Tata Group: The numbers 1991 to 2010

Tata Group: The numbers6 Aug 2010,

While revenues have increased 10-fold for the group as a whole, net profit has gone up only 4-fold. But it has delivered to shareholders.
No. of companies: 32 (1991) 29 (2010)
Employees: 119,209 (1991) 320,258 (2010)
Revenues: Rs 30,920 cr (1991) Rs 293,562 cr (2010) CAGR: 11.6%
Net Profit: Rs 2,627 cr (1991) Rs 10,867 (2010) CAGR: 17.1%
Market cap: Rs 26,172 cr (1991) Rs 367,145 (2010) CAGR: 34.1%
Figures for listed companies. CAGR: Compounded annual growth rate

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MUMBAI—During his 18-year tenure as chairman of India's venerable Tata Group, 71-year-old Ratan Tata has led a drive to expand internationally, a strategy India's other sprawling companies seek to emulate.
With annual revenue above $70 billion, Tata Group now derives 65% of its sales outside of India and employs 357,000 people world-wide. It has interests in tea, hotels, cars, steel, chemicals and information technology, among others.
But the last two years have been among its rockiest as the company, which was founded in 1868, swallowed two big overseas acquisitions just in time for a global financial crisis.
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Wall Street journal
Ratan Tata may have another surprise up his sleeve before he leaves. Though he often comes off as shy and soft spoken, since taking over the company in 1991 he has shown he is not afraid of bold moves. He has said in the past he is ready to break from tradition and consider handing over the reins to a non-family member, non-group member and even a non-Indian.
Heading a diverse group with interests in many of the fastest growing industries in one of the world’s fastest expanding economies could be lucrative and exciting enough for any executive to jump at. However it will also include the heavy yoke of spreading the good news about the Tata way of doing business, which often puts communities and employees before profit and requires its people to stick to a strict code of conduct in a country which often runs on rule bending.
These Tata values are the heart and soul of the Tata Brand and the head of the group is like the Pope, the protector and promoter of the way.

That’s no exaggeration. The cult-like following of past leaders is obvious at Jamshedpur, the town that Tata built (and still controls) in eastern India. In the steel-making city, offices and museums are plastered with the posters of past chairmen and executives and parks hold statues and fountains dedicated to the founder. The sprawling J.R.D. Tata Sports complex has a giant billboard of the smiling face of J.R.D. that would make North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong Il jealous.
Who but a Tata, or at least a long-time veteran of the group, is pure of heart and brave enough to bear this burden? Applications for the crown are now being accepted.

Nuclear power in France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country
Nuclear power in France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Pressurized_Reactor

Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP1000
- In the spring of 2007 China National Nuclear Corp. selected the Westinghouse/Shaw consortium to build four nuclear reactors for an estimated US$8 billion, the largest International nuclear contract in history.

Economics of new nuclear power plants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABWR

Civaux in southwestern France is a stereotypical rural French village with a square, a church and a small school. On a typical day, Monsieur Rambault, the baker, is up before dawn turning out baguettes and croissants. Shortly after, teacher Rene Barc opens the small school. There is a blacksmith, a hairdresser, a post office, a general store and a couple of bars. But overlooking the picturesque hamlet are two giant cooling towers from a nuclear plant, still under construction, a half-mile away. When the Civaux nuclear power plant comes on line sometime in the next 12 months, France will have 56 working nuclear plants, generating 76% of her electricity.


In France, unlike in America, nuclear energy is accepted, even popular. Everybody I spoke to in Civaux loves the fact their region was chosen. The nuclear plant has brought jobs and prosperity to the area. Nobody I spoke to, nobody, expressed any fear. From the village school teacher, Rene Barc, to the patron of the Cafe de Sport bar, Valerie Turbeau, any traces of doubt they might have had have faded as they have come to know plant workers, visited the reactor site and thought about the benefits of being part of France's nuclear energy effort.


France's decision to launch a large nuclear program dates back to 1973 and the events in the Middle East that they refer to as the "oil shock." The quadrupling of the price of oil by OPEC nations was indeed a shock for France because at that time most of its electricity came from oil burning plants. France had and still has very few natural energy resources. It has no oil, no gas and her coal resources are very poor and virtually exhausted.

French policy makers saw only one way for France to achieve energy independence: nuclear energy, a source of energy so compact that a few pounds of fissionable uranium is all the fuel needed to run a big city for a year. Plans were drawn up to introduce the most comprehensive national nuclear energy program in history. Over the next 15 years France installed 56 nuclear reactors, satisfying its power needs and even exporting electricity to other European countries.


There were some protests in the early 70s, but since then (with one important exception discussed below), the nuclear program has been popular and remarkably non controversial. How was France able to get its people to accept nuclear power? What is about French culture and politics that allowed them to succeed where most other countries have failed?


Claude Mandil, the General Director for Energy and Raw Materials at the Ministry of Industry, cites at least three reasons. First, he says, the French are an independent people. The thought of being dependent for energy on a volatile region of the world such as the Middle East disturbed many French people. Citizens quickly accepted that nuclear might be a necessity. A popular French riposte to the question of why they have so much nuclear energy is "no oil, no gas, no coal, no choice."


Second, Mandil cites cultural factors. France has a tradition of large, centrally managed technological projects. And, he says, they are popular. "French people like large projects. They like nuclear for the same reasons they like high speed trains and supersonic jets."


Part of their popularity comes from the fact that scientists and engineers have a much higher status in France than in America. Many high ranking civil servants and government officials trained as scientists and engineers (rather than lawyers, as in the United States), and, unlike in the U.S. where federal administrators are often looked down upon, these technocrats form a special elite. Many have graduated from a few elite schools such as the Ecole Polytechnic. According to Mandil, respect and trust in technocrats is widespread. "For a long time, in families, the good thing for a child to become was an engineer or a scientist, not a lawyer. We like our engineers and our scientists and we are confident in them."


Thirdly, he says, the French authorities have worked hard to get people to think of the benefits of nuclear energy as well as the risks. Glossy television advertising campaigns reinforce the link between nuclear power and the electricity that makes modern life possible. Nuclear plants solicit people to take tours--an offer that six million French people have taken up. Today, nuclear energy is an everyday thing in France.


Many polls have been taken of French public opinion and most find that about two-thirds of the population are strongly in favor of nuclear power. It's not that the French don't have a gut fear of nuclear power. Psychologist Paul Slovic and his colleagues at Decision Research in Eugene, Oregon, discovered in their surveys that many French people have similar negative imagery and fears of radiation and disaster as Americans. The difference is that cultural, economic and political forces in France act to counteract these fears.


For example, while French citizens cannot control nuclear technology anymore than Americans, the fact that they trust the technocrats that do control it makes them feel more secure. Then there is need. Most French people know that life would be very difficult without nuclear energy. Because they need nuclear power more than us, they fear it less.


Civaux baker Jacques Rambault, admits that this technology is potentially dangerous and needs skillful management. As Chernobyl showed, the Russians, he says, were not "up to the task. But the French scientists and engineers are." For other citizens, rubbing shoulders with workers at the plant has made this once exotic technology an everyday thing. Many other risks concern them more. Madame Schoumacher, who has lived in Civaux most of her life, says "I would be much more frightened living next to a dam [France has about 12% hydroelectric power] or getting into her car in the morning." Others like bar owner Alain Cauvin cite "mad cow disease as being much scarier than nuclear power.


Ironically, the French nuclear program is based on American technology. After experimenting with their own gas-cooled reactors in the 1960s, the French gave up and purchased American Pressurized Water Reactors designed by Westinghouse. Sticking to just one design meant the 56 plants were much cheaper to build than in the US. Moreover, management of safety issues was much easier: the lessons from any incident at one plant could be quickly learned by managers of the other 55 plants. The "return of experience" says Mandil is much greater in a standardized system than in a free for all, with many different designs managed by many different utilities as we have in America.

Things were going very well until the late 80s when another nuclear issue surfaced that threatened to derail their very successful program: nuclear waste.


French technocrats had never thought that the waste issue would be much of a problem. From the beginning the French had been recycling their nuclear waste, reclaiming the plutonium and unused uranium and fabricating new fuel elements. This not only gave energy, it reduced the volume and longevity of French radioactive waste. The volume of the ultimate high-level waste was indeed very small: the contribution of a family of four using electricity for 20 years is a glass cylinder the size of a cigarette lighter. It was assumed that this high-level waste would be buried in underground geological storage and in the 80s French engineers began digging exploratory holes in France's rural regions.


To the astonishment of France's technocrats, the populations in these regions were extremely unhappy. There were riots. The same rural regions that had actively lobbied to become nuclear power plant sites were openly hostile to the idea of being selected as France's nuclear waste dump. In retrospect, Mandil says, it's not surprising. It's not the risk of a waste site, so much as the lack of any perceived benefit. "People in France can be proud of their nuclear plants, but nobody wants to be proud of having a nuclear dustbin under its feet." In 1990, all activity was stopped and the matter was turned over to the French parliament, who appointed a politician, Monsieur Bataille, to look into the matter.


Christian Bataille resembles the French comedian Jacques Tati. His face breaks into a broad grin when asked why he was appointed to this task. "They were desperate," he says. "In France, executive power dominates much more than in Anglo-Saxon countries. So that if the Executive asks parliament to do something it means they are really at the end of their ideas."


Bataille went and spoke to the people who were protesting and soon realized that the engineers and bureaucrats had greatly misunderstood the psychology of the French people. The technocrats had seen the problem in technical terms. To them, the cheapest and safest solution was to permanently bury the waste underground. But for the rural French says Bataille, "the idea of burying the waste awoke the most profound human myths. In France we bury the dead, we don't bury nuclear waste...there was an idea of profanation of the soil, desecration of the Earth."


Bataille discovered that the rural populations had an idea of "Parisians, the consumers of electricity, coming to the countryside, going to the bottom of your garden with a spade, digging a hole and burying nuclear waste, permanently." Using the word permanently was especially clumsy says Bataille because it left the impression that the authorities were abandoning the waste forever and would never come back to take care of it.


Fighting the objections of technical experts who argued it would increase costs, Bataille introduced the notions of reversibility and stocking. Waste should not be buried permanently but rather stocked in a way that made it accessible at some time in the future. People felt much happier with the idea of a "stocking center" than a "nuclear graveyard". Was this just a semantic difference? No, says Bataille. Stocking waste and watching it involves a commitment to the future. It implies that the waste will not be forgotten. It implies that the authorities will continue to be responsible. And, says Bataille, it offers some possibility of future advances. "Today we stock containers of waste because currently scientists don't know how to reduce or eliminate the toxicity, but maybe in 100 years perhaps scientists will."


Bataille began working on a new law that he presented to parliament in 1991. It laid plans to build 3-4 research laboratories at various sites. These laboratories would be charged with investigating various options, including deep geological storage, above ground stocking and transmutation and detoxification of waste. The law calls for the labs to be built in the next few years and then, based on the research they yield, parliament will decide its final decision. Bataille's law specifies 2006 as the year in which parliament must decide which laboratory will become the national stocking center


Bataille's plan seems to be working. Several regions have applied to host underground laboratories hoping the labs will bring in money and high prestige scientific jobs. But ultimate success is by no means certain. One of these laboratories will, in effect, become the stocking center for the nation and the local people may find that unacceptable. If protesters organize, they can block shipments on the roads and rail. The situation could quickly get out of hand.


Nuclear waste is an enormously difficult political problem which to date no country has solved. It is, in a sense, the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry. Could this issue strike down France's uniquely successful nuclear program? France's politicians and technocrats are in no doubt. If France is unable to solve this issue, says Mandil, then "I do not see how we can continue our nuclear program."

What does Indo-US nuclear deal mean?

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam today (June 26) favoured India signing the nuclear deal with the U.S.A., saying that it would benefit the country which needs uranium supplies till thorium reactors are ready.

“We need a supply of uranium till our thorium reactors are ready,” Kalam said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Aerospace Science and Technology, organised by the National Space Laboratories to mark the institute’s golden jubilee celebration.

“The pact will help us,” he said.
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The 75-year-old nuclear scientist also did not feel that the scientists were being ignored. “I didn’t feel like that at all.”

“Whatever has happened is (for) good,” Mr. Kalam responded when his view was sought on the deal on which the Prime Minister had consulted him.

Mr. Kalam said he had met the Prime Minister before “finishing my assignment (as President)” and highlighted the importance of thorium reactors.

“I told the Prime Minister that thorium reactors are very important,” he said.

The Prime Minister too agreed that progress must be made on that front, the former President said.

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He pointed out that India has a total installed capacity of 135,000 megawatts, mostly comprised of thermal power, which is carbon-emitting, causing global warming, and that India's Nuclear Power Corporation has a goal of augmenting this capacity by as much as 30,000 megawatts to 60,000 megawatts over the next 20 years, "requiring investments in excess of $100 billion."

(asr: this is international take )
Washington, July 27, 2007 : The US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to approve a landmark deal that will allow the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India.

Here is an overview of the deal and its implications:

WHAT IS THE PACT?

* The legislation amends Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It lets the US make a one-time exception for India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The amendment overturns a 30-year-old US ban on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology, implemented after India's first nuclear test in 1974.

* Under the amendment, India must separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities, and submit civilian facilities to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL?

* Critics say it undermines the NPT, which holds that only countries which renounce nuclear weapons qualify for civilian nuclear assistance.

* The accord sends the wrong message: it could undercut a US-led campaign to curtail Iran's nuclear program, and open the way for a potential arms race in South Asia.

* India says 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities are civilian. Critics say the pact could make bomb making at the other eight easier, as civilian nuclear fuel needs will be met by the US

WHAT DO THE DEAL'S SUPPORTERS SAY?

* US President George Bush calls the deal necessary to reflect the countries' improved relations. It strengthens international security by tightening US ties to ally India, the world's biggest democracy. It also ensures some of its nuclear industry will undergo international inspection.

* New Delhi, which relies on imported oil for some 70 per cent of its energy needs, says nuclear power will help feed its rapidly expanding economy.

* France, which signed a similar deal with India in February 2006, says the move will help fight climate change and aid non-proliferation efforts.

HOW IS PAKISTAN INVOLVED?

* Pakistan sought a similar civilian technology deal with the US but was refused last in March. It is the only other confirmed nuclear power not to have signed the NPT - saying it will join after India does.

* Pakistan's own expanding nuclear program could fan the rivalry between India and Pakistan.

INTERNATIONAL RIVALRIES?

* China is said to have supported Pakistan's nuclear weapons program since the 1980s. Some analysts see the Indo-US deal as part of attempts by larger powers, the US and China, to shore up influence in South Asia by building up rival arsenals.

* The IAEA said in 2004 that Libya and Iran's nuclear programs were based on Chinese technology provided by Pakistan.

N-deal prize for US firms? Over $100 billion!

This is called 123 Agreement because this comes under USA's Atomic Power
Act Section 123.
(1) After this Agreement USA will supply all fuel, machinery / equipment
& technology to India for producing Nuclear Power.
(2) All these days from about 22 Nuclear Power Plants, India is
producing power as well as Atom. It's a high security / secret that
from where which is produced, how much is produced, where it is
supplied, what research is being done with that, etc. to anybody. But
if we sign this Agreement, we have to disclose these secrets and also
agree to 14 of our Nuclear Power Plants to be under the scanner of
International Atomic Power Organisation.
(3) The fuel utilised to produce Atomic Power can be recycled for reuse
and this plant will be under direct supervision of IAPO.
If India does nuclear test, this agreement gets cancelled.But
(1) USA will take back all the machinery / equipments / technology
supplied to India thus far.
(2) Those 14 plants will continue to be under scanner irrespective of
the status of the agreement.
On the other hand, if any of the commitments given by USA is breached by
them, then there is no clause for cancelling this agreement.
The agreement is apparently like this... USA can either hug India or
slap India. India will not ask why are we hugged or why are we slapped.
On the other hand, India cannot hug or slap USA for breach of agreement.
This is only capsule so that easy to read and digest.
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Some people don't want India to catch up with China: Chidamabaram

The Finance Minister said China, which draws only two per cent of its energy requirements from the nuclear sources, has mega plans to augment its atomic reactors. By 2020, China wants to build 50,000 MW capacity for nuclear energy and it plans to take it further to 1,20,000-1,60,000 MW by 2030.
(asr: by 2020 India wants to bulild N-capacity of 40,000 MW comparable to China's , see below)

Chidambaram said he wants India to emulate China without envying the neighbouring country. "I have no hesitation in saying that I do not want to envy China...I want to emulate China...I want India to become an economic power and economic super power".

He said a country as large as India should be compared with China. "When we talk about India, we should talk about countries which are as large and as complex as India and that is China...We cannot talk about countries which are smaller than India and poorer than India."


Chidambaram claimed the United Progress Alliance government has only taken the 'dialogue' of the previous National Democratic Alliance government further.

"Do we want to come out of nuclear isolation," the Finance Minister asked the Lok Sabha.


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For the past three years, eager executives from US-based producers of nuclear power plants have been making a beeline for New Delhi, meeting with Indian government officials and coming back to America to lobby for the passage of a controversial nuclear deal between the US and India.

The agreement, first announced in June 2005 but still awaiting approval by Indian lawmakers, would allow India -- which has been subject to sanctions since testing a nuclear weapon 10 years ago -- to buy and sell nuclear technology in the international marketplace in exchange for opening up its civilian reactors for inspections.

The prize for the American companies? More than $100 billion in new reactor construction contracts in just the next 10 years, in a market that has always been closed off to American companies such as GE Energy, USEC and Westinghouse Electric.

India's economy hits the wall
Global banks target Indian investors
"Everyone knows that this is big," says GE's India CEO, Tejpreet Chopra. "At this point, we're just waiting to see how much capacity the government is willing to add and where."

The deal has been on hold for months, thanks to opposition from members of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government. Singh's decision to continue with the deal plunged the country into a parliamentary crisis two weeks ago, as his communist allies withdrew their support, decrying the deal as American imperialism.

The Congress-led coalition faces a confidence vote in Parliament on July 22. If the government survives -- and it's expected to, having replaced the left parties with smaller regional allies -- it will take the deal to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which must approve it before the US Congress can vote on it.

Waiting for India to sign the CSC

The delays have taken their toll, though. For the US executives who have been impatiently awaiting the deal's passage, it's becoming clear that when the Indian government finally hands out contracts for up to 30 new nuclear reactors of up to 1,200 megawatts each, US companies might not be at the front of the line.

Instead, French and Russian companies like Areva NP SAS, Atomenergoproekt, and ZAO Atomstroyexport are already taking advantage of their long-standing ties with India's nuclear community, and the fact that India has yet to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC).

That's an international treaty that created a global pool of money to pay victims of nuclear disasters, and since India's not a party to it, any American-built reactors would have to shoulder their own civil liabilities -- a cost that would likely prove prohibitive.


Russian and French state-owned competitors wouldn't have that problem, since those companies could claim sovereign immunity in case of an accident.

"GE may never sell a reactor to India if they don't get the civil-liabilities issues taken care of," says George Perkovich at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation.

Companies have had difficulty penetrating India thanks to sanctions that date back a decade. In 1998, India tested a nuclear bomb near the border with Pakistan.

The resulting international trade sanctions, led by the US, starved India's nuclear reactors of uranium and its elite scientific institutes of superfast computers and other equipment that Washington deemed sensitive, or dual-use technology.

The current deal, nicknamed the 123 Agreement, was championed by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a way to bring theUS and India closer, and also for India to do business with the cliquish club of international nuclear suppliers. India is supposed to open up its 14 civilian reactors to international inspectors, and in return will be allowed to buy and trade nuclear fuel, reactors, and spares with the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group. Its military reactors will stay off-limits.

For American companies, this sounded like a blessing. Governments in the US have not approved a nuclear reactor for construction since 1979's Three-Mile Island accident, even though American companies have been involved in about 60 reactors in Japan, South Korea, Finland, and elsewhere.

India's energy needs are vast -- as its economy booms, the country plans to quintuple its nuclear energy production to as much as 40,000 megawatts by 2020. At an estimated $2.5 billion per 1,000 megawatts, the nearly 30 new reactors India will commission could signal the beginning of a "nuclear renaissance" that American nuclear companies have been waiting for, says the US-India Business Council's Ron Sumers.

France, Russia Stand to gain more

First, the deal needs to win approval in India's Parliament, though. India's Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government has had to swap out its communist allies with those from a smaller regional party. And the deal is no sure thing in Washington, either.

The White House is pushing hard to get the deal on the legislative calendar in the House and Senate. For an embattled President, bringing India into the nuclear fold would be a rare foreign policy success for the Bush Administration.

Even if the deal does finally go through, it could be as late as 2009 when India finally gets around to signing the CSC; until it does, no American nuclear company can afford to take the risk of doing business in India.

"That's the kind of protection that companies look for when they decide to invest in countries," said Omer Brown, a Washington-based lawyer who helped push the treaty on behalf of the Contractors International Group on Nuclear Liability.

Meanwhile, both Areva and the Russian companies have leaped to the front of the queue, Atomenergoproekt and Atomstroyexport are already helping India build a nuclear reactor in Kudankulam, in southern India.

France's Areva has been in site-specific negotiations with the state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India, says a senior official at the Indian company who declined to be identified because of the political sensitivity of the deal; Areva has exploratory agreements in place that almost assure it of a site in western India.

The prospect of losing more lucrative contracts to the French and Russians has US companies worried. "Signing the CSC would be a way for India to say that they are prepared to play a full role in the international nuclear renaissance," says Dennis Hays, vice-president of governmental affairs at Thorium Power, a specialist in nuclear-fuel design based in McLean, Va., that considers India to be crucial for growth. India has one-third of the world's known thorium deposits.

Large enough playing field for everyone

At the same time, the argument in India goes, why should India commission reactors from American companies that aren't even making sales at home?

"I can easily see the Indians going for French or Russian reactors because they are seen as more advanced," said Padmanabha Chari of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, a Delhi-based think tank. "In the US, the entire industry has stopped growing, and they aren't into the most modern technology."

That's a misconception, say executives from US companies, but it's one they have to fight hard against. Indian officials have tried to assure the companies that the pie is large enough that they will eventually get a decent-sized piece.

"Irrespective of any understanding or quid pro quo, the current situation in India is that the demand for electricity is so large, that we can accommodate all countries," says RB Grover of India's Bhabha Atomic Research Center and India's chief negotiator for the nuclear deal.

There's more than just nuclear reactor business on the line. The deal is seen as a proxy for Indo-American relations, and if it survives, it augurs well for future strategic defense and economic ties. One defense deal delayed until the 123 agreement is signed is the nearly $11 billion purchase of 126 fighters for India's Air Force, a bellwether for US-India military acquisitions. Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin have horses in that race.

Who

BSNL valued at $100 billion

If BSNL manages to raise Rs 40,000 crore by selling a 10% stake, it would value the company at an amazing Rs 4,00,000 crore (more than $100 billion). The market valuation of India’s largest private telecom operator — Bharti Airtel — is about $46 billion, followed by Reliance Communications which is valued at about $41 billion. Telecom stocks enjoy record valuations in India as the country, which offers the lowest cellular tariffs in the world, also boasts of the fastest-growing mobile market. India has registered average monthly adds of over 7.5 million for the last eight months even as analysts say this figure could touch the 10 million mark from Q2, 2008. From a little over 260 million telephone connections at present, it is projected that the country will have over 500 million telephone connections by 2010.

Good response to APIIC auctions at Rayadurg

The auction conducted by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd., for 90 acres of land in Knowledge City at Rayadurg, near Hi-Tech City, saw intense bidding from three major competitors on Tuesday.

While two plots of 30 acres each were taken yielding APIIC a revenue of Rs.1,296 crore, ( asr: this money may be funding Roads(ORR?) and other developments ..)

The second plot was taken by Bangalore-based company, Purvankar, at Rs.21 crore per acre. All the three plots were locked up in triangular competition between BPTP, Purvankar and DLF. ( asr: good open competition )

Out of 414 acre- knowledge City, the APIIC so far auctioned 140 acres,(asr: seems this is Govt. acquired/reserved? land when created Hi-Tech city ) including 60 acres auctioned on Tuesday. While the first 30 acres about an year ago was bid for at Rs.16 crores per acre, DLF after few months acquired 25 acres at Rs.18.81 crores per acre. ‘My Home’ had bid for 10 acres at Rs. 20.01 crores per acre and ITC acquired five acres at Rs.25.5 crores per acre.

Global players line up $25 bn for Indian realty pie

The Indian real estate industry is estimated to grow by 33% to $50 billion by 2010 and India is looking to remain an appealing investment option for both domestic and foreign investors.

Global real estate majors such as Dubai World, Trump Organisation of US, Smart City of Dubai, Kishimoto Gordon Dalaya, Khuyool Investments, Bonyan Holding, Plus Properties, ABG Group and Al Fara’s Properties are descending on the Indian real estate market with an investment of around $20-25 billion in the next 12-18 months.

It is estimated that an additional 16.8 million people annually adding to the surging demand for infrastructure, housing, schools, hospitals, retail as well as hospitality and commercial property. According to property consultants, with many property markets around the world already on the cusp of recession, India offers ideal investment opportunities.

ICICI Venture to float $2 bn real estate fund

The fund from the country’s largest private equity fund (it manages assets of over $2.5 billion in a diversified portfolio) comes just 18 months after it launched a real estate fund of $500 million. Of this, it has already invested 70 per cent in various projects.

The private equity fund is planning to operate in the entire value chain of the real estate business and will now use part of the cash from the fund to build a land bank. It has also decided to buy and manage completed properties — commercial and residential — and sell them later

ICICI Venture joins other majors such as Morgan Stanely, Citigroup, HDFC, J P Morgan, and Kishore Biyani that hope to cash in on the realty boom by floating real estate funds.

25 more SEZs planned in State

Six are to be developed by APIIC and 19 by private parties

Twenty-five more special economic zones (SEZ) in the State involving allotment of 9,250 acres of land near Hyderabad and other urban agglomerations have been formally approved by the State Government. With this, the total number of SEZs in the State will swell to 70, nearly a half of the 154 SEZs (154) already established or in the pipeline in the entire country.

The Centre has already notified 45 SEZs in Andhra Pradesh, covering an extent of 13,665 acres, most of which lie around Hyderabad. It is likely to issue a notification for the 25 new SEZs soon.

Out of the new SEZs, six are being developed by the A.P. Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. These include four facilities for information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services in Warangal, Kadapa, Chittoor and East Godavari districts, and one each for leather and building products in Nellore and Prakasam districts.

Of the remaining 19, six are to be developed and promoted by private parties including Rahejas, Lahari Infrastructure, Genpact India, Parswanath and Dr. Reddy Labs in the vicinity of Hyderabad while three are going to be set up in the State capital itself by GMR and WIPRO. The other SEZs will come up in different districts.

VBC, My Home, EIH plan Rs 600 cr 5-star hotel

"Trident Hilton Hyderabad" in Madhapur:
VBC, My Home, EIH plan Rs 600 cr 5-star hotel

We have recently entered into a lease agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government for a long lease period of 66 years and paid an upfront fee of Rs18 crore for the 4.5 acre land,” Rama Rao told Mint, adding that the company has to offer 3% of the hotel revenues to the government under the agreement.

A special purpose vehicle titled Golden Jubilee Hotels Ltd was incorporated to execute the 20-storied hotel project and civil works were commenced last week. The hotel project with 500 suites and 140 service apartments is estimated to involve an investment of Rs 600 crore.
It would be executed through debt and equity components of 60% and 40%, respectively. The company has already tied-up the debt with banks that include State Bank of Hyderabad, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India.

Rama Rao said VBC group would hold an equity stake of 42%, My Home group 42%, while East India Hotels would have the balance 16% equity.

Hyderabad Airport Raises Quality Bar

Hyderabad Airport Raises Quality Bar
Construction of India’s most modern airport at Hyderabad is in full swing with over 82 per cent of the work completed. Flight tests are scheduled in January 2008.

GHIAL is a joint venture of the GMR Group (50.1 per cent), Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (11 per cent), Airports Authority of India (13 per cent), the Andhra Pradesh government (13 per cent) and others.

To be called the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the first phase of the GMR-promoted construction, costing $247.8 million, will be completed in March 2008. The international airport would then double its capacity to 12 million passengers a year.

The airport can accommodate the eight-storey tall, Airbus A-380 - the largest passenger aircraft in the world that can carry 853 passengers. About $3 billion will be invested by 2025, which will include a second runway.

A low-cost terminal is expected to be ready in the next phase by 2012, which will enable the airport handle 15 million passengers annually.

The projected traffic growth rate for Hyderabad is a healthy 20 per cent a year for the next five years.

“The rule of thumb in mature markets is that aviation growth moves at twice the growth of GDP. We expect this to slow down to 10-12 percent in the sixth year,” GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) chief operating officer T Srinagesh told reporters.

The airport will notch up a number of firsts. It will have the longest runway at 4.26 km. Singapore’s Changi International Airport runway is currently the longest at 4 km. It will also have the tallest air traffic control (ATC) tower in the country at 75 metres. The airport would be the first to introduce a city check-in facility.

It will be the first airport to qualify for a Leeds certification, awarded to energy and resource efficient buildings. The airport would be among the first to offer fuel on an open access basis.

Equipment for ATC has already arrived at the Chennai port. The ATC tower is designed to look like a man in a hat overlooking the airport, says Srinagesh.

Interestingly, Hyderabad has the highest number in the country of people coming to see off or greet passengers, averaging 30 to a passenger. To tap this opportunity, space within the airport has been set aside for an “airport village” with food outlets, artisans’ corner and entertainment for these people.

GHIAL has also been approached by golf legend Greg Norman to construct a nine-hole golf course.

“Creating an airport of this stature using the latest technology will raise the bar of the quality of airports in India,” an aviation consultant at KPMG said.

“This airport will help reduce turnaround time required by low-cost airlines in terms of the aircraft being closer to the security ring, through use of aerobridges, thus eliminating the need for shuttles,” SpiceJet spokesman Ajay Jasra said.

From Oct 4, GHIAL is starting a series of trials for operations, readiness and airport transfer (ORAT). It will be conducted by Munich Airport that will stimulate a live airport environment.

It is part of the transition process to synchronize ticketing, baggage handling and reservation systems and will help migration to the new airport in March 2008.

The present Begumpet airport will then close to commercial flights according to the concession agreement between the Airports Authority of India and GHIAL.

A representation has also been made to the ministry of civil aviation following a GMR-sponsored feasibility study to look at rail connectivity to the airport to reduce congestion and pollution in future.

Saharaindiapariwar

Sahara group has today exponentially grown to become a conglomerate of USD 10.87 billion. The group has been expanding its ventures at a rapid pace.

The group's Financial Services Division serves more than 61 million depositors, one out of every 17 Indians, with its financial services making the group one of the most influential financial companies in India. The Infrastructure and Housing Division is on its way to creating the world’s largest chain of luxury townships in 217 Indian cities. One of its residential projects, Aamby Valley City has magnificence written all over its 10000 acre serene township and has already become a dream destination. Sahara India’s Media and Entertainment Network that includes multi-lingual dailies, weeklies, 24-hour satellite news channels, two entertainment channels and a film production company is one of the largest in India.


"Saharasri" Subrata Roy Sahara -- friend of Mulayam, Amitabh trio...
AAMBY VALLEY CITY
http://www.saharahousing.com/projects.html
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Housing prices in tier II cities drop

- May 29, 2007
Though there has been heavy building activity in these areas, and the prices were high too, real estate prices have seen a downward spiral lately. Ahmedabad seems to be the only city where prices are still holding strong.

Chandigarh/ Tri-city region
Residential land prices continue to fall sharply in the tri-city region. Prices in Mohali have fallen 15-20 per cent over the past six months. In Panchkula too, prices have dipped from the Rs 25,000 per square yard level.

In Madhya Marg in Chandigarh though, prices have remained stable. Residential prices in Zirakpur and Derabasi have seen a slide of 20 per cent from Rs 18,000 to Rs 15,000 a sq yard. Investors are out to sell in the market and residential plot prices are expected to weaken further in the next six months.

Lucknow
Gomti Nagar, where a number of townships are being developed has seen a significant slow down. Projects by Omaxe, Eldeco and Parsvanath are coming up here and quoted values of up to Rs 2,200 per sq ft but are now down to an average of Rs 1900 per sq ft.

Aligang too is now at Rs 1,500-1,700 per sq ft - the area was quoting Rs 1,800 per sq ft in January this year. The Shahara Group recently launched their township in Hardoi, on the outskirts of Lucknow, but demand has not taken off.

Jaipur
The Jaipur-Ajmer Road has seen a slight fall in prices. Residential prices were at Rs 1,900 per sq ft. Today apartments are selling at Rs 1,700-1,800 per sq ft and investors who picked up properties in townships here are willing to sell at Rs 1,500-1,600 per sq ft.

Another important development - the new housing schemes launched by local developers along the same road (close to the Mahindra SEZ) are priced lower at Rs 1,300 per sq ft. Towards the south east in Jagatpura too prices of group housing plots have fallen to Rs 11,000 a square yard compared to Rs 15,000 a square yard four months back.

Bhopal
Prices in Bhopal have remained stagnant over the past quarter. Land prices had touched highs of Rs 50-60 lakh on Hoshangabad Road and Kolar Road. But, consultants say investors are now stuck with land where prices have peaked, as there have been no transactions for over four months now. Residential prices on Hoshangabad had touched Rs 1,300 per sq ft six months back but are now stable at Rs 1,000 per sq ft.

Ayodhya bypass, where the city's largest township - Mrinal Residency is being developed, also witnessed sale transactions at a high of Rs 1,500 per sq ft in October last year but is now down to Rs 1,200 s per sq ft.

Indore
In Indore, apartment prices have seen some softening on the Ring Road. After touching a peak of Rs 1500 per sq ft, the quoted price today is Rs 1100 per sq ft. The MR10 region however has remained stable - due to the proposal of a flyover from here to the airport. Residential plot prices along the new bypass have seen a dip. Large townships by Omaxe and the Satya Group are underway here, while Parsvanth, DLF and Ansal have made large land investments here. Local brokers say residential plots in Omaxe city have fallen to Rs 525 per sq ft from Rs 600 per sq ft four months back.

Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad is one city where apartment prices continue to hold strong, in fact over the past six months prices have risen 12 per cent. In Vastapur and Prahlad Nagar however, land prices have seen a dip. A number or row houses and bungalows are coming up along Ring Road phase II, bordering the Sarkej Ghandi highway.
Here land prices had gone up over 50 per cent in a year but have now dropped significantly. Residential plots that were at Rs 2200 per sq ft are quoting Rs1500 -1700 per sq ft today. Ognaj, a northwest suburb where land prices were at Rs 600 per sq ft has also seen a dip by 10 per cent and the Nalsarovar area is also witnessing a similar situation.

DLF to acquire land in 62 cities

DLF to acquire land in 62 cities
Real estate major DLF Ltd on Tuesday came out with a public issue of 175,000,000 shares of Rs 2 each, having a price band of Rs 500-550 per share.
- The issue will constitute 10.26 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue capital of the company
- DLF's mega issue will raise Rs 9,625 crore, at the upper band, from the market
- While around Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) of the issue proceeds will be pumped in for acquisition of land in 62 cities across the country, Rs 3,493.4 crore (Rs 34.934 billion) will be put in for the expenditure of existing projects and the remaining for loan prepayments, said DLF vice chairman Rajiv Singh.
- The company has land reserves of 10,255 acres with an estimated developable area of approximately 574 million square feet
- DLF has also plans to foray into hospitality sector, special economic zones (SEZs), infrastructure and Insurance business, said Singh.
- On the higher side, DLF's current enterprise value stands at Rs 93,743 crore (Rs 937.43 billion => $25 billion(dollars) Marketcap). DLF will occupy the eighth position in terms of market capitalisation ranking, after Reliance Communications (Rs 1,03,110 crore or Rs 1,031.10 billion) and before ICICI Bank (Rs 82,119 crore or Rs 821.19 billion).
- The real estate sector will cross the market capitalisation of Rs 170,000 crore (Rs 1,700 billion) after the DLF listing. The sector will be among the top-ten sectors after telecommunication, oil exploration and power and ahead of pharmaceuticals, steel and engineering sectors

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Risk perception analysis of BOT road project participants in India Despite massive investment opportunities and the establishment of a framework for private sector participation in highway infrastructure development programmes in India, private investment (including foreign direct investment) in this sector is not up to the expected level. A high degree of risk exposure, disagreement on many risk issues among major stakeholders, and the absence of adequate government guarantees have been identified as some of the major reasons for this lukewarm response. This paper discusses the outcome of a risk perception analysis carried out to evaluate the risk criticality, risk management capability, risk allocation/sharing preference, and factors influencing risk acceptance of major stakeholders. A survey was conducted among senior project participants such as government officials, promoters, lenders and consultants of Indian BOT road projects. Eight types of risks have been identified as very critical in the Indian road sector under BOT set up with traffic revenue risk being the most critical. Though there is fair agreement among survey respondents with respect to the risk management capabilities of stakeholders, their preferences of allocations are divergent. The significant factors influencing the risk acceptance of each stakeholder are identified through regression analysis. The study reveals that the factors and their relative influence on the risk acceptance of stakeholders are considerably different.

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