Lenovo plans to invest $11 mn in new India unit

Computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd plans to invest USD 11 million over five years in a new manufacturing unit in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, the firm's global manufacturing vice president, Jeff Gallinat, said on Thursday.

Aditya Birla Group to invest $260 mn on fibre

Aditya Birla Group, controlled by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, is investing $260 million to expand a textile fibre capacity and meet rising global demand for casual fabrics, a group official said on Friday.

The expansion includes diversified Grasim Industries Ltd, which will spend about Rs 3 billion ($69 billion), and unlisted group companies in Thailand, Indonesia and China.

The group aims to raise the capacity of viscose staple fibre, a raw material for fabrics, to 727,000 tonnes a year by the December quarter from 566,000 tonnes now, group director for pulp business Shailendra Jain said.

There has been a change in consumer preference for cellulosic fabric in the last few years after demand remained stagnant in the 1990s, he said.

"There is a strong indication that consumers want more casual look," Jain said. "It's changing because of the lifestyle products."

Most of Grasim's investment will be funded from internal accruals, he said.

The fibre unit was a drag on Grasim's earnings for many years in the 1990s and many analysts had urged the cement-to-textiles firm to spin off the unit to improve financial ratios.

The fortunes of the unit improved in the last few years and has contributed positively to earnings.

Jain said the expanded capacity would start production after the July-September quarter, and immediately add to earnings of Grasim.

GAIL to invest $4.1 bn in pipelines

Gas transporter GAIL (India) Ltd plans to invest Rs 180 billion ($4.1 billion) over the next five years in new pipeline projects across India, Chairman U D Choubey said on Friday.

The investment would boost revenues to Rs 58 billion by 2011/12 from 20 billion in the current year, he said.

The state-run company will build new pipelines totalling 5,000 km (3,100 miles) to enhance GAIL's gas transportation capacity to 280 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) from the current 145 mmscmd, he said.

"With increase in usage of natural gas, we need to build an infrastructure to meet the demand," he said at a news conference.

India produces 95 mmscmd of gas and the government expects this to rise to more than 190 mmscmd by 2009.

Choubey said the company would go to the market to fund the expansion. "Details are being worked out," he said. It was not immediately clear whether it would be equity, debt or a combination of both.

GAIL, India's largest gas distribution firm, currently has a 6,000 km pipeline network that transports up to 80 mmscmd of gas to power plants and industries.

Shares in GAIL were up 2.2 per cent at Rs 269.70 in a firm Mumbai market.

Media, Showbiz set for a big show

The size of the Indian media and entertainment industry is expected to more than double to Rs 100,000 crore in the next four years on rising demand, technological improvements and greater investments, according to a report by industry body FICCI and consulting firm PWC.

The sector is projected to post a growth rate of 18 per cent annually to Rs one trillion (Rs 100,000 crore) by 2011 from about Rs 437 billion (43,700 crore) at present, according to a FICCI-PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report.

Technological advancements, policy initiatives taken by the government to encourage investments and initiative by private companies will be the key drivers, it said.

Read more at The Financial Express

Reliance to invest $9 b in KG basin gas field

Reliance Industries Ltd will invest more than $9 billion in developing a gas field off the east coast of India and building pipelines to sell the fuel to consumers.

The company will spend $5.2 billion in bringing to production Dhirubhai-1 and Dhirubhai-3 fields in block KG-D6 in Krishna Godavari basin by June 2008. It will invest another $4 billion in laying a 1,386-km pipeline from this city in Andhra Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat to transport the fuel.

It will begin producing about 40 million standard cubic metres per day in June 2008 and raise it to peak output of 80 mmscmd in next five months, RIL CEO (Oil and Gas) P M S Prasad told reporters here.

Read more at The Hindu Business Line

Direct entry for hedge funds

The lure of the much-feared participatory notes, through which hedge funds now invest in the Indian stock markets, may soon wane.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the capital markets regulator, has for the first time directly invited hedge funds to register with it and participate in the Indian stock markets without the cover of participatory notes.

Participatory notes are often seen as tools for money laundering and there have been numerous calls, including from the Reserve Bank of India, to curtail them.

Read more at Business Standard

Sun Pharma to invest $60-70 mn in research ops

Mumbai-based drug firm Sun Pharma is planning to hive-off its research operations into a separate entity with an overall investment of USD 60-70 million in the next three years.

The new research entity, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC), will invest USD 60-70 million to support research operations over the next three years, Sun Pharma Chairman and Managing Director Dilip Sanghvi said.

Sun Pharma would initially pump in USD 45 million in the new company while the remaining sum would be met through internal accruals of SPARC once it starts generating revenues, a company official said.

Read more at The Economic Times

RIL signs $4.5 bn deal for gas fields

Reliance Industries Ltd has signed contracts worth $4.5 billion to develop its gas fields off India’s southeast coast. The spending will be part of $5.2 bn of investment the company plans for the area, RIL’s president for oil and gas PMS Prasad said here today. Gas production will start on schedule in 2008, he added. “Investment has already been committed to ensure that all suppliers meet their deadlines, which will enable us to start production,’’ Prasad said.

Commercially viable deposits in the fields may help Reliance meet India’s growing requirements for gas for power plants and fertiliser companies. India, Asia’s third-biggest oil market, is promoting exploration to reduce dependence on imports as prices rise to records and output declines from ageing fields. India’s current gas supplies of 85 million cubic meters a day, including imported liquefied natural gas, falls short of the potential demand of 170mn cubic meters, according to estimates by the Oil ministry. Gas consumption may rise to 400 million cubic meters a day by 2025 if the economy grows at the projected rate of 7-8 % a year.

Read more at Financial Express

BSNL to invest Rs 4,500 cr for convergent billing system

MUMBAI: Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) will invest over Rs 4,500 crore for introducing a convergent billing system across India. The PSU telco is close to finalising the winner for what will be one of the world's largest tenders for billing systems.

IT giants Wipro Infotech, HCL Technologies, TCS, Satyam Computers and Tech Mahindra have qualified technical evaluation and financial evaluation is underway. The contract will be split between two players and the winners are likely to be announced next month, sources told ET.

Read more at Economic Times