University of Petroleum &Energy Studies

Weekly News Letter MBA (LSCM) 10-Sep-2012

B y:Seshadri Kannan P hanindra Kumar Sugandha Adlakha Sandeep Singh

Weekly News Letter

Agarwal Packers & Movers Eyes Tier 2 Cities for Growth

Agarwal Packers & Movers, the leaders in household relocation segment is planning to enter Tier 2 Cities. The company intends to consolidate its position in this segment by increasing thrust on marketing, establishing further stations across India and engaging more actively with corporate clients, while maintaining the leadership position in the retail household relocation business. It offers innovative concepts like plastic crates for packaging for electronic items and home shifting etc. The group is also into warehousing with 2 million sq ft space and has plans to develop more warehouses across the country.

FDI in retail to harm Indian workers warns Minister

With the ongoing scuffle in the parliament on allowing FDI in multibrand retail has taken another bearing as Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia feels it will harm Indian workers. According to FDI in multi-brand retail will lead to widespread displacement and poor treatment of Indian workers in retail, logistics, agriculture and manufacturing.

GST rollout likely to miss April 2013 deadline

The government's plan to roll out the Good and Services Tax (GST) by next April is unlikely to be met as an expert has suggested not to rush through with the country's most ambitious tax reform initiative. The delay in the report of the parliament's standing committee on finance, which is reviewing the Constitutional Amendment bill needed to implement GST, has also provided some breathing space to the government to stitch together a consensus on the issue. While no decision has been taken so far to postpone the launch, indications are that it is likely to be delayed.

India must not take eurozone crisis lightly: Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan

India must not treat the Eurozone crisis lightly, even though the crisis may appear to be playing out at a distance, as the country is vulnerable through the impact on trade financing and capital flows, saysRaghuram Rajan, India's new chief economic advisor(CEA). "India's exposure to Europe has gone down over time and its exposure is more towards other emerging markets in the Middle-East and Asia. But those countries are also directly or indirectly exposed to Europe. So I think the direct and indirect trade exposures can be substantial and we should not dismiss them," Rajan told ET NOW in his first interaction with Indian media after he was named the CEA.

Maruti Suzuki to increase automation, bring Manesar operations on par with Japan plants
Maruti, which operates two plants at Manesar, is planning 99% automation in the press shop where steel sheets are molded into door frames and then passed onto the weld shop to hinge them onto the body of the vehicle. This will bring Manesar operations on par with its hi-tech plants in Hamamatsu, Japan. Maruti has increased the automation percentage at its three plants in Gurgaon to 60-65%in the past few years. It had stopped operating two manual production lines at Gurgaon in an effort to move to fully automated operations.

Sony to roll out own stores if government relaxes local sourcing norms
Japanese electronics company Sony Corp plans to roll out companyowned stores in India if the government eases the mandatory 30% local sourcing norm for allowing 100% foreign investment in single brand retail, Sony India head said. India in January allowed 100% foreign investment insingle brand retail with riders such as 30% of the goods must be sourced from small and medium enterprises in the country and the investing company must own the brand. The local sourcing norm has cast a shadow over Swedish furniture retailer Ikea's proposed $1.9-billion (about 11,000 crore) investment plans in retail and discouraged companies such as Sony that are keen to enter the country's booming retail market.

Exports may fall below USD 300 billion mark this year: Assocham(Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham))
The economic slowdown and the contraction in world trade has started taking a toll on Indias overseas shipments with exports registering the

sharpest fall of 14.8 per cent in the last three years declining to $22.4 billion in July, putting a question mark on achieving the $350 billion target set for this fiscal. The demand for Indian goods has gone down dramatically in its traditional markets of U.S. and Europe that are showing no signs of reviving. The continued slide in the economic growth also had its reflection in the numbers with imports declining by 7.61 per cent to $37.9 billion in July, leaving a trade deficit of $15.5 billion. Cautioning that exports this year may fall below USD 300 billion, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on Tuesday pitched for sops to labour-intensive sectors and stated that inflation and high interest rates are making the countrys exports uncompetitive.

NTPC's poor logistics plan for coal costs it Rs 699 crores additional
Country's largest power producer NTPC had to pay an excess amount of Rs 699 crores during 2008-11 due to its failure to ensure that imported coal is supplied with least transportation cost by STC and MMTC.

Euro gold reserves down by 1 million Euros in week ending August 31: ECB
Gold and gold receivables held by euro zone central banks fell by 1 million Euros to 433.78 billion Euros in the week ending Aug. 31, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday. Net foreign exchange reserves in the Euro system of central banks fell by 2.1 billion Euros to 241.9 billion Euros, the ECB said in its regular weekly consolidated financial statement.

Rupee ends down at 55.65; seen between 55-56 against dollar

The rupee closed weaker for a second straight session on Tuesday, after hitting its highest level in over a week earlier in the session, weighed down by dollar demand from oil refiners amid lack of any major dollar supplies.

Rourkela Steel Plant's best ever April-August performance in major production areas
Rourkela Steel Plant has scripted its best-ever April-August performance in major production areas, including crude and saleable steel. RSP sources said the steel plant produced 9,70,527 Tonnes of hot metal, 9,12,092 Tonnes of crude steel and 8,85,386 Tonnes of saleable steel during

the first five months of the current fiscal, registering growth of 4.5 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively over the corresponding period last year.

Honda Motor to shrink sedan lineup in India, focus on compacts

Honda Motor Co will reorganize its car business in India, scaling down its lineup of sedans and focusing on compact vehicles, the Nikkei reported.Honda's India sales, which fell 20 percent in 2011, have jumped 70 percent in January-July, helped by the newly launched Brio subcompact, the Nikkei said. Car sales in India rose 6.7 percent in July but were below industry estimates as higher interest rates and a hike in excise taxes stunted demand.

Tech Mahindra buys Hutch BPO arm, to get $845m revenue boost
Tech Mahindra on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Hutchison Global Services (HGS), call centre arm of Hutch here, for USD 87.1 million (Rs 484.03 crores), a deal which the software services provider said will give it a revenue leg-up of USD 845 million over the next five years.

Reliance Power starts coal mining for Sasan 4,000 MW ultra mega power project
Reliance Power has started producing coal at two mines attached to its 4,000-megawatts ultra mega power project at Sasan, Chief Executive JP Chalasani said on Monday.

SECTORIAL Infrastructure:

Railways look at private firms for INR 80,000 crore investments:

An estimated INR 80,000 crore of private investment will be required for implementation of various Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects identified by the Railways. Areas to be covered under PPP will include an elevated rail corridor, highspeed corridors, redevelopment of stations, logistics parks, private freight terminals, port connectivity, dedicated freight corridor, loco and coach manufacturing units, energy conservation, etc.

Japan obtains stake in Indian Investment firm:

Japan announced Tuesday it would buy a major stake in an Indian company at the centre of a huge infrastructure building project, marking Tokyo's latest investment in South Asian giant. The government-linked Japan Bank for International Cooperation would purchase 26% stake in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMIC), Japanese Industry Minister Mr. Yukio Edano informed. The investment is about 4.6 billion USD.

Shipping:

ICTT to go Green:

Aimed at making the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) a Green Terminal, the Dubai Port World that operates the terminal has initiated steps to provide power from shore to the vessels calling at Kochi.

Railways:

High-Tech train engine Bheem to bestow freight transport a facelift:

Freight transport in India is all set to get a facelift in months to come. A state-ofthe-art freight train engine, designed by Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow, and manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, will soon be put to test on Bareilly-Moradabad railway line. The engine, named Bheem, has a host of new features which include computerized controls, an air conditioned cabin and holds 4500 HP attaining 100 kmph.

Railway Freight Corridor to be Signal free:

The 3,338 kilometer (km) exclusive freight corridor, being constructed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC), will be level crossing free to ensure seamless transportation of goods. The move has come as a major help for railways as it will ensure elimination of around 1,900 level crossings by constructing road over-bridges or road under-bridges on existing railways routes along the freight corridor route.

Roadways:

APL Logistics Transportation:

revolutionizes

International

Vehicle

APL Logistics has revolutionized containerized vehicle transportation with the introduction of AutoDirect a cost efficient solution that uses flexible but secure racks to safely and securely transport finished vehicles door-to-door.

US DoT establishes Freight Policy Council:

The US Department of Transportation (DoT) has launched a new Freight Policy Council to focus on improving the condition and performance of the national freight network, to better ensure the ability of the United States to compete in the global economy.

Trending Articles :
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Market Watch:

Market Trend
30-08-12 Stock Indices 17541.64 5315.05 8983.78 19552.91 3011.82 Currencies 55.65 69.84 88.1 06-09-12 17346.27 5238.4 8680.57 19209.3 2989.26 55.36 70.93 88.63

SENSEX NIFTY NIKKEI HANG SENG STRAIT TIMES USD EURO GBP

JPY

0.71 Commodity (INR) Gold (10 gm) 30654 Silver (Kg) 57155 Crude Oil (1 barrel) 111.23

0.71 31910 59700 114.11

COMMODITIES : GOLD/SILVER