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CMIE downgrades car sales growth to 7 per cent in 2005
New Delhi: The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy on Monday downgraded overall car sales growth projection from the earlier 14 per cent to 7 per cent.

"There has been an across-the-board slowdown in car sales during the first four months of 2005-06. We expect a marginal pick up in demand in the second half, but it may not be as high as we had anticipated earlier. We now believe that car sales will grow by about 7 per cent during the year," CMIE said in its latest report.

The report pointed out that cumulative growth up to July was 4.9 per cent compared to 21 per cent last year.

CMIE said the compact and mid-sized cars, which account for about 80 per cent of total cars sold domestically, witnessed substantial slowdown during the current fiscal.

While the compact cars grew by 12.2 per cent in April-July 2005 as against 38 per cent in the corresponding period last year, mid-size cars sales slowed down to 13.9 per cent compared to 30.6 per cent growth during April-July 2004, it said.

The report said even demand for the price inelastic executive and premium categories was also impacted with the the respective categories registering negative growth of 24.10 per cent and 5.95 per cent in April-July 2005 as compared to the same period last year.

While sounding not so bullish on the prospects of the auto sector in the short-term, CMIE said the long-term prospects were very bright.

"Although the short-term prospects of the car market may not seem very bright, the long term prospects are positive. India is becoming an increasingly important market for foreign auto companies," it said.
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Mittal Steel drops ore export proposal for its steel plant in Jharkhand
New Delhi: Mittal Steel has withdrawn its proposal to export 30% of the iron ore earmarked for its 12mt Jharkhand plant through a letter to the State government. This change in position paves the way for a MoU to be inked by the first week of October.

Mittal Steel had proposed a swap deal to meet the ore requirements of its US$10bn plant by exporting ore equivalent to its imports of superior ore.

Confirming the development, Sudhir Mittal, corporate treasurer of Mittal Steel, said: "We have decided to withdraw the ore export clause to respect local sentiments and the national aspiration of protecting ore for local companies. The state government has appointed legal consultants and we hope to finalise the proposal in six months."

Mittal Steel's decision to rework the proposal comes close on the heels of Tata Steel finalising the MoU with the state government for its mega plant on being assured of access to the rich ore deposits in the Chiria mines.

Mittal Steel will, however, retain its option of importing superior ore to meet quality requirements. The company, which will need about 20m tonnes of ore a year, has been assured that its plant too will have access to the Chiria mines.
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Idea posts net profit of Rs.76 crore for 2005
Mumbai: Idea Cellular, the country's fifth-biggest wireless operator, has posted a net profit of Rs76 crore in FY05 and according to company officials it aims to take its turnover to more than Rs3,000 crore in FY06. Idea's subscriber base has crossed the 6mn mark and is likely to touch 7mn by March'06, officials said.

The AVBirla group (ABG) recently hiked its stake in Idea Cellular to close to 50% by buying a portion of US cellular operator Cingular's stake through Indian Rayon (now called Aditya Birla Nuvo) at Rs17.5 per share.

The proposed merger of Indo-Gulf with Indian Rayon will consolidate the AV Birla holding in Idea under one entity, the newly-christened Aditya Birla Nuvo. Idea took over Escotel last year gaining additional subscribers and entry into newer circles. According to ABG officials the group is keen on retaining its shareholding in Idea. Idea's subscriber numbers have risen to about 6mn from less than 2mn in FY03, while revenue has grown to just over Rs2,000 crore from less than Rs1,000 crore in the same period.

The company's earnings before interest, depreciation, and tax more than doubled to Rs874 crore in FY05.
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W.Bengal takes up Metal Box rehabilitation issue with BIFR
Kolkata: The West Bengal Government has taken up the issue of the non-implementation of Metal Box India Ltd's (MBIL) updated rehabilitation scheme, particularly in respect of the company's units located in the State, with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

In a letter to the BIFR, the State Industrial Reconstruction Department has said that four years have elapsed since the updating of the AAIFR-sanctioned modified revival scheme for MBIL's units in the State but the management is yet to initiate the revival process in compliance with the Delhi High Court/AAIFR and as envisaged in the modified scheme.

A scheme for rehabilitation of MBIL covering all units located in different parts of the country was originally prepared by ICICI Ltd, which was the Operating Agency appointed by BIFR.

The scheme was subsequently updated, finalised, and sanctioned by AAIFR as per its order dated August 18, 2000 following a Delhi High Court order.

The West Bengal Government said that despite its offer of relief and concessions as admissible under its policy guidelines including grant of a soft loan of Rs 5 crore, there has been no sincere effort on the part of the management to initiate measures as outlined in the rehabilitation package.
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Bharti opts out of airport modernisation bid
New Delhi: The Bharti Group on Monday expressed its inability to participate in the bid for the modernization of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. According to sources this development has taken place because of its failure to secure a performance guarantee commitment from its foreign partner Changi Enterprises.

Of the eight bidders, six have already confirmed participation with the Civil Aviation ministry. The other joint venture yet to confirm participation are Piramal and L&T, with Hochtief Airport as their foreign partner.

In a statement today, the Bharti group said it was unable to participate in the bid as Changi Airport of Singapore had conveyed that they were not confident about meeting the conditions set in the tender.
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Accenture's India centre to mark higher growth
Chennai: Accenture, a US$14bn global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has formally inaugurated its Chennai delivery centre.

Karl-Heinz Floether, Group Chief Executive (Technology and Delivery), Accenture, said globally this year the company recruited around 40,000 employees, and of this 30 per cent were in India. There will be higher growth in locations such as India compared to other centres globally, he told newspersons.

As on August 31 globally Accenture had 115,000 employees. In India, the company had around 15,000, including 5,000 in BPO (business process outsourcing), in Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai, says a company press release.

According to Basilio Rueda, managing partner, Global Delivery Network, India plays a significant role for Accenture, and is a flagship to serve global clients. There was a tremendous pool of capable people, which the company was leveraging, he said.
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Gujarat NRE launches coal trading portal
New Delhi: Gujarat NRE Coke has launched an Internet-based coal trading portal coalrx.com. The company plans to auction one million tonnes of coal through this portal during the current financial year, the vice-chairman and managing director of the company, Arun Kumar Jagatramka, told newspersons here.

The company is already running a steel trading portal steelrx.com.
He also said that the company has acquired 5 per cent strategic stake in the Australian coal producing company, Resource Pacific Holdings Ltd, for A$8.1mn (Rs27.4 crore). This is the third coal mine acquired by the company in Australia, he added.

Resource Pacific owns and operates the Newpac No. 1 Colliery situated in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales and contains one of the largest identified semi-soft coking coal reserves in the region.

According to the agreement between Gujarat NRE and Resource Pacific, the former will lift at least a minimum of 5 million tonnes of coal over the next 10 years, Jagatramka said. Resource Pacific has a target of producing 4 million tonnes of coal annually following completion of its longwall expansion and Gujarat NRE Coke will begin the purchase of coal in 2006, he said.

The new portal will enable the company to sell coal produced in its Australian mines to small and medium sized non-core sector consumers in India.
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