EVENTS TO WATCH TODAY 09/12/2013

Cairn India has bid for one oil and gas exploration block in Sri Lanka while ONGC Videsh (OVL) did not bid for any of the 13 blocks on offer in that country mainly due to poor prospectively. Bids for 13 offshore exploration blocks offered in the Sri Lankan Licensing Round, only the second in its history, closed on November 29. Sri Lanka received just three bids at the close with Cairn being the only major explorer bidding. Cairn bid for a block in Mannar basin while OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), totally skipped the round. Cairn bid for M5 block and Bonavista bid for Cauvery Blocks C2 and C3.

Tata Motors plans to hike prices of its passenger vehicles by about 1 percent from next month. The Mumbai-based company, however, is currently reviewing the market situation with regards to its commercial vehicle business for a similar step and will take a call later. Tata Motors markets a range of vehicles, ranging from passenger cars to heavy duty commercial vehicles. The company’s passenger vehicle portfolio comprises models from entry level hatchback Nano priced between Rs 1.5 lakh to multi utility vehicle Aria, which is priced up to Rs 14.95 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Last week, leading car-makers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai had also announced to hike prices from January, joining the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Honda.

Pursuing its overseas expansion strategy, state-owned Coal India (CIL) is actively looking at as many as five proposals for acquisition of mines in Indonesia. CIL's overseas plans come at a time when the company is facing flak for acute shortages of coal, which is hurting country's key sectors including power and fertilizer. In September, the company had invited an expression of interest inviting global companies to offer overseas assets. Meanwhile, CIL has already finalized bids for further drilling its twin mines in Mozambique. Two coal blocks - A1 and A2 - at Motaize, in Tete Province of Mozambique, are spread over 200 sq km. CIL has proposed a capital outlay of Rs 25,400 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan, plus an ad-hoc provision of Rs 35,000 crore to acquire coal assets abroad and develop the acquired coal blocks in Mozambique.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is looking ‘beyond tractors’ to offer a rice transplanter and a range of tractor-drawn equipment including a new series of motivators. The company is also considering significant investments in micro-irrigation equipment. These are a part of the slew of initiatives in the ‘non-tractor side of agribusiness, where M&M sees significant opportunity in farm mechanization. The company has announced plans to invest over Rs 7,500 crore across its diverse range of businesses over the next three years. In micro-irrigation, the company has R&D going on and is exploring foreign technology tie-ups. M&M owns a micro-irrigation product company, the Rs 150-crore, Nashik-based EPC Industries.

With bulk cargo movement beginning through inland waterways from Haldia again after decades, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is evaluating prospects of entering this arena. SCI and Cola India (CIL) have also entered into an MoU for creating an SPV that will undertake management of importing coal to India, but it was yet to take-off. The shipping minister recently flagged off bulk movement of coal through national waterways by Jindal ITF, to move 3 million tonne coal from the Sandheads to NTPC's Farakka thermal plant.

Electrical equipment maker Eon Electric plans to ramp up the manufacturing capacity of its Haridwar plant, which produces its signature product LED lamps, to one million units per month by March 2015. The process has already started for enhancing the capacity of Haridwar (Uttarakhand) unit, which primarily caters to LED lamps. The company will finance this expansion mainly through internal accruals. The company's another facility at Faridabad in Haryana is mainly engaged in battery manufacturing. Eon Electric is engaged in the business of manufacturing energy meters, lithium ion batteries, LED lamps etc. The company has a workforce of 500 people which includes 150 marketing professionals, 100 in its corporate office and 250 at its manufacturing facility.

After carving out a niche for itself in the electrical appliances market, leading consumer durable and lighting company, Bajaj Electrical is now focusing on non-electrical appliances segment. Bajaj is now focusing on non-electrical appliances segment and eyeing a market share of 5% by March 2014. The company sold Rs 75 crore worth non-electrical appliances in the last fiscal and aims to clock a business of Rs 125 crore in this segment by 2013-14. The company’s non-electrical portfolio comprises pressure cookers, non-stick cook wares and gas stoves, where its main competitors include brands like Hawkins and Prestige. The Rs 3300 crore Bajaj Electrical, a part of the Rs 38,000 crore Bajaj Group, has six business units such as engineering and projects, appliances, luminaries, lighting and morphy richards.

KCP Sugar & Industries Corporation has sold 77,493 quintiles of sugar in November 2013, while the company has sold 711 MT of Molasses in the same month. Meanwhile, the company has sold 1,039.35 MT, 1,019 MT and 27.90 MT of Bio-compost, Mycorrhiza and Calcium Lactate respectively. Further, the company has sold 15,160 bulk litres of Industrial Alcohol in November 2013, while the company has also sold 163.22 quintiles of Bio-Fertilizer in the same month. The company is engaged in business of manufacturing and marketing of Sugar and Bio-products. The company’s manufacturing facilities are located at Vuyyuru and Lakshmipuram. Company’s Vuyyuru Unit is engaged in manufacturing sugar, Bio-Ethanol of 50 KLPD and has a power generation capacity of 15MV per day.

State-owned Dena Bank plans to open its first overseas office in London by the end of this month. The bank intends to make it a full service branch in another one year. The bank also intends to open branches in Hong Kong, Nairobi and Johannesburg. In 2012-13, the bank had witnessed 16.27 percent growth in credit to Rs 66,456.88 crore, as against Rs 57,159.20 crore outstanding at the end of March 2012. For the second quarter ended September, 2013-14, the bank reported 55.19 percent decline in net profit at Rs 107.38 crore, on account of higher provisions. The bank's provisions increased to Rs 266 crore during Q2, 2013-14.