IOC plans $6 billion refinery in Turkey
New Delhi: India's largest marketer and refiner of petroleum products, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), plans to build a $5-6 billion greenfield refinery at Ceyhan in Turkey, in partnership with Turkish company Callik Energy.
IOC is looking to get 51 pc stake in the 15 million tonne greenfield refinery and may form a joint venture with Callik Energy for this. IOC may also induct some companies from CIS nations in the joint venture.

At present IOC has an agreement with Callik for co-operation in projects in Turkey.

The refinery would predominantly export petroleum products to Europe and the US. However, some of the products would also be sold in Turkey itself.

IOC is also planning to bid for a Turkish petrochemical company, Petkins and is again likely to partner Callik Energy for bidding for the 53 pc stake in the company. Petkins is fully owned by the Turkish government and has cracker units and polymer units.
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Experian begins operations in India
Mumbai: Experian, a leading provider of credit bureau services and solutions, has begun operations in India. Experian said it decided to set up its operations in India after several banks in the country successfully adopted its services.

Initially, Experian will provide value-added information services and using its comprehensive understanding of individuals, markets and economies and will help organisations find, develop and manage customer relationships to make businesses more profitable.

Richard Fiddis, managing director (emerging markets development), Experian said: "Experian's aim is to use its worldwide experience to benefit the local financial community and to be the place where lenders in India look for information, decision analytics and anti-fraud solutions when they have to make a financial decision. We believe our services will provide great value for financial services, retail and telecommunications sectors."
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Nippon, Tata Steel may tie up to make car-use sheet steel
Mumbai: Tata Steel and the world's second largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corporation may tie up to jointly produce car-use sheet steel to meet the growing demand in the country.

The proposed unit would have an annual production capacity of 1 million tonne of auto-grade steel and would require an investment worth Rs1,900 crore. The new plant will be ready for commercial production in three years.

Nippon Steel president Akio Mimura and Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman recently met to discuss the proposed venture.

However, the location of the plant has not been finalized.
The tie up would make Nippon the first Japanese steelmaker to gain access to the fast-growing Indian market and may lead Japanese car makers like Toyota, Suzuki Motor Corp and Honda Motor to up their production capacities in India.

Currently Tata Steel has a technical tie-up Nippon Corporation for the production of automotive steel and the Japanese company is also assisting Tata Steel in planning the layout of its Kalinga Nagar plant in Orissa.
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Parryware Roca earmarks Rs750 crore for expansion and acquisitions
New Delhi: Parryware Roca, a joint venture between the Murugappa Group and global sanitary ware company Roca plans to invest about euro 130 million (Rs750 crore) in 2 years for acquisitions and expansion in India.

The company said it would spend euro 12-15 million each year for both marketing activities and scaling up manufacturing.

The company's acquisition budget for the next two years in the Indian market is about euro 100 million as it is looking at acquiring brands here. The company is looking at out both regional and national brands, which could add value to its portfolio.

Parryware Roca launched its first range of products in the premium segment of the bathroom and sanitary ware solutions priced from Rs1.5 lakh onwards.
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NTPC take $100 million loan from German bank
New Delhi: NTPC has taken a term loan of $100 mn (nearly Rs440 crore) from German banking group KfW to part-finance renovation and modernisation of its power plants.

The loan is an unsecured facility without sovereign guarantee bearing variable interest linked to LIBOR with door-to-door maturity of ten years, an NTPC release said.

NTPC said KfW had earlier routed funding for projects undertaken by the state power company through the Indian government.

NTPC has announced plans to invest Rs1,365 crore for renovation of three power plants - Singrauli, Rihand and Vindhyachal - with a total capacity of over 6,500 MW to enhance their lifespan by up to 25 years.
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Workers not to buy stake in Northern Tata Tea estates
Kolkata: Most of Tata Tea's workers have rejected the company's plan to induct them as shareholders of Amalgamated Plantations, the new company comprising its tea estates in Assam and north Bengal, ahead of the April 1 operational deadline. Tata Tea now plans to proceed with restructuring Amalgamated Plantations with minor or non-existent worker participation.
Amalgamated Plantations was to be formed with Tata Tea, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the commercial lending arm of the World Bank, each holding a 20 per cent stake.
Workers were expected to pick up a 15-20 per cent stake and Mumbai-based consultant Ranjit Bathakur's GMS would have acquired the rest.

With the rejection by the workers Tata Tea, IFC, IL&FS and GMS would acquire the portion earmarked for workers. The entity is valued at Rs359 crore.

As against this, one and a half years ago Tata Tea hived off its south Indian estates to Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company, in favour of workers. Tata Tea holds an 18 per cent stake in the company.

For the workers in Assam the main contention is that once the workers become shareholders, they would not be covered under the Plantations Labour Act under which they can demand gratuity, wage revision, provident fund and ration. As shareholders, they would be part of the management.

Amalgamated Plantations consists of 24 estates, four in West Bengal and 20 in Assam. The estates produce nearly 34.5 million kg of tea and have a turnover of Rs224 crore. They comprise a total area of 24,091 hectares and employ 31,800 people.
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DCM Shriram to hive off rural retail business
New Delhi: The board of DCM Shriram Consolidated (DSCL) has decide to hive off its rural retail business Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar into a subsidiary which would subsequently be listed on the stock markets after its operations been expanded from the current 65 outlets to 200-250 in 12-15 months.

After the hiveoff, the company plans to offer its employees stock options to key employees to retain them.

The company would spend Rs150 to Rs180 crore on the expansion of the Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar which would be primarily funded through the internal accruals. The board has sought shareholders' permission for the hiveoff and Shriram plans to set up the subsidiary in the next year. Last year, the Australian Wheat Board had approached the Shrirams to buy a stake in the venture, though nothing had materialized.
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E&Y advises fresh bids for Sasan power project
New Delhi: Ernst & Young (E&Y), which is acting as financial consultant to the 4,000 MW Sasan ultra mega power project in Madhya Pradesh, has recommended that fresh bids be invited for the project and that Lanco-Globeleq combine (now Lanco-Jindal) be annulled.

E&Y has made this recommendation even as it is under fire for clearing the original bid.

The consultants have told the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the nodal agency for implementing the project, that Globeleq of Singapore had misrepresented financial and technical details.

Sources said all the bidders were required to submit details such as capacity and surplus cash flow of the companies participating in the bid. This included subsidiaries and associate companies in which they own 25 per cent or more.

This information was to be certified by the board of directors and a chartered accountant.

The Lanco-Globeleq bid was accepted because it was signed by the board of Globeleq Singapore and a chartered accountant.

Official sources, however, say E&Y will have to assume some responsibility for the fiasco, which threatens to delay the project.
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Cairn India offers to bear cost of transporting crude
New Delhi: Cairn India said it is willing to bear the major part of the cost involved in building a pipeline to transport crude from its Rajasthan fields. With this announcement all uncertainties pertaining to the proposed pipeline to transport the crude from Cairn India's Rajasthan fields, are likely to come to an end.

It is proposed that the pipeline will fall within the definition of the field development activities and will accordingly be funded 70 per cent by Cairn India and 30 per cent by ONGC Cairn India said. By resolving this issue, Cairn's crude can access domestic refineries. Lack of clarity on commercial issues such as crude evacuation from the fields, crude quality and pricing of the crude were some of the issues that have been adversely affecting the company's performance in the domestic stock market.

Cairn and ONGC plan to lay a 600-km pipeline from Barmer, Rajasthan to the Gujarat coast at an estimated cost of $700-800 million. The pipeline is proposed to have a connecting point to Indian Oil Corporation's terminal in Gujarat from where the crude can be carried to its Koyali and Panipat refineries. The pipeline will take 12-15 months for construction and will come up around the same time when the Rajasthan field begins oil production in 2009.
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MMTC projects Rs18,100 crore turnover
New Delhi: MMTC is projecting a turnover of Rs18,100 crore and gross margin of Rs200 crore for the next fiscal.

MMTC has recently signed an MoU with the Department of Commerce in which it has indicated targets for different parameters pertaining to customer satisfaction, innovation and project implementation. The MoU covers schedule for commissioning of 15 MW wind energy farm, entry into retail business, power trading and coal mining as well as setting up 21 new franchisees for its 92.5 per cent sterling silverware products under the Sanchi brand. A sales turnover target of $400 million has also been laid down in the MoU with respect to MMT's overseas subsidiary, MTPL, based in Singapore.
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