keqiang ............................... 37

21.4. Taj to set up two hotels in China ............................................................................................. 38

22. Airtel launches 3G services in Africa's Burkina Faso ............................................................... 38

23. Freight corridor to get Japanese boost with Larsen &Toubro-Sojitz contract ............................ 38

24.1. UK business delegation to tour Kolkata, Kochi ........................................................................ 39

24.2. UK eyeing doubling bilateral trade with India by 2015 ............................................................. 40

25.1. India committed to be a steadfast partner of Myanmar: Anand Sharma ................................... 40

25.2. We may spend $1bn on Myanmar rollout: Sunil Bharti Mittal ................................................... 41

25.3. India offers US$ 150 million for SEZ in Sittwe ......................................................................... 42


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Newsletter, 20-V-2013

INDIA

1.1. India probably world's third largest economy: OECDPTI | May 29, 2013

LONDON: India has probably surpassed Japan to become the world's third largest economy after the USand China, Paris-based think-tank OECD said even as it lowered the country's economic growth projectionfor 2013 to 5.3%.

"China will likely pass the United States as the world's largest economy in the next few years and India hasprobably recently surpassed Japan to be third largest," said the OECD Economic Outlook report.

Until around 2020, China is set to have to highest growth rate among major countries, but could be thensurpassed by India, it further said.

OECD also said that by early 2030s, the BRIICS' (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa)combined GDP should roughly equal that of the OECD (based on current membership), compared with justover half that of OECD now.

"Between now and 2060, GDP per capita is seen to increase more than 8-fold in India and 6-fold inIndonesia and China," it added.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which in November had projectedIndia to grow at 5.9% in 2013, cautioned that structural bottlenecks in the country could further constrain

investment and growth potential.

"GDP growth is projected to rise gradually over the next two years... Significantly more growth would beforthcoming if structural bottlenecks were swept away by fundamental structural reforms," the report said.

Looking ahead, it said India is likely to improve growth to 6.7% next year, after having logged a decade'slow of 3.8% in 2012.

OECD said the world real GDP is projected to increase by 3.1% this year and by 4% in 2014. AcrossOECD countries, GDP is projected to rise by 1.2% this year improve to 2.3% in 2014. Growth in non-OECDcountries will rise by 5.5% this year and 6.2% in 2014.

1.2. Its tough to do business in India: Sistema chairmanSidhartha, TNN | May 30, 2013

Vladimir Evtoushenko vis co-founder and chairman of Sistema, the $34 billion Russian conglomerate,which is the majority shareholder in mobile telecom firm Sistema Shyam. The Indian venture has managedto win back nine of the 21 licences that it had lost due to the Supreme Court ruling last year. Although it islooking to invest in new sectors such as retail and power, Evtoushenkov says future investments willdepend on how quickly the government deals with some of Sistema concerns in telecom. Excerpts:

Telecom is your largest investment and it's been through ups and downs. Has it gone the way youwanted it to go?

We have substantial investment of around $3.6 billion and we will make further investments. But it is verydifficult to recover this investment because the telecom market is not very stable. It is very difficult to say
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how much investment is needed because the rules are not stable and the regulatory system is changing.According to preliminary business we should have achieved break-even in 2013. Now, the cash break-even

is beyond 2017, or may be even longer. That's why the Indian market is very peculiar. But, the market isgetting more sophisticated and the situation will improve.

Is India one of the toughest places to do business in?

I don't know if it's the toughest but it is certainly tough. Regulatory climate is not very good. You can puttogether a business plan but you can't implement it because the rules keep changing.

You had a setback because you had planned for pan-India presence but you are now in ninecircles...

As the government prepared new rules, we decided to decrease the number of circles to nine. Once wesee an EBIDTA break-even by 2014-end, we will then look at going to further circles.

You had sought arbitration with the Indian government, are you going to pursue that further?

It's in abeyance at this moment. We want to wait and see if we will get what we were promised. We areawaiting clarity on merger and acquisition rules and actual allocation of spectrum. A lot of things need to beput in place and delivered before we can withdraw the notice.

You have other business interests, including retail. Will you enter this sector since FDI is nowallowed?

As soon as he telecom issue is solved we will look at it. For us, priority is the safe city project for which wehad done a pilot in Delhi. The pilot project was very successful. We are the leader in Russia in the safetyand security system. There are issues on financing and a national policy is missing. There are federal

guidelines in Russia and municipal financing. We are talking to the home ministry on a policy on this. It isan integrated model where the entire city, including buses, have cameras and is connected to anemergency response system. In a city like Delhi it can be very helpful. We did the pilot in Delhi three yearsago and if it was implemented, rapes and other crimes would have been checked. We also have anavigation system and we have an agreement with BSNL but that is not working. We are looking for pilotprojects. We also want to look at power station, construction and real estate development but all thisdepends on what happens in telecom.

1.3. Government opens up healthcare to private sector in a big way

The Times of India, May 23, 2013

Mumbai: The state government has entered into a partnership with global healthcare giant GE Healthcarefor setting up advanced diagnostic and imaging facilities in 22 hospitals.

A consortium of Wipro GE Healthcare will run these 24/7 diagnostic facilities.

Patients from below the poverty line, orphan and senior citizens, will get free services at these centres.Also, patients admitted to these hospitals and outpatients can get the services at subsidized rates. But theprivate partner can charge private patients as per market rates. CM Prithviraj Chavan on Friday announcedthe arrangement and termed it a giant leap in advancing healthcare to people.

However, questions have been raised that the private partner was being allowed access at dirt-cheaprates. For 10 hospitals in the Marathwada belt, it will be paying the government Rs 22 lakh and Rs 32 lakh

for facilities at the remaining 12 hospitals.Public health minister Suresh Shetty said revenue was never the motivating factor behind the partnership.
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"Our intention is to provide quality diagnostic services at concessional rates to common citizens." Hepointed out that the consortium was selected through a transparent bidding process.

Shetty also said that owing to a dearth of diagnostic facilities, patients from government hospitals wereoften referred to private clinics and ended up paying more. "A decision to outsource imaging facilities wastaken three years ago owing to a dearth of such facilities and shortage of radiologists and technicians.Procurement of modern-day diagnostic facilities on its own would have cost the government Rs 200 crore,"Shetty said.

A separate tender will be floated for hospitals in the Vidarbha region, which are not covered under thisarrangement.

The public health department has 19 CT scans and X-ray machines at present. It does not have any MRI ormammography machine. Shetty said that the existing facilities will be shifted to rural and peripheralhospitals.

Copyright 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

1.4. India and United Kingdom sign MoU on cooperation in health sector

Press Information Bureau, May 21, 2013

New Delhi: Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare India, ShriGhulamNabi Azad and Secretary ofState for Health, UK, Mr. Jeremy Richard Hunt signed an MOU on cooperation in the field of health sectorlast evening at Geneva between the Government of India and the Government of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Northern Ireland.

Describing the agreement as a historic event and a great milestone, Shri Azad noted with optimism thatthis agreement is going to usher in a new era of cooperation in the health sector between the twocountries.

Shri Azad stated that the agreement between India and UK will promote wide-ranging cooperation in thehealth sector between the two countries and spur the exchange of information and expertise for thecommon good of people.

The areas identified for cooperation in the MOU include:

i. Promoting exchange on healthcare policy in India and the UK;

ii. Human resources for Health;

iii. Regulatory issues;

iv. Health technology development:

v. Primary healthcare;

vi. Strengthening of public infrastructure and capacity;

vii. Health security, including cooperation on infectious diseases, emerging infections and drugresistance.

It is worthwhile to mention that India is a strategic partner to the UK and has been a recipient of UKsbilateral assistance in the form of grants since 1975. The aid agency of the UK is Department for

International Development (DFID). The priority for the DFID (UK)- Government of India partnership hasbeen improvement of maternal & child health and reducing the burden of communicable diseases.
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Shri Azad also noted with satisfaction that Department of Health Research, GOI and National Institute ofClinical Excellence (NICE), UK are in the process of signing an agreement for collaboration in areasrelating to medical and health technology assessment.

Recalling the historic relations that the two countries share, Sh Azad noted that the signing of thisagreement demonstrates the commitment of both the countries to work closely with each other to furthercement their strong relations.

1.5. Fitch upgrades outlook of 10 Indian FIs to 'stable's

Business Standard, Jun. 17, 2013

Mumbai: International rating agency Fitch on Friday upgraded the outlook of 10 Indian financial

institutions (FI), including foreign subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. The outlook has been upgraded to stablefrom negative while affirming the ratings at BBB-, Fitch said in a statement. The institutions which havebeen upgraded include five public sector banks, an overseas subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, two privatebanks and two wholly government owned FIs.

Ratings of State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Bank of Baroda (New Zealand) Limited,Punjab National Bank (PNB), Canara Bank and IDBI Banks have been upgraded. In the private sector,ratings of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have been upgraded; the other two institutes are Exim Bank andHousing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco).

The change in the outlook on the ratings follows the revision of the outlook on India's ratings to stablefrom negative, the Fitch statement said. The revision in outlook for SBI, ICICI, BoB, PNB, Canara, IDBI,Exim and Hudco, in line with the sovereign rating change, is primarily driven by a strong propensity andability to support the banks if needed, the statement added.

The viability ratings (VR) of ICICI and Axis Bank, which are at 'bbb-' - the same level as the sovereign'sratings - also support the outlook revision, due to their steadily improving standalone credit profile despitedifficult market conditions, the statement said.

Fitch also said it expects non-performing assets and restructured assets to continue to rise this financialyear. Public sector banks stressed assets were 11.59 per cent of the total at the end of 2012, against thesector average of 9.61 per cent, it said.

According to the agency, the asset quality of certain government banks like PNB witnessed a sharpdeterioration, which has put their VR under pressure. Further deterioration from the current levels will addadditional pressure which may lead to a downgrade of their VR, it warned.

2.1. Government gets 12 proposals worth Rs 5,000 cr ($900 million)

The Hindu Business Line, May 28, 2013

Mumbai: The proposals are from telecom equipment, consumer electronics, solar panels, LEDmanufacturing and semi-conductor assembly-test-mark-pack companies, Ajay Kumar, Joint IT Secretary,Department of Electronics and Information Technology, told Business Line.

These were received under the Departments Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS), headded.

When I say proposals, these are proposals for which funds are tied up. In fact, Rs 2,000 crore worth ofproposals were received last week. There are several other companies that are in advanced stages offinalising their proposals, but we have not considered them yet, said Kumar.
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He, however, did not name the 12 companies.

Recently, telecom minister Kapil Sibal was quoted as saying that Bosch Electronics and Samsung haveapplied for the M-SIPS scheme.

Target set

The Department has set a target of accepting proposals worth Rs 25,000 crore by the current fiscal-end,Kumar said. By 2020, the Government intends to bring in investments of about $100 billion in theelectronic equipment manufacturing industry, through its National Policy on Electronics 2012.

Under the M-SIPS, the Government will provide up to Rs 10,000 crore in benefits to the industry between2012 and 2017 for promoting the production of electronics products and components.

The scheme will provide subsidy for investments in capital expenditure with a limit of 20 per cent for

investments in the Special Economic Zone and 25 per cent in non-SEZs. Investors will also getreimbursement of countervailing duties and excise for capital equipment for units set up outside theSEZs. The incentives would be provided for firms engaged in electronic design and manufacturing.

According to a 2009 task force report, the demand for electronics hardware in India is set to go up to$400 billion by 2020, but at the current growth rate, the domestic industry would be able to cater todemand worth $104 billion, while the rest would need to be imported.

Copyright 2013, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Chennai All Rights Reserved.

2.2. Kapil Sibal launches e-governance application store

The Economic Times, Jun. 03, 2013

New Delhi: In a major step towards curbing the inefficiencies plaguing the functioning of the governmentin terms of providing services online to its citizens, IT and Telecom minister, Kapil Sibal launched an e-governance application store today.

This appstore will allow citizens to receive information in an efficient and a much-simplified manner. It ishosted by the DeitY and has been designed and developed by the NIC.

The appstore will start with 20 apps, of which 'roughly half' will be directly accessible to the public (g2c).The number is expected to rise to 100 within three years.

They are categorized into 'runnable' and 'downloadable' apps in which citizens can directly use all herunnable apps but maybe restricted in using the downloadable apps.

The 'government to government' (g2g) apps can be open to the public if it is made runnable by theconcerned department.

The criteria for the applications included a 'citizen-centric focus' with high transactional value in whichprivate players are allowed to host. Broadly the downloading of apps is categorized into 'freely-downloadable apps', 'downloadable with cost apps' and 'restricted apps', which can only be used by thegovernment and the judiciary.

""Within three months, policies based on the usage of these applications will be formed', Sibal said.

The features provided in the appstore site include sharing of applications, search for applications, basicinformation about an application when selected, user feedback and rating of an application, downloading

of an application after authentication of user and a 'two level approval process' for contributingapplications.
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This appstore will be a part of the GI Cloud and its mechanisms will provide for a complete ecosystem inwhich applications developed by the Centre, States and private players will feature in the appstore withthe inclusion of aspects such as funding and contract management.

The concept of the functioning of this 'e-Gov appstore' was summed up by Kapil Sibal as 'What Appleprovides its customers, the Government of India is providing its citizens.'

3. Tata Group to invest Rs 10 million for 33% stake in Dalit enterpriseNaren Karunakaran, ET Bureau | Jun. 14, 2013

MUMBAI: Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group, is set to alter the very discourse onaffirmative action in the private sector, by getting into a full-bodied manufacturing joint venture with anobscure company owned by a Dalit entrepreneur. The Tata Group has made an in-principle decision to

pick up one-third equity in Delhi-based Chandan & Chandan Industries, a company incorporated tomanufacture industrial helmets.

Nand Kishore Chandan, a Dalit entrepreneur, will hold the remaining two-thirds in the company. Theinvestment was personally cleared by Mistry, say sources close to the deal. The Tatas are also exploringthe possibility of floating a section 25 (not for profit) company under the Companies Act to channelisemore investments into several other Dalit-owned enterprises. Tata group companies could pool moniesinto this special entity.

Confirming this, an executive from Tata Group's PR agency said Tata companies are coming together tohelp Dalit entrepreneurs trying to start businesses. "This is history in the making, and most importantly, agiant step in moving from patronage to partnership," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, commentator on Dalitissues and mentor, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI).

Over the past few years, Cyrus' predecessor Ratan Tata and former director of Tata Sons, JJ Irani, haveinfused the conglomerate with a degree of enthusiasm and commitment to the Dalit cause. Apart frominvesting in Dalit enterprises, the Tata Affirmative Action Programme also works on employment,employability, and education programmes for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

DICCI Chairman Milind Kamble said the investments were the culmination of over eight months ofnegotiations steered by B Muthuraman, vice-chairman, Tata Steel, and chair of the TAAP.

Clearly overawed, Chandan, an electrical engineering diploma holder and a veteran in plastics moulding,could only mumble homilies about being 'delighted and overwhelmed' by the prospect of working with theTata group. The new venture, which is in the process of setting up its factory in Ghaziabad, has alreadyreceived its first tranche of orders for over 50,000 helmets from a clutch of group companies including

Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Housing, and Tata Projects.

It is not yet clear how the investment from the Tatas would come about. Initially it was believed TataCapital would be in the thick of it, but now, according to DICCI sources, there is talk about creation of aspecial purpose entity. This move by the Tata Group is indeed a shot in the arm for the concept of'supplier diversity' within the affirmative action space.

Supplier diversity is the trend among large corporations to seek out, handhold, and buy products andservices from entrepreneurs belonging to under-privileged and minority sections. It can be voluntary ormandated by the government. In the US, African American, women and other minority-owned companieshave benefited a great deal by its proliferation.

The Tatas have added sheen to the concept by not only promising to buy but also investing in such

companies. This is in keeping with Ratan Tata's take on social upliftment. He always underlined "theimportance of facilitating integration through affirmative action programmes rather than just giving easyentitlements." He was among the few industrialists to express solidarity and visit the Mumbai DICCI Expo
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held in December 2011 along with Adi Godrej of the Godrej group and Farhad Forbes of the Pune-basedForbes Marshall group. A host of senior executives from the Tata group visited and held talks with Dalit

entrepreneurs at the Expo.

Cyrus Mistry, on his part, at an in-house Affirmative Action Programme Assessors meet last yearmaintained 'the momentum should continue.' In fact, it was Cyrus who personally conveyed to MilindKamble his sanction for the project when he happened to bump into the latter at the 25th anniversarycelebrations of Sebi in Mumbai recently.

NK Chandan started his career as a shop floor employee in 1990 and by 2001, on the strength of theconsiderable expertise he had acquired, was inducted as a partner in the plastic moulding company heworked for. The company did well by manufacturing plastic spares for photo copying machines. In 2012he bought out the partners, acquired the plant spread over 1200 sq metres in Ghaziabad for Rs 1.82crore, and also renamed the company. "Except for my house, I sold off all my assets and scraped out allmy savings to start afresh," says Chandan. He wanted to get into manufacture of urea bags as the

volume demand was high, though margins were low. It then struck him that industrial helmets would be asafer bet.

As DICCI's Delhi chapter head, he had been mobilising support for Dalit entrepreneurs and this broughthim into close proximity with large corporates, including Bombay House. This eventually coalesced into adeal with the Tatas. The helmet manufacturing project is estimated at Rs 3.05 crore, of which Chandan'scontribution is Rs 2.05 crore and the Tatas contribution around Rs 1 crore. The installed capacity isaround 3 lakh helmets per annum.

This initiative in supplier diversity comes at a time when things are beginning to look up for Dalitentrepreneurs. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, last Thursday, formally launched the DICCI SME Fund,for investment in companies promoted by SCs. SIDBI has already committed Rs 10 crore to the fund andthe finance minister has promised to ask other financial institutions to pitch in. It also comes at a time

when the central government is in the process of rolling out a 4 per cent quota in public procurement bygovernment departments and public sector enterprises. While this opportunity is around Rs 46,000 crore,it will be a while before government departments gets it act together.

However, it is the private sector potential that can really trigger change, quickly, as seen by the Tatainitiative. Even in the US, it's the private sector, through the Billion Dollar Club, that is providing heft to thesupplier diversity concept. Each of the 18 member companies of the Club buy at least $1 billion worth ofproducts or services from Black American, women, Hispanics and other minorities annually. Membersinclude Ford Motors, IBM, P&G, Walmart, Toyota, Boeing, and Johnson & Johnson


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4.1. RIL AGM: Company plans to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore ($27 bn) over three yearsET Bureau | Jun. 7, 2013

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries (RIL) plans to invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the next three years, saidChairman Mukesh Ambani at the company's 39th annual general meeting in Mumbai on Thursday."Your company is investing the largest capital in India by any enterprise public or private, Indian orforeign. This is an expression of the faith of Reliance in India and in her potential. We are making theseinvestments at a time when the global economy is facing one of its most challenging periods in moderntimes, we have the conviction to look through the cycle and make investments at this time," he said.

RIL is the country's largest private sector company with business interests that span energy,petrochemicals, retail and telecom.Discussing the outlook on the company's core oil and gas business in India, Ambani said, "We have nowcommenced our exploration campaign in the East Coast of India. Our first success has been achieved inthe MJ1 well in KG-D6 block. Success that we now know has the potential to significantly add to our

resource base.""This discovery is a testimony to the combined technical skills of BP and Reliance and the prospectivity ofthe KG basin. This gas and condensate reservoir is located 2 km below the currently producing D1, D3gas fields and has exhibited very good potential during the flow test," he added. He also said additionalhydrocarbon resources in the KG-D6 and NEC25 blocks.On RIL's CBM acreage, he said, "We are all set to proceed with the development of two coal bedmethane blocks in Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh, despite various execution and infrastructure challenges.We are awaiting approvals to build a pipeline to connect to the major pipeline grid of the country forimmediate utilisation of this gas by various consumers and we target for first gas from these fields in2015."In an otherwise regular AGM event, there was a moment of diversion when the normally patient andcourteous Mukesh Ambani lost his cool with a shareholder who questioned him about the company'sbalance sheet, its retail foray and falling gas production at KG-D6. When the shareholder began to

comment on his personal wealth and how he should be running the government and become PM, Ambanisaid, "Please do not get personal. I will not allow it, this is just not done... please stop. Any personalsuggestion you have, please bring them to my office or else I will use my chairman's powers and notallow your questions."On its global oil and gas business, Ambani was very bullish on its shale gas acreages in the US. "Our USshale gas business has more than doubled its revenues and EBITDA compared to last year. It hasbecome a significant contributor to our E&P portfolio. Production from shale gas will be in excess of one-third of our aggregate production this year," he said.RIL is a partner in the shale resource base of Marcellus and Eagle Ford Shale gas plays in the US,through its three joint ventures with Chevron, Pioneer and Carrizo.Ambani said RIL is among the largest foreign investors in the shale gas business in the US, withinvestments exceeding $5.7 billion as on March 31, 2013.Referring to Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, Ambani said, "RIL will besigning a memorandum of understanding with Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned company, toevaluate opportunities to participate in development of heavy oil fields in Orinoco Oil Belt in Venezuela."On interests in Iraq, he said, "We have been pre-qualified by the Iraq government to bid for the Al-Nasiriya Integrated Project for development of upstream oil field and construction and operation of a300,000-barrel-per-day petroleum refinery in Iraq."

Commenting on RIL's petrochemical business, Ambani said the company has undertaken the single-largest expansion in the petrochemicals sector in the world. "In Polyester, we are expanding our capacityby 1.5 million tonnes per year to reach 4 million tonnes per year. The polyester filament yarn plant atSilvassa will be commissioned during the first half of the current financial year. This will be followed by thePET resin plant in the second half of this financial year at Dahej, making us the seventh-largest producerof PET in the world."

"We will commission a million-tonne PTA plant in the first half of the next year followed by another plant ofsame capacity within the next six months, taking the total PTA capacity to 4.3 million tonnes per year, andwill also double our paraxylene capacity at Jamnagar over the next 30 months to become the second-
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largest producer in the world.

On RIL's retail foray, he said, "The company has achieved a significant milestone by crossing revenues ofRs 10,000 crore during the year and achieved cash breakeven with earnings before depreciation, financecost and tax expense of Rs 78 crore."

"We added 184 stores across format sectors market, I am confident that our retail business wouldundertake multi-fold growth in the next few years by delivering over 50% revenue growth in various formatsectors year-on-year and is on its way to achieve revenue target of Rs 40,000- Rs 50,000 crore," he said.

Towards the end of the address, Ambani discussed RIL's telecom foray. "We have finalised the keyvendor and supplier partnerships that are required for the initial launch of our services; together with ourpartners, we have charted an ambitious plan for the next 12 months, and we at Reliance Jio foreseemaking rapid progress over this period towards launching our services across India. Our impatience toreach our goal demands a sense of urgency, but not careless haste."

"From less than 700 professionals a year back, most of them based in the Navi Mumbai campus, theReliance Jio team has grown rapidly to a national footprint of over 3,000 professionals today. And weestimate that over the next year we will grow the team further to a national strength of nearly 10,000professionals," Ambani added.

4.2. RCom to lease out telecom towers to Reliance Jio in Rs 12,000-cr ($2,1 bn) pact

The Hindu Business Line, Jun. 10, 2013

Mumbai: The Ambani brothers are getting closer, firming up on Friday a Rs 12,000-crore telecom towerdeal. Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Communications will lease some 45,000 mobile masts to Reliance

Jio Infocomm, run by his once estranged brother Mukesh.

Prelude to 4G

The latest deal with RCom is one of the several arrangements being put in place by Mukesh AmbanisReliance Industries to launch fourth generation, or 4G, telecom services next year via Reliance JioInfocomm.

Reliance Jio has pan-India licences to launch 4G services which, once deployed, will enable users todownload a 10-megabyte piece of software in two seconds, and a two-gigabyte HD movie in minutes.

Reliance Jio will use 45,000 of RComs 50,000 ground and rooftop-based towers so that the rollout of 4Gservices can be accelerated, the two companies said in a press statement.

The deal will increase RComs average tenancy ratio, or tenants per tower to 2.7 per cent from 1.7 percent, market sources said. The deal is said to be part of an ongoing comprehensive framework ofbusiness co-operation between Reliance Industries and RCom.

The first commercial accord between the two firms was signed in April when RIL agreed to use RComsfibre optic network for a one-time payment of Rs 1,200 crore.

Interestingly, this time around, the companies have chosen not to disclose the tenure of the engagement.All they have said is that the deal is valid for the lifetime of the agreement. Company executives, whodeclined to be identified, say the two companies have contracted for 15 years.

Validity

Reliance Industries will pay an average of Rs 800 crore a year, but the payout in the first few years will bearound Rs 200 crore, they said.
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The broadband wireless access licence won by Infotel Broadband, and later acquired by RIL, is valid for20 years starting 2010.

RIL is known to be a tough negotiator. Since the company had not disclosed the tenure of theengagement, in all probability RIL would have got a good deal on the valuation side. However, the deal isgood news for RCom as it will help it reduce debt and stabilise cash-flows, said Alok Shende, PrincipalAnalyst, Ascentius Consulting.

As on March 31, 2013, RCom had a net debt of Rs 38,864 crore. A deal with Reliance Jio, which meansassured business, increases the chances of RCom finding a strategic investor.

Brokerages too are taking a cautious view on the RIL and RCom stocks as no details are available on thedeal. We continue to remain neutral on the stock as of now and wait for clarity on the nature ofpayments, rentals, etc, Angel Brokings Telecom Analyst Ankita Somani said in a research note.

The Reliance Industries scrip closed down 0.97 per cent at Rs 784.6 on the BSE, while the RCom endedat Rs 116.1, 1.1 per cent lower than Thursdays closing price.


5. Import lobbies threaten every oil minister: Veerappa MoilyPTI | Jun. 14, 2013

NEW DELHI: In a stunning comment, oil ministerM Veerappa Moily on Friday said petroleum ministersare "threatened" by import lobbies not to take decisions that will cut India's $160 billion oil imports.

Moily, who has been under attack from the CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta for proposing to hike naturalgas prices by 60 per cent, said he has been striving to attract investments in almost stagnant oil and gasexploration which will lead to higher domestic output and lesser reliance on imports.

"I am telling you with all sense of responsibility (that) we are floating in oil and gas in this country. And wedon't explore it. We put every obstruction not to do it. There is bureaucratic obstructions and delays.

"And also there are other lobbies. They don't want us to stop imports. There are some lobbies who areworking on that. Every minister is threatened many a times. Every minister who occupies this position isthreatened," he told reporters here.

Moily however refused to name anyone or identify anyone who may have directly or indirectly threatenedministers. "History will speak about it. It is for you to judge," he said, adding oil imports will rise

dramatically if domestic production is not incentivised through right pricing policy."This (increase in oil imports) will work to the detriment of the country. We are challenged by the vagariesof international price," he said. The revision in natural gas prices was aimed at reviving investorconfidence and attracting investments, he added.

"For the last 4-5 years, investor sentiments is not that high... We have to give right price, otherwisenobody will come. One well (in the ultra deepsea) may sometime cost in millions of dollars," he said.

Moily said he has proposed to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) the raising ofdomestic gas prices from current $4.2 per million British thermal unit to $6.775. Moily said he will not becowed down by any lobby and will continue to work for any India energy independent by 2030.

"I am not helpless. Any timid minister will not go forward... I have come here to strive hard for the sake ofthe country, to work for the country. If anybody thinks that decision making process in the oil sector will beprevented they are totally wrong," he said.
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"After having dismantled many of the obstacles, it is in the national interest to go for aggressive

exploration. Investors should also come. They should be attracted it is not done now," Moily said.

India spent a record $160 billion on import of oil last fiscal and the geographical progression is thatimports are going up, he added.

Raising domestic oil and gas production by increased exploration is the answer but decisions are nottaken which is hurting the country. "Decisions are not taken. Trend is not to take decisions here. I don'twant to blame anybody. This is the fate of the country," he said.

Asked about Dasgupta's allegations that the gas price hike was to benefit Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL),he said he and his ministry are open to any solution that will help unshackle the present grid of non-investment-no-production and increased imports.

"I had called him (Dasgupta) but he is not prepared to come for a discussion. But I can reassure GurudasDasgupta or whosoever is there in the market, all the criticism should be there, but it should not getpersonal," he said.

He said he was open to any suggestion of the CPI leader. "I am open to any suggestion by GurudasDasgupta or any other person. If they can come out with best solution, we are open it as after all we aredoing this in the interest of the country.

"But in the process of ego, in the process of lobbying and in the process of just criticising for stake ofcriticism or in the process of politicising, don't commit national crime. Don't prevent exploration in thecountry. Let us move ahead more aggressively, it is in the best interest of the country," he said.

Moily added: "We had suggested $6.7. It is for CCEA to reduce it or increase. I am not playing for any

lobby. I am playing for national lobby. I will ignore lobby. Anybody has useful suggestion, they can give itto me. The history will speak about it. it is for you to judge."

6.1. TCS forays into US government space

Business Standard, May 30, 2013

Bangalore: After tasting fair amount of success in India and a few other emerging countries, TataConsulting Services (TCS), Indias leading information technology (IT) services company, is foraying intothe government vertical in the US.

Initially, the company is focusing on states and local governments in the US, as working with the federal

government requires it to fulfil stringent conditions. Among US states, TCS has already started workingwith the Mississippi government and is in the process of bagging a contract from another state, anannouncement on which is expected soon.

We are mostly focusing on state and local governments and we are finding a lot of traction in theunemployment insurance and city taxation areas because of our expertise in working on tax automationwith a number of states in India, Tanmay Chakrabarty, vice-president & global head (governmentindustry solutions unit, TCS, told Business Standard.

He said the company had already made inroads into the city taxation space in the US, through whichcities collect taxes on behalf of the federal, state and local governments. The company is implementingtax automation systems in seven cities across the US.

TCS has wide experience in automating tax collection in India it automated value-added tax collectionin 13 states. Subsequently, it also worked with a few countries in east Africa, including Uganda, Zambiaand Kenya, in automating their taxation systems.
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For TCS, the government business unit is one of the fastest growing areas, growing 35-40 per cent ayear. Chakrabarty said though the business unit was a single-digit contributor to the companys overallrevenues, our target is to make it a double-digit revenue contributor in the next three years.

For the year ended March, TCS reported revenues of Rs 62,989 crore ($11.6 billion).

Industry experts say so far, TCS is the most successful company in the government vertical in India,compared to other Indian or global IT services companies. Despite the belief that government businesswasnt substantially profitable, TCS made early investments in developing specific solutions andframeworks to address issues involving governance. Now, the company is trying to replicate its successin this segment in a few emerging countries in the east Africa and Latin America, as well as developedmarkets such as the US and the UK.

Recently, the company had bagged a core system integrator contract from the Department of Posts,tipped as one of the most prestigious e-governance contracts in the country. The contract was valued at

about Rs 1,100 crore. It was said this was the second-largest contract for the company in Indiangovernment space, after the Rs 2,000-crore Passport Seva Project of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Our philosophy is to build in India, demonstrate the scale and complexity here, and then take it to therest of the world. That is what we are doing, Chakrabarty said.

TCS is also focusing on countries such as Columbia and Mexico, targeting opportunities in their financialand healthcare segments.

Passport Seva completes 3 years in Bangalore

Passport Seva Project, the mission mode programme of the Ministry of External Affairs, has completedthree years of operations in Bangalore. In 2010, a pilot phase of the project was launched in Bangalore.

Since the project was implemented, 1.17 million passport applications have been processed inBangalore. TCS had bagged the project in 2008.

6.2. TCS bags Rs 1,100 cr ($200 million) contract from Department of PostsPTI | May 29, 2013

MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday said it has bagged a six-year contract fromthe Department of Posts (DoP) worth over Rs 1,100 crore.

The end-to-end IT modernisation programme to be implemented by TCS will equip India Post withmodern technologies and systems to enable it to provide services to customers in an effective manner,

TCS said in a statement.

The scope of the project, dubbed India Post 2012, includes developing and supporting mail, finance andaccounts, HR, and customer interaction management solutions for all channels including Rural ICTplatform.

Under the deal, TCS will also manage data migration, infrastructure, Service Level Agreement (SLA), callcentre and centralised 24x7 service desk operation for DoP, it said.

The end-to-end security solutions, Enterprise Management System (EMS) and over all integration forentire system is the responsibility of core system integrator (CSI), the statement said.

"India Post has a vision of being a technology-enabled self-reliant market leader and is looking to move

from a government service provider to a customer-enabled service provider where the customer will bethe focus of multifarious service delivery platforms," DoP secretary P Gopinath said.
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Increased urbanisation, demand for financial services, increased funding by the government for theweaker sections and the rural sector have opened up new opportunities for India Post, which has

necessitated development of new processes and supporting technology.

"The core system integrator project is about service delivery transformation through a technology-led,service- oriented approach to offer world class delivery of postal services to Indian citizens," TCS vicepresident and global head (Government Industry Solutions Unit) Tanmoy Chakrabarty said.

6.3. Top five Indian IT services firms grew 13 per cent in 2012

Business Standard, May 29, 2013

Bangalore: Last year, the top five Indian information technology (IT) services providers - TataConsultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Cognizant- together grew 13.3 per cent,

accounting for revenues of $34.3 billion. During the same period, the overall IT services industry grew justtwo per cent, research and advisory firm Gartner said today.

However, the companies' growth was lower than 21.8 per cent, their combined growth in 2011.

The Gartner report includes the Nasdaq-listed Cognizant, as the company predominantly has an India-based delivery model and its management is largely India-based.

According to the report, though the growth of India-based providers had slowed for some years, the trendwas more pronounced last year. However, "this growth rate is still quite high compared with IT servicesworldwide, or the growth of the top 10 global IT services providers", it said.

The top five Indian IT services companies improved their market share from 3.5 per cent in 2011 to 3.7per cent in 2012, the report said. Cognizant, which overtook Infosys in terms of annual revenues in 2012,improved its global ranking from 28 in 2011 to 23 in 2012.

The difference between the revenues of TCS and 10th ranked Hitachi was about $1.5 billion, the reportsaid. In 2012, TCS continued to hold on to its global ranking of 16.

"The top five Indian service providers have continuously chipped away market share from largemultinational corporation providers. In the past five years, they have been winning large outsourcing deals(those with a total contract value of more than $100 million)," said Arup Roy, research director at Gartner."Most of these firms have a large-deal pursuit sales team, which goes after deals of more than $35 millionin contract value," he added.

6.4. Private banks: Game changers in Indian bankingAparna Ramalingam, TNN | May 22, 2013

CHENNAI: The entry of private banks with high efficiency operating models, deployment of integratedtechnology platforms, new risk paradigms and above all, the emergence of highly demanding customersegments have all contributed to transformation in the banking sphere, according to the recently releasedICC-KPMG Banking report.

"We believe that for India to achieve the GDP growth rate of 6-7%, the banking sector will have to play apivotal role. Banks will have to focus on emerging middle India, rural customers and MSME (micro smalland medium enterprises) sector especially in the eastern and north eastern states," Ambarish Dasgupta,head, management consulting, KPMG, India said.

A major trend highlighted by the report was that raising of capital by public sector banks could be a

problem in the future. "Assuming an annual credit growth rate from FY12-FY21 at 20% and the annualrisk weighted asset growth rate at 22%, KPMG expects the Tier-I capital requirement for public sectorbanks for the same period to be in the range of Rs 9,60,000 crore. The government's intent to not dilute
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their stake leaves them with few options," the report said.

The report went on to add that the government could consider creating a holding company (Holdco) andtransfer its stake in the PSBs (public sector banks) to this company. The Holdco can raise long term debtfrom domestic and international markets to infuse equity in the PSBs and act as an investment companyfor the Government of India. Another option for the government could be to consider diluting its stake inPSBs through issuance of differential voting rights (DVR) such that the economic stake dilution is alsokept to the minimum. The Government may also consider in the future on having a golden share in eachof the PSBs under which while the Government's economic and voting stake may fall below 51%, it willalways have the right to control the respective PSBs due to the possession of this golden share.

6.5. IT spending by banking, securities firms to touch Rs 42,200 crore ($7.540 million)


Mumbai: Indian banking and securities companies will spend Rs 42,200 crore (Rs.422 billion) on ITproducts and services in 2013 a 13 per cent rise from Rs 37,300 crore a year ago.

IT services is the largest overall spending category at Rs 13,200 crore in 2013. This confirms the strongfocus on the financial services sector by IT service providers, according to a study by research andanalyst firm Gartner.

Software is forecast to achieve the highest growth rate among the top-level IT spending categories atabout 18 per cent in 2013. The forecast includes spending by financial institutions on internal IT (largelypersonnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

The expansion strategy of banks is still paramount in India, as well as in other countries of the APAC

region. The Reserve Bank of India is making plans to increase the penetration of banks across thecountry and even opening up the market to new entrants, said Gartner Research Director, VittorioDOrazio.

In these cases, the front office technologies for the branch will be very attractive. However, to increasetheir penetration in India, banks will follow the leverage your customer device (LYCD) trend. This willevolve the relationship between the bank and its customers over the mobile channel without remarkablyincreasing IT costs. In fact, we see the penetration rates of the smartphone devices in the triple digitsrange, which is far greater than any branch expansion rate, DOrazio said.


7. Teledensity rises from 7.04 pc to 73.07 pc in last nine years average call rates (per minute)drop to 47 paisa (0,007) from Rs 2.89 (0,041)

Press Information Bureau, May 29, 2013

New Delhi: The Indian telecom sector has registered a phenomenal growth during the past few years andhas become second largest telephone network in the world, only after China. A series of reform measuresby the Government, the wireless technology and active participation by private sector played an importantrole in the exponential growth of telecom sector in the country. National Telecom Policy-2012 (NTP-2012)was announced with the primary objective of maximizing public good by making available affordable,reliable and secure telecommunication and broadband services across the entire country.

With the implementation of NTP 2012, the number of telephonic connections rose exponentially. Thenumber of telephone connection was 893.14 million as on January 2013 with the rural telephoneconnections having increased by nearly 10 million in the last year. The overall teledensity stood at 73.07per cent as on January 2013 with the rural teledensity crossing 40 per cent. This is in sharp contrast with
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the overall teledensity of 7.04 per cent and rural teledensity of merely 1.7 per cent in March 2004.

As far as mobile penetration is concerned, the preference for use of wireless telephony continues. Theshare of wireless telephones increased from 96.62% as on March 31, 2012 to 96.74% by the end of June2012 and thereafter slightly declined to 96.56% by the end of December 2012. On the other hand, theshare of landline telephones slightly increased from 3.38% to 3.44% during the period from April toDecember 2012.

The wireless subscriber base increased from 33.6 million in March 2004 to 864.72 million as onDecember 2012. On the other hand, the average tariff for each outgoing call per minute for GSM servicesdropped from Rs. 2.89 (0,041) in March 2004 to 47 (0,007) paisa in December 201 .

8.1. Government, bank collaborate to offer Saudi returnees rehabilitation

Sushma U N & Rajesh Chandramouli, TNN | May 22, 2013

CHENNAi: With thousands of Keralites returning to India from Saudi Arabia following the promulgation ofa labour law which seeks to reserve 10% of jobs for locals there, the department of Non ResidentsKeralites Affairs (Norka), the government of Kerala and the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) have cometogether to offer the returnees financial schemes to support their rehabilitation.

Over the last few weeks, thousands of labourers have returned to Kerala, after the 'Nitaqat' law in SaudiArabia made it mandatory for local companies to reserve at least 10% jobs for Saudi nationals, whichresulted in a lot of migrant laborers from India- especially Kerala - losing jobs and thus forced to return toIndia. About 4,000 people have already returned, and over 18,000 more are expected over the next fewweeks.

The three entities together are working on a package where, in return for a promise to bank with them,the SBT will offer loans to the returnees at soft rates to take up jobs or skill upgradation programmesoffered by Norka. More banks are expected to join the programme.

"The Nitaqat law is bad news for Indians working out of Saudi Arabia. In the short term is good news forall banks as people who come back to India will bring in all their savings and banks will get increasedbusiness. But, we do not want this," P Nanda Kumaran, MD of SBT said.

Norka, which focuses on welfare of the state expatriate community, is also calling for more such schemesfrom other agencies as well.

"Norka could work around skill upgration while as a banker we will provide loans with very soft interestrates. Between the three partners, we want to ensure gainful employment of those who come back toIndia for good," Sajeev Krishnan, chief general manager, SBT said.

Norka's secretary Rani George said, "The scheme with SBT is one of the schemes we are exploring. Weare working with different government departments like the department of fisheries or agriculture, thestate finance agencies and many other banks. A cabinet sub-committee has been set up to work this out,and the schemes will have to be cleared by the cabinet."

The clearance from the cabinet is expected by the end of the month, she said.

8.2. Indo-Australia pact to train farm workers


Chennai: India and Australia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen
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cooperation in training farm workers that could grow to 12-15 million in the coming decades. The trainingwill be an industry-oriented one. The MoU was signed between the Agriculture Skills Council of India and

AgriFood Skills, Australia. It also aims to set benchmarks for certification and information.

A brainchild of the Prime Ministers of both the countries, the MoU is part of a larger collaboration in otherfields such as telecommunication, retail, mining, media and entertainment. Satender Arya, CEO,Agriculture Skill Council of India, and Arthur Belwitt, CEO, Agrifood Skills Australia, signed the partnershippact in the presence of Patrick Suckling and Dilip Chenoy, CEO of the National Skills Development.


8.3. Indo-Dutch agri initiative plans 10 centres of excellence


New Delhi: The Indo-Dutch joint initiative in agriculture envisages setting up about 10 centres ofexcellence (CoEs) in Punjab, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka in the next few years, a movethat could help raise output and yields.

dairy, banana

Of this, three CoEs are to come up in the dairy sector in Kerala, Punjab and Gujarat, showcasing thelatest processing technologies.

Four CoEs are to be set up in horticulture in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Punjab.

One centre each for piggery and banana ripening will be set up in Kerala, said Arie Veldhuizen,Counsellor for Agriculture, Embassy of the Netherlands, in New Delhi.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on How to double food production in five years,organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and the Netherlands Embassy, Veldhuizen said the Stategovernments had shown keen interest in setting up these centres.

improving yield

We will showcase our technology in these centres and see how we can help the Indian farmers inimproving the yield, he added.

Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of the Netherlands, said India had to intensify its agriculture toenhance output and at the same time prevent losses in the food supply chain.

The joint initiative is all about the Indian and Dutch authorities and the private sector sharing technologyknow-how and developing skills to double food output here, he added.


8.4. Punjab approves four milk plants worth Rs 250 crore each

IBEF: May 28, 2013

New Delhi: The Government of Punjab gave its approval to the expansion plan of state-owned Milkfedentailing setting up of four mega milk plants worth Rs 250 crore (US$ 44.83 million) each in the state.

The aim is to make Verka as a largest selling brand and that could be realised only by giving a big push

to expansion of Milkfed, said Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Government ofIndia.

The expansion plan would focus on right from encouraging dairy sector, setting up organised dairy farms,
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reorienting procurement of raw milk, scientific collection and chilling chain, ultra-modern milk processingfacilities, value addition of milk products and effective marketing network to exploit the brand image of

Verka, added Mr Badal.

In order to strengthen dairy sector at the grass root level, a specialised scheme for encouraging women inthe sector that would provide subsidised loan to them to set up farms, technical help for setting up of dairyfarms and support to such units by providing veterinary care and farm feed to dairy entrepreneurs in orderto strengthen dairy sector from grass root level has also been approved.

Mr Badal asked Mr S K Sandhu, Principal Secretary Cooperative to put up a proposal for giving dairysector an equivalent status as of agriculture for the purpose of bank credit.

We have to increase the processing capacity four-fold and these plants should be of internationalstandards with ISO 9002 specifications, said Mr Badal. He further highlighted that the new diversificationplan has a special incentive for the farmers who would switch over from paddy or wheat farming to

complete fodder farming.

8.5. Ruchi Soya partners Japan companies for edible oil


Mumbai:To introduce a super premium edible oil brand which Indian consumers have never witnessed,Ruchi Soya Industries, Indias leading food and agro-based FMCG player, has inked a joint venture withJ-Oil Mills Inc and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC), both from Japan.

Under the terms of agreement, a joint venture company would be formed soon by the probable name ofRuchi J-Oil in which Ruchi Soya would have a majority stake of 51%. While J-Oil, the technology partner

in the joint venture, would have 26% stake with the remaining 23% proposed to rest with TTC.

This alliance is an important step towards our business strategy of expanding our product portfolio bybringing value added and healthier products. We will provide raw materials and necessary marketing anddistribution assistance to the JV. J-Oil will provide technical assistance and TTC with its rich globalexperience will provide management assistance for internal control and access to international marketsthrough its network, said Dinesh Shahra, Founder and Managing Director, Ruchi Soya.

In the joint venture, however, Ruchi Soya would look into manufacturing, branding sales and distributionwith the companys existing expertise in these areas. For this, however, Ruchi would transfer its existingsoya processing business in Shujalpur in Madhya Pradesh to the joint venture to fetch Rs 40 crore.

The objective of this joint venture unit would be to introduce new edible oil for Indian market which local

consumers have experienced in the past, a Ruchi Soya official said.The JV will be managed by a board consisting of representatives from all the three companies. The JVplans to start supplying products to the institutional customers by the end of 2013 and launch high qualityconsumer products for the Indian markets in the second half of 2014.

Justifying the need of such joint venture, Sumikazu Umeda, President & CEO, J-Oil Mills, said, The mainpurpose of this investment is to start our first ever business activity overseas in a promising country likeIndia. J-Oil sees India as a vast and fast growing market and has plans to establish as a leading companyin high quality value added edible oil segment.

"Ruchi J-Oil JV provides us appropriate crossover opportunity to leverage our business networks, productportfolios, and skill sets. We create Global Vision 2020 in which we identified three business areas thatwe expect sustainable growth. We aim to expand food business in life and community field, said YoshikiMiura, Managing Director, TTC.
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8.6. Spices exports cross Rs 10,000-cr mark

The Hindu Business Line, Jun. 11, 2013

Kochi: Despite the continuance of global recession and economic slump in the overseas markets, Indiasspices exports have crossed the Rs 10,000-crore mark.

A total of 6,99,170 tonnes of spices and spice products valued at Rs 11,171.16 crore ($2,040.18 million)has been exported in FY13 against 5,75,270 tonnes valued Rs 97,83.42 crore ($2,037.76 million) inFY12.

It is for the first time that the growth in volume of exports registered an all time high of 22 per cent and 14per cent in value. The total exports have exceeded the target in terms of both quantity and value.

Compared to the target of 5,66,000 tonnes valued at Rs 8,203.50 crore ($1,650 million) for FY13, the

achievement is 124 per cent in terms of quantity and 136 per cent in rupee and 124 per cent in dollarterms of value.

As the exports of cumin, mint and chillies show sharp improvements during 2012-13, the pattern of tradeis showing perceptible changes. New spices are gaining prominence in the export basket, A. Jayathilak,Chairman of Spices Board said.

Mint products, cardamom (large), chilli, coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, celery, other seeds such asmustard, aniseed, ajwain seed, nutmeg and mace, garlic, asafoetida, tamarind, curry powders/pastes, oilsand oleoresins, etc. are the star performers recording rise in exports both in terms of volume and value.

Traditional spices such as pepper, cardamom (small) and ginger had shown decrease both in terms ofvolume and value as compared to last year.

The export of seed spices witnessed a phenomenal growth both in terms of quantity and value. A total of1,86,075 tonnes of seed spices valued at Rs 1,672.99 crore was exported in FY 13.

Break up

In the case of cumin, a total quantity of 79,900 tonnes valued Rs 1,093.17 crore was exported against45,500 tonnes valued at Rs 644.42 crore.

Fennel showed an increase of 80 per cent in terms of quantity and 58 per cent in terms of value whereasfenugreek marked a rise of 43 per cent in quantity and 49 per cent in value terms. In terms of coriander,37,100 tonnes valued at Rs 210.77 crore have been exported.

With high demand for its value-added products, mint continued to mark an increase of 49 per cent in

value and 35 per cent in volume. A total of 19,980 tonnes of mint products were exported at a value of Rs3,321.79 crore.

Garlic showed a whopping increase both in terms of quantity and value when 24,000 tonnes (2,200 tonnein FY 12) were exported at a value of Rs 74.49 crore (Rs 14.15 crore).

Chilli continued to remain upbeat when a total quantity of 2,81,000 tonnes of chilli valued at Rs 2,261.44crore have been exported against 2,41,000 tonnes valued at Rs 2,144.08 crore.

While the export of small cardamom declined both in terms of volume and value, large cardamom showeda rising trend in the export market with an increase of 18 per cent in quantity and 8 per cent in value.

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8.7. Guar gum India's biggest agricultural export item for a second year


New Delhi: For a second year, guar gum has emerged as India s largest item of agricultural export. And,responsible for pushing the countrys overall farm exports to Rs 120,000 crore in 2012-13, show datafrom the Director General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS).

Guar gum has seen rising demand from big Western oil companies on its use as a controlling agent in oilwells for facilitating easy drilling and preventing fluid loss. Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, it hasregistered 624 per cent rise in exports in value terms.

India is the worlds largest producer of the gum. On average, the country produces 1-1.5 million tonnes ofguar annually.

Almost 40 per cent of guar gum produced in the country is used for industrial purposes. In 2012, guarprices in the world markets rose a massive 800-1,000 per cent, chiefly due to large-scale stocking bymultinational oil companies over fears of short supplies, following drought in India.

Of Indias total agricultural exports of Rs 120,000 crore in 2012-13, guar gum accounted for 18 per cent,DGCIS figures show. In 2010-11, guar gums total share in Indias overall export of agricultural items wasust seven per cent.

Basmati and non-basmati rice, traditionally the flag bearers of Indian agricultural exports, have also risenin export value, but have not managed to upstage guar gum as the primary item.

Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, export of basmati rice increased 71 per cent in value terms, while that ofnon-basmati rice rose a massive 6,000 per cent, pushing India to the pole position in this segmentglobally in 2012.

The share of basmati rice in Indias total agricultural exports from 2010-11 to 2012-13 dropped from 26per cent to 16 per cent. However, the share of non-basmati rice showed a considerable jump from 0.52per cent in 2010-11 to 12 per cent in 2012-13, primarily because of the government s decision to lift theban on its export.

Another item that logged impressive growth in exports, according to the data, was flowers rising 43 percent in value terms between 2010-11 and 2012-13, to Rs 423 crore.

9.1. MSMEs share in exports to grow to 50 per cent by 2017

IBEF, May 24, 2013

New Delhi: The contribution of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Indias total exports in the12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) is expected to grow to 50 per cent from 36 per cent, according to Mr K HMuniyappa, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for MSME, Government of India.

The growth is expected on back of increasing demand from the western and emerging markets.

MSMEs contribute 8 per cent to Indias gross domestic product (GDP) and 45 per cent to itsmanufactured output. It provides employment to over 80 million people engaged in over 36 million units,producing more than 6,000 products.

Adequate credit is paramount to the success of micro and small units, said Mr Muniyappa. To ensurebetter flow of credit to MSMEs by minimising risk perception of banks/ financial institutions in lending
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without collateral security, the Government is implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme, further addedMr Muniyappa. The scheme provides guarantee cover of up to 85 per cent on collateral free credit facility

and is extended by lending institutions to new and existing units for loans up to Rs 10 million (US$179,663).

Till April 2013, more than 1.1 million proposals have been approved under the scheme providingguarantee cover for total sanctioned amount of Rs 54,322 crore (US$ 9.76 billion), said Mr Muniyappa.

9.2. MSME share in exports was 43% in 2011-12


Chennai: The share of exports by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in India's total exportshas been provisionally estimated at 43 per cent in 2011-12, according to the ministry of MSME. Besides,

the ministry estimates total fixed assets of MSMEs in India at Rs 689,000 crore and the number of peopleemployed by the sector at around 80 million.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for MSMEs K H Muniyappa said in the Rajya Sabha recently that"under a revised method of estimation, the share of MSME product exports in total exports of India hasbeen provisionally estimated at 43 per cent in 2011-12".

According to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) data, in the lastthree years, MSME exports increased by almost 60 per cent - from $82,494 million in 2009-10 to$131,483 million in 2011-12.

The main markets for the 20 most-exported MSME product groups, which accounted for more than 90 percent of MSME exports from 2009 to 2012, include the USA, European Union (EU), UAE, Turkey,

Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel and Saudi Arabia. (TOP-10 STATES BY MSME FIXED ASSETS)The product groups include pearls, precious stones and metals; electrical and electronic equipment;textiles, apparel and accessories; pharmaceutical products; machinery and mechanical appliances; itemsmade of iron or steel; organic chemicals; vehicles other than railways and tramways; plastics, rubber andarticles made from them; footwear, leather and leather products; travel goods; tools, implements andcutlery; tanning and dyeing extracts, tannins, derivatives and pigments; essential oils, perfumes,cosmetics and toiletries; stone, plaster, cement, asbestos and mica; carpets and other textile floorcoverings; furniture, lighting, signs and prefabricated buildings.

"The MSME sector of India has been repeatedly mentioned as the growth engine of the Indian economy,but the depth of its achievements is often not fully appreciated," Muniyappa said on another recentoccasion.

The MSME sector, with 36 million enterprises having fixed assets of Rs 689,000 crore and 80.5 millionemployees, contributes around nine per cent of India's GDP and accounts for around 45 per cent ofmanufacturing output. It has been continuously growing at a rate far above the large sector.

9.3. DHL Express to hold clinics for SMEs


Chandigarh: In order to empower India's SMEs, logistics service provider DHL Express India (P) Ltd plansto organise 30 SME clinics, especially in Tier-II and -III cities, by next year. The clinics will act as aknowledge forum that would help address SME clusters' logistics needs as well as other requirements in

the areas of human resources, marketing, finance and technology.The SME sector contributes more than half of DHL Express' revenues and this year it is expecting a 30-40 per cent growth in business from the sector. Across India, the logistics service provider has 37,000
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SME clients.

Sandeep Juneja, DHL Express' senior director, national sales, told Business Standard: "SMEs are ourprime focus area and we are using different initiatives to help them. One such initiative is SME clinics,which will enable SMEs to get a first-hand glimpse of how to reduce cost and time by sending goodsdirectly to stores instead of routing them via a warehouse, using our network. Our experts at these clinicswill address issues related to supply chains, finance and exports."

He added that exports created tremendous opportunities for SMEs, opening up new markets for theirproducts and services, and give them access to international best practices and innovations. "There areclearly still some hurdles that remain for small businesses with global aspirations. As a global logisticscompany we make this process more efficient, and we will continue to tailor our services and solutions tohelp SMEs grow and compete globally."

10.1. Zydus to launch 1st new chemical entity by Indian CompanyTNN | Jun. 6, 2013

AHMEDABAD: Drug maker Cadila Healthcare on Wednesday said t

indo-portuguese links: newsletter 20 vi 2013 (from eugenio monteiro)

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