Cidco invites financial bids for proposed Navi Mumbai airport
City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has invited financial bids for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport, the financial stage before the much-delayed project is awarded, a person familiar with the matter said. “The Request for Proposals (RFPs) were sent out to the three shortlisted bidders on Friday. As of now, they have to respond by the first week of September but we may extend that by a month,” the person said, adding “in any case, we firmly hope the project will be awarded latest by end of October.” Three companies GMR Infrastructure, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) and Mia Infrastructure are currently in the fray for the project. An alliance of Hiranandani Group and Zurich Airports had been among the shortlisted bidders, but was subsequently disqualified. The company, or alliance, which proposes the highest revenue share with City & Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the state-run nodal body for the project, will win the mandate to develop and operate it. MIAL is a subsidiary of GVK and currently runs the Mumbai International Airport, while Mia Infrastructure is a joint venture between Tata Realty & Infrastructure (TRIL) and French company Vinci Concessions. Cidco on April 11 received the approval for issuing RFPs for the project monitoring and implementation committee an agency formed by the civil aviation ministry for faster implementation of projects and the state government cabinet. Cidco holds 26% of the special purpose vehicle, and had commenced the first stage of the two-stage bidding process by issuing RFQ on February 5 last year. The Rs 14,573-crore project is seen as a crucial alternative to the congested airport in the city. The government had initially approved setting up the airport in 2007, but ran into several environmental and land acquisition problems. The airport will span an area of 2,867 acres with a terminal building of 5,23,000 square meters and two runways. Cameron Brate Authentic Jersey
Baba brand or quality? Patanjali’s USP under lens in big FMCG churn
“Patanjali will shut the ‘gate’ on Colgate. The birds in Nestle’s nest (logo) will also fly away,” Baba Ramdev claimed in a direct dig at his FMCG rivals. The maverick yoga guru has managed to script an unprecedented entrepreneurship story, successfully bringing ayurveda back into the mainstream consciousness just like he popularised yoga many years ago. Patanjali’s emergence, it seems, will be at the cost of traditional FMCG biggies such as Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Marico and Dabur. This is evident from the way these companies have been dented in the past four months, as investors assess the impact that Ramdev’s company will have on market share and consumer preferences. The BSE FMCG index, a gauge of the FMCG stocks on BSE, has slumped 9 per cent so far this year even as consumption demand has revived and good monsoon is expected to drive up rural wages to support demand growth. On the individual stock front, the dent isn’t as pronounced as some would have you believe. Companies like Marico, Dabur have gained as much as 15 per cent in the year so far while HUL, Nestle and Emami have lost between 0.84 to 0.07 per cent. “I think the market is growing. So there is room for everyone, but there will be some give and take in market shares. Patanjali has this ayurvedic halo around it and Baba Ramdev is a great brand,” said Pradip P Shah, Chairman, IndAsia Fund Advisors. “There is a natural feeling that these products are good and the price points are lower compared with the premium products available in the market. There is a great product out there and their distribution and packaging are pretty good,” he said. Is it just Baba’s charm? Raamdeo Agrawal, Co-Founder & Joint MD of MOFSL, echoed Pradip Shah’s views, saying: “It will definitely take away market shares in some segments. They have a segment where they will thrive. So it is a marketing challenge for the rest of the pack, be it Hindustan Unilever or Colgate or Emami, whosoever is hurt by Patanjali products.” He believes traditional players “have to find their way and it will be unsettling for one or two years, when Patanjali is growing up from Rs 0 to 10,000 crore.” Patanjali has already laid a roadmap for investment worth Rs 1,150 crore for setting up new processing units, as it chases that Rs 10,000 crore revenue mark. “Patanjali will have some challenges coming in later on product superiority, because one needs to see whether product superiority or just the blind faith in Baba Ramdev’s brand equity is driving them,” Raamdeo Agrawal pointed out. Is anyone safe from Patanjali’s blietzkrieg? For many on Dalal Street, Baba Ramdev is being touted as the slayer of the Big FMCG firms. But Deepak Shenoy, Founder of Capital Mind, says companies like Dabur and Marico are being less impacted by the Baba blietzkrieg. “Marico and Dabur are probably less impacted by Patanjali than some of the mainstream FMCG players, especially in the food segment. From that perspective, looking at Dabur and Marico, Dabur is a better valuation play and has more room for price increase compared with Marico,” he said. “Both are great companies, have enormous capacity from a fundamental perspective but Dabur is better valuation wise,” he said. Raamdeo Agrawal sees traditional players underperforming in the short term due to the impact on market share and margin, but he refuses to believe that Patanjali will rewrite the rules in the FMCG space. “Yes, they will underperform because sales may grow, but profit may slow down. Obviously, there will be a challenge for one or two years. But I do not think it is something that will just rewrite the rules of a successful FMCG company in India.” Can Big FMCG chart a comeback? Ian Cook, global CEO of US multinational Colgate-Palmolive, has for the first time acknowledged the competition in the herbal segment in India and said Colgate plans to launch newer products in the ‘natural’ space, an ET report said. HUL revived its Ayush brand last September in a bid to thwart the competition from Patanjali. It is using the e-commerce platform to reach out to a new consumer base. “Clearly, Patanjali is making inroads, but that does not mean the Unilevers of the world will fade away. They are astute. They have excellent marketing. They will come out with different products. They will come out with different prices,” said Pradip P Shah of IndAsia Fund Advisors. He reminds of HUL’s comeback when Nirma took away market share from Surf excel, and it came back with Wheel to take away market share from under the Nirma nose. “These guys have the resources, they have the ability and an inclination to do it, but they are perhaps a little reluctant to cut prices. They want profitability. Their focus is on margins and so they will follow and be competitive, but in the process, the whole market is growing and that is the great opportunity that India offers to everyone,” he added. Teemu Selanne Womens Jersey
Starbucks is being sued for allegedly misleading millions of customers
We’ve all experienced the annoyance of buying an iced coffee, only to be left with nothing but a cup of ice after a few long sips. However, one woman is trying to turn that moment of annoyance into a class action lawsuit. Starbucks is facing a $5 million lawsuit over the amount of ice the chain uses in its drinks, reports NBC News. The lawsuit was filed in Northern Illinois Federal Court last week by Stacy Pincus. NBC reports that the suit claims the coffee chain is tricking customers by adding too much ice to its beverages, in an attempt to increase the drinks’ profitability. For example, while a Venti drink is advertised as containing 24 fluid ounces, customers ordering a Venti will typically receive about 14 fluid ounces of the Starbucks cold drink, whether it be iced coffee, iced tea, Refreshers or Fizzio handcrafted sodas. Ice chunks fill up the rest of the cup, something that the lawsuit argues is misleading and false advertising. The proposed class action case seeks to represent the “millions” of customers who have purchased a cold drink from Starbucks in the last 10 years. Starbucks spokesperson Jaime Riley said in a statement to Business Insider that the lawsuit is “without merit,” as “customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any ‘iced’ beverage.” The lawsuit comes on the heels of another case in which customers claim Starbucks is purposefully ripping off customers. A class action lawsuit filed in March alleges that the chain has been underfilling lattes by roughly 25%. Bradley Zimmer Jersey
Online user ratings not good indicators of product quality
The belief that online user ratings are good indicators of product quality is largely an illusion, yet many consumers rely on the information while making purchase decisions, a new study has found. Almost all retailers provide user ratings on their websites, the researchers said. For the study, researchers examined user ratings for 1,272 products across 120 product categories, such as car seats, bike helmets, sunblock, air filters, smoke alarms and blood pressure monitors. The analyses show a very low correspondence between average user ratings of products on an e-commerce portal and product ratings based on objective tests found in consumer reports. “The likelihood that an item with a higher user rating performs objectively better than an item with a lower user rating is only 57 per cent,” said Bart de Langhe, professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in US. “A correspondence of 50 per cent would be random, so user ratings provide very little insight about objective product performance,” de Langhe said. The study also found that the user ratings do not predict the resale value of used products. “Products with better reliability and performance retain more of their value over time,” said de Langhe. “If average user ratings reflect objective quality, they should correlate positively with resale values. The fact that they don’t casts more doubt on the validity of user ratings,” he said. Researchers also examined what information consumers rely on when judging the quality of products on the e-commerce website. They found that consumers rely very heavily on the average user rating, which is presented front and centre. They do this regardless of whether the average rating is based on a small or a large sample of consumers. “This is a mistake. Oftentimes, there are just not enough ratings for a product or there is too much disagreement among reviewers,” said de Langhe. “In this case, consumers should not trust the average very much, but they do nonetheless,” he said. The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Research. Duron Harmon Womens Jersey
FDI during April-February jumps to $37.53 billion: Nirmala Sitharaman
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased to USD 37.53 billion during April-February period of the last fiscal, Parliament was informed today. It was USD 30.93 billion in 2014-15. “FDI equity inflow has increased from USD 22.42 billion in 2012-13 to USD 37.53 billion in 2015-16 (up to February),” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Services attracted the most (USD 5.95 billion) during the first eleven months period of 2015-16. It was followed by computer software and hardware (USD 5.83 billion), trading (USD 3.67 billion) and automobile (USD 2.44 billion). Replying to a separate query, she said during the past three years, two applications for compulsory licensing (CL) under section 92 of the Patent Act 1970 have been received by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Under the Indian Patents Act, a CL can be issued for a drug if the medicine is deemed unfordable by the government and grants permission to qualified generic drug makers to manufacture it. In March 2012, Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma was allowed to manufacture and sell cancer-treatment drug Nexavar at a price over 30 times lower than charged by patent-holder Bayer Corp., under CL. As per the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, a CL can be invoked by a national government allowing a company to produce a patented product without the consent of the patent owner in public interest. The US had raised concerns over issuance of the licence by India. New Delhi had so far issued only one such licence. Tyler Ennis Womens Jersey
India’s April Iran oil imports up 49% from a year ago: Data
India’s oil imports from Iran rose 48.8 percent in April from a year ago as refiners bought more crude after the lifting of sanctions against the OPEC producer, although the purchases were down from a multi-year high hit the previous month. Refiners in the world’s third-largest crude importer took in 393,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil in April, the first month of the new contract year, according to preliminary tanker arrival data from trade sources and ship-tracking services on the Thomson Reuters terminal. The April shipments were down 22.4 percent from Iranian volumes in March, when imports from Tehran topped 500,000 bpd to reach the highest level in at least five years. India’s oil imports from Iran are set to surge to a seven-year high in the year that began April 1, industry sources said early last month, with the nation’s state-owned and private refiners together buying at least 400,000 bpd. Part of India’s recent resurgence in Iranian purchases comes from Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, which in March took oil from Iran for the first time in six years for its plant in western India. The private refiner, however, did not take any parcel from Tehran in April, accounting for most of the drop from the previous month. Its purchases in March were done under spot deals, although it is looking to sign up for long-term supplies from Iran. Another private refiner, Essar Oil, was the biggest buyer of Iranian oil in April, shipping in about 181,300 bpd, followed by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd with about 110,200 bpd, and Indian Oil Corp with 101,400 bpd, the shipping and terminal data showed. In the first four month of 2016 India’s Iran oil imports more than doubled to 322,500 bpd, the data showed, in comparison with 160,500 bpd in the same period last year. India’s oil imports from Iran are expected to surge in coming months, when refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp begin lifting Iranian oil. State-run HPCL and BPCL have agreed a 20,000 bpd contract each with National Iranian Oil Co, but the two are waiting for further clarity on insurance for plants processing Iranian oil. Trent Williams Jersey
Revised Qatar LNG deal slashes gas price to below $5 per mmBtu
The revision in LNG agreement with Qatar has helped bring down cost of importing natural gas to less than USD 5 per mmBtu from USD 12, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. In late-December last year, India got Qatar to agree to slashing gas price by half to match a slump in global energy rates, helping the nation save billions of dollars, as well as get waiver from Rs 120 billion liability for short-lifting of gas. India, which got USD 15 billion of benefits during first 11 years of the term-contract with Qatar beginning 2003 by way of enjoying low gas prices when world energy rates were rising, is currently paying less than USD 5 per million British thermal unit for 7.5 million tons a year of LNG it buys from RasGas of Qatar. “Earlier the prices during 2015 were in excess of USD 12 per mmBtu. The current price applicable under the contract works out to less than USD 5 per mmBtu based on prevailing crude prices,” he said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. This revision, applicable from January 1, has led to making LNG cheaper for the end consumers, he said. The revised formula will base the price on a three-month average figure of Brent crude oil, replacing a five-year average of a basket of crude imported by Japan, with a rider that PLL buys an additional 1 million tons of LNG annually. Further, Petronet LNG Ltd – the firm that imported LNG from RasGas of Qatar – has executed agreement for additional supply of 1 million tons per annum of LNG for about 12 years with effect from January 1, 2016 at the prevailing market prices, he said. Pradhan said Qatar will also not seek Rs 120 billions from PLL for under-lifting LNG from RasGas by 38 per cent. “RasGas and Petronet LNG Ltd agreed to rescheduled the LNG quantity not taken by Petronet LNG Ltd during 2015 to a future period and RasGas has agreed to waive the take or pay liability under the contract for the year 2015,” he said. Petronet, a joint venture of state-owned Indian Oil Corp, GAIL India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), had started importing LNG – natural gas supercooled to liquid state for ease of transportation in ships – from 2004. Jared Crick Jersey
IGL sets up record 72 CNG stations in four months
Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the sole retailer of CNG to automobiles in the national capital, today said it has set up a record 72 CNG filling stations in first four months of 2016, to meet the rising demand for the fuel. The CNG filling facilities have been set up at the retail outlets of oil marketing companies (OMC) like Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) since January 2016, the company said in a statement. “While 51 out of these 72 CNG fuelling facilities are located in NCT of Delhi, 21 are located in NCR towns of Greater Noida and Ghaziabad,” it said. Phil Esposito Authentic Jersey
India keen on setting up LNG terminal at Iranian port
India has expressed interest in setting up an LNG terminal at Chahabar port in Iran to ship back home natural gas from Persian Gulf nation, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. India is keen to set up its engagement with hydrocarbon- rich Iran, which has recently come out of western sanctions, and is lining up $20 billion of investment in oil and gas as well as petrochemical and fertiliser projects. Pradhan said he had during his visit to Tehran on April 9 conveyed interest of Indian companies in setting up fertiliser and petrochemical plants, including in the Chahabar SEZ. The projects can be “either in joint venture between Indian and Iranian public sector companies or with private sector partners,” he said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here. He said he asked Iran to allocate land in SEZ for the project but no MoU has so far been sized on this. Also, he expressed India’s interest in importing LPG from Iran and proposed to set up an extraction plant in Chahabar. India is also keen on importing natural gas from Iran either in ships (LNG) or through the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, he said. During his visit, he also “expressed India’s interest in setting up an LNG plant and gas cracker in Chahabar port,” the reply said. Pradhan asked Iran for “favourable treatment in the pricing of gas for India and also supply of rich gas at competitive price and on long term basis for the life of the joint venture projects than Indian companies are interested in setting up.” “Competitive gas pricing was crucial in making the projects attractive for the prospective investors,” he said. The Minister also discussed with his Iranian counterpart the repayment of nearly $6.5 billion that Indian refiners owe to Iran as also rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL. “After lifting of sanctions by the international community following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement between P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, UK and the US), the European Union, and Iran, the Central Bank of Iran has requested RBI for bringing the country under ACU mechanism,” he said. After this system is established, all future trade transactions with Iran would be settled through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), he said. “RBI in turn has sought concurrence from the Department of Economic Affairs for brining Iran under the ACU mechanism. Actual settlement through ACU mechanism hinges on availability of international euro channels for making the payment,” he added. 12th Fan Womens Jersey
Won’t succumb to pressure in resolving oil disputes: Dharmendra Pradhan
Government will not succumb to any pressure in resolving pending arbitration disputes with companies such as Reliance Industries over KG-D6 gas fields, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhansaid in Rajya Sabha. “There is no compulsion for the government with any private company. Now, the country’s Prime Minister is Narendra Modiand the rest is assured,” he said during Question Hour. His reply came when BJP member Bhola Singh asked whether there was any pressure or compulsion for the government as there have has been delay in resolving oil field disputes with private petroleum companies, including Reliance Industries. Singh asked the government to take strict decisions in resolving all such disputes with private petroleum companies. Pradhan said the NDA government has inherited some problems from the previous UPA dispensation which had led to delay in resolving the disputes. The Minister said the government has in the recently approved gas pricing policy offered to give higher rates to undeveloped gas discoveries provided they withdraw arbitrations they had initiated. RIL had initiated as many as four arbitrations against the government including one seeking higher gas price for its existing flagging fields in KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal. Another arbitration pertains to slapping of penalty in the form of disallowance of cost recovery and one for taking away of KG-D6 area upon expiry of contractual timelines, the Minister said. Pradhan said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon had given various suggestions to improve the dispute resolution mechanism such as encouraging conciliation proceedings, examination by multi disciplinary teams and executive committee of DGH on potential litigations, timely appointment of arbitrators by the government. He said the government has enhanced the powers of DGH for hiring of counsels for defending arbitrations. In the policy for extension of PSCs, for small and medium sized discovered fields, the seat of arbitration during the extended period has been kept in India. Pradhan said arbitrators and counsels are being timely appointed, contractors are being provided a forum in the Ministry for resolving disputes and meetings are being held at various levels to sort out the issues related to gas balancing abandonment obligations etc. “Good International Petroleum Industry Practices have been codified and Guidelines for Site restoration have been prepared to reduce ambiguity on these aspects, thereby reducing the possibility of litigation,” he said. Darian Thompson Womens Jersey