Tamil Nadu to get 4th major port

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The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the setting up of a major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu. This would be the country’s 13th major port.

Colachel is about 50 km north-west of Kanyakumari.

India has 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). These handle approximately 61 per cent of the country’s cargo.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) would be formed for the development of Colachel port, with an initial equity investment from the three existing major ports in Tamil Nadu — V O Chidambaranar Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, and Kamarajar Port. The SPV would develop the port infrastructure, including dredging and reclamation, construction of breakwater and ensuring connectivity links, a statement said.

Fishermen in the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu have been opposing construction of this port, fearing sea erosion and loss of livelihood.

India has few ports with sufficient draft to match global cargo handling efficiencies. All of India’s trans-shipment (transfer of shipment from one carrier to another during transit) traffic is handled in Colombo, Singapore and other international ports. Indian port industry loses up to Rs 1,500 crore of revenues each year, the official statement said.

This major port at Enayam will act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo now trans-shipped outside the country. It would also reduce the logistics cost for exporters and importers in south India, who depend on trans-shipment in Colombo or other ports, incurring additional port handling charges.

Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari had in April said the government had plans to add eight major ports in the country — including at Wadhawan in Maharashtra, Sagar in West Bengal and Colachel in Tamil Nadu.

 

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/tamil-nadu-to-get-4th-major-port-116070501191_1.html

JPMorgan Chase & Co gets RBI approval to open 3 new branches

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JPMorgan Chase & Co today said it has received Reserve Bank’s approval to open three more branches in the country.

The bank will open new branches at New Delhi, Devanahalli (near Bengaluru) and Paranur (near Chennai) in the next few months, it said in a statement.

“We are seeing an increasing level of cross-location and cross-border activity among our clients as they capture business opportunities driven by the country’s economic growth.

These branches will further enhance our capability to better serve our clients in India and overseas,” JPMorgan Chase Bank India MD and CEO Madhav Kalyan said.

JPMorgan will provide all existing products and services through these new branches, including cash management, trade finance and foreign-currency payments.

At present, the bank serves its clients from Mumbai branch.

“Our strategy is to follow our clients’ priorities. The expansion endorses our long-term commitment to India, a key market for JPMorgan, as well as for many of our clients,” JPMorgan South & South East Asia CEO Kalpana Morparia said.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/53008936.cms

ASUS betting big on India market

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Peter Chang, Regional Head (South Asia) of ASUS and Country Manager (ASUS India), at the opening ceremony of India’s first exclusive Republic of Gamers (ROG) store in Kolkata, on Friday Ashoke Chakrabarty

Peter Chang, Regional Head (South Asia) of ASUS and Country Manager (ASUS India), at the opening ceremony of India’s first exclusive Republic of Gamers (ROG) store in Kolkata, on Friday Ashoke Chakrabarty.

Taiwanese laptop and smartphone-maker Asus is looking to double its market share in mobile phones in India, by 2016. New offerings across various price brackets, along with premiumisation, is likely to give it the much-needed fillip.

Incidentally, India is amongst the top global markets for the smart-phone maker. The company started selling its smart-phones in the country in 2014.

Current strategy

According to Peter Chang, Regional Head (South Asia) and Country Manager (System Business Group), Asus India, the Rs. 10,000-15,000 price bracket will be its sweet spots, while new launches – scheduled August onwards – will also start competing across high-end segments, such as Rs. 20,000 and upwards.

Asus at present sells 2,00,000 smartphones per month, which it intends to double to 4,00,000 a month within December.

Its market share stands at 2.5 per cent; which will be pushed up to 5 per cent during this period. “Focus on the Rs. 10,000-15,000 range will continue and we will ramp up this portfolio. Asus will also compete strongly in the premium-end. This will give us the scope to double both our market share and sales (in India) within this year,” he told BusinessLine .

The products – launched across different price segments – are said to be “new generation devices” (with high-end specifications). At least four new smartphone models are set to be made available soon (as new generation devices).

Mid-range dominates

As per a report from analyst firm CyberMedia Research, 23.6 million smartphones were sold in the first three months (January-March) of this year. Of these, the higher price-band phones ( Rs. 10,000-15,000) were more popular than budget ones. This means most brands are pitching for mid-range phones as the market grows flat.

The average selling price (ASP) was Rs. 12,983 in the quarter, while it stood at Rs. 10,364 in Q1 last year, indicating a year-on-year rise.

“There is a change coming in the Indian market. Over a period of time it will mature with the average selling price going up,” Chang said. Asus’ ASP stands at around Rs. 11,000.

Growth in laptop sales

Interestingly, Asus is also betting on high-end offerings in the laptop PC segment to see through an overall slump in market conditions. The company is betting on high functionality and specification-heavy devices, targeting gamers.

The laptops targeting gamers are priced at a premium (because of their high specs) ranging between Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 200,000.

Asus launched its standalone store targeting gamers (one that focuses on selling these high spec devices) – Republic of Gamers – in Kolkata on Friday. It is looking to add four more stores across the country by the end of this year.

“Now the first device to connect to an Internet is not a laptop; it is a smartphone. So one has to judge the functionality (of a laptop) and how it will target end users. Gaming gives us a good opportunity which we are targeting,” Chang said.

Other competitors have also forayed into the segment where Asus claims to have a 30 per cent market share.

Sources say gaming in India accounts for just 1 per cent of the global market, with 2,000-3,000 such high-end devices being sold every month.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-info-tech/asus-betting-big-on-india-market/article8798772.ece

Cisco steps up India investments

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Global networking major Cisco, which has set aside a corpus of $280 million for funding early stage start-ups in India, has invested in Kolkata-based Videonetics Technology Pvt Ltd, a video surveillance firm that designs, develops and provides ultra-modern surveillance products integrated with video analytics software.

While the amount invested remains undisclosed, Cisco typically acquires an 18-20 per cent stake in every start-up that it invests in. In an earlier interaction with BusinessLine, Joydeep Bose, Managing Director of Cisco Investments – Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), had said the company typically makes investments ranging from $800,000 to $15 million in a start-up.

Confirming the investment in Videonetics, Alok Bardiya, Country Head (Investments and M&A), Cisco Systems India , told BusinessLine that a second investment has also been closed in a start-up that works on IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for Smart Cities, an area that Cisco is heavily focused on to grow its India revenues.

Revenue milestone

Last year, the company crossed the $1-billion milestone in India revenue and is aiming to achieve $2 billion by FY 2018.

Without disclosing the name of the start-up, Bardiya said: “There are two more investments in the pipeline that we should close soon.” This takes Cisco’s investments in Indian start-ups to a total of six over the last 18 months, and with two more in the pipeline, it will take the total tally of investments to eight by the end of the year.

The $49-billion networking giant has already invested in four Indian start-ups over the last two years, namely, Covacsis, Mobstac, Ineda and MobiKwik.

The company’s innovation strategy in India revolves around four pillars – Invest; Acquire; Co-create with start-ups; Co-develop with partners.

While Cisco made its first India acquisition of Bengaluru-headquartered IT security firm Pawaa for an undisclosed amount last October, it has invested in a total of 25 Indian start-ups, some of which are registered abroad, over the last 10 years.

The company’s first attempt at co-creating with start-ups took wings on Thursday, with the announcement of Cisco LaunchPad, an accelerator programme to co-innovate with early to growth stage start-ups.

Partnerships have been forged with companies like Tech Mahindra, Saankhya Labs and industry body Nasscom to co-develop solutions for Utilities, Internet users and Farmers.

Asked if Cisco had identified any start-up to acquire after Pawaa, Bardiya said: “We continue to look for start-ups that are building disruptive solutions that align with Cisco’s business interests.”

Source: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=Cisco+steps+up+India+investments&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrz66q-dTNAhXDro8KHemgArIQ_AUICigD&biw=1280&bih=676

Submit data on loan defaulters to credit information firms, RBI tells banks

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The Reserve Bank of India has advised banks and financial institutions to submit data on defaulting borrowers from December 2014 onwards to Credit Information Companies (CICs) and not to the RBI.

Releasing this information, obtained through a portal complaint, Delhi-based Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal said on Friday that it is significant to note that the RBI has not so far complied with the Supreme Court order of December 12, 2015, in the RBI vs PP Kapoor (Civil 94 of 2015) case, where it wanted the RBI to make public details of the top 100 loan defaulters among industrialists.

The details required including the names of the businessmen, firm name, principal amount, interest amount, date of default, and date of availing the loan.

In a June 24 letter addressed to Agrawal in response to his PG Portal complaint dated April 24, the RBI said it has submitted to the Supreme Court a list of defaulters above Rs. 500 crore in a sealed cover and claimed that the said information is confidential and requested that it may not be revealed to the public.

The matter is still under consideration of the Supreme Court.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/submit-data-on-loan-defaulters-to-credit-information-firms-rbi-tells-banks/article8797928.ece