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By Dheeraj Tiwari, ET Bureau, Oct 03, 2017 The government is pushing for strategic stake sales in at least five companies this financial year and has fast-tracked the process of valuation and final approvals as it looks to raise a record amount from the disposal of assets.  Also, in order to attract serious bidders, land for future project expansion will be part of the package on offer in some cases. Advisors have been appointed for Scooters India, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd and Pawan Hans Ltd. The other companies lined up for strategic disinvestment include Central Electronics Ltd, Bharat Pumps & Compressors Ltd and Bridge & Roof Co. Separately, the government has started the process of selling a strategic stake in Air India Ltd. These cases will be presented to a ministerial panel for approval.  “Once cleared, we will invite bids for these firms,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified.  The panel consists of finance ...

Updated: October 2, 2017, Thomas K Thomas Reliance Communications’ decision to call off the merger plan with Aircel has raised a number of questions around the company’s ability to pare its debt of nearly ₹45,000 crore. It has also raised doubts on the proposed tower asset sale to private equity firm Brookfield. Under the earlier plan, RCom was to park ₹14,000-crore debt from its balance sheet to the new company created post the merger with Aircel. In addition, RCom was to get ₹11,000 crore by giving 51 per cent stake to Brookfield. BusinessLine spoke to Punit Garg, President, Executive Director of RCom, to get answers to some of these questions. What does this mean for the tower deal with Brookfield as the deal was subject to the completion of merger with Aircel? Will RCom look to go-ahead with the tower asset sale with Brookfield at a lower valuation? We are in discussion with Brookfield. They continue to be currently committed to the deal. Of course, with the Aircel towers ...

Rutam Vora, October 02,2017 Supported by the good South-West monsoon this season, India is set to witness a robust cotton output, which is likely to be 10-12 per cent higher as compared to previous year. This is in stark contrast with the government’s lower first advance estimate of 322.73 lakh bales (each of 170 kg) as against the last year’s production of 337.25 lakh bales. Speaking at the 95th Annual General Meeting of Cotton Association of India (CAI), held on Friday, Nayan Mirani, outgoing President of the Association, stated that country will witness robust cotton output during 2017-18 on account of good monsoon. Higher output seen “The Ministry of Agriculture estimated the acreage under cotton during the 2017-18 season (October-September) with a growth of over 12 per cent compared to last year. Yield is also likely to go up in view of the good monsoon witnessed across all cotton growing regions thus far. If the weather Gods remain kind in future as well, the co...

E A S SARMA ON 02/10/2017 In an interview to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in mid-2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeated his favourite maxim, “minimum government, maximum governance.” He specifically went on to state, “in a developing economy, state enterprises do have a role in some sectors. They have to be managed professionally and efficiently. We have given them operational freedom and brought in talent from the private sector as well to facilitate this.” Considering that the NDA government had until that point largely remained inactive when it came to reforming India’s central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), these statements kindled a hope, though belated, among all those who expected the CPSEs to become professional, efficient and functionally autonomous. There was hope that CPSEs could eventually set optimal benchmarks of performance for the private sector and create a competitive environment conducive to economic efficiency. There was also an all-round exp...

Anil Sasi, October 03,2017 Textile to capital goods, banking to I-T, start-ups to energy, the economy’s downward spiral is leaving a trail of job losses across both old and new economy sectors. In the near absence of consolidated employment numbers, disaggregated data collated from across these sectors by The Indian Express points to spreading employment distress in a market where fresh hiring opportunities are increasingly limited. Consider: * In the textiles sector, in the last three financial years, 67 units are reported to have closed down across the country, impacting over 17,600 workers — this is as per official Union Textile Ministry data restricted to just the organised segment of the cotton and man-made fibre textile mills. This excludes the small scale industries (SSI) section of the textile value chain where shutdowns and job losses are reported to be far higher. * Capital goods major major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) laid off about 14,000 employees across ...

By DIVYA RAJAGOPAL, ET Bureau|Oct 01, 2017 Weeks after Chinese pharmaceutical giant Fosun tweaked its acquisition of Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma for $1 billion (Rs 6,500 crore), it is out shopping again to further strengthen its India presence.  Shanghai-based Fosun Pharmaceutical is in talks to acquire the manufacturing facilities of Symbiotec Pharma, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) maker specialising in steroid-hormone products, said a person with knowledge of the talks.  Symbiotec, backed by private equity fund Actis that holds a 70% stake in the company, has been an acquisition target for other drug makers like Mylan and PE players such as Baring PE Asia after the Indore-based company was put up for sale.  Investment bank Rothschild has been mandated to initiate an auction process. The mid-size player complies with the quality standards of the US Food and Drug Administration. Symbiotec had reported $62 million of sales in 2015-16, accordin...

October 03, 2017 A Reserve Bank of India study has said liquidity starved small and medium-sized firms with poor financials are in a “vulnerable situation” and they need funding sources in arresting the next wave of non-performing assets (NPAs). “Small and medium-scale firms in India with sound financial health have indeed shifted to non-bank funding through bonds and CP (commercial paper) market more aggressively in response to the banking stress. Results also indicate that larger firms have the ability to access the market in spite of having poor financial conditions. This leaves the subset of small firms with poor financials in a vulnerable situation,” said the study on ‘Non-bank funding sources and Indian corporates’ published under the aegis of the RBI’s Mint Street Memo. “The results indicate that bolstering the funding sources for efficient but liquidity crunched small and medium-scale enterprises is also likely to be important in arresting the next wave of NPAs,” the ...

Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, ET Bureau|Updated: Oct 02, 2017 A great game is unfolding in resources-rich, but landlocked, Central Asia, where China through its one-belt-one-road (OBOR) initiative is attempting to harness maximum mineral and hydrocarbon wealth as well as grow the market for its goods. India, not to be left behind, has also embarked on a Connect Central Asia policy, trying to overcome a disadvantage it has: lack of direct connectivity to the region.  While oil and uranium rich Kazakhstan is an old partner, Uzbekistan, which has historical links with India, is emerging as the next big partner for New Delhi in the region. It has offered to provide special incentives and zones for Indian businesses, expand defence and counter-terror partnership with India and extend an opportunity to expand presence in the region and Afghanistan through mega connectivity initiatives.  President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enhance Ind...

October 02, 2017 Vaccine maker Bharat Biotech’s next generation typhoid vaccine, Typbar-TCV, has demonstrated its safety and efficacy in a clinical study carried out at the Oxford University. “Published in  The Lancet , the study is the first to demonstrate that immunisation with Typbar-TCV is safe, well tolerated and will have significant impact on disease incidence in typhoid endemic areas that introduce the vaccine,’’ the Hyderabad-based company said in a release issued here on Monday.  This is the first clinical trial which was conducted in 112 adult volunteers and used a “controlled human infection model”. According to the study, the vaccine is safe, 100 per cent immunogenic, and prevents 55 per cent of typhoid infections in the challenge trial and up to 87 per cent of infections, when using real life definitions of typhoid fever. “The results of this study and the 87 per cent effectiveness success endorse more than 10 years of R&D efforts to develop...

Amit Sen, October 02,2017 With a pact on disciplining fisheries subsidies one of the likely outcomes of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December, India has offered two oral proposals on over-fishing and flexibilities for developing countries to protect subsidies extended to subsistence and artisanal fishing in the country.    India, at a recent meeting on fisheries subsidies at the WTO, suggested that there might be no need for a carve-out benefiting small scale fishers in subsidies if members instead agreed to apply prohibitions only outside territorial waters except in cases of IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing). “New Delhi’s proposal generated a lot of interest from members including ones pushing seriously for a pact,” a government official told  BusinessLine . Norway, for instance, said that India’s suggestion “merits consideration”. The EU said it was holding bilateral discussions with India. On over...

PTI, October 02,2017 India is likely to be the world’s fastest-growing large economy in the next 10 years, driven by digitisation, favourable demographics, globalisation and reforms, predicts a Morgan Stanley report. According to the global financial services major, the trend line in India’s annual GDP growth has been accelerating to 6.9% in 2000s, from 5.8% in the 1990s, and this momentum is likely to continue in the next decade as well. Morgan Stanley expects digitisation will provide a boost of 50-75 bps to GDP growth and forecast that India will grow to a $6-trillion economy by 2026-27. Reference: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-gdp-to-hit-6-trillion-by-2027/article19786400.ece

ENS Economic Bureau | Mumbai | Published:October 2, 2017 Reliance Communications (RCom), controlled by Anil Ambani, on Sunday called off its proposed merger with Aircel. While the merger would have enabled the company to reduce its debt through the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) mechanism initiated by lenders, RCom said its board has considered alternate debt reduction plans including optimisation of its spectrum portfolio. Legal and regulatory uncertainties and various interventions by vested interests have caused inordinate delays in receipt of relevant approvals for the proposed transaction, RCom said. The company’s SDR deadline will expire in December 2017. “Unprecedented competitive intensity in the Indian telecom sector, together with fresh policy directives adversely impacting bank financing for this sector have also seriously affected industry dynamics,” RCom said in a statement. “As a result of the various factors aforesaid, the merger agreement has lapsed...