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ASIAN BUSINESS
Global asset manager Blackstone is intent on
expanding its business in Asia. With over US$248 billion assets under
management, the firm opened its first Singapore office on Monday at Marina Bay
Financial Centre.
Citing Singapore as a “critical hub” for the firm
and all of its business in Asia and globally,
Blackstone wants to pursue other opportunities
across its Asian offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Seoul, as well as in Mumbai,
Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney.
Blackstone has also established its first regional
treasury centre in Singapore outside of New York.
The company currently has 26 staff in Singapore
working across the firm's business groups, including private equity and real
estate.
Blackstone's private equity business has US$2.6
billion deployed in 23 investments in Asia.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman
Shanmugaratnam who was present at the opening ceremony noted that Blackstone's
entry into Singapore is most timely.
BANKING
Canara Bank today said it has signed a MoU with industry body CII to
facilitate cheaper credit access to micro, small and medium enterprises.
Under the MoU, Canara Bank shall extend a concessional credit of 50
basis points on the applicable card rate of interest to MSME units which are
members of CII.
Besides, rebate of 50 per cent in the processing or upfront fee will
also be given to the unit owners, Canara Bank Executive Director P S Rawat told
reporters here.
The MoU was signed by R Madhusudan General Manager (MSME wing) on
behalf of Canara Bank and Raman Saluja, Chairman Regional Committee on MSMEs,
CII (Northern region).
Stating that the bank would focus on lending to MSME sector, Rawat said
Canara bank is targeting over 24 per cent growth in advances to micro, small
and medium enterprises with lending of Rs 50,000 crore in 2013-14 as against
financing of Rs 37,000 crore in last fiscal.
“We will focus on providing credit to MSME sector. In 2013-14, a sum of
50,000 crore will be advanced to MSME sector,” he said.
However, in last fiscal, bank registered a growth of 11 per cent in
advances to MSME.
Canara Bank has launched two lending schemes MSE ‘Pragati’ and MSE ‘Unnati’
under which the bank is financing to MSME sector without any collateral
security on third party guarantee.
A report released by CII in collaboration with Resurgent India on
‘Financing for Growth’ during the event today also highlighted the problems
being faced by the MSME sector in getting adequate and timely finance from
banks.
The report noted that only 25 per cent of total funding in case of MSME
sector comes from banks and financial institutions, while rest is arranged from
other sources, including internal accruals and friends.
“MSMEs have a very high demand for finance, a large part of which is
not met, particularly to finance their growth.
BUSINESS
South Korea's LG Electronics Inc unveiled a curved smartphone on Monday
in a move to catch up bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co.
Curved displays and flexible screens are the new battleground for phone makers as the screens open up possibilities that could eventually transform the high-end smartphone market.
Curved smartphones provide a more comfortable grip than flat-screen models, but the lack of must-have features means they are unlikely to be big consumer hits anytime soon, analysts have said. Manufacturing costs also remain relatively high.
Both Samsung and LG's curved phones are only available in the South Korean market as they seek to gauge consumer appetite.
Samsung launched a variant of the popular Galaxy Note earlier this month as the world's first smartphone with a display slightly curved side to side.
The model launched on Monday by LG Electronics has a vertically curved six-inch display. The company said the phone will be available from next month through South Korea's three mobile carriers.
Its vertically curved display offers more immersive video watching experience and the phone uses a curved battery to support its form factor, LG said.
Changing form factors of the battery as well as phone's chip board and other components remain a challenge in achieving flexible devices.
LG is among a slew of smaller companies struggling to compete against Samsung and Apple Inc, the smartphone leaders that account for almost all the industry's profits.
LG reported last week an 80 billion won operating loss from its handset division for the third-quarter due to marketing costs surrounding a smartphone launch in August.
The company plans to increase marketing investment in the current quarter to raise brand awareness in the high-end market, which it hopes will help expand sales later in the mid to lower-end segments.
Curved displays and flexible screens are the new battleground for phone makers as the screens open up possibilities that could eventually transform the high-end smartphone market.
Curved smartphones provide a more comfortable grip than flat-screen models, but the lack of must-have features means they are unlikely to be big consumer hits anytime soon, analysts have said. Manufacturing costs also remain relatively high.
Both Samsung and LG's curved phones are only available in the South Korean market as they seek to gauge consumer appetite.
Samsung launched a variant of the popular Galaxy Note earlier this month as the world's first smartphone with a display slightly curved side to side.
The model launched on Monday by LG Electronics has a vertically curved six-inch display. The company said the phone will be available from next month through South Korea's three mobile carriers.
Its vertically curved display offers more immersive video watching experience and the phone uses a curved battery to support its form factor, LG said.
Changing form factors of the battery as well as phone's chip board and other components remain a challenge in achieving flexible devices.
LG is among a slew of smaller companies struggling to compete against Samsung and Apple Inc, the smartphone leaders that account for almost all the industry's profits.
LG reported last week an 80 billion won operating loss from its handset division for the third-quarter due to marketing costs surrounding a smartphone launch in August.
The company plans to increase marketing investment in the current quarter to raise brand awareness in the high-end market, which it hopes will help expand sales later in the mid to lower-end segments.
FINANCE
The State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday said that it
made an investment in Equifax Credit Information Services (ECIS), an
India-based credit bureau and an arm of the U.S.-based Equifax Inc.
However, it did not disclose the percentage or size
of the deal.
As per the norms laid by the Credit Information
Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, no institution can buy more than 10 per cent
stake in a credit bureau.
“Equifax Inc, however, retains its stake in ECIS,” a
spokesperson of the credit bureau told The Hindu.
The ECIS has over 400 registered members from
various banks, Non-Banking Financial Institutions and Micro Finance
Institutions. It is a joint venture between Equifax Inc of the U.S. and seven
domestic financial institutions. Besides the SBI, the existing partners are the
Bank of Baroda, the Union Bank of India, the Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra
Prime, Religare Finvest, and Sundaram Finance.
“This endeavour gives SBI interest in the Bureau as
well as a membership in its Board,” a joint press release issued by the SBI and
the ECIS said.
“The investment we are making will be beneficial for
all lenders and ultimately consumers in India,” said A. Krishna Kumar, Managing
Director and Group Executive (National Banking), SBI.
INSURANCE
Private insurer Birla Sun Life Insurance launched a life
insurance plan today, called the Vision
LifeSecure Plan
which offers a combination of regular bonuses throughout the policy term and a
life insurance benefit until the age of 100.
"The overall life expectancy across age groups
has grown, with the average longevity per person improving. With benefits
payable on maturity and a life cover beyond the term of the policy up to 100
years of age, Vision LifeSecure Plan offers a combination of savings and
comprehensive financial protection to you and your family," Birla Sun Life
Insurance Managing Director and CEO Jayant Dua said in a release. Vision
LifeSecure Plan offers maturity and death benefits, including regular accrued
bonuses and terminal bonus, if any, besides providing the flexibility to choose
the sum assured and the policy term, at inception.
In the event the insured person survives until the
end of the policy term, a maturity benefit is payable to the policyholder.
The cover will continue till the insured person
attains 100 years of age. In case of death during this period, or survival
until 100 years (whichever is first), a guaranteed death benefit is payable.
The policy also offers a simple revisionary bonus at
the end of each financial year during the policy term, which would be added to
the policy on its anniversary.
The company may also pay a terminal bonus on
maturity or death, if earlier, based on actual experience and prevailing
economic conditions.
Birla Sun Life Insurance is a joint venture between
the Aditya Birla
Group
and Sun Life
Financial
Inc, one of the leading international financial
services
organisations in Canada.
MARKETING
Tata Motors recently launched an upgraded version of
its entry-level SUV Sumo Gold. The launch was supported by a campaign, titled
‘Stop the Unstoppable Car’, which took users through multiple challenges and
piqued their interest in the car. The activity was also hosted on the Tata Sumo
official website.
The campaign was supported on the mobile medium,
which targeted millions of impressions on premium and non-premium news,
business, finance, sports, entertainment genres across OS systems in the urban
markets. The rural market was targeted via outbound dealer activities with
offers and schemes. The media was skewed towards males, 25+, Sec B.
The objective of the activity was to make the user
aware of the new features of the car in an interactive manner by building a
story around the same and by throwing a challenge to try and stop the
‘unstoppable’ car. The activity was run pan India.
Speaking to exchange4media, Delna Avari, Head -
Marketing Communication & Services, Tata Motors said, “With the new Tata
Sumo Gold, we are positioned with an offering for the personal segment buyer,
offering tried and tested qualities of begin powerful, rugged, spacious and
comfort, offering maximum utility, with inbuilt entertainment, values that a
personal car buyer would like to have.”
ODISHA BUSINESS
State-run gas utility GAIL and Paradip Port Trust
signed an MoU here on Saturday for setting up of a Rs 3,108 crore offshore LNG
terminal.
"Completion of this project will position Odisha on the global LNG map, heralding a new area in industrial development and employment generation and economic upliftment of the nation as a whole," Shipping Minister G K Vasan said on the occasion.
The project for Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) would have an initial capacity of four million tonne per annum (mtpa) in first phase, reaching a peak capacity of 4.8 mtpa, with a storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres.
The first phase of the project is to become operational by 2017.
While the port would invest Rs 650 crore on breakwater and dredging, GAIL would invest Rs 2,458 crore. In the second phase, four mtpa capacity will be added (peak capacity- 4.8 mtpa), raising the terminal's total capacity to 8-10 mtpa.
Asking PSUs and private sector to come forward to develop LNG infrastructure in major ports, the Shipping Minister said considering the economic, social and environment impact, ports should become vehicles to serve the interests of the society.
The MoU for the ambitious project, perhaps the first of its kind on the eastern coast, was signed between Paradip Port Trust Chairman S S MIshra and executive director (business development), GAIL (India) Ltd Sanjib Datta.
On the port's performance, Vasan said, "The traffic handled by the port up to September this year is the second highest in terms of cargo handled and also in terms of percentage growth of cargo amongst all major ports.
"The port has handled 34.12 million tonne of cargo during the first six months of the financial year compared to 25.63 million tonne during the last financial year, with a growth of 33.13 per cent."
Shipping Secretary Vishwapati Trivedi expressed the hope that the port capacity would double to 1.2 billion tonnes by the end of 12th Plan. "About 90 per cent of issues in PPP projects have been satisfactorily resolved," he said.
"Completion of this project will position Odisha on the global LNG map, heralding a new area in industrial development and employment generation and economic upliftment of the nation as a whole," Shipping Minister G K Vasan said on the occasion.
The project for Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) would have an initial capacity of four million tonne per annum (mtpa) in first phase, reaching a peak capacity of 4.8 mtpa, with a storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres.
The first phase of the project is to become operational by 2017.
While the port would invest Rs 650 crore on breakwater and dredging, GAIL would invest Rs 2,458 crore. In the second phase, four mtpa capacity will be added (peak capacity- 4.8 mtpa), raising the terminal's total capacity to 8-10 mtpa.
Asking PSUs and private sector to come forward to develop LNG infrastructure in major ports, the Shipping Minister said considering the economic, social and environment impact, ports should become vehicles to serve the interests of the society.
The MoU for the ambitious project, perhaps the first of its kind on the eastern coast, was signed between Paradip Port Trust Chairman S S MIshra and executive director (business development), GAIL (India) Ltd Sanjib Datta.
On the port's performance, Vasan said, "The traffic handled by the port up to September this year is the second highest in terms of cargo handled and also in terms of percentage growth of cargo amongst all major ports.
"The port has handled 34.12 million tonne of cargo during the first six months of the financial year compared to 25.63 million tonne during the last financial year, with a growth of 33.13 per cent."
Shipping Secretary Vishwapati Trivedi expressed the hope that the port capacity would double to 1.2 billion tonnes by the end of 12th Plan. "About 90 per cent of issues in PPP projects have been satisfactorily resolved," he said.
Essar Steel was on Monday permitted by the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) to start construction for laying a portion of its 253-km
long slurry pipeline to transport iron ore from its steel beneficiation plant
in Keonjhar district of Odisha to another unit in Paradeep.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter
Kumar made it clear that Essar is allowed to begin work only on 0.723 hectares
of forest land in the state for which it has received clearance from the
authorities.
The order came on an application of Essar which
informed the bench that it has received forest clearance (FC) to commence work
in 0.723 hectares of land and sought that the tribunal’s December 19, 2012
order prohibiting any construction without FC be modified and the company be
allowed to start work at its cost.
Essar also informed the bench that till date it has
already laid 227 km of the pipeline and is awaiting FC for other sections of
project site to complete the work.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Raj Panjwani appearing
for petitioner Sarbeshwar Mishra argued that unless FC is granted for all
components of the project, Essar should not be allowed to start the work which
the NGT had halted last year for want of clearance.
After hearing contentions of both sides, the bench
listed the matter for final arguments on December 11 and 12.
The 253-km long slurry transportation system,
envisaged from beneficiation plant to Paradeep, will traverse through four
Odisha districts of Keonjhar, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur and will use
the water from river Baitrani.
Beneficiation is the process of removing impurities
from the ore.
Mr. Mishra in his petition has challenged as
“illegal, arbitrary and unreasonable” the decision of the Centre and the Odisha
government to allow Essar to draw water from the river.
He alleged that Essar was drawing water from the
river without forest clearance to facilitate iron ore transportation from its
plant to another unit in Paradeep.
RETAIL
Reliance Retail plans to enter e-commerce in six to eight
months, a move that will pitch it against established players like Amazon for a slice of
India's fastgrowing online retail market.
A technical team of Reliance Retail is working on the project and may adopt the marketplace model, a person aware of the development told ET. Reliance Retail is a unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.
"If the marketplace model makes sense, we will do it. We are evaluating all possibilities. We will adopt multi-channels to retail, which has been made clear in presentation to analysts during the latest quarterly results," the person, who did not wish to be named, said. "Companies are still discovering the best model in this space."
The spokesman for Reliance did not respond to ET's e-mailed query on the development.
Reliance Retail operates over 1,500 stores, including hypermarkets, digital stores, jewellery outlets and apparel stores, in 136 cities nationwide. For the quarter ended September, the company's sales jumped 31% from a year ago to Rs 3,456 crore. Its profit before depreciation, interest and taxes stood at Rs 165 crore in the first half of fiscal 2014.
According to consultancy firm Technopak Advisors, India's e-commerce market, which is dominated by travel-related services, is worth $10 billion at present and is expected to touch $200 billion by 2020. Of this, online retailing stands at $600 million a year and has the potential to swell to $70 billion by 2020.
A technical team of Reliance Retail is working on the project and may adopt the marketplace model, a person aware of the development told ET. Reliance Retail is a unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.
"If the marketplace model makes sense, we will do it. We are evaluating all possibilities. We will adopt multi-channels to retail, which has been made clear in presentation to analysts during the latest quarterly results," the person, who did not wish to be named, said. "Companies are still discovering the best model in this space."
The spokesman for Reliance did not respond to ET's e-mailed query on the development.
Reliance Retail operates over 1,500 stores, including hypermarkets, digital stores, jewellery outlets and apparel stores, in 136 cities nationwide. For the quarter ended September, the company's sales jumped 31% from a year ago to Rs 3,456 crore. Its profit before depreciation, interest and taxes stood at Rs 165 crore in the first half of fiscal 2014.
According to consultancy firm Technopak Advisors, India's e-commerce market, which is dominated by travel-related services, is worth $10 billion at present and is expected to touch $200 billion by 2020. Of this, online retailing stands at $600 million a year and has the potential to swell to $70 billion by 2020.
__________________________________________________________
Source of
Information for this issue: Google alert accessed on 28th Oct and 1st Nov 2013
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Compilation
Sabita Sahu
Sabita Sahu
Junior Librarian
Concept, Layout and
Editing
Syamaghana Mohanty
Chief Librarian
Chief Librarian
Information and
Documentation Division, Chanakya Central Library
Asian School of
Business Management
Shiksha Vihar Bhola,
Barang Khurda Road,
Chandaka
Bhubaneswar-754012
Tel:0674-2374832, 2374833
E-mail:library@asbm.ac.in, chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in
Sabita Sahu :Junior Librarian and Syamaghana Mohanty : Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Information Services Unit, Chanakya Central Library, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar. chieflibrarian@asbm.ac.in ; www.asbm.ac.in
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