CIER study says soft drink consumption is low in India
New Delhi: A report on Emerging Market Trends 2000-01, prepared by the Centre for Industrial and Economic Research (CIER) has said that despite heavy advertising, per capita consumption of soft drinks in India continues to be low.

According to the report, a supplement to CIER's publication on Market Forecasts and Indicators 1997-2007, India consumes about five bottles per person per year way behind other countries such as the Philippines, where consumption per person is about 150 bottles a year and at 120 bottles per person in the UK.. Other countries such as Pakistan at 30, Thailand at 38 and Sri Lanka at 23 bottles consumed per person per annum, rank above that of India. One of the reasons inhibiting growth could be the high excise duty on soft drinks in India, which again was higher than in other regions, the report said.

According to Dr S.R. Mohnot, executive chairman, CIER despite lot of activity in the segment, the soft drink segment has not grown to its potential size. The industry grew in by a healthy eight per cent in the last financial year, but going by the size of country's GDP, the soft drink segment had a much greater potential for growth.
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Reliance completes $150 m loan refinance
New Delhi: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), one of India’s largest private sector companies, has successfully completed refinance of its $150 million euromarket syndicated loan.

According to a Bank of America statement the loan, with a residual maturity of 1.75 years and a margin of 45 basis points over dollar on six-month libor, will save 30 basis points per annum over the previous loan. The Bank of America along with the ABN Amro Bank and Citi Bank are the three mandated arrangers to the transaction.

The transaction was well received by the market with 15 banks from nine different countries inking the deal on January 5, the bank statement said. Among other banks, which signed the pact to become the final arrangers included Bank of Baroda, Mizuho Financial Group (FIJI Bank), Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and Tokyo-Mitusbishi International.
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