Cairn India forced to cap output from Rajasthan oilfield
21 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: Cairn India has been forced to cap oil production from its Rajasthan fields as the government is delaying approval for plans to raise output by 20 per cent ostensibly because of its standoff with the company's majority shareholder. Cairn India produces 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day (6.25 million tons a year) from Mangala oilfield, the largest among the 15 discoveries in the Rajasthan block RJ-ON-90/1. The company nearly four months ago had told the oil ministry and sector regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) that output from the Mangala field can be raised to 150,000 bpd (7.5 million tons) without any new investment from existing facilities, sources in know of the development said. But the plan has not been approved either by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) which holds 30 per cent interest in the Thar dessert fields, or the DGH, sources said, adding the oil ministry too is sitting on the proposal. India meets 73 per cent of its oil needs through imports not producing 1.25 million tons of crude oil does not agur well for the country's energy security, experts said. Sources said Cairn India has completed drilling 74 wells but is producing oil from only 48 wells. The facilities at the Mangala field can sustain output of 150,000 bpd output. UK's Cairn Energy Plc, which holds 62.38 per cent stake in Cairn India, had on August 16 announced sale of its 40-51 per cent stake in the company to London-listed Vedanta Resources for upto USD 8.48 billion. Industry watchers said Cairn Energy has had differences with the oil ministry on the requirement of prior government consent and the standoff is costing the nation dear of precious oil. Oil Ministry says it will not consider approving Cairn Energy's proposal to sell majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources unless the UK-based firm sheds its selective approach and makes formal application for transfer of control in all its 10 properties in the country. Cairn Energy has so far applied for government nod only its 7 exploration acerage while has kept the three producing properties including the crown jewel Rajasthan fields out of the application. Industry watchers linked the delay in government nod for raising output to this difference between the oil ministry and Cairn Energy. Cairn Energy has so far maintained that it is not contractually bound to seek approval for sale of shareholding in the Indian unit in the Rajasthan block, the Cambay basin gas field and the eastern offshore Ravva oil and gas fields. Sources said the standoff has meant about 30 lakh barrels of crude oil remained inside the earth while the nation spent precious foreign exchange on importing crude oil.
20 Nov 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: Customers in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh can finally buy the Tata Nano directly from show rooms as Tata Motors moves to end booking system for the world’s cheapest car. In October it started open sales of the Rs1-lakh car in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, making it possible for people to purchase the car directly from dealers instead of booking it. “Customers in these states that have not booked a Nano so far can now purchase the Nano directly from showrooms,” the company said in a statement. When it launched the Nano commercially in March 2009, Tata Motors decided to sell the car through a booking mode due to expected huge demand and limited production capacity at Pantnagar in Himachal Pradesh. Tata Motors was forced to move the Nano mother plant to Sanand in Gujarat from Singur in West Bengal following agitations over a land row. The Sanand plant started commercial production in June, helping the company speed up delivery and meet most of the initial bookings done last year. The country’s largest automaker had started open sales of the Nano in Kerala in August when the state celebrated the Onam festival. Tata Motors has tied up with 26 banks including the State Bank of India , HDFC Bank , ICICI Bank and Canara Bank to offer loans for purchasing the Nano, the company said in the statement. “Customers will be able to take a closer look and test drive the Tata Nano across all Tata Motors dealerships and special Nano access points,” it said. Last year, Tata Motors had selected 1.6 lakh customers for delivering the car in two phases. It is in the process of delivering the car to the first one lakh customers, which will be completed by the end of this year. The company has been ramping up production at Sanand and intends to reach 20,000 units per month by December. Incidentally, with some instances of Nano catching fire, sales of the Nano have taken a beating since the past few months.
IOC to pick up 26% stake in NPCIL Kota N-plant for Rs 900 crore
20 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: State-run oil marketing company Indian Oil today said it would invest about Rs 900 crore to pick up a 26 per cent stake in Nuclear Power Corporation’s 1,400-Mw atomic power project at Kota in Rajasthan. “We would join Nuclear Power Corporation by picking up 26 per cent equity for Rs 900 crore in their 1,400-Mw Kota atomic plant,” Indian Oil Chairman and Managing Director B M Bansal told reporters here. Nuclear Power Corporation is setting up a 1,400-Mw (2x700-Mw) nuke plant at Kota in Rajasthan, which is scheduled for completion by 2015-16. “The joint venture agreement would be signed in a month,” Bansal added. IOC would hold 26 per cent equity in the project, which is proposed to be financed by both partners in the debt equity ratio of 70:30. Meanwhile, the company is gearing up for its follow-on public offer in January, through which it expects to raise about Rs 20,000 crore. The government plans to offload 10 per cent of its equity holding in Indian Oil through the FPO and an equal stake would be diluted by the PSU company. Following the stake sale, the government’s holding in IOC would reduce to 64.57 per cent from the existing 78.92 per cent. Indian Oil has hired six investment banks — Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley, SBI Capital and UBS — to manage the public offer. The mega offer is a part of the government’s Rs 40,000 crore disinvestment in this financial year.
Maruti, Hyundai and others not worried over Toyota's Etios
20 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Sharmistha Mukherjee:New Delhi: Toyota Motor Corporation’s competitors in India, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), don’t seem to be losing sleep over the world’s largest automobile manufacturer’s announcement to launch its much-awaited small car, Etios, next month. They are banking on their unique selling proposition (USP), brand strength and distribution network to see through the competition. Sources at Maruti Suzuki said there were no plans to initiate price-cuts or tweak the product line-up to beat competition. “Over 70 per cent of our customers purchase products on recommendation from existing Maruti Suzuki owners. Not only are our prices competitive, our cost of ownership is also lower than others. That is our USP,” they said. HMIL – which registers over 90 per cent of its sales from the compact car segment, with Santro, i10 and i20 – is banking on its brand strength and distribution network to see through the competition. “We are a strong player in the compact car segment, with popular products like the i10 and i20. We are working on expanding our distribution network and would have 460 selling locations by the end of this year, second only to Maruti’s. No one else is close to having this kind of penetration,” a senior executive at HMIL said. Skoda recently introduced a refreshed Fabia in the domestic market with add-on features. The entry-level version costs Rs 29,000 less than the earlier variant and is expected to shore up volumes for the company. Fabia, which was selling around 800 units a month, has over 2,500 bookings, according to company officials. Skoda plans to launch a sedan in the Indian market in the second half of next year. Hyundai, too, is considering a new car to replace Elantra by the end of next year. Etios, to be available in sedan and hatchback versions, will compete with best-selling models from the Maruti Suzuki fold — Dzire and Swift, the benchmark products in the mid-size sedan and premium compact car categories. While the Etios hatchback will cost around Rs 4.3-4.8 lakh, the sedan will be priced between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5.5 lakh. At present, Maruti sells close to 13,000 units of Swift and another 10,000 units of Swift Dzire a month. While Toyota will launch the sedan next month, the hatchback is expected to be rolled out early next year. The car would be Toyota’s cheapest offering in the Indian market after multi-utility vehicle Innova, priced Rs 8.1 lakh onwards. The company intends to sell 70,000 units of Etios in 2011. The compact car segment accounts for over 75 per cent of total passenger car sales in India, and is crowded with a host of offerings from Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Maruti, Honda, Tata and Volkswagen, among others.
19 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Bangalore: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), India’s largest state-run oil exploration company, will invest Rs 500 crore on research and development in the areas of non-conventional energy sources, a top official said. “Achieving energy security for the country was a major challenge to sustain a high growth rate. India is having only 0.5 per cent of the world’s hydrocarbon reserves and it would be difficult to meet the growing energy demand unless alternative and renewable sources were tapped and utilised to minimise our dependency on non-renewable resources like fossil fuels,” said ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma. Addressing India Inc at the National Quality Summit 2010 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here, he said as part of its efforts to achieve energy security for the nation, ONGC has ventured into exploration of shale gas reserves. It is also engaged in tapping non-conventional energy sources like solar, thermal energy, LED (light emitting diode) and fuel cells that emits less carbon. Sharma said ONGC has also set up a 150 Mw wind power plant and the company’s board has recently approved setting up of another 100 Mw wind energy plant. “We are looking at other natural sources to meet the growing energy needs of the country.” “As it would be difficult to meet the increasing energy demand from non-renewable resources such as hydrocarbons, there is an urgent need to shift generation and consumption patterns to renewable sources such as hydel, wind, solar and nuclear fuel,” said Sharma. Though India was about 70 per cent self-sufficient in exploring hydrocarbons and energy fuels during the mid-seventies, the phenomenal demand growth since then has resulted in importing a whopping 80 per cent of its energy needs. In the meantime, domestic production has declined to 20 per cent of the total demand, he observed. He said India’s ability to sustain high growth rate would be determined by the pace of infrastructure development and stability in the country. “Infrastructure development pace and social-political stability in the country will be key to sustain the high growth rate,” Sharma said. “If the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) had to grow over nine per cent per annum, infrastructure bottlenecks should be removed forthwith. Our infrastructure growth has been tardy and rumbling on for years. Like an elephant, it can stumble also. Unless we fix the inherent problems such as land acquisition and time-consuming procedures, early execution of various projects will remain a challenge,” said Sharma in his address at the opening plenary of the three-day annual Quality Summit. He also recalled the negative publicity India had across the world over the inordinate delays in completing infrastructure facilities for the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last month. ‘Populism affecting growth’ PTI adds: Sharma slammed politicians opposing land acquisition for ‘populism’ and said such ideologies, along with poor infrastructure and lack of inclusive growth, would affect India’s quest for sustained economic progress. “Indian democracy (political interference) that comes (in the way) is a stumbling block (for infrastructure growth),” he added.
Third Porsche Centre in the country opens in Hyderabad
18 Nov 2010;deccanherald.com:Hyderabad: Porsche has a new home in South India's growing market for exclusive cars, with the opening of Porsche Centre Hyderabad here today. Along with New Delhi and Mumbai, this becomes the third Porsche Centre in India. The centre is home to the entire Porsche product range, including the latest arrival - the new Porsche Cayenne, Rajiv Sanghvi, Executive Director, Porsche Centre told media persons. With the opening of this centre, Porsche is pursuing its strategy of expanding its presence across India, enabling the car manufacturer to offer its customers a high-end product. Sanghvi further said "We are proud to be selected by Porsche to represent its operations in this key region. We are committed to delivering Sales and After Sales service on par with Porsche global standards." Ashish Chordia, Director of Porsche India said, "We are delighted with the new facility at Hyderabad and look forward to offering our customers outstanding service in this modern facility. Porsche will expand its presence across India with operations to be opened in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi, he said.
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