This Cloud rains opportunities

September 3, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: IT 

The success of companies in some of the hottest sectors right now could hinge on their ability to use technology wisely. There is so much competition out in the marketplace that they need to exploit as many differentiators that they can to build a competitive advantage.    One thing common in all technology sectors is massive amounts of data…… Read More.

Enter ‘cloud computing,’ a new world that fixes all ills associated with a business. If a company can shore up its existing business in such a way that they can identify critical processes, understand the underlying data to a certain degree, and get a handle on legacy systems, then utilizing cloud computing can be the differentiator that they can hang their hat on. With the vast amounts of data that needs to be shared across these channels, companies need to find solutions that provide flexibility and portability across many platforms. Because one thing that is cialis over the counter is certain is that success in most of these sectors is dependent upon quality information available on demand wherever one is so that decisions can be made on the spot. With the ability to host apps and data in the cloud using utilities like IaaS, SaaS Storage-aaS, etc, that data is there when you need it.

There are many rules and laws that businesses must abide by specific to regions they operate in. Some require ensuring privacy or secrecy. There are several areas of IT security that apply here, with Firewalls, Intrusion Detection cialis usa and Identity & Access Management being some of the most critical. All of these security tools can be found in the cloud as well as in a hosted environment. In the cloud, your systems and data are hosted on servers. It’s actually a much more secure environment for the bulk of companies. Cloud computing which provides the ability to scale rapidly based on your needs reduces investment based on future growth potential and companies can scale up or down depending on market scenarios thus cutting costs. This is the key benefit of cloud computing: the ability to have your platforms grow with your company and with the market. If used appropriately though, the cloud can absolutely be a differentiator for your company.

Source: Advice CIO

Limit for retail investment in IPOs to be raised

August 26, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Finance & Accounting 

Retail investors will now get to subscribe more in initial public offers (IPOs). The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed to raise the investment limit for retail investors from the current Rs1 lakh to Rs2 lakh.

The move is seen as an intermediate step before increasing the limit to Rs5 lakh and is expected to help companies obtain more retail subscriptions in IPOs. Currently, individual investors are classified as retail only if their investment is Rs1 lakh or less. Some 35% of the amount to be raised by IPOs is reserved for retail investors, but due to the low investment limit, very often they are undersubscribed. According to the regulator, the proposed increase in the investment limit is intended to keep pace with inflation and also the changing nature of market valuations. While inflation is close to double-digits, the market has risen over 125% since 2005. Rs1 lakh does not fetch the retail investor too many shares, given the bloat in share valuations.

According to a discussion paper released by Sebi, large-sized public issues easily require between 1.5-2 lakh applications to meet their retail quota. 10mg cialis This is much higher than the 35-70,000 applications received from retail investors in recent issues. Sebi has invited comments on the discussion paper till September 3. Sebi has also noted that in recent public offerings, approximately 75% of applications in the retail category cialis trial pack have come in the size of Rs80,000-Rs1 lakh. The number of applications in the non-institutional category, which is used by high net worth individuals, is usually above Rs5 lakh, but retail investors avoid investing in this segment since the reservation of shares is only 15% against 35% for retail.

Source: DNA India

Auto components $3 bn investment every year

August 26, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Automobile 

The Indian auto component sector is expecting an investment of USD 3 billion every year for the next decade, mainly in capacity enhancement, to meet the growing demand, industry body Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) said in a statement.

“In this year, the industry is expected to add USD 2 billion in capacity enhancement. We hope that this will be USD 3 billion on an annualised basis from next year for the next one decade,” ACMA President Jayant Davar said. The industry is growing at a rapid pace of about 20 per cent and the momentum cialis free is expected to continue, he added. Davar said the demand-supply mismatch of auto parts is limited to only some specific components for some particular models. “While adding the new capacity, there is still a level of scepticism, whether this growth is sustainable or not in the long term,” he added.

According ACMA estimates, the sector witnessed a total sales of about USD 22 billion in 2009-10, out of which exports contributed approximately USD 3.8 billion. Driven by record sales in passenger car and two-wheeler segments, the Indian automobile industry posted its best ever monthly sales in July, growing by 31.50 per cent at 12,37,461 units compared to 9,41,070 units in the same month last year. ACMA also said it is pressing the government for safeguard measures against cheap imports of finished parts, primarily for those coming from China.

Source: Economic Times India cialis buying Times

TVS Motor to Spend $32 Million

August 26, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Automobile 

TVS Motor Co., India’s third-largest motorcycle maker, plans to spend generic cialis prices as much as 1.5 billion rupees ($32 million) to add capacity and develop new products this financial year as demand increases.

The company will boost maximum production of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds by 17 percent to 2.8 million units a year by March, informed S.G. Murali, executive vice president, finance . Three-wheeler cialis for sale capacity will rise 80 percent to 90,000 units at the Chennai-based company, he said. “A huge middle class, double-income families in larger towns and people requiring mobility point to a huge growth in the market,” said Murali. “There is enough money in the rural market with government spending on infrastructure.”

TVS Motor in November unveiled an automatic Jive motorcycle and Wego scooter, increasing sales, as economic growth and higher disposable incomes boost consumer spending in the world’s biggest market for motorcycles after China. The company expects to sell 1.95 million motorcycles, scooters and mopeds in India and abroad in the year ending March 31, 2011, or 30 percent more than the year-earlier period, Murali said, declining to provide a break up. Sales of three wheelers may more than triple to 50,000 units from 15,000 last year, he said. Industrywide sales of motorcycles may increase by 9.5 percent to 8.04 million units in the year to March 31, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said in July. Scooter sales are forecast to rise 13.7 percent to 1.66 million units.

Source: Business Week

SBI Macquarie Invests $304 million

August 17, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Telecom 

A SBI Macquarie-led consortium today said it had picked up around 11 per cent stake in telecom infrastructure company Viom Networks, previously known as Quippo-WTTIL, for Rs 1,400 crore ($304 million). …..Read More.

SBI Macquarie made the investment from its $1-billion Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF). MSIF bought the stake from Quippo Telecom. MSIF is a joint venture between Macquarie Capital and State Bank of India (SBI). “This is the largest and first investment made by MSIF in the sector. Other investments are being evaluated and we expect this acquisition to be one of the number of investments that MSIF will complete in near future,” said Varun Bajpai, chief executive officer, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Management.

Viom is an independent telecom infrastructure company, with over 37,000 towers, and hosts around 80,000 tenants on its towers, taking its tenancy ratio to 2.2x. Viom plans to add another 20,000-25,000 telecom towers to its portfolio, at an investment of around Rs 8,000 cialis 5 mg daily crore, in the next two years. It has an enterprise value of Rs 20,000 crore. Each of the Quippo-led private equity investors have diluted generic cialis fast delivery their stake to make SBI Macquarie the second largest stakeholder among Quippo-led investors in Viom Networks.

Source: Business Standards

Mahindra set to buySsangyong

August 17, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Automobile 

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M), the country’s largest utility vehicle (UV) maker, is set to take control of troubled South Korean auto maker Ssangyong Motor Co., beating out five other bidders as it actively seeks to extend its reach into more markets across the world… Read More.

“We went for this with a clear strategic intent,” said Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of M&M. “Our intent is to accelerate Ssangyong’s turnaround process and bring back its lost lustre.” The acquisition, the largest investment by an Indian company in South Korea, will provide the company opportunity to accelerate programme of becoming a global entity in utility vehicles. It follows Mahindra’s takeover of Punjab Tractors Ltd, Kinetic Motor Co. and more recently, Reva Electric Car Co.,. The troubles at Ssangyong, which commanded a one-fourth share in Korea’s UV market in 2003-04, started after rising oil prices and slowing demand due to the global slump hit sales of its UVs. In February 2009, the company was granted court protection from creditors.

The company did not disclose the bid price, saying it was confidential. The other bidders included an alliance of French auto maker Renault SA and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. Only three, including Indian tyre maker Ruia Group and a local headgear company, remained in the fray until the deadline cialis instructions for the bid ended. Analysts are questioning the implications of the deal on the firm’s financials as M&M hasn’t disclosed what it will pay. They said similarities in the product range of both firms would work to M&M’s does female cialis work advantage.

Source: Livemint

Infrastructure for futuristic India calling for better investors and investments

July 21, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Infra & Real Estate 

The creation of world-class infrastructure calls for huge investments. This, in turn, calls for the right kind of policies as well as fiscal environment to attract the investments.

Particularly, commercial banks, which play a prominent role in debt investments while specialised institutions have a negligible role. The Union Governments announcement regarding the policy decision to promote the PPP route for infrastructure projects although PPP projects do not offer the lender any traditional form of security, such as mortgage of assets, as financing is expected to be secured by future cash-flows.

Commercial banks, which follow a traditional financial structure, have so far been oblivious to the need for amending many of the old prudential norms. Industry players, both in the private sector as well as government agencies such as the National Highways Authority of India, have been representing to the Ministry of Finance and the RBI for relaxation of certain norms. Recently, the BKC Committee set up to look into the financing constraints of the road sector too deliberated on some of these issues.

Policy relief

The RBI annual policy for FY2010-11 announced a few months ago provided some happiness to both the private sector and commercial banks. Specifically,  since it will allow banks to classify investments in non-SLR bonds issued by companies engaged in infrastructure activities and having a minimum residual maturity of seven years under the held to maturity (HTM) category.

It treats annuities under acomplia tablets the build-operate-transfer cialis generic vs brand (BOT) model in respect of road/ highway projects and toll collection rights, where there are provisions to compensate the project sponsor if a certain level of traffic is not achieved, as tangible securities subject to the condition that banks’ right to receive annuities and toll collection rights is legally enforceable and irrevocable. Infrastructure loan accounts classified as sub-standard will attract a provisioning of 15 per cent instead of the currently prescribed 20 per cent.

Funding cost

These announcements will not only create additional liquidity in the market, but also bring down the overall cost of funding.

While all the infrastructure sectors will benefit from this announcement, the road sector will be the biggest beneficiary. Banks will now treat toll rights/ annuities as tangible assets and, thereby, loans provided to road PPPs will be treated as secured. This will improve liquidity and bring down interest rates. It will further improve leverage and loan tenure. Banks will also benefit with lesser provisioning, both due to better classification of assets and reduced requirement of provisioning to sub-standard assets in the infrastructure sector. The revised guidelines for valuation of infrastructure bond will make the bonds issued by road companies attractive.

Source:[The Hindu Businessline]

Bharti Airtel and the last frontier for mobile telecom

July 15, 2010 by Options · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Telecom 

India’s largest and the world’s fifth largest mobile phone company, Bharti Airtel is all set for an aggressive expansion in the African mobile telecom market.

“Africa is the last frontier for mobile telecom and mobile telecom will also catalyze social transformation of Africa and of rural Africa,” said Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel’s chief buy acomplia 20mg executive. Bharti Airtel embarked on the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm on June 8, 2010, when it completed a transaction to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom’s African business for USD 10.7 billion. Kohli said the Zain buy-out was “a fantastic launch pad for Africa with 15 countries.” The Africa holdings include Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Chad and Zambia.

A 150-million-dollar investment in Kenya and 600-million-dollar investment in Nigeria were also announced by the company generic cialis 10mg soon after the takeover. When in Nigeria, Mr. Kohli sounded optimistic about the future of Africa stating: “If a company hopes to grow, they have to be in Africa and the jewel of Africa is Nigeria.” He also said, Bharti will also invest in rural telephony and introduce a corporate social responsibility program in Nigeria that includes setting up of schools that would offer free quality education to underprivileged children in rural communities.

Source: [Google]

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