Latest News Update

Cyan Holdings and Larsen Toubro L T has enter into a Partnership Agreement to provide Indian Utility customers with Advanced Metering Infrastructure products Cyan Holdings plc the integrated system design company delivering wireless solutions for lighting control and utility metering has formed a strategic partnership with L T to collaborate in the development L T is a recognized leader in the Energy and Utilities sector with proven products and a tier 1 reputation said Bijan Mohandes Vice President - World Wide Sales and Marketing Cyan Technology We are very pleased to be partnering with L T By using Cyan s wireless modules incorporating CyLec L T Meters will be capable of interoperable two-way communication and remote collection of metering data and control of the meters Both parties have identified a number of projects in India where there is a need for 865MHz based interoperable Wireless AMI with a short term requirement for end to end communications enabling remote tamper detection and reporting Both have entered into this strategic alliance as they believe that this technology is likely to become a major factor in the fast growing Indian electricity metering market The alliance with L T is in line with Cyan s strategy of building strategic partnerships with key established players in India

This morning Bangladeshi media and other sites reported the hacking of our website They reported that this is some sort of cyber-war a group identified as BANGLADESH BLACK HAT HACKERS said it has hacked 56 sites including some important website of Indian government on January 25-2012 and kept complete control over it till January 28-2012 We vehemently deny hacking of our website This is an attempt to malign our image and credibility We reassure our users that our site is secure and all user data is completely safe We will take precautionary measure to safeguard our interest and secure our user data

Unity Infraprojects which is the flagship company of the Mumbai based KK Group of Companies has interests in various businesses such as concrete block manufacturing and quarrying hotel and retailing industries Unity Infraprojects Ltd is in talks with private equity PE firms to raise Rs 1 75 billion under two special purpose vehicles SPVs and expects deals to be closed over the next three months the Press Trust of India reported citing Chief Financial Officer Madhav Nadkarni We are in talks with a couple of private equity firms for raising Rs 175 crore Rs 1 75 billion under two SPVs at the project level I hope to finalize the deals in 2-3 months Nadkarni told Unity Infra has identified a real estate and a transportation project for dilution of stakes to the PE firms he said We have signed the non-disclosure agreement and hence I will not be able to disclose the identity of the projects and the private equity firms he said The current order book of Unity Infraprojects stands at over Rs 44 billion and Nadkarni believes that it is expected to go up to between Rs 45 billion to Rs 50 billion by the end of current quarter Nadkarni also informed that the firm is also looking at entering Sri Lanka and South Africa to expand its footprints and expects that over the next 2 to 3 years a good part of the company s revenue would come from the overseas market

KEC International a billion dollar global infrastructure EPC major has secured orders for supply and construction of transmission lines in Gujarat and West Bengal It has secured two new orders worth Rs371 crore for the construction of terminal lines in India The first order is estimated at Rs258 crore has been received from Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd The order is for the supply construction of 400 kV circuit transmission line from Bhachau Kutch district to Essar thermal power station in Gujarat The second order is estimated at Rs113 crore has been received from Haldia Energy Ltd The order is for supply and construction of 400 kV circuit river crossing transmission line between Haldia thermal power plant and Subhash Gram crossing the Ganga at Kolkata

DLF is in talks to sell 18 billion rupees equivalent 357 million worth of non-core assets in the fiscal year that begins in April the Economic Times reported on Thursday as the company looks to reduce debt DLF is close to finalize a joint venture agreement with an undisclosed Japanese company for the Indian developer s convention centre project in New Delhi in a deal worth 8 billion rupees a senior DLF executive was quoted as saying The executive also said DLF had started negotiations with investors to raise 10 billion rupees through the sale of its wind power business A DLF spokesman declined to comment on the report when contacted DLF had a net debt of 225 19 billion rupees at the end of September and the company has sought to raise as much as 650 million by selling non-core assets to reduce its debt pile

Dalmia Bharat Enterprises Ltd that its subsidiary Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd had approved the acquisition of up to 50 percent stake of Calcom Cement India Ltd for an aggregate investment amount of Rs 238 crore Such investment would be made by way of various tranches through a combination of new issuances and acquisitions and subject to the various terms and conditions set out in the definitive documentation the company said Calcom Cement India is a manufacturer of OPC and PPC cement based out of Assam and is currently expanding its consolidated cement manufacturing capacity to 2 1mt p a

Despite the glut in the cement industry Shree Cement the largest cement player in the North has placed equipment orders of nearly Rs 700 crore for its kiln unit in Rajasthan even projects amounting to more than Rs 13 000 crore are running behind schedule In the current financial year only two cement manufacturers have placed kiln orders for increasing capacity Hari Mohan Bangur managing director Shree Cement said We have placed order of close to Rs 700 crore for our 1 5 million tonne per annum plant in Ras Rajasthan The construction work has already started on the site and we expect it to complete by next year The company has placed the order with Cologne-based KHD Humboldt for a 4500 tonne per day or 1 5 mtpa plant kiln unit Shree Cement has the largest single-location integrated cement plant in North India located in Rajasthan with an installed capacity of 13 million tonne While North accounts for 72 per cent of its volumes the rest is from the central India Last quarter the company commissioned 150 mega watt MW the first phase of its 300 MW merchant power plant The second phase will be comissioned by December 2012 In April last year the company had decided to revive its plans to launch a 2 million tonne per annum clinkerisation unit near Raipur in Chattisgarh The company has not placed any orders yet for this plant but it has started the land acquisition process in the state This will be the first time Shree Cement will venture outside Rajasthan According to a report by Fortune Group released in December 28 says Slowdown in capacity additions in the North is resulting in a likely deficit situation The region remains a large supplier to both central and western regions The only other order which was placed this year was by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group s cement arm Reliance Cement of 10 000 tonne per day which has issued letters of intent LoIs for equipments for its Satna I unit in Madhya Pradesh The LoI was issued to European engineering majors Polysius FL Smidth and Loesche

Pratibha Industries Ltd has won orders worth Rs 772 Crores in Building and Water Management sections Company s Building Division secured a contract worth Rs 153 Crores from Rustomjee Realty Pvt Ltd for the Civil and Structural work of Residential Buildings at Upper Juhu D N Nagar Andheri W Mumbai The work is scheduled for completion within 26 months The scope of the work includes construction of total built up area of approximately 14 lakh square feet an ultra-modern residential complex in Andheri Company has even secured other project from Tata Housing Development Company Ltd worth Rs 136 Crores not including the cost of cement steel and shuttering for its project named Tata Amantra The work inlcudes construction of 23 buildings at Kalyan near Mumbai having a total built up area of around 30 lakhs square feet This work is expected to complete within 27 months As far as the water segment of the Company is concerned it has secured two cash contracts first one from Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd worth Rs 403 Crores which calls for laying of 63 km of large-diameter cross-country pipelines to supply water from Dhanki to Chuli under the Swarnim Gujarat Kutch Water Grid programme along with intake arrangement pumping machinery other electro-mechanical equipment accessories instrumentation control etc This work is expected to complete in 12 months The Company has secured its second international order and first in Bangladesh from the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority which is worth Rs 80 Crores This contract was won by the company in consortium with Jain Irrigation System Ltd Navana Construction Ltd which includes rehabilitation of distribution networks which is scheduled to complete in 350 days

Real estate giant DLF along with its joint venture partner Hubtown has sold DLF Ackruti Info Parks an IT special economic zone in Pune to private equity firm Blackstone for Rs 810 crore 153 million Amarchand Mangaldas advised the sellers with a team led by Partner Harry Chawla along with Principal Associate Niti Paul Senior Associates Medha Srivastava and Vishwanath Pratap Singh J Sagar Associates advised Blackstone with a team led by Partners Akshay Chudasama Ashoo Gupta and Jay Gandhi According to VCCircle DLF Ackruti Info Parks is a 25 acre SEZ with a built-up area of nearly 2 5 million sq ft DLF and Hubtown held 67 percent and 33 percent equity shares respectively in the company The transaction is in line with DLF s recent moves to divest non-strategic assets to raise money for cutting its outstanding debt In a recent transaction DLF Home Developers has sold its subsidiary Haamid Real Estates to M3M India for Rs 430 crore 83 25 million Haamid Real Estates holds approximately 27 acres of licenced land in Sector 70- A Gurgaon to develop a group housing colony Amarchand advised DLF with a team led by Partner Mrinal Kumar along with Senior Associate Avnish Sharma Last year Private equity giant Blackstone had bought 37 percent stake of Manyata Promoters a company jointly promoted by Bangalore-based real estate firm Embassy Property Developments and Reddy Veeranna for around 200 million Rs 900 crore valuing the company at around 550 million

Pratibha Industries Limited is planning to sell its saw pipes manufacturing business in order to reduce cost and improve net profit margin In Oct 2010 ChrysCapital invested R50Cr 11 35 Mn in Pratibha Industries Ltd It made preferential allotment of equity shares and CCPPS to Van Dyck a subsidiary of ChrysCapital V LLC for R92 per equity share and CCPPS of face value up to R92 According to Pratibha Industries group director and head marketing Yogen Lal the SAW pipe manufacturing plant has machines and equipment worth R50-60 crore and is working on orders worth the equivalent number Established in 1982 by Ajit B Kulkarni Pratibha Industries is engaged in infrastructure construction and executing projects on a turnkey basis in water transmission and distribution projects water treatment plants elevated and underground reservoirs mass housing projects commercial complexes pre-cast design and construction road construction real estate properties and airports According to Financial Express the company had witnessed a reduction in net profit margin to 5 02 in the first half of this fiscal against 5 1 a year ago The saw pipe manufacturing plant is located at Wada with manufacturing capacity to 92000 pipes tpa

Nearly 500 people Wednesday blocked the entry points of Century Cement s production unit in Chhattisgarh to protest rising prices of cement police said Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party BJP as well as the opposition Congress reached the cement plant in Tilda area of Raipur with over 500 locals and stopped the company staff from going to work The protesters also did not allow the company officials to transport the cement bags out of the factory Terming the situation as alarming Raipur District Superintendent of Police Dipanshu Kabra said police presence has been beefed up at the protest site BJP legislator Devjibhai Patel who is organising the blockade along with Congress leader Vidhan Mishra told IANS that they would organise the economic blockade one by one at the plants of all the seven leading cement manufactures including Lafarge India Ambuja Cement Grasim and UltraTech Cement All the cement manufacturers in India s leading cement producing state of Chhattisgarh will have to face a strong economic blockade because they have formed a cartel and have been consistently raising prices though there is no rise in raw materials and labour cost Patel said He said a cement bag which cost Rs 190 in September was now priced at Rs 280 He said the blockade would be lifted only after the companies agree in writing to dissolve the cartel and reduce their cement prices The cement companies have been tightlipped over the issue

The Bangalore-based GMR group is likely to sign two MoUs with the Andhra Pradesh government during the Partnership Summit which begins here on Thursday While one will be for a refinery project proposed in Kakinada the other will be for the development of a Special Economic Zone SEZ project These are expected to be signed during the summit The size of the investment committed for the refinery project by the company is around Rs 25 000 crore according to state government officials However a GMR official when contacted refused to comment on these details The proposal to set up a refinery project by the GMR group first came up four years ago when the company had replaced public sector ONGC by acquiring a majority stake in an 8 000-acre industrial park project KSEZ meant for refinery and downstream operations near the port town of Kakinada The company last year maintained it was scouting for partners for the refinery project GMR group chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao is likely to sign the MoUs on behalf of the company according to officials Coinciding with GMR s revised interest in the refinery sector two more companies -- one from Kuwait and other from Abu Dhabi -- are also expected to sign MoUs with the state government for setting up two refinery projects during the event The combined investment for the three refinery projects would be over Rs 60 000 crore said a senior industries department official here on Tuesday The officials have now ticked off another refinery project which was supposed to be relocated from the US by a Hyderabad-based company stating there were remote chances for it to materialise However the two overseas companies from West Asia have a sound financial background and we are hopeful that they would take the MoUs to their logical end said the official The state government recently said about 140 proposals with a total investment of over Rs 3 14 lakh crore had been lined up for signing MoUs at the Partnership Summit being co-hosted by the commerce ministry AP government and the Confederation of Indian Industry CII

India s Aditya Birla group which owns UltraTech Cement Ltd and Shree Cement Ltd are considering buying Lafarge S A s cement business in South Africa the Business Standard reported Monday citing unnamed sources The enterprise value of Lafarge s business may be close to 800 million- 900 million the newspaper reported Lafarge is restructuring its global operations by selling some of its assets to retire debt the report said

IRB Infrastructure Developers plans to claim a compensation of around Rs 60-70 crore from the National Highway Authority of India for terminating its contract for a Goa road project after the latter could not acquire land for it Road projects have faced delays due to issues relating to land acquisition environmental clearances and right of way but this is only the second instance in the last two years where a project has been cancelled due to NHAI s inability to acquire land We haven t yet received a compensation claim from IRB But if this happens it would be the first time where a developer seeks compensation for a project cancelled due to land acquisition problem We will have to examine our liability in the case a senior NHAI official told ET On December 23 IRB said that NHAI has cancelled the Goa road project that it had won in January 2010 Although IRB had written off the project from its order book in the quarter ended September in view of the inordinate delay in the project the cancellation news had a negative impact on the shares of the company IRB shares have shed almost 10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange since the announcement as against a 1 4 decline in the benchmark index Sensex in the same period Analysts said that the news of a compensation would only be a minor relief for the investors The contract allows us to claim 150 of the equity investment of Rs 34 crore in the project We may also claim compensation for the Rs 10-15 crore we spent on the financial closure and other work related to the project IRB s Chief Financial Officer Anil Yadav said IRB had formed a special purpose vehicle IRB Goa Tollway Pvt to execute the project which will claim the compensation for the project which entailed four-laning of the Panaji- Goa stretch of Goa -Karnataka Border road At the time of winning the project the company had said that it would cost Rs 800 crore of which Rs 186 30 crore would be the grant from government Typically at the time of awarding a project NHAI owns almost 80 of the land required for it while it acquires the balance within six months According to NHAI land acquisition has been most difficult in Goa Kerala and West Bengal

BPTP is buying back Merrill Lynch s 49 stake in it s Crest IT park project in Gurgaon Located on Gurgaon s NH- 8 in Udyog Vihar - IV the park is a 6 5 lakh sqft project Merrill Lych had invested 27 mn R112Cr for a 49 stake in the SPV Vital Construction Pvt Ltd in March 2007 BPTP has it s corporate building in the same building BPTP was talking to Tishman Speyer to sell the entire building for about R425Cr but the deal didnt go through According to ET BPTP recently raised R270Cr through lease rent discounting of the 625 000-sq-ft office building in Gurgaon that has tenants such as Deloitte and Fidelity BPTP is using a part of this money to buy back Merrill Lynch s stake in the project Last month BPTP raised R170Cr in BPTP s residential Gurgaon township project - Astaire Gardens spread over 102 2 acres through its 265Mn Kotak India Real Estate Fund1 raised three years ago BPTP was founded in 2003 Since inception the company has developed 10mn sqft of commercial and residential spaces in Delhi NCR Citi Property Investment has invested in BPTP at entity level and it s MD - David Hamilton Schaefer is on the Board of BPTP According to ET BPTP recently raised R270Cr through lease rent discounting of the 625 000-sq-ft office building in Gurgaon that has tenants such as Deloitte and Fidelity BPTP is using a part of this money to buy back Merrill Lynch s stake in the project Last month BPTP raised R170Cr in BPTP s residential Gurgaon township project - Astaire Gardens spread over 102 2 acres through its 265Mn Kotak India Real Estate Fund1 raised three years ago

Indian engineering and construction firm Hindustan Construction Company has bagged Rs 289 crore US 54 47 million contract from the Gujarat government for construction of bulk water transmission system the company has received an EPC engineering procurement and construction contract from Gujarat Water Infrastructure government of Gujarat for construction of bulk water transmission system from Dhanki to Maliya the company said in a filing to the BSE on Tuesday The contract the filing said is to be completed in one year from the date of issue of the order The value of the contract is Rs 289 crore The project is to be completed in 12 months from the date of issue of this order HCC said HCC is a business group of global scale developing and building responsible infrastructure through next practices HCC has a history that dates to the 1920 s when pioneering industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand had constructed the Borghat Railway Tunnel on the Bombay Poona railway line a project that changed the perception that Indians had no ability to carry out big projects Incidentally the Borghat Tunnel continues to serve this rail route even today Subsequently in 1926 Seth Walchand founded the Hindustan Construction Company Over the years HCC has built many of modern India s most challenging infrastructure projects including the Bandra Worli Sea Link the hill city of Lavasa the Mumbai - Pune Expressway India s largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam Tamil Nadu and high-altitude hydro power projects in the Himalayas HCC today has a knowledge asset of more than 3 000 officers including 1 715 engineers It employs more than 32 000 workers at its 50 plus project sites across India

KEC International Ltd has secured new orders valued at INR 1 253 crore While INR 723 crore worth orders are in the transmission segment orders for INR 253 crore are for substation works INR 123 crore for water supply works INR 105 crore for supply of power and telecom cables and INR 49 crore from Power Grid Corporation for optical cable laying for communication in the eastern region KEC International a flagship company of RPG Group is a diversified global infrastructure Engineering Procurement and Construction EPC major It has significant presence in the verticals of Power Transmission Power Systems Railways Telecom Water and Manufacturing of Cables Towers In last six decades the Company has powered infrastructure development on turnkey basis in over 45 countries across South Asia Middle East Africa Central Asia and Americas It is a billion dollar turnover company with world leadership in Power Transmission EPC business

Earlier this month Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare cement as controlled item and bring it under the purview of Essential Commodities Act to make the commodity cheaper in the state Ahead of assembly elections Himachal Pradesh is witnessing politics being played by Congress and BJP on the cement price issue While the crucial meeting between chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and representatives of cement companies is being held on Thursday a war of words has already erupted between leaders of the two parties As the meetings between industries minister Kishan Kapoor and cement companies in the past failed to bring out any solution all eyes are now set on Thursday s meeting as government has taken a firm stand this time to ensure a minimum price decrease of Rs 30 per bag Congress general secretary Kuldeep Rathore said that the state government has failed to reduce cement rates He said that requesting the Union government to bring cement under controlled items list is nothing but a tactical move to avoid criticism The state government should fix cement prices on the pattern of Punjab he said Cement companies are sponsoring cricket tournaments being organized by HPCA whose president is chief minister s son Anurag Thakur which is why the state government is not reducing the cement prices he alleged Expressing surprise over statements being made by Congress leaders including state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur and CLP leader Vidya Stokes BJP state president Khimi Ram Sharma said that cement was removed from the list of controlled items in 1989 by none other than Congress Khimi Ram said the state government is serious about bringing down the cement prices which reflects from the recent letter written by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to Union government On Thursday CM is holding a meeting with cement companies on the issue and we expect some positive outcome he added

Hindustan Construction Company Ltd has received a Letter of Acceptance LOA for a contract valued Rs 289 crore to construct a bulk water transmission system for Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd It said it has bagged Rs 289 crore contract from the Gujarat government to construct bulk water transmission system HCC has received a letter of acceptance LOA for a Rs 289 crore contract to construct a bulk water transmission system for Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd a government of Gujarat undertaking the company said in a regulatory filing The work involves construction of a 57-km long water transmission pipeline between Dhanki and Maliya villages under the Swarnim Gujarat Saurastra-Kutch water grid programme it added At the Bombay Stock Exchange the shares of the company closed 7 27 per cent up at Rs 17 70 The project which is to be completed in 12 months also involves commissioning and maintenance for 5 years

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday imposed a cost of Rs2 lakh on realty major DLF while dismissing its plea against the Securities and Exchange Board of India s SEBI order to probe an allegation that it duped a city-based businessman of Rs34 crore in collusion with its associate firm Sudipti Estates reports PTI Justice Vipin Sanghi turned down DLF s plea against the market regulator s order saying I dismiss the writ petition with costs quantified at Rs2 lakh Cost to be paid within four weeks The judge dismissed the DLF plea saying the SEBI order against it was based on reasons A perusal of the impugned order of SEBI shows that it certainly cannot be said that it has been passed arbitrarily or is irrational The impugned order is clearly based on reasons which are relevant and material it said DLF in its petition had sought quashing of SEBI s order issued on 20th October for investigation into the allegations of complainant Kimsuk Krishna Sinha in 2007 against it and Sudipti Estates The court in its 61 page judgement said the SEBI Act has not put any bar on the market regulator to consider any evidence to form its opinion to order an investigation There is no bar or impediment cast on the board by the SEBI Act to say that it would not entertain or look into evidence that the complainant may rely upon in support of his complaint made earlier while considering whether or not to direct an investigation it said The high court said SEBI s powers should not be restricted as it has been created to look into the issues pertaining to stock exchanges There is no reason to put any such fetter on the powers of the board or to read such restrictions into the statute which are clearly not there The board is the sole authority created by law to deal with the complex issues which arise in the management and supervision of the securities markets Any such restrictions artificially introduced would denude the Board of its powers and hamper its functioning it said DLF had in its petition said SEBI s order was passed erroneously and in blatant non-compliance with the principle of natural justice The court however rejected the plea The court also rejected the contention of DLF s alleged associate Sudipti that SEBI has no authority to investigate its role as the firm s shares have not been traded through the stock exchanges on which the regulator enjoys powers

Punj Lloyd has received a letter of intent from GMR Projects Private Limited for undertaking design engineering procurement and construction of 124 km of six lane of Chittorgarh bypass to Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan Worth Rs 10 50bn the project is scheduled for commissioning in 36 months and has been awarded to Punj Lloyd on a turnkey fixed EPC price basis The scope of work for the project includes design and construction The project forms part of phase V of the National Highways Development Programme of the NHAI for upgrading the existing four lane section to six lane Punj Lloyd is currently executing another EPC order for GMR Hyderabad Vijayawada Expressways Private Limited for NHAI The Group has successfully and timely executed many NHAI projects in Rajasthan the famous Jaipur bypass and four-laning and strengthening of 65 km of NH-76 with rigid flexible pavement to name a few With this contract the order backlog for the Punj Lloyd Group on a consolidated basis has gone up to Rs 28 725 crores reflecting the total value of unexecuted orders as on September 30 2011 and the orders received after that day

Larsen and Toubro on Monday has locked the orders worth Rs 2 056 Cr As per the recent updates The water and effluent treatment business of the company has locked two major orders collective of Rs 1 262 crore from Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board and Raipur Vikas Pradhikaran Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board order is for a combined water supply scheme at various locations in Madurai Sivaganga and Vellore districts in the state While Raipur Vikas Pradhikaran order is for the construction of underground storm-water pipelines sewerage water supply and other associated works at Raipur

Ambuja Cements reported a rise of 7 30 in December 2011 cement production at 1 91 million tons from 1 78 million tons for December 2010 Meanwhile dispatches were at 1 93 million tons compared with 1 82 million tons registering an increase of 6 04 For January-December 2011 period cement production and dispatches were 20 96 million tons and 20 95 million tons respectively compared with 20 12 million tons and 20 12 million tons respectively in the corresponding period last year

DLF Ltd is close to finalizing a deal to sell its hospitality business to China s HNA Group the Financial Express newspaper reported Tuesday citing sources it didn t name The real estate company will sell Aman Resorts for around 24 billion rupees 452 million in a deal which will be finalized by Jan 15 the report said DLF India s biggest property developer by sales has been looking for buyers for Aman Resorts for some time now However the sale excludes New Delhi s Aman Hotel which DLF will retain the newspaper said adding that Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have been mandated to advise DLF The HNA Group has interests in tourism transportation financial services real estate and airports the report said

Builders and contractors have always argued and publically expressed that the cement prices are being manipulated by manufacturers However many market analysts believe that such manipulation in cement price is mostly done by the cartel of distributors and retailers and not by the manufacturers Today Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare cement as controlled item and bring it under the purview of Essential Commodities Act to make the commodity cheaper in the state In a letter to the Prime Minister Dhumal said it is a matter of concern that cement produced in Himachal is cheaper in Punjab and Haryana than that of its producing state The Chief Minister said the problem of higher price of cement in the state started after the commodity was decontrolled in 2002 and exempted from the purview of Essential Commodities Act to facilitate market competition In a free market economy it was assumed that the market forces would throw up the ideal retail selling price of cement at any given location on account of competition amongst several suppliers but this did not happen he said Such ideal free market conditions did not exist at any locations in Himachal the three major cement manufacturing companies in the state had been fixing retail prices at various locations in an arbitrary and irrational manner and as a result cement was cheaper in neighbor states and costly in the producing state Dhumal said The inherent question remains who should control the price of a construction commodity such as cement - the market forces the government or cartel of manufacturers and distributors Should the cement price across the India be same

Realty major DLF and its joint venture partner Hubtown have off loaded their entire stake in the Pune IT special economic zone SEZ Private equity major Blackstone has bought the 11 83-hectare DLF Ackruti Info Parks for Rs 810 crore Originally DLF had a 67 per cent in it while 33 per cent was with Hubtown The exit comes in the wake of a September 19 nod by the board of approval BoA in the commerce ministry to allow proposals from SEZ developers such as DLF to dilute project equity It is the first such nod since SEZs came into existence five years ago Till now there was no exit route available for SEZ developers barring getting their projects denotified SEZs are increasingly becoming unattractive for developers investors and companies In fact the number of fresh proposals udner BoA s consideration has also seen a decline A combination of warped tax policies issues around land acquisition and difficult funding environment have soured the story for SEZs There are 381 notified SEZs at present Going aggressive on cutting debt the country largest developer by market capitalisation finalised two deals this month where it signed an agreement to divest its entire stake in Galaxy Mercantile Galaxy will buy the entire DLF stake in the project for Rs 450 crore over the next 12 to 18 months DLF has already received the first tranche of Rs 200 crore from this deal The balance payment has been linked to various leasing milestones

After approving development projects worth Rs 1 766 72 crore in its budget proposal for 2012-13 the Municipal Corporation of Delhi s MCD works committee on December 27 sanctioned more development schemes amounting to Rs 40 crore The money will be spent on constructing roads community halls and school buildings The MCD works committee had approved the construction of school buildings at Sultanpuri Pooth Khurd Bawana Pushp Vihar Geeta colony and Shastri Nagar and Rs 18 60 crore would be spent on it The other projects approved include multi-purpose community hall at Punjabi Colony Narela and Geeta Colony which will be used to host functions Besides MCD will construct an outfall drain at village Holambikalana and densely carpet road at Prem Nagar and Jalyanvas A drain at Khurenji and RMC Road on Old Matiala Road will also be constructed For its own municipal staff Rs 2 5 crore has been set aside to install water supply in the staff quarters at Usmanpur Mamgain said the staff quarters received water from tubewells but with the project they would get supply from the DJB

Punj Lloyd has forayed into Kenya market with its first project in road building sector The company has formed a joint venture with a local infrastructure company Intex Construction to build 62 km- Loruk-Barpelo road in Nairobi The contract value of the project is Rs285 crore and it is expected to be completed in 30 months SS Raju CEO Infrastructure Punj Lloyd Ltd said Highways segment is going to be the group s core business of growth in ensuing years Our knowledge coupled with the expertise to deliver complex projects on time will complement Kenya s ambitious plans to spur infrastructure growth and will consolidate the Group s highways and road construction portfolio across the globe The company is looking at developing a portfolio of infrastructure development projects in Africa In addition to this Punj Lloyd also won its maiden SEZ project in Gurgaon worth of Rs81 crore The project is been awarded by Canton Buildwell and it involves civil and structural work external development and facade work for construction of building B3 including three level basemen

While the long term outlook for the Indian Construction sector continues to remain encouraging companies in the sector could witness near-term challenges on account of sluggishness in new order inflows execution concerns surrounding their current order-books elongated working capital cycle and resultant increase in debt levels says leading credit agency ICRA Limited While there has been an improvement in the quantum of new projects announced by the government sector in H1 FY 12 this was countered by a sharp drop in new project announcements by the private sector in the same period with the steepest decline in Q2 FY 12 Resultant new order inflow for companies in the sector has been muted over the past two quarters Despite having healthy unexecuted order books almost all construction companies are plagued by a number of slow-moving orders due to issues related to land acquisition securing requisite clearances labour shortage and other sector specific issues such as payment issues plaguing irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh and issues faced by power projects The slowdown in the pace of execution can be gauged by the quantum of stalled projects which has been steadily increasing since September 2010 As of September 2011 the quantum of stalled projects increased by 42 on a y-o-y basis 15 on q-o-q basis Consequently the y-o-y revenue growth of construction companies in Q1 Q2 FY 12 has been the slowest as compared to the past few years The reduced pace of execution is also evidenced by the significantly lower y-o-y growth of 2 7 at FY 05 prices in construction GDP in H1 FY 12 as compared to 7 2 y-o-y growth in H1 FY 11 The Reserve Bank of India s RBI move to raise benchmark interest rates on multiple occasions since March 2010 has increased the overall cost of borrowing Companies have also suffered elongated working capital cycles due to delays in realizing payments from clients piling work-in-progress due to delayed certification by clients and the need to support sub-contractors to ensure continuity in project execution Labour shortages and government welfare schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have resulted in higher labour costs Slower pace of execution and higher input and labour costs affected the operating profits of construction companies while high interest costs associated with higher debt levels dented their net profits Mr Rohit Inamdar Sr Vice President Head-Corporate Sector Ratings ICRA says Companies in the construction sector could face challenges over the short term considering sluggishness in new order inflows execution-concerns surrounding their existing order-books elongated working capital cycle and consequent increase in debt levels and rising interest costs However long-term opportunities in the sector continue to be strong considering the large planned investments in infrastructure that are necessary to support the needs of the rising population and high expected growth rates of the Gross Domestic Product Recent policy initiatives such as creation of Infrastructure Debt Funds and the role of India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited assume importance and could channelise long-term debt funds to the infrastructure sector Source Business Standard

Construction Federation of India has sought service tax exemption on construction of metro and mono railways to achieve desired growth in the sector in a pre-Budget memorandum submitted to the Finance Ministry CFI has demanded service tax exemption not only for construction of metro and mono railways but also on the toll revenues collected by the SPV Cos and their sub-contractors the federation said in a statement The memorandum has pointed out that service tax exemption provided to Indian Railways for construction of railways should include metro and mono railways It should not be restricted to only contracts awarded for Indian Railways it added On the issue of toll collection by SPVs CFI said concessionaires or their sub-contractors do not act toll collection agents of NHAI or state authorities hence their collection of toll revenues should not be liable for service tax As per the guidelines of NHAI or state authorities successful bidder is required to form a separate Special Purpose Vehicle SPV for execution of the project during concession period It also sought exemption from service tax when the service is exported to neighboring countries like Nepal Bhutan etc Since this promotes export of service and cordial relationship with neighboring countries it should be considered as export of services and payment made by the service receiver in Indian currency should not be taxed it added

NTPC may invest in Coal India plans to add 4300MW capacity by March Countrys largest power producer NTPC may make investment in Coal India to battle massive coal shortage faced by the power industry said its chairman Arup Roy Chowdhury The company will add 4300 mega watt capacity by March and has ambition to double power generation over next six-seven years Chowdhury added Recently the power industry faced a massive coal shortage leading to shutdown of thermal plants and long hours of power cuts Many power stations were left with stock for just four to five days ringing the alarm bells in the corridors of power Power generation has been flat in the second quarter of fiscal year 2011-12 on the back of non-availability of coal Logistics issue in Kahalgaon gave added to the woes he explained

State-owned National Highway Authority of India s NHAI and PFC will raise over Rs14 000 crore by way of infrastructure bond issues by December 15 according to sources in the finance ministry NHAI will raise Rs10 000 crore and PFC will raise Rs4 100 crore respectively The infra bond issues are likely by December 15 According to sources the Railway Finance Corporation has also got clearance to raise Rs10 000 crore through infra bonds but it will come out with the issue after assessing demand for the NHAI papers With a view to attracting long-term investments for the infrastructure sector the government has allowed NHAI Railway Finance Corporation HUDCO and ports to raise Rs30 000 crore through tax-free bonds in the current fiscal Railway Finance Corporation will take final decision on issuing infra bond after seeing response of NHAI and PFC The next meeting on infra bond will be held on December 25 Earlier Railway Finance Corporation had said they had received finance ministry clearance to issue tax-free bonds to raise around Rs10 000 crore to tide over the funds crunch While the NHAI 65533 s bond would be tax free subscribers of the one issued by Power Finance Company PFC would get tax exemptions on investments up to Rs20 000 To channelise savings for development of infrastructure sector the government in 2010-11 introduced the concept of long-term tax savings bond It provides tax exemption on investments up to Rs 20 000 in long-term infrastructure bonds This is over and above the existing tax saving limit of Rs 1 lakh Infrastructure bonds should be of 10 years with a minimum lock-in of 5 years After the expiry of five years the investors would have the option to either sell it in secondary market or seek redemption The government proposes to double investment in infrastructure to USD 1 trillion during the 12th Five Year Plan 2012-17 A host of companies like IFCI REC and IDFC had raised about Rs 8 000 crore through issue of tax-savings infra bonds in the last fiscal