Teesta Urja set to bring relief to Sikkim

GANGTOK: Men and machines are racing against time to complete the work on the Teesta – Stage III Hydro Electric Project which is expected to mitigate the ongoing power crisis in the tiny Himalayan State.

Sikkim which is endowed with vast hydro power potential and Teesta is the main river stream in Sikkim. The potential of Teesta River is being harnessed through a cascade of six Hydro projects.

The 1200 MW Teesta-III is part of this cascade development – the highest capacity power project in Sikkim. 

The Teesta Project was conceived as part of cascade development of river Teesta by CWC in the year 1974. An SPV called “Teesta Urja Limited” was formed in April 2005 and Implementation agreement signed with the Sikkim Government in July 2005.

The project received all statuary clearances in Record time.  The construction is being executed under EPC by a consortium led by M/s Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd.

As much as 99.2% of Tunneling Works completed (around 34.4 Km out of total 34.6 Km). The Excavation of 13.824 Km of Head Race Tunnel was also completed. 

Power produced to be transmitted till Kishenganj through 400 KV DC line to be constructed by Teesta valley Power Transmission , a JV between Teesta Urja Ltd

and Power grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL). PGCIL is to wheel the power to the beneficiary states in the northern region beyond Kishenganj.

The positive news about the progress of Teesta-III comes as a big relief to the people of Sikkim who are bracing themselves to pay higher tariff.

Power Secretary AK Giri had said that the state currently is procuring electricity from NTPC and thermal power is subject to vagaries of coal supply and prices. As such the price per unit Rs 3 will be applicable from this month itself, Mr Giri said.

Latest updates of Teesta-III

• The Project is conferred with Mega Project Status by the Ministry of Power, Government of India on 2nd June 2010.
• River Diversion achieved on 15th January 2010.
• Around 99.4% of cumulative tunneling completed in the project.
• 71% of the Rock filling completed in Concrete Face Fill Dam (CFRD).
• Cut off Wall Excavation works commenced in Dam Site.
• HRT Excavation achieved on June 4, 2011. Till date 5856 m of overt lining completed.
• Surge Shaft - Break Through achieved between the pilot hole and sinking face on July 8, 2011.
• Vertical Pressure Shaft 1 (645 m): Excavation completed.
• Vertical Pressure Shaft 2 (645 m): Break Through achieved between the pilot hole and sinking face on July 30, 2011.
• Electro-Mechanical works commenced in all six units.
• Steel liners erection commenced in Pressure Shaft.

Pakistani media team gets rousing reception

MUMBAI, May 20: Amid traditional Aartis, garlands and blowing of the Tutaris, a 14-member Pakistan media delegation arrived in Mumbai on a first ever week-long study trip.

The delegates from Karachi and Hyderabad (Sind) Press Clubs, were received by a group of The Press Club-Mumbai members as they landed by a PIA flight from Karachi at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport terminal at Sahar.

Pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming response, delegation leader and Karachi Press Club president Tahir Hasan Khan said: “We are extremely happy to be in India. I am sure this joint endeavour by Karachi and Mumbai Press clubs will lead to improving the relationships between India and Pakistan and more importantly strengthening the people-to-people contacts between the neighbours.”

 “The purpose of the visit is to promote a philosophy of understanding and tolerance between the two countries by increasing and improving the quality of media content when reporting on each other's country and bilateral issues. This is expected to give a boost to the peace process between the two countries,” Mr Gurbir Singh, President, The Press Club – Mumbai, said.

The delegation represents leading newspapers and channels like Dawn, The News, Jang Geo TV, ARY News, Express Tv etc and are members of either Karachi or Hyderabad Press Club members. Most of them will be visiting India for the first time

They have been invited by The Press Club Mumbai as a reciprocal to Karachi Press Club and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research jointly hosting Mumbai Media delegation in November last.

Both Mumbai and Karachi Press Clubs have established sisterly relationships.

The media representatives will have interaction with leaders of various political parties, industry leaders, journalists, social activists and common people.

They are also scheduled to visit Mr. Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Mr. R R Patil, Home Minister. They will also visit the BSE as well as a couple of newspapers and news channels offices.

The two press clubs - PCM and KPC - are also demanding that their governments allow free flow of information between the two countries and remove media restrictions. Currently, only two journalists of other country are allowed to operate in the host country.

As the visit of journalists creates a conducive atmosphere for the enduring peace both the prestigious Clubs are demanding an open and liberal visa regime both for the journalist community as well as for the common people.

They would also be shown prominent landmarks of Mumbai like Gateway of India and Bandra-Worli Sea Link. They would be in Mumbai in Mumbai from May 21-26.

On the evening of May 26, they would proceed to Pune where they would visit a media house besides attending events hosted by Sarhad, a prominent NGO from Pune, which is working for Indo-Pak peace.

India's industrial production down

The Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 for the month of October 2011 have been released by the Central Statistics Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. 

The General Index for the month of October 2011 stands at 158.1, which is (-) 5.1% as compared to the level in the month of October 2010. The cumulative growth for the period April-October 2011-12 stands at 3.5% over the corresponding period of the previous year.

2.    The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of October 2011 stand at 120.9, 165.9 and 152.1 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of (-) 7.2%,    (-)6.0% and 5.6% as compared to October 2010 (Statement I). The cumulative growth in the three sectors during April-October, 2011-12 over the corresponding period of 2010-11 has been (-)2.2%, 3.7% and 8.9% respectively, which moved the overall growth in the General Index to 3.5%.

3.   In terms of industries, thirteen (13) out of the twenty two (22) industry groups (as per 2-digit NIC-2004) in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of October 2011 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (Statement II). The industry group ‘Medical, precision & optical instruments, watches and clocks’ has shown the highest growth of 30.8%, followed by 18.4% in ‘Office, accounting & computing machinery’ and 15.3% in ‘Radio, TV and communication equipment & apparatus’. On the other hand, the industry group ‘Electrical machinery & apparatus n.e.c.’ has shown a negative growth of 58.8% followed by 12.1% in ‘Machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ and 11.4% in ‘Rubber and plastics products’.

4.    As per Use-based classification, the growth rates in October 2011 over October 2010 are (-) 0.1% in Basic goods, (-) 25.5% in Capital goods and (-) 4.7% in Intermediate goods (Statement III).  The Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables have recorded growth of (-) 0.3% and        (-) 1.3% respectively, with the overall growth in Consumer goods being  (-) 0.8%.

5.    Some of the important items of capital goods showing high negative growth during the current month and thus contributing to the low growth of the overall index for the month include ‘Cable, Rubber Insulated’ [(-) 82.9%], ‘Cement Machinery’ [(-) 74.6%], ‘Insulated Cables/Wires all kind’ [(-) 38.2%], ‘X-ray equipment’ [(-) 35.8%] and ‘Plastic Machinery including Moulding Machinery’ [(-) 32.3%]. However, some important items of the capital goods are also showing significant growth. These are:  ‘Conductor, Aluminium’ (46.6%), ‘Boilers’ (45.8%), ‘Heat Exchangers’ (35.5%) and ‘Machine Tools’ (31.4%).

6.    The other important items showing growth during the month are: ‘Fruit Pulp’ (254.2%), ‘Cashew Kernels’ (91.9%), ‘Petroleum Coke’ (69.7%), ‘Rice’  (54.4%), ‘Marble Tiles/Slabs’ (47.2%), ‘Steel Castings’ (41.7%), ‘Leather Garments’ (33.6%), ‘Aluminium Tubes/Pipes’ (30.8%) and ‘Woollen Carpets’ (30.7%).

7.    Along with the Q.E. of IIP for the month of October 2011, the indices for September 2011 have undergone the first revision and those for July 2011 have undergone the final revision in the light of the updated data received from the source agencies. (It may be noted that these revised indices (first revision) in respect of September 2011 shall undergo final (second) revision in IIP for the month of December 2011)

8.    Statements giving Quick Estimates of the Index of Industrial Production at Sectoral, 2-digit level of National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2004 and by Use-based classification for the month of October 2011, along with the growth rates over the corresponding month of previous year, including the cumulative indices and growth rates, are enclosed.

Religare Finvest gets Rs150cr from Avigo Capital

Transaction complete for Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS)

New Delhi, November 28, 2011: Religare Finvest Limited (RFL), one of India’s largest capitalized NBFCs and a wholly owned subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited, today announced that Avigo Capital (Avigo) has completed an investment of Rs150cr in the form of compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS).

Religare Finvest Limited is on a fast growth trajectory, focusing on small and medium enterprises (SME) financing. It has recently successfully raised Rs754crore from a retail issue of non-convertible debentures earlier this year and its loan book size stands at Rs11,380cr(as on September 30, 2011). 

Avigo Capital, as an Indian private equity fund manager focuses on private equity investments in the country’s SME sector.

Confirming this development, Mr. Kavi Arora, CEO, Religare Finvest Ltd said: “We are pleased to announce the completion of capital infusion by Avigo Capital in Religare Finvest Limited. This transaction is a great milestone for us as it reaffirm sour commitment towards our SME-focused business model.”

“With this investment, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the existing business opportunities while delivering superlative value for all our stakeholders. We welcome Avigo to the Religare family.” He added.

Mr. Achal Ghai, Avigo Capital said: “Avigo Capital, an Indian private equity fund manager was formed in Sep 2003 with a focus on Private Equity Investments in the SME sector in India. As we strategically look for SME focused growth stage companies, we found an excellent opportunity in Religare Finvest Limited which is a SME focused non-banking financing company. We are happy to be part of the Religare family. This transaction is in sync with our investment philosophy and investee companies.”

About Religare Finvest Ltd –www.religarefinvest.com

Religare Finvest Ltd. (“RFL”) is a Systemically Important Non-Deposit Accepting NBFC, focusing on small and medium enterprises (“SME”) financing and capital market financing. Through its reach and focus on the SME segment and the broad product offering, RFL provides the debt capital to power the growth of the small and medium enterprise. RFL’s lending products aimed at providing financing to the SME segment include:

·         Loans against property      

·         Working capital loans

·         Loans against plant & machinery

·         Loans for Commercial vehicles & construction equipment

·         Loan against Marketable Securities

About Avigo Capital - www.avigocorp.com/

Avigo Capital, an Indian private equity fund manager was formed in Sep 2003 with a focus on Private Equity Investments in the SME sector in India. Avigo Capital manages Growth Capital & Buyout SME fund in India and seeks equity investments in pre-dominantly growth stage companies, across different sectors. Avigo has over USD 365 million under management and has successfully raised and invested two funds (Avigo SME Fund I and Avigo SME Fund II). Currently Avigo is in the process of investing its third Fund (Avigo SME Fund III), which had its final closing in June 2010 at USD 240 million. Till date Avigo have made more than 25 investments in 15 companies with successful exits from 6 of their portfolio companies.

Pipavav Defence issues preferential shares to international strategic investor

MUMBAI, November 22: Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Limited has successfully delivered “The Golden Suek”, one no. 74,500 DWT Panamax Bulk Carrier toGOLDEN SAPPHIRE INC. nominated by GOLDEN OCEAN GROUP LTD., a company headquartered in Norway.

This is the largest dry bulk carrier ever built in India, Pipavav Defence said in its communique to BSE..

Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Limited has successfully delivered “The Golden Suek”, one no. 74,500 DWT Panamax Bulk Carrier toGOLDEN SAPPHIRE INC. nominated by GOLDEN OCEAN GROUP LTD., a company headquartered in Norway.

This is the largest dry bulk carrier ever built in India, Pipavav Defence said in its communique to stock exchanges.

The Board of Directors of the Company, through resolutions passed by circulation has approved the following:


Increase in the Authorised Share Capital of the Company from Rs. 800 Crore to  Rs. 1,000 Crore.
Issue of up to 81,880,000 (Eighty One Million Eight Hundred Eighty Thousand) fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten only) each of the Company to an International Strategic Investor (“the Investor”), in one or more tranches, at a price not less than Rs. 110/- (Rupees One Hundred and Ten only) per equity share or price to be determined pursuant to formula prescribed in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009, whichever is higher, subject to the approval of Members of the Company and other requisite approvals.
The aforesaid investment will be a long term strategic investment in the Company. The Investor will initially subscribe to 5% of the paid-up capital of the Company and within specified time will increase its holding in the Company upto 10% of the paid-up capital of the Company.
The Investor is a leading and extremely reputed global conglomerate with strong interest in defence sector. The Investor will bring in critical technology required for manufacture of complex and critical equipments, systems required by armed forces i.e. Navy, Army and Air force. The Investor will have a right to nominate one director on the Board of the Company.

SKIL Infra denies Pipavav share sale rumours

MUMBAI, November 22 (Newsbank): SKIL Infrastructure Ltd has denied rumours that it has sold its shares held in Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering.

“Pipavav shares held by SKIL group are completely intact and not even a single share has been sold as rumored by some interested parties with vested interest to hammer down the prices in the last four working days,” said a SKIL spokesperson pointing out that “Until then, Pipavav shares have been one of the most stable mid-cap shares.”

SKIL Infrastructure Ltd. raised medium term and long term loans to acquire stake in Pipavav Defece of one of its shareholders M/s Punj Lloyd and from others in the open offer.

The said loans are a specific tenure loans for project financing and increasing the SKIL Infrastructure’s stake in Pipavav. Long term loans has 10 year tenure and medium term loans falls due between 2012 to 2014. We have the mechanism in place to repay the loans on time.

SKIL has offered adequate collateral security including shares it owns in Pipavav as NDU (non-disposable undertaking) and primary collateral.

None of the Pipavav shares held by SKIL group are on the margin funding.

“We would like to state categorically that Pipavav is India’s first world class and global scale infrastructure company engaged in building ships and other critical maritime assets for the export market, offshore industry and defence forces among others,” the spokesperson said.

Pipavav is making a good progress with a robust order book and the company’s intrinsic value is extremely strong. Its quarterly result announced on 18^th November 2011 was encouraging on a growth trajectory, he added.

Pipavav Defence is an underleveraged company from both; financial institutions appraisal of the project debt-equity ratio and compared to other peer groups in the market, being extremely conservative.

SKIL group is committed to pay back its loans to its lenders as per the mutual agreement as it has done in the past 20 years.

Infosys tops Investor Relations Global Rankings

• IRGR maiden event rocks at BSE
• Concept PR's efforts highly appreciated

MUMBAI:  Bagging four awards in different categories, Infosys has walked away with top honours at the first event of the Indian Investor Relations Global Rankings’ award, which provided a unique platform to the Indian corporate sector to benchmark investor relations practices against their global peers.

 The IR Global Rankings (IRGR), the world renowned ranking body that indexes companies globally, has done the exercise for the first time for the BSE and NSE listed entities and over 100 companies registered themselves for the rankings. Instituted in 1999, this was the 13th edition of the rankings that were earlier conducted at New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Sao Paulo and Taipei.

 IRGR is regarded as the most comprehensive ranking system for investor relations practices that include corporate governance practices and financial disclosure procedures. The ranking is based on an extensive technical proprietary research of publicly traded companies through a clear and transparent methodology and is supported by key global institutions such as Arnold & Porter, KPMG, MZ and Sodalie.

 Mr Madhu Kanan, MD and CEO of BSE that hosted the award event, said the rankings and awards were a good way to recognize performers of the best IR practices.

 Ms. Luar Huber, Head of IR Global Rankings, said: “We are overwhelmed with the response in India and I am sure going forward more and more companies would come forward to their IR practices.”

Co-organised by Concept PR, the afternoon started off with an interesting panel discussion on “Creating shareholder Value through Investor Relations – Trends and Challenges in Emerging Markets.”The discussion, moderated by Ms. Damini Kumari, Senior Editor, ET Now, had India’s leading five corporate  leaders as participating panelists - Mr. Amit Tandon (MD, Institutional Investor Advisory Services), Mr. Vikram Kotak (CIO Birla Sun Life Insurance LTD), Mr. Nirmal Jain (Chairman, IIFL), Mr. Nalin Nayyar (MD, Head – India Investment Banking, Religare Capital Markets ltd) and Mr. Kumar Ramachandran (Managing Director, Concept IR).

Infosys, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Consultancy, Tata Steel, Wipro, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Edelweiss Capital Limited, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Persistant Technologies, Oberoi Realty, Godrej Consumer Goods, Piramal, Godrej Properties, ONGC, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Pipavav Defence and Offshore and Power Finance Corporation were among those companies that participated in the rankings.

 The other awardees in each category were :

 1. IR WEBSITE : Firstsource Solutions Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Wipro Limited & Infosys Technologies
 2. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE : Nucleus Software Exports, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Persistent Systems Ltd,
3. ONLINE ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE : Infosys Technologies