PNB may acquire majority stake in Kazakh bank

Punjab National Bank plans to acquire a majority stake in a Kazakhstan-based bank to expand its presence in Central Asia, its Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath said here today.
We are trying to pick up 74 per cent stake in a bank called Dana bank in Kazakhstan, subject to RBI approval," Kamath told PTI.
The bank has completed due diligence, which is now being whetted. "Once that is complete, we will look at pricing," he said.
Outlining the bank's plans for overseas expansion, Kamath said, PNB would set up a bank in Bhutan with a local partner.
For Canada, PNB has received the Reserve Bank's approval to set up a subsidiary in Vancouver.
"We recently made a presentation to monetary authorities of Canada and they are positive. The process of submitting a business case is on. The whole process of starting operations is likely to take one year," he said.
Kamath said PNB would upgrade its representative office in Shanghai, China to a branch.We are trying to pick up 74 per cent stake in a bank called Dana bank in Kazakhstan, subject to RBI approval," Kamath told PTI.
The bank has completed due diligence, which is now being whetted. "Once that is complete, we will look at pricing," he said.
Outlining the bank's plans for overseas expansion, Kamath said, PNB would set up a bank in Bhutan with a local partner.
For Canada, PNB has received the Reserve Bank's approval to set up a subsidiary in Vancouver.
"We recently made a presentation to monetary authorities of Canada and they are positive. The process of submitting a business case is on. The whole process of starting operations is likely to take one year," he said.
Kamath said PNB would upgrade its representative office in Shanghai, China to a branch.

Hyundai mulls new diesel engine manufacturing unit

The Indian arm of Korea’s Hyundai Motors is doing a study on the viability of a diesel engine unit in the country, which could help it reduce its dependence on Korea and gain a pricing advantage with increased localisation.
At present, the company imports the engines directly from Korea after paying a hefty duty.
Han-Woo Park, newly appointed managing director and chief executive officer at Hyundai Motor India, said: “The minimum (sales) requirement for a diesel engine plant to be feasible is 100,000 units (per annum). We are doing the required field study and will take a decision on it at the appropriate time.”
The plant, if given a green signal, will come up close to the company’s existing vehicle manufacturing unit near Chennai where it also makes petrol engines, including the heavily promoted Kappa range.
Park, who replaced his senior, H S Lheem, in the company earlier this month, was non-committal on whether there would actually be a diesel engine unit. He also wouldn’t comment on the investment the project would entail if given a go-ahead.
Although Hyundai was one of the first companies to introduce the common-rail diesel technology (known for its high efficiency, refinement and frugal nature) in India, it failed to capitalise on the lead.
Currently, only a handful of its models, such as the i20, Verna, Sonata Transform and Tucson sport a diesel option, with only the i20 selling in high numbers. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki has installed a diesel engine it had developed in a number of top-selling models such as Ritz, Swift and Swift DZire. Most of these models have high waiting periods.
The company will be relaunching the i10 hatchback next year, strapped with a diesel engine. The company’s famed CRDi technology (which once powered its Accent sedan) will drive the i10 next year, one of the smallest diesel engines in the country available on a car.The Indian arm of Korea’s Hyundai Motors is doing a study on the viability of a diesel engine unit in the country, which could help it reduce its dependence on Korea and gain a pricing advantage with increased localisation.
At present, the company imports the engines directly from Korea after paying a hefty duty.
Han-Woo Park, newly appointed managing director and chief executive officer at Hyundai Motor India, said: “The minimum (sales) requirement for a diesel engine plant to be feasible is 100,000 units (per annum). We are doing the required field study and will take a decision on it at the appropriate time.”
The plant, if given a green signal, will come up close to the company’s existing vehicle manufacturing unit near Chennai where it also makes petrol engines, including the heavily promoted Kappa range.
Park, who replaced his senior, H S Lheem, in the company earlier this month, was non-committal on whether there would actually be a diesel engine unit. He also wouldn’t comment on the investment the project would entail if given a go-ahead.
Although Hyundai was one of the first companies to introduce the common-rail diesel technology (known for its high efficiency, refinement and frugal nature) in India, it failed to capitalise on the lead.
Currently, only a handful of its models, such as the i20, Verna, Sonata Transform and Tucson sport a diesel option, with only the i20 selling in high numbers. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki has installed a diesel engine it had developed in a number of top-selling models such as Ritz, Swift and Swift DZire. Most of these models have high waiting periods.
The company will be relaunching the i10 hatchback next year, strapped with a diesel engine. The company’s famed CRDi technology (which once powered its Accent sedan) will drive the i10 next year, one of the smallest diesel engines in the country available on a car.

Ratan Tata says search underway for successor: WSJ

Tata conglomerate is looking around the world for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year-old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-steel group said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday.

Local and foreign candidates were being looked at to head the group, which includes Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Power among its 27 listed companies

"We are in the process of formalising a successor to me. We have some outside consultants and a formal search process is on. There are no constraints," Tata, who has steered the group for nearly two decades, said in the interview.

The successor could be from within the group or outside, Tata said, adding he hoped the person would carry on the growth path that had been set. All but one of the group's past chairmans have been Tatas, although at the moment no family candidate has been publicly identified to take over the role.

"It would certainly be easier if that candidate were an Indian national. But now that 65 per cent of our revenues come from overseas, it could also be an expatriate sitting in that position with justification now," Tata said.

M&M in final stages for auto facility in Tamil Nadu

Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest manufacturer of sports utility vehicles, is believed to be in advanced talks with the Tamil Nadu government for establishing an integrated auto facility in the state.

Sources in the state government said a memorandum of understanding was expected to be formally signed between the government and the company in the next two to three months.

M&M will invest about Rs 1,800 crore in the new facility, to be located in Tiruvannamalai district (195 km from Chennai), over 450 acres. This plant will have the capacity to churn out 150,000 units annually.

Tata Motors to expand Pantnagar plant

Tata Motors, which is producing the Nano car, apart from other commercial vehicles, at its Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand, said on Monday it was planning to expand the manufacturing facility and called for strengthening rail, road and air connectivity in the region to boost production.

Company officials called on Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in Dehra Dun and held talks on the company’s expansion plans at the plant, an official statement said. The plant produces nearly 950 vehicles daily, including 150 Nano cars. The company is planning to raise the production to 500,000 vehicles a year from the Pantnagar plant, the statement added.

Oil falls in Asia after overnight gains

Oil fell slightly in Asian trade today after overnight gains spurred by a weak dollar and hopes of improved energy demand amid a global recovery, analysts saidNew York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery eased 20 cents to $78.70 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery fell 32 cents to $78.44 a barrel.

The two contracts had closed yesterday higher as the US currency continued to weaken despite rare comments from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke that the central bank strove for a strong dollar.

A lower greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities - like gold and crude oil - cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies. In turn, that tends to lift demand and prices.

Crude futures also received a boost from evidence of growth in Japan after data released Monday showed the world's second biggest economy expanded 1.2 per cent in the July-September period.

It was the second straight quarter of expansion.

OPEC president Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos repeated yesterday the cartel's view that $75-80 oil was an adequate level to allow for a global economic recovery.

"Seventy-five to $80 a barrel is a good price... for the recovery of the world economy," de Vasconcelos, who is also Angola's oil minister, said at a Gulf energy security conference in Abu Dhabi.

CBI files memo in Satyam case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a memo in a local court seeking its permission to hear the charges against the accused in the multi-crore accounting fraud case in Satyam Computer, on the basis of material it provided in the first charge sheet.
 
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The filing of the memo was necessitated following Andhra Pradesh High Court's direction to the investigating agency to hasten the process and start trial in the case, the CBI prosecutor said.

"We filed the memo in the XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court yesterday to seek its permission to hear the charges against Satyam accused," CBI Deputy Legal Advisor B Ravindranath told PTI today.

While seven accused including Satyam's former MD Rama Raju and ex-CFO V Srinivas, two former auditors of Price Waterhouse S Gopalkrishnan and T Srinivas are lodged in Chanchalguda prison here, Ramalinga Raju is undergoing treatment for his heart-related ailment and hepatitis 'C' in Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).